Guest article by Michael Sasser, Copywriter at Productive I.T.
If you are looking to create your own business, then you will want to make sure you are investing in your business's online presence, and part of that is investing in what keywords to use. Keywords are what potential customers use to find the services they need. Properly selecting and researching keywords can either make or break your business. If you do not choose the proper keywords, then your potential customers will find your competitors before they find you!
Some call that the magic of the internet but I call it “the power of keywords.”
The power of keywords
Keywords are descriptors that tell a search engine (Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc.) what you are looking for. “Um, Michael”, you might say, “I have never used a keyword before.” Oh, on the contrary! You might not realize it, but every search you have and will make in a search bar is entirely made of keywords.
For example: Let's say you have a hankering for pizza, you might type out “pizza delivery” or “pizza places” in the search bar to find restaurants in your area. Both of those searches are keywords that describe what services you are looking for. From there, the results will populate with many pizza places near you that offer delivery services.
Whether you are searching for pizza or tow trucks in your area, no matter what you type in, you will always use a keyword of sorts.
Choosing the right keywords
Now that we understand how keywords lead customers to you and your business, it’s time to learn how to choose the right ones! To do that, we must evaluate your business and the best way to describe it.
Consider the previous example:
When you are searching for pizza, you don’t type in “burger restaurants” or “seafood near me” because those do not describe pizza but other options. Instead, you search for “pizza places” to find restaurants that serve pizza.
There’s a right and wrong way to find your keywords. When creating your own business, consider the services you will provide and what words describe them. If you create a lawn care company that provides yard cleaning, you might consider using the keywords “Lawn maintenance” or “grass-cutting services” to start.
The idea of choosing the right keywords is to make sure each one is related to your business and the service you provide.
Researching your keywords
Now that you have an idea of which to use, you can now begin researching keywords to make sure that’s what your clients are searching for. Thankfully, many different platforms have tools to help with keyword research but a few that I recommend is Hike SEO and Woo Rank. Both offer free trials so you can test their services out before you buy!
When using this platform, they have a tool that allows you to type in your business and it’ll recommend a few keywords with statistics on how often they are used. With this, there are both.
But, there's good news and bad news: let’s say “lawn maintenance” is a highly used keyword. That means numerous people are using it to find services related to lawn maintenance. The bad news is that since that’s a keyword, so many other companies are using it as well, so you can use this opportunity to crack down and choose something a little more specific.
So, you can throw in your town name in your keyword like so: “Seattle Lawn Maintenance”. That way, you have narrowed down your competition to only Seattle or whichever area applies to you and your business.
There you have it! Your first stepping stones to finding and researching keywords to make you and your business thrive. Now use what you’ve learned in this article and start working on your keywords!
About the author
Michael has always been passionate about putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. While attending Troy University and studying to be an Accountant, he discovered he had a passion for English Literature and writing. In 2020, Michael graduated with a B. S. in English and minored in Communications. Since then, he has written for several websites as a copywriter and joined Productive I.T. as a copywriter in 2022.
While not writing for clients or creatively for himself, he can be found spending time with his beloved wife, watching some of his favourite movies, researching classic novels, or in the LEGO aisle at Target.
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