You’ve poured your heart and business knowledge into a blog post so now what?
Well, you have done the hard part my friend, and the rest is fairly simple but very very important to making sure you will get eyes on your prize piece.
Quite simply, you now need to make sure your beautiful post has the words and phrases the people who want and need YOU will be searching for online. Not a lot of keywords and phrases, just a few, but these valuable few will work magic that your compelling content has less a chance of doing on its own.
This valuable info can and should also be used consistently in your social media profiles (ahem – LinkedIN!), social media posting, and web copy!
So let’s work some magic shall we?
[Tweet “It’s not hard to work magic with keywords for your content.”]
First realize that these key phrases are a component of SEO and SMO, and get to the very heart of your business, your why, and therefore lead your business marketing campaign.
Answer a few questions to start narrowing down your keywords and phrases that focus specifically on what You and Your Biz stand for:
What products or services do you sell? (be specific! e.g. women’s Rolex watch, or Nutro dog food comparison, vs. just watches and dog food)
Why do your customers love you?
Are you cheap? Or are you the best?
Do you provide ideas or help?
What is a successful outcome your customer or client will gain?
Explain your business to a 5 yr. old? What words come up?
The best keyword phrase length is 3-4 words strung together. These are considered long-tail keywords, and a great way to get specific and really see what your clients are asking for when they search for your niche – e.g. blog post tips, social media school, men’s basketball shoes, effective life coaching, successful social media strategies, essential oils for calming, etc.
Once you have brainstormed your list of words and phrases that explain who you are and what you do, it’s time to play.
There are a bunch of tools on different sites that will help you determine which of your words and phrases are the best to use.
By best I mean:
How many people have typed that phrase in a Google (or Bing, etc) search?
Are you competing with a LOT of other sites for that word?
Identifying keyword niches
Giving other key phrase suggestions as well.
Most keyword sites all have free and paid membership levels that obviously give more information the more you pay. But the free sites are still very robust.
For example one super quick and easy way to help brainstorm your list above: Just type a word into Google search bar and see what populates!
That helps you narrow down, and get started with, the most popular words attached to your main theme: Social Media
Here is a list of all the websites that offer keyword and key-phrase tools to use at your leisure.
First step today? Answer the above questions and start jotting down those phrases.
Second step? Try one of the keyword tools and start crunching some numbers.
Need help? Join my LinkedIn group and post your question! You will have a forum of others, including myself, responding to you with ideas, suggestions, and encouragement.
Keywords and phrases can be confusing, you don’t have to go at this alone!
Enter your keywords one by one and go to town! Beware you get only 30 free searches here to make sure you have brainstormed first and are ready to test out only your top words.
Take a look, I tried out over 5 key phrases/words:
Social Media Strategy: See how now I know which words pair best with social media and are searched for the most? Marketing, worksheet, and training are all top hits, so it would behoove me to use these two phrases the most when blogging, posting or writing web copy. Funny how NJ is a top hit as well – which is where my business is based!
The other areas are grayed out as a paid subscriber level only service. But we get enough of a picture to know how to proceed.
Essential Oils: Do you have a product based business? Type in your product and get instant ideas on how best to use your product in a phrase or a sentence, at the very least in your title, topic headers, and descriptions. Let’s take a look.
You can see that just this product name is strong. Paired with words such as young, pure, aromatherapy, and frankincense are all top draws as well. I continued to scroll to the bottom of the first page list and found “essential oils a-z” at the bottom, though still a high number of searches, it is interesting that this particular phrase is just not as popular as others, so when describing a catalogue or an advice list you might be better off with “organic essential oils a-z” or “pure essential oils: the top 10 dos and don’ts” etc combining popular with less popular to stay high in search frequency.
Now click on Keyword Niche Finder: Here it gets even more fun! Take a look at my two searches Social Media and Essential Oils:
Now you can see specific phrases that will gain you the most results! Click on each descriptor or niche on the left and it populates the list to the right with the current keywords for that niche.
