SEO Tips For Small Business Owners

Finding great keywords can be a pain! The keyword universe is a sea of weird word choices, misspellings, and funky phrasing. But keyword research is like cleaning up after Thanksgiving – you just have to grit your teeth and do it.

To make your journey to SEO wizardry a little easier here are 4 ways to help you brainstorm your next keyword research strategy.

Start BIG

Since you are a web savvy small business owner you know a website is designed like a pyramid. Your homepage is an entry point with broad content to show visitors they are in the right place. The further visitors go into your website the more specific the content becomes and the more committed they become.

Think of your keywords the same way. Start with broad topics relating to your market and industry. After you have those down dig deeper into more specific topics.

Who Cares?

People search online for one of two reasons. They either want to be entertained, or they are looking for a solution to a problem. It’s important to take a minute and ask yourself, why would anyone want what I’m offering? By thinking about your website from this perspective you’ll be able to figure how you fit in with a visitors search.

Get Cozy With Competition

Many small business owners overlook the opportunity their competition presents to them. Looking at what your competition is doing gives you a chance to differentiate yourself from the herd. It’s okay to look at their website content and keywords to see who they’re marketing to. You may end up finding out that your competition isn’t actually your competition. Who knows, they might be overlooking a niche of the market that you can swoop in on.

Get Cozy With Customers

How well do you know your customers? Where do they hang out online? What kind of problems and fears do they have? If you aren’t exactly sure what your target market is up to then you may want to consider doing some research on the topic.

The secret to keyword research is getting inside your customers’ heads. Your keywords should be as close to what your ideal customer would search for as possible. How can you do that if you don’t know your ideal customers inside and out?

Find your customers online. Seek out blogs, forums, social media sites or where ever your ideal customers may be hanging out online. Study not only their language, but their problems and fears. Really take some time to figure out who they are as people, and not just data.