Search Traffic vs. Social Traffic

To get traffic from social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter requires constant updates from your accounts. As soon as you stop putting new content on your tweets or status, you will stop getting traffic from social networking sites. Social networks have to be maintained more aggressively than search engine results to sustain user visits. Unlike a search result, updates on social networks provide almost no residual traffic. Every new tweet is pushed further down the timeline by a newer tweet until it fades into history. A good search ranking, on the other hand, maintains its place for as long as it’s perceived to be a quality result in the eyes of Google.

Blogging also faces similar problem as social media. Bloggers are sometimes referred to as “pageview slaves” due to their need to blog regularly to maintain their traffic. Any sharp decline in posting leads to a sharp decline in traffic. To increase their pageviews, many bloggers feel obliged to increase their posting frequency at the risk of burning themselves out; or worse they’re compelled to write “link bait” topics that succeed at attracting short-term traffic at the risk of lowering long-term credibility. 

If you’re trying to make money online, social traffic is notorious for providing poor conversion rates. Social bookmarking platforms like Digg and StumbleUpon bring in plenty of readers, but few buyers. Social sites are used primarily for recreation. So a visitor on your site that comes from a search engine is generally more likely to convert to a sale than a visitor from a social bookmark or status update.

Selecting the right keywords

Start by making a list of every possible search term that people might use when searching for whatever you're selling. There's a good chance you'll easily come up with a list of twenty or so before you start to run out of ideas. That's the point at which you should resort to the following tips and tools that'll help you continue the brainstorming process of building your raw keyword list.

1.       Be specific

When selecting your keywords, you want to avoid stand-alone words that are too general. The Reasons are:

• You will face very stiff competition.
• general keywords are so broad they could apply to all kinds of products and services

2.       Think like a customer

Sometimes the difference between a company that succeeds and one that fails is simply a matter of talking to its customers and asking the right questions. Couple of things that should be considered:

Remember to keep the customer's perspective in mind.

Don't make the mistake of assuming you know what customers call your products. Do the necessary research to find out what keywords that customers are actually using to locate your products or services.

Learn to speak like your customers

Real people don't generally use insider terms of the trade when searching. So, unless you're selling to insiders within your own industry, you should avoid using industry trade terms. Think about words and phrases that real customers, not industry insiders, would use in a search.

3.       Collect Keywords from your Web site's Referral Logs

This is a very essential source of feedback regarding what keywords your site visitors are using to find you. Referrals coming from search engines will include the keyword query that a searcher used to find your site. People often search using some very creative search queries terms that you and your competitors might never think to optimize for.

4.       Check out Your Competition

Once you've acquired a small list (about 30 keywords), start entering those keywords into searches on Google and Bing. Scrutinize the Web pages that are coming up in the search results these are your competitors. Scouring their pages can help you uncover the keywords your competitors are actually targeting, some of which you may have overlooked.

You can also view the source code of your competitors' Web pages to determine what keywords they're optimizing for. If you are using Chrome then, in your browser's menu, click View, then Page Source. If you are a Firefox user, use Ctrl+U to view the source code. Once you see the source code, inspect the title tag which looks something like this:

<title>Baby Strollers – The best strollers and infant supplies for your baby</title>

Notice the keywords sandwiched between the start <title> and the end </title> tags. This title tag is where Web pages generally place their money making keywords.

5.       Cover All Your Keyword Variations

Next, look for variations on keywords you think might be successful. This includes misspellings, plurals, synonyms, merged words, or keywords separated-by-hyphens.

6.       Keyword Variations

a. Plurals and Synonyms - Many search engines utilize a process called word-stemming to identify plural versions of a keyword. In theory, this means that a search engine should recognize charity and charities as being the same keyword. In practice, however, the search results for singular and plural versions of a keyword are rarely ever the same. This means that you should optimize for both versions by working them into the visible text on your Web pages.

b. Merged and Hyphenated Words - Be aware that some keywords may be commonly merged or hyphenated. An example of a merged keyword would be webhost versus web host. In some cases, both the merged and unmerged versions will garner about an equal number of searches. In other cases, one will far outpace the other.

7.       Be Descriptive

Once you've covered all the variations of what you expect to be your most important keywords, begin adding descriptive terms to augment your existing terms.

 8.       Use Action Words

Try to recreate in your mind's eye how your typical customer conducts their various searches. It's likely that many will use action words in their searches.

9.       Target Local Markets

If your product or service is geographically relevant, then be SURE to mention the location in the text at every opportunity.

Source:  http://arnobhridoy.wordpress.com

Tips for Creating a Keyword Strategy

To create a Keyword Strategy you are open to many techniques. There is no hard and fuzz rule that you have to use. Here is the strategy that I use: 

Step 1: Creating a list of 5-10 keywords relevant to the business

At First try to think what will you do if you were to find something in a search engine or Social Media? Now if you have a big business company like Microsoft or Apple then the brand name will do great for you. But if it is a small business your keywords will not be the name of you business instead you can think of words or phrases that will define your business. You may consider about the main service or product of your company.

Step 2:  Select keywords based on relevance and competition

 

The keywords you choose should be based on relevancy and competition. Some very general words, such as “cars” or “bus,” are very competitive, making it harder to rank well for them in search engine results. If you have a small or a medium sized business, it is better to choose less competitive keywords, which are more specifically related to your business. How do you know the where the keyword is competitive or not? Generally, the greater the volume of searches on a keyword, the more competitive it is.

Currently, there are a number of different tools which you can use to determine the competitiveness of a specific keyword. The Examples are: Google Keyword Tool or HubSpot’s Keyword tool.

Another important factor for picking keywords is their relevance to your business. While some obscure terms might be easy to rank for, they might not be relevant to your business. You need find a combination among relevancy and difficulty. Choose keywords that match your business well. It is not necessary that your keyword needs to be perfect at the first time. You can go for a trial and error method to find out what works best for you.

Step 3:  Design and optimize your website around your keywords

Once you have chosen your keywords, you should add them onto your website. Optimize your website to include mentions of these words in key places. For instance, the images you use, especially those on the home page, should include alt text that reflects your keyword strategy.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is referred to the technique which helps you to rank your website higher in organic (or “natural”) search results. As a result it will make your website more visible to the people who are looking for you or your company’s product or service via search engines.

SEO is part of the Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a term which used to describe all marketing strategies for online search marketing. SEM covers both organic and paid search. With paid search, you can pay a search engine to list your website so that your website shows up when someone types in a specific keyword or phrase. Organic and paid listings both appear on the search engine, but they are displayed in different locations on the page.

So, that is why it is important for your business website to be listed on search engines. Every Second there are over 694,000 searches conducted in Google. Every second that your website is not indexed on Google, you are missing out your potential customers. Practicing SEO basics, as well as more advanced techniques after those, can help you to improve your website’s ability to rank in the search engines and get found by your potential customers.