Use Long Tail Keywords to Increase Your SEO Results
When your customers go looking for you on the internet, how do they find you? One
of the keys to web-based marketing is optimizing your website for the search engines.
By spending a few hours per week on those SEO methods, over time you can get your
business's website a decent ranking for your key words. But first, you have to decide
which keywords you want to optimize for!
For most startups, the primary keywords are obvious -- Chinese restaurant, dog training,
construction, and the like. Usually, these are pretty crowded search results. Searching
"Chinese restaurant" on Google returns over 5.5 Million results; "business startup"
returns over 273 Million. It can take a year or more of dedicated optimization efforts
to reach the top of many of these searches...in the meantime, you need to find a
way to make a few sales to keep you afloat!
One way to stand out from the crowd is to also optimize for long-tail keywords. Long-tail
keywords are your primary keywords plus extra descriptive words. For example, searching
for "chinese restaurant Las Vegas" returns 64,000 results, while "best Chinese restaurant
Las Vegas" returns only 5 results. Of course, far fewer people search for the long-tail
keywords than the primary keywords, but it is easy to optimize your site for all
of them simultaneously. At the very least, you will have the opportunity to reach
those potential customers directly and all it costs you is a little time and effort.
The key to working with the long-tail keywords is to do the research to find out
which ones are your best bet. The best place to start is with WordTracker.com. This
site offers a seven-day free trial and allows you to see what search terms your market
is using to find a business like yours. The results will tell you how many searches
there are for each keyword each month.
Google Ad Words provides a similar tool, free for those with a Google Ad Words account.
The Google program will crawl your site and identify the key words you are already
optimizing for and will provide a listing of long-tail keywords that your target
market is searching. In addition, Google ranks the competition for each of the keywords.
Optimizing for the low-competition keywords means your site will show up sooner and
higher when people search for that specific term.
In addition to using these online tools, use your common sense about what people
might search to find your business. Ask your networking contacts how they would find
your type of business. If you serve a local community, your site should be optimized
for the city name. If you offer a specific, specialized product, that description
should be optimized. Believe it or not, optimizing for your business name is usually
the least of your worries. For most startups, a search for your exact business name
will be the first place you show up in search engines. Unfortunately, until your
company becomes a household name, not too many people are likely to search for your
actual name.
Get started on optimizing your website for search engines as early as possible in
your startup process. Pay attention to possible long-tail keywords that will drive
even a few people per month to your site. Don't underestimate the power of a few
new customers at a time...eventually the combined efforts will get you to the top
of your primary keyword searches!
About the Author
LaunchX.com is dedicated to training entrepreneurs to turn their good ideas into
great companies. The LaunchX System provides step-by-step education in the mindset
and skill set entrepreneurs need to succeed. Our program includes intensive seminar
training, key business software, and specialized workbooks that teach you the fundamental
skills you need to achieve your financial and worklife goals through entrepreneurship.
Register today for our introductory course and see what LaunchX can do for you!
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