When talking about social media I would want to use the phrases, “business use of social media” or “how to use social media to promote business.”
When talking about essential oils clearly the best phrase to use in your profiles, headlines, posts and web copy is “how to make essential oils,” getting specific with crock pot or candy making does not help your niche at all here.
Here’s something that’s even more interesting: when I clicked on aromatherapy niche on the left, I saw that hands down the most popular search was the phrase, “aromatherapy essential oils” and not “essential oil aromatherapy” as well as the plural vs the singular form of the words. Subtle difference with big impact!
SEObookyou must sign up for a free account in order to gain access to their keyword tools. I did and beware the sign up confirmation email went to my spam folder. Once you have a password and are logged in, click on the Tools Tab and then Keyword Tools in the drop down menu.
Take out your brainstorm list and enter your related keywords into each box. Make sure you have a few in each box to make this search more robust. I used the Broad setting to generate as many key phrase options as possible for me to use. Click Generate and your results populate in the right hand box, creating key phrases based on combining your words in your list.
Add these phrases to your brainstorm list to use on ALL of your social media profiles, bios, future posts, blogs, web content when describing what you do and what you are selling!
Ubersuggest is an amazing tool to be used at the brainstorming level. Still stuck on words and phrases that may or may not work for you? Try this free tool! The results were too long for me to post here, but I entered the word social media in the query box and a variety of top phrases were shown. The best part of this tool is that it connects your word/phrase with additional words and key phrases alphabetically. This feature will get the ball rolling when you are thinking of how to describe what you do in ways people will search for. You can go even further by clicking on each word that you like to get further suggestions from the site!
Here’s a quick look of what my search returned:
So those are a few step-by-step instructions on how to use the free keyword and key phrase tools out there on the web.
Which one will you try out first?
As always, sign up to join my LinkedIn group and post your Q’s to get quick answers from myself and others doing the same thing you are!
Endorsements… those fun little squares, so nicely filled with people’s faces. Those mind boggling emails you get telling you that someone you barely know endorsed you for something you KNOW they have no idea you have any talent in.
Maybe you have done that too, I understand! It’s so easy to click, click, click, adding endorsement “kudos” to your fellow connections, it just feels like you are doing something good!
What is a LinkedIn endorsement really for anyway?
Well, just like everything else, there IS a strategy behind this chess board and I’m going to tell you what it is and what to DO.
First and most important item to know: LinkedIn uses these skills terms as keywords in their search algorithms to make sure the people who are searching for those skills, words, and knowledge find YOU. That’s why you must ensure the keywords you have worked so hard to use in every other space of your LinkedIn profile show up here too!
Take a look right now, I’ll wait. Do you see all of your keywords in some fashion or another in your list of endorsement skills? If not just click edit profile, click edit skills/endorsements and locate that long white box under Add & Remove. Enter any additional areas of expertise aka keywords here and click Add!
Second, move what you most want to be known for to the TOP. Take a look at my screenshot above. All of these skills are my expertise, what people look to me to teach them, and what I want to be known for. Do yours show the same? Don’t let the fact that Bob Smith who connected with you 6 months ago and decided to endorse you for something he remembers you used to do 5 YEARS ago get in the way of what you want to be known for now. Be consistent with how you are presenting yourself and your zone of genius to the world. Constantly work to stay in your zone, it shows you are polished and professional and will get you the work and the clients you deserve.
Take 60 seconds and fix it now. Click Edit Profile, then click edit skills/endorsements, then just click and drag each skill “box” around until you have the order you want. While you are at it remove any skills that don’t relate to what you do now, those skills that take attention away from your zone of genius (Just click that little X in the skills box). Be sure to click Save, and then you are done!
Third, and most strategic of all: My sometimes controversial advice is – don’t be shy, ask friends and contacts to endorse you for those specific TOP skills to help bump them up. Heck, ask me! This is strategy, you’re not asking people for straight up recommendations, you’re just asking for some strategic help.
