Freelance web and seo copywriting from Mud Creative

A neophyte guide to using keywords – Part 2

louise — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:42:11 +0000

How to weave keywords into your copy

In our last post, we outlined some basic strategies for researching your keywords or keyphrases. Assuming that you now have a list of keywords you are confident your potential customers are searching with, it’s time to weave them into your site.

First, choose 2 – 3 keyphrases for each web page. Make sure that the keyphrases are relevant to the content of each page. For example, if your keyphrase is “natural remedies for acid reflux,” then the page should have information on this topic.

The best spots for keyword placement

If you’ve done any reading on the Internet about SEO and keyword placement, you know that there are certain “hot spots” where the search engines will look to find keywords that a searcher has requested. These places include:

The main headline of each page
The first, middle and last paragraphs of copy
Subheads
Active links – These are the links within the content of your site that link visitors to other pages. Instead of saying “click here,” try to use a keyphrase. For example, “Learn more about keyword research here.”
Title tags – This is what is shown in the grey bar at the top of your browser. Look up there now and you’ll see that it carries the title of this blog post. This is one of the most important locations for keyphrase placement.
Tags on images – Any photos, logos or other images that you use on your site cannot be “seen” by search engines. You or your web developer can add a textual tag containing a keyphrase called an “alt tag” to each. You can also add a photo caption with keyphrases.
Site map – Site maps are not commonly used for sites unless they have a large number of pages and even then, they are usually just a listing of the pages on the site. But a site map is valuable to both search engines and your site visitors to show them around. It is also a smart place to add your keyphrases. Next to the name of each page, add a short keyword-rich description of what can be found on that page.
Testimonials – Testimonials from customers sprinkled throughout your site give you and your business credibility. They are also a great place to add keyphrases. Without losing the intent of quotes supplied by your customers, try and fit in a keyphrase or two. For example, if your keyphrase is “graphic design” and the testimonial says, “Jane provides solid service,” change it to read: “Jane provides solid graphic design service.” Note: Be sure to ask the person whose testimonial you’re altering for permission.

Avoid the urge to stuff keywords into every nook and cranny

Now that you know where to put your keyphrases, it’s tempting to just jam them in everywhere – but don’t succumb to temptation! This is called “keyword stuffing” and doing it will accomplish two things: give you a black mark from the search engines, which frown on this activity; and turn off your visitors because your copy will be choppy and odd-sounding.

In the next post, we’ll talk about how to write keywords into your website so your copy flows as smooth as silk.

A neophyte guide to keyword research – Part 1

louise — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:49:14 +0000

photo credit: Search Engine People Blog

What’s a keyword?

Keywords (or keyphrases) are the words people type in the Google box to find something specific on the web.

Why do I care?

Let’s say you run a daycare centre in Toronto. A searcher types “Toronto daycare centre” in the search box, and you just happen to have this phrase on your site.

The engines find your site, determine that it has the keyphrase and surrounding information to support it, and in seconds your site is recommended to the searcher.

If your site is on the first page of the SERPs (search engine results pages), chances are good that the searcher will click through for a visit.

How do I know what phrases people are using to find sites like mine?

People search like they talk. They don’t necessarily know industry jargon or model numbers. Think like your customer. If you were chatting with your neighbor over the hedge, how would you ask him for a recommendation on buying a widget?

Here on some basic guidelines for creating a list:

a) Write down as many phrases (2 – 3 words each) you can think of that describe your product or service. Ask your salespeople how customers refer to your product or service. Talk to your front desk personnel about questions callers are asking. Get ideas from friends and neighbours who don’t know your business like you do.

TIP: Avoid very generic words like “furniture,” “used cars,” and “vacation.” They are simply too difficult to compete with. “Vacation” has 165,000,000 results in Google, but “cheap vacations for backpackers” has 108,000. Be as specific as possible to narrow the field.

b) Now that you know which phrases appropriately describe your product or service, you want to whittle your list down to those that are actually searched for. To do this, you can purchase a short-term subscription to Wordtracker ($59US) or you can use Google’s free Keyword Suggestion Tool.

The Google Keyword Suggestion Tool is created for people advertising with Google, but it works for anyone. Enter any keyphrases you want to research and click “Get keyword ideas.” You will be presented with a list of the most popular search words and phrases related to your keyphrases that are currently being searched on a monthly basis. Create a list of those with a high volume of searches that relate to your product.

c) Next you want to see how much competition your phrases have. An easy way to do this is to go to Google and type: allintitle:“yourkeywordphrasehere” (make sure to include the quotes).

The pages Google returns for each phrase will be pages that are using that exact phrase in the Title Tag. (The Title Tag is a key area that search engines looks for keyphrases.) You’ll find this number on the right hand side of the screen right above Sponsored Links. The fewer competing pages, the better your chances of ranking for that keyphrase.

TIP: If your location is important to your customers, be sure to consider geographical keyphrases such as “insurance broker in London” or “daycare center in Vancouver.” These keyphrases may not show up in the Google Keyword Suggestion tool, but they are very powerful for attracting your local audience.

This sounds like a lot of work. Is there an easier way?

OK, so you’ve got better things to do. Plus you want to make darn sure your keyphrases are right. Fortunately there are professionals who specialize in this very thing. A keyword research specialist will do all the footwork for you, present you with a solid list of keyphrases, and recommend which ones are suitable for each page on your site.

If you’re looking for a keyword specialist, we know some good ones. Ask us and we’ll set you up!

Big job. Done.

In Part 2 of “The neophyte guide to keyword research,” we talk about putting your keyphrases to work on your site.

Do you feed off pressure?

louise — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:13:14 +0000

Today is Monday – the beginning of a whole new week.

