Choosing keywords is not only critical when setting up your website, but it is also critical when creating any new content for your blog or social media.
Why is your choice of keywords so important?
Well, the answer to that is two-fold:
a. The keyword phrases that people search for – and respond to – will determine now only how many people see your content, but it will also determine whether those people are in fact potential buyers (or just random visitors).
For instance – if you create a great article about photography tips, many people will read it. But how many of them will be ready to buy anything? Most of them will read it purely out of curiosity.
b. Keyword phrases used in search often signals intent, and can show where the visitor is at in his or her buyer journey.
For instance:
If someone starts searching for reviews on a specific model camera, he or she is past the browsing stage, and is now trying to determine if their initial choice will be a good one.
And if he or she starts searching for terms like “buy camera XYZ”, or “camera XYZ special offer”, he or she is ready to buy. Fair enough, at that point of the spectrum there are not many visitors to be had – but given the fact that they are literally coming out with their credit card in hand, even a trickle of visitors will convert into some sales.
To get back to the original question…
What are two ways to choose keywords that help you reach your audience?
1. You can go the traditional route. You can use a tool like Ubersuggest to do keyword research. Note that, while the free version only allows for 3 searches per day, you can enter 3 search terms for every search.
Ubersuggest will give you search volumes, the level of competition on search and paid advertising, and additional keyword suggestions.
You can also look at the suggested or related keyword phrases at the bottom of your Google search if you run out of ideas.
Note: Ubersuggest is much more than just a keyword research tool. The paid version can help you analyze all kinds of things on your website, and help you detect problems you never knew you had. And it’s cheap.
2. Go and have a look at well performing social media content for your niche. What do people find interesting? What do they engage with?
Note: Going for topics that are easily shared, and viewed by many, will not necessarily bring you loads of buyers. But the more your content it seen and shared, the better the likelihood of potential buyers seeing it.
At worst, you can still use this type of content to grow your audience.
Look at the posts that are popular, and see what they are about. Looking at the title, what do you think is the actual keyword phrase that highlights what it is about?
What do you think the viewer or reader’s expectations are when deciding to view or read the content?
Fair enough, the keywords alone are not enough to make someone click on any piece of content. You need headlines that communicate the value of what you share. But the keywords will define what kind of person is likely to click and view the content.
Also, look at posts that have been up for a while, and are still shown in the social search results. This means that your content could be visible for quite a while. As a result, it can systematically rack up views even if it doesn’t start off with a bang.
In conclusion:
In reality, the ideal approach is a mix of both methods. Systematically try to find keyword phrases which are viable to use for both Google search and for social search.
However, for those keyword phrases that excel on either social or Google (but not both), and can drive you plenty of visitors, create content around those, and just take the traffic.
You can choose to alternate between the two – but at the end of the day, visitor traffic is about what works for YOU. If ten Google visitors is worth more than a hundred visitors from social media, and both take the same amount of time and effort to create…
Or if you can easily attract large numbers of social media visitors, while social remains challenging…
Focus on what WORKS.
But do keep in mind that the keywords used in your content – and especially your content title – determines the relevance of the visitor’s search to your offer.
At the end of the day, you can choose to focus on whatever drives masses of visitors, of which some will be buyers, or you can choose to attract only the buyers.
The choice is yours.