30 seconds: send me a note and 5 other contacts in your list asking for help endorsing you for your top 5 skills. Tell them you will return the favor. Do this a few times a week (to different contacts of course) and pretty soon your skills section will start to look full to the brim with exactly the expertise YOU want to be known for.
Finally, set a monthly appointment: Review these skills periodically to make sure they are still on target with your goals. This is a fast paced world we live in, your projects and passions and zones of genius will come and go and change as we evolve in business so make sure everything you do reflects where you are right now.
In literally 2 minutes you could be on target and more laser focused with what your LinkedIn profile says about you to everyone who is looking. I challenge you to take these next couple of minutes and make it happen.
Want more LinkedIn advice and a group of amazing engaged professionals just like you seeking to conquer the LInkedIn realm? Join my LinkedIn group and get even more help and support!
Oh pretty Instagram, so simple and easy, just post a photo and go…
Not so fast.
Visual Instagram is easy on the eyes, fun at the fingertips, but it doesn’t stop there.
This powerful platform can offer:
an impact on your SEO
mighty web reach
new followers for your business brand
fun (and easy) contests to run
widespread popular cultural appeal
[Tweet “Visual Instagram is easy on the eyes, fun at the fingertips, but it doesn’t stop there.”]
ALL through the use of Hashtags.
Instagram is very hashtag-centric, and I want to explain a couple quick ways to help you make your Instagram platform work better and use it smarter all through the use of these quirky little sentences call hashtags.
Don’t be too generic: Remember you want your future followers to stumble upon you and you don’t want to get lost in the shuffle. Brainstorm a few ideas, do a quick search of each, and see what and mostly how many other feeds show up.
Use keywords to help you: In my post on SEO last month I show you exactly how to find keywords that fit your biz. Turn these words into hashtags and use them regularly on your posts.
Be specific with your brand: Some great examples of brands that do this well: Minicooper with #minimondays Athleta with #athletafitstyle
Use more than 2 and less than 30: You are allowed up to 30 hashtags in your Instagram post. So use BOTH specific AND more generic keywords in each of your posts. The “best” number of hastags? 11 or more. But all that really means is don’t stress about it. Hashtags are just a good bet, period, for growing your followers on Instagram. (stats from TrackMaven)Tip! Your hashtag does NOT have to be in your original post, it’s just as effective in the comments section.
Quick hashtag lists when short on time: Need a quick list of popular tags in almost every category? Check this out Pick your topic, copy and paste, and voila! Insta-likes on Instagram.
Be careful: Don’t use a banned hashtag or it, and possibly your post, will Not show up in the feed. Click here for an updated list on what IS and IS NOT currently allowed by Instagram.
Keep track of your stats with Iconosquare: Learn which photos you post are most liked, most engaged with, track your averages and more advanced metrics that will help you fine tune your message as you go. Click here to learn more and sign up for a free account.
Most importantly… Have Fun!
Challenge yourself to engage your soon-to-be rapid fans by interacting with Instagram’s themes (#followfriday) and memes (#TBT or #throwbackthursday) while “newsjacking.” That is taking a hot news story and making it relevant to your brand in a fun way.
So your first step today?
Just log on and do some searching. Take 5 minutes and plug in a few relevant words. See what pops up. Start getting inspiration from others in your niche. What tags do they use? How many? How relevant? How often? Which are most commented on by their followers?
Tomorrow? Start posting your own.
As always I’m here to help: follow me on Instagram @karenyankovich where you can comment, get ideas, ask for help. Share with me your favorite hashtag for your business and I’ll promote it in one of my posts!
Last week we discussed SMO, Social Media Optimization, and touched on the need for SEO in your business as well. Missed the SMO blog post? No worries – click here!
To make and keep your business visible, SEO is the other half of the “feed the Google Beast” pie! Let’s dive in! What exactly IS SEO in the first place?
SEO is Search Engine Optimization.
