Keyword strategy is key to building a great website

This keyword strategy article assumes that you have not built your website yet.  That said, this article will help you understand the basics of building a great website.  It’s all fine and dandy to have a nice flashy website but if no one visits your site then what good is it.  A good keyword strategy is a key step in search engine optimization.

In the bricks and mortar world (especially retail or hospitality) one of the biggest factors to success is location, location, location.  Many new entrepreneurs will often sacrifice going with the best location because better locations usually charge more for rent or the value of the building they want to buy is higher.  And because they usually start with a limited amount of capital…they hedge their bets and go with something cheaper….A HUGE MISTAKE!  That great location because of its visibility and ease of getting to can result in vast amounts of traffic – we can almost call it FREE traffic.

In the online world, to a certain extent there are no traffic corridors but there are sites that have more traffic which you can tap into…we’ll save that for another article on links.  A great keyword strategy for your website is a kin to a great physical location for a storefront.

The key to a great website is one that is built with proper keywords to help your customer’s find you.  We all know that Google is the world’s best traffic cop so we’ll give you the key tips in this article to help Google become your best friend.  I’ve said this before, all Google cares about is offering its visitors (the people who put search terms in their search box) the most relevant websites pertaining to their search topic.  So with that said, you need to become relevant.  Ask yourself this, if you were researching something on building a house would you stay on a website that only had one page of information or a site that was well thought out and had multiple pages?  I’m hoping you said – a site with multiple pages.

So to begin your keyword strategy your site should have at least 25 pages…sure you can start with less but having more and more and building more pages will tell Google that your site means business when they come and spider (aka evaluate) your site.  Aim for a minimum of 5 category pages and 5 content pages within each category.  Your keyword strategy for your website should look like the following diagram (shortened to 3 categories and 3 pages within each due to space limitations).

Now that you have a general keyword strategy for your site….you need to start building it with content pages.  And each page should target a different keyword or two.

As an example, we could use a hypothetical keyword strategy for skis which could look like the following diagram:

So in the above keyword strategy…”skis” is the larger niche market.  And then the sub-niches would be the categories within that market.  You would then have content pages (such as articles, blogs posts, videos, product etc…) within those sub-niches of which everything is linked back up to the main keyword.

The more content pages you have the more your site gains as an authoritative site in Google’s eyes which means more traffic.  As an example, you would write articles or blog about specific long tail keywords…long tail keywords would be phrases that people would type into Google’s search bar.  Something like…”men’s intermediate ski boots”…or  “soft shell ski apparel for men”.  If you notice…in the first long tail keyword phrase it ties in the main keyword “skis” and then the category keyword “ski boots”

The main idea you can take away from this article is that websites are not just about being pretty.  If you are in business to succeed you need to have a well thought out strategy.  And within this site you will see a recurring theme…”strategy before execution”.

Some great keyword research tools you can use are:

Google’s Keyword Tool

Wordtracker Keyword Tool

or

Trellian’s Keyword Discovery Tool

Just like a house, it is only as good as its foundation.  And your website is no different…a solid keyword strategy will help you achieve your goals with your website.  And if you are having someone build your site…make sure this basic keyword strategy structure is in place prior to doing anything.  Failure to do this step is like throwing your money away.

When looking to build a business online or offline it’s important to determine if there is a market. There are some pundits out there that say “get into markets where there is no competition”. In the offline world…that would be the equivalent of starting a restaurant in a town with no other restaurants…well why why would there be no restaurants…BECAUSE you can’t make any money serving a town with only 1000 residents.

• Rule #1 – look for a big market. An Example of this is weight loss. Take a look at your neighbourhood gym just after New Years…now that’s a big market.
• Rule #2 – look for markets where there’s competition. Some people are afraid of competition…YOU should not be one of them. After all, competition usually means people are making money. Think of it this way. Which would you rather have? A big piece of pie worth nothing or a small piece of a pie that’s worth a lot. I’ll take the sliver each and every time thank you!
• Rule #3 – you’ll know if you have a great niche if people are using long tail keywords in their research to cure what ails them.  Short keywords phrases would be anything less than 2 words.   For example: “golf swing”.  An example of a long tail keyword phrase would be: “cure my golf slice” or “fix my bad golf swing”.
• Rule #4 – look for a niche that offers a lot of affiliate programs.  If you are developing a relationship with readers you want to know that you will have a good diverse product offering to sell or recommend to them.
• Rule #5- Is the niche list worthy? Similar to a offline retail store will the niche that you are looking at have customers that will continue to buy more? For example, in the weight loss category…people that are looking to lose weight…what else would they be likely to buy?  Examples: workout equipment, workout clothing, workout routines, nutritional supplements etc.

If you follow these 5 rules for picking a niche you should be on your way to a successful online career.