The What & Why of Keyword Strategy for Small Business Marketing

People look for products and services online like they once used the Yellow Pages. When a consumer types in a phrase or word, they will likely get hundreds of web sites that match their words. Simply put, the words or phrases they search for are keywords. Winning today’s match game--and getting your company found easily online--depends on using the right keyword strategy.

What is Keyword Strategy?

Now that you've created a quality web site, how can you be found by potential customers and clients? The most important way is to use the same keywords in your web site that people are plugging into search engines. It is often difficult to know all the words or combination of words that a customer may use. This is where keyword strategy comes into play.

The art and science of keyword strategy is to incorporate these searched for keywords and phrases into your web site in a logical, fluent and coherent manner. Do you have to be Leonardo da Vinci…well, sort of. Keyword strategy is just one part of your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, which is an important part of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Simply put, it's the art of getting found easily on the Internet.

Why is a Keyword Strategy Important?

It's not enough for search engines to find your web site, you need potential customers to find it. What’s the distinction? Well, any given search will pull up hundreds of matches. Your audience doesn't have the time or the patience to pick through all the items returned in a typical search. Most likely they will look only at the listings on the first page (highest ranking) or possibly the second page. You need to get your web site ranked high enough by the search engines so you land on the first search pages. A sound keyword strategy is the most important way to get a high ranking. (Caveat – keyword strategy, though the most important, is only one of several strategies and tactics used to increase your ranking. We will talk about these in future blogs.)

Now that you know what a keyword strategy is and why it is important, the next step is to develop your own keyword strategy and find your keywords. We will examine this process in this blog.