Historically, marketing was something that was fairly intuitive and straightforward. You came up with some idea or theme that was relevant to your business, and you used it to entice your customers to buy your product. All that was really involved was a catchy slogan, a jingle, and something about your advertisements that would stick in the mind of your intended audience.
But thanks to the voodoo of Google, those days are long gone. To market your business today, you need to be some kind of tech wizard with incredible insight, not just a wodge of cash.
One of the most problematic features of today’s online marketing landscape is keywords. For starters, keywords aren’t even necessarily words – some are phrases. But more important than that, you’re expected to know how to use them effectively. Because online marketing is so competitive, your efforts often fall flat on their face, just because there’s already somebody else out there doing things better. It doesn’t seem right, and it makes getting the message out about your product harder than it should be.
The good news is that there are ways you can avoid falling into the online marketing abyss. By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll maximise your chances of using keywords effectively, giving you an opportunity for success.
Focusing On A Single Keyword In Blog Posts
Content writing is fast becoming the norm for successful businesses online. It’s an effective strategy that helps to build organic traffic, negating the need to spend a lot of money on direct marketing.
Using keywords effectively in blog posts is fast becoming a key issue for many companies. It’s important to remember that each blog post can serve multiple purposes for your business. There’s no need to focus on a single keyword. It’s far better to concentrate on two or three.
Failing To Check Whether Your Keyword Choices Are Effective
Choosing the right keywords is one thing, but showing up in results is another. Often new businesses get a lot of things right, such as producing relevant content and exciting blog posts, but they may still choose the wrong keywords, even if they seem like the right ones since competitors also use them. It is crucial, therefore, to periodically evaluate keyword effectiveness.
Log onto Google and start a private session. (This is important because Google personalizes search results based on the user). A private session will give you a feel for what the average person will experience when they search using your chosen keywords. Once you’ve typed them in, check to see where your articles and content show up. Ideally, you’d like to be on the first page of results, as this is where more than 80 per cent of traffic goes. If you find that you’re not showing up (or it’s taking too long for you to boost your search results ranking), have a look for lesser-used long-tail keywords or use services like zag.ai apps. Ideally, you want to match the keywords that your customers have in their minds when searching for your product, and your product.
Not Using Singular Versions Of Words
You might not think that Google cares about whether you use the singular or plural form of a keyword. But it turns out that the search engine will prioritise the results which match the search term used by the user.
Say, for instance, that you sell nutritional supplements. A potential customer might search for “omega three supplements,” but your targeted keyword could be “omega three supplement.” The missing “s” can make a big difference here and can affect the page on which your product lands.
You also need to ask why different customers are searching using either the plural or the singular. For instance, a person using the plural of “omega three supplements” may want to buy some, whereas somebody using the singular who may just want to read more information about them. This difference is key.
Sometimes you don’t know which version of the keyword to choose. In these situations, you can either hedge your bets or see how Google search results change when you type the different versions into the search box.
Choosing Relevant Keywords With Low Traffic
SEO bloggers will often tell people to use long-tail keywords to get a leg up on the competition. The theory goes something like this: all of the obvious keywords are already taken, so it makes sense for new entrants to focus on lesser-known keywords that aren’t being used by the competition.
It’s a good idea in theory because sometimes you can find keywords that your competitors have missed. But actually finding long-tail keywords with high traffic is rare. Sure, you might attract 100 per cent of the people using a particular search term, but if that search term gets entered into the Google search bar a couple of times a month, it’s not much use to you.
Aiming Too High
The flipside of choosing rare but relevant long-tail keywords is trying to compete with the big boys on shorter, more popular keywords.
Say, for instance, that you want to start a food delivery business where people can order bespoke meals from you. You could try to compete on terms like “food delivery” or “meals delivered to my door,” but it’s likely that other, more established players are already using these terms. If you try to target these keywords, it’s likely that you’ll remain on pages two and three of search results for a long time, possibly months.
There is a way around this problem: targeting your actual customers. Let’s say that your food delivery business is designed for the elderly. Instead of targeting the above keywords, you could try “food delivery for elders” or “meals for retired people.” Because you are focusing on both your product and your intended audience, you’re much more likely to have success.
Just remember, it takes a lot of time to increase your rank in search results, so your progress should be measured over months, not days.
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