Google’s web-bots are constantly crawling around the interwebs searching for the right website, blog post, article, or image to list when anyone sits down at their computer to look for answers. The big question here is what are your future clients looking for before they actually find you? And, How does Google know that you are the person/website to recommend? I’m glad you asked, let me show you how…
[Tweet “Your business deserves to be seen.”]
Steps to increase SEO:
Take a look at ALL your URLs. Your blog posts, your page titles, your Facebook page name, your LinkedIn profile link etc. All of these should be actual words, clearly stating what that page, profile, or post is about, or in the case of a profile be as close to your name or business name as you can get that makes sense. Google sees that and it makes them happy that you are a legitimate business person who is staking a claim to your own piece of internet real estate.
Find out what your prospects are searching for. First just brainstorm, ask friends, sit at your computer thinking: “What the heck would I type in if I was looking for Me/My Service/My product?” Keep a running list handy of whatever comes up. I keep a journal just for keywords because they change as my business changes.
Next use these tools to help you find out which of those words are the most popular: Google Adwords Keyword Planner, SEOBook, and Ubersuggest. Enter a search term or a list of terms related to your business and voila! Google will show you historical data on how popular that term is across the millions of Google searches done every day. (Studies show there are an estimated 500 million Google searches performed each day!)
From that list pick your top 5-10 best performing search terms. These will now be the keywords that you will use when and where you can: blog posts, web page content, page titles, etc. These may change from time to time, and just like everything else should not be neglected so check back with new terms to search and update your keyword list on a regular basis. Be sure to use these same keywords across all of your sites, social media, whatever.
Review these monthly! You want to be sure you’re using keywords very specifically for what you’re currently promoting. Keeping that keyword journal makes that really easy.
So that just about covers the basics of SMO and SEO 101. I know this is a lot of information to digest, but with a few of the steps listed above you can start to get a good handle on this very important corner of the online world. Your business deserves to be seen and it is my passion to help you make it so. Comment below and let me know what your favorite keyword tools are, I know there are more!
Good luck my amazing entrepreneurs and I can’t wait to hear how the traffic comes rolling on in!
We all know we need to play nice with Google to have the favor returned in the online world.
There are two ways you can work to do that as you build your business on the web: SMO and SEO.
Today we’re going to tackle the basics of SMO, how it can help you and what to do about it!
SMO is Social Media Optimization.
Google tracks how many shares, comments, re-posts, clicks and link backs to your website/content are done across the web. High numbers establishes “social proof” that you are an expert in your field and thus Google recognizes this and rewards it with higher ranking. You can easily optimize this process by helping your content be visible and easily “re-purposed” across many social networks. You want to continually be feeding the Google Beast! Here’s how…
Steps to increase SMO:
Expert, expert, expert. Show that you either know what you are talking about or have great resources that point to others in your field that do. Hopefully a mixture of both! You want people to see your content, your website, or your blog as the one-stop-shop for information they might need relating to your industry topic.
Do some keyword homework, and use those same keywords across all social media sites. This brings consistency to your online presence, and helps Google present you to the right people.
Engage with your audience. Ask for comments, respond to comments, set up social share buttons on every post/page, and then ‘push’ these posts out to all your social media platforms. Make it EASY for your readers to engage. Just like the rest of us if your reader is more comfortable on LinkedIn then make sure you are sending your content there to be seen and commented on from the comfort of their own ‘home’.
The nitty gritty. Keep your title tags short and shareable, make it twitter friendly! And as we all have heard a thousand times… A picture is worth a thousand words. Use them!
A quick tip. Finally there is some research that states certain platforms are more optimization friendly, notably Google+ and LinkedIn. Both will show up very high in your search rankings. Make it a goal to define a presence on one or both of these platforms in the next few months of 2014!
[Tweet “5 easy steps to increase your SMO, every time.”]
There you have it…SMO basics, pick one step to try this week and make it happen! Which one will you choose?
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