I feel like a runner at the start line. Anything can happen now. The phone will ring or an email will come in, and I’ll be off – pounding at the keyboard, draining the coffee pot, feeling the rush of excitement, and soon…. bending under the weight of the stress.

Does this sound familiar to you?

I’m one of those people who like pressure. I feel I work better when I’m under the gun. I feel alive, productive, in demand.

But I also know that it could have dire consequences for my health.

The adrenaline is like a drug

I asked Gerrianne Clare, a life coach and creator of the Moment-Is online coaching program, what she says to people like me who thrive on pressure and colliding deadlines.

She tells me that I’m not alone, and that it’s the adrenaline that gets me moving and on task. “But being under pressure releases coritsol, the stress hormone.” It leaches into my system and can lead to anxiety and depression – or worse.

To relieve the pressure, Gerrianne’s advice is to impose my own timeline on myself. She suggests setting the intention that “there’s more work coming your way, and you need to get yourself prepared for that.”

So, let’s say I have an article due in a week. I set a timeline that I’m going to have this article written by today at 5 pm. I’ve put myself under pressure and got the adrenaline pumping – without the stress that goes with it.

As part of the exercise, Gerrianne tells me to “Take an intentional breath at the beginning, and set my intention on high that I will achieve my goal within that time segment.” During this time, I am to be fully focused. I don’t think about anything else.

“When finished,” she says, “take a deep breath and acknowledge what you have accomplished.”

I can imagine the feeling of personal satisfaction that comes with completing a task within a set time frame. I am free to move on to the next project or take a walk if I feel like it. And I’m not continually pushing things dangerously close to their deadlines because I’m oversubscribed.

That’s one small step for productivity…one giant step for keeping stress at bay and taking better care of myself.

Free Social Media Listening Tools

louise — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:03:56 +0000

Wouldn’t you just love to know what people are saying about your business on the Internet? Whether positive or negative (or dead silence, which is not great either), understanding how your company is perceived by others is an important part of knowing how to shape your product or service to satisfy them.

Mhairi Petrovic of Out-Smarts provided this valuable list of free tools in her January newsletter so you can be your own personal fly on the wall. She has kindly offered to let me post it on my blog.

Take it away Mhairi….

One of the best ways to explore whether social media is right for your company is to listen. Social media listening means using these tools to listen for mentions of your product or service, company, competitors and industry. By doing so you will get a great feel for what is being said about your product or industry, how people communicate, what is appropriate – and you might even learn a thing or two.

Here are some great tools you can use:

1. General:

Google – www.google.com
Google Alerts – www.google.com/alerts – this service sends e-mails outlining Google search result for your key-phrases.
Backtype – www.backtype.com/ – search terms, follow conversations.
Social Mention – www.socialmention.com – real time social media search and analysis.
Pipl – www.pipl.com – great tool for assessing your personal brand online across multiple social networks.
Trendrr – www.trendrr.com – social and digital media tracking.

2. Twitter:

Twitter Search – http://search.twitter.com/
Monitter – http://www.monitter.com/
Tweetlater – http://www.tweetlater.com/

3. Facebook: www.facebook.com

Facebook search – for people.
Facebook search – for keywords.
Facebook wall comments – Lexicon.

To subscribe to the Out-Smarts newsletter, visit www.out-smarts.com.

Why free press release sites may be all you need

louise — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:39:34 +0000

Online press releases are perfect for an SEO tactic called “link building.” Link building is the process of creating inbound links to your site from other sites. The more inbound links your site has pointing to it, the more popular your site is perceived to be by the engines. And that bodes well for your rankings.

An online press release will offer readers a story that is newsworthy and have – at the very least – your site’s URL in it. Because your press release stays on the web for extended periods of time, that link is always working for you.

Readers of this blog know why I like PR Web for online press releases. I have also used www.marketwire.com and www.newswire.ca for releases that are geographically targeted with good results. But these are all paid services and for many small business owners, their rates can be a little out of reach. Plus, for best SEO results, online press releases should be issued on a regular basis – once a month or more frequently, which can really drive your costs up.

Start out free, and see what happens

If you’re just trying online PR for the first time or you have a tight budget, you can still get solid results by using free services. To find a good one, look for these characteristics:

Free to use – or low cost for additional features
Releases show up in Google and sometimes on Google News (Pick any release on the site, type the headline in the Google search bar, and see if it comes up.)
The releases posted on the site are newsworthy, not sales focused. This is an indication that the site has editors who care about which releases they accept
They allow at least one direct link to your site

There are gazillions of free press release distribution sites, (A Google search of “Free Press Release Sites” shows 70,900,000 results), but you can save yourself tons of time and still build inbound links with just three or four services, like these:

For $12US, www.onlineprnews.com lets you add an image (could be your logo) and three anchor text links, gives you listing above the free releases, tweets the headline and guarantees inclusion in Google News. Not a bad deal.

Did it work?

While free services won’t provide a results report, it’s easy enough to see how successful your release was with these tricks:

“Google it” – A day or two after your release, simply “Google” (or Yahoo) your company name, your targeted keyphrases, or even the entire headline of your release. Google will let you know which services, blogs, and industry publications picked it up.
Google Alerts – Google Alerts is a time-saving feature that delivers results right to your inbox. Here’s how to set up Google Alerts.
Google Analytics – Google Analytics are free, and easily added to your site. Your analytics will tell you where traffic came from and even which keyphrases were used to point them to your site.

If you’ve got news to share on the web, but you are avoiding press releases because of cost, give the free services a go. Online press releases just may be the extra boost you need to improve your rankings.