Make no mistake about it – choosing the right keywords for your blog can literally mean the difference between a successful blog with lots of traffic and a not so successful blog that is struggling to find an audience.
One way to choose the best keywords for your blog is to choose keywords based on keyword popularity.
Make no mistake about it, the RIGHT keywords are the words actual people are using to find information on the internet. Using the RIGHT keywords is a great way to increase blog traffic. Doing a keyword research will help you findthe best keywords to use in your blog posts and in blog post titles.
For example, I have a client who followed the 8 Week Power Blog Launch program to the letter. She properly researched keyword terms her prospects were using and by implementing the tactics taught in the program, saw her blog reach #2 in Google for her keyword term.
Contrast her experience with a recent experience with another client – one who thinks keyword research is not important to her blog’s success.
I adore this client – but she’s got me ready to pull my hair out at this moment. She’s started out with a really GREAT foundation for her blog. She has tightly targeted her message and her audience. I did keyword research for her using Wordze – and found a keyword term the is highly searched but relatively uncompetitive in nature. The Google keyword tool confirms that this is a popular keyword amongst web surfers that hasn’t attracted a lot of competition.
I compiled a list of keywords to target and provided them to this client. I was in the middle of creating the 8 Week Power Blog Launch program at the time and I gave her a “cheat sheet” of words to use in her blog.
Last week, she asked me to take a look at her blog and see why it wasn’t attracting more traffic. The first thing I noticed was that she wasn’t using the list of keywords I had provided. She had chosen her own “keyword”, a phrase she uses REPEATEDLy throughout her blog. Unfortunately, this keyword combination is “unique” meaning NO ONE is searching for this particular combination of words.
On the other hand, there is a single keyword which means exactly the same thing as her own distinct keyword phrase. That single keyword has a relatively high KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index). The higher a KEI, the less competition there is for that keyword. The one time that she had tried to use this “best keyword” in her blog post titles – she had added a hyphen to the keyword. Essentially, she took a popular keyword – one that people were actively using to find the kind of products and services she provides – and replaced it with a keyword phrase that mean nothing to anyone other than her.
By adding a hyphen to the previously identified “best keyword” changed it significantly in the eyes of the search engines. The keyword WITH a hyphen has monthly search volume of 3600 – while the keyword WITHOUT a hyphen has a search volume of 44,000 per month. Remember, these the version of the keyword without a hyphen has a relatively HIGH KEI.
Choosing the best keywords for your blog is not difficult – but it does require a certain “attention to detail”. Be careful about adding (or removing) hyphens from your keywords. The keywords you choose can literally mean the difference between blog success and blog failure!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I never realized hypen was that important in keywords. I only know that using hyphen in your domain name tells google what keyword you are targeting. Nice tip.
Dalirins last blog post..What Blogging Platform is Recommended
I have to say the title of your blog made me come check it out. I am just starting to focus on keywords myself- didn’t know too much about them before but I can definitely see where there would be a difference between the two you described above. Very interesting.
Jens last blog post..Your Network Marketing Income- Should You Fake it ‘Til You Make it?
Dalirin – I learned that valuable lesson from my client as well!
Jen – Glad you found the title “compelling”.