YOUR “MUST KNOW” CHECKLIST TO ENSURE YOUR SUCCESS!
Are you confused about selecting relevant targeted keywords for your search engine marketing campaign? The right keywords can be difficult to choose if you’re unfamiliar with the process. However, it can be much easier if the process is broken down into easy to follow steps.
1. Identify your Goals
Identifying goals should be the first step in almost everything you do. You need to plan if your campaign will be nationally or locally focused, what you want to happen, and what results you would like to see before anything productive can happen. Effective planning will start your search engine marketing campaign off on the right foot.
2. Build a Targeted Keyword List
When building your keyword list there are a few rules you should follow to ensure success. You should avoid broad keywords or words with a vague meaning. Using words that are not specific enough can drastically hurt your search rank and not work to your advantage in the results pages. Also include variations of your keywords like plurals, spelling variations, misspellings, and synonyms. Use this tool to build a keyword list – Yahoo!/Overture tool.
3. Use the Right Keyword Matching
There are three types of positive keyword matching: broad, exact, and phrase. Be sure to select which option for each keyword carefully. For example, if you are going to use broad keyword matching, and your keywords are “mountain bike,” you’ll get results for any combination of those words. You may also get results for each word individually. Exact match is when you enclose your keywords in square brackets, like [mountain bike]. Your ad will only be shown to people searching for “mountain bike” in that order and with no other terms. Phrase match is when a keyword phrase is enclosed by quotation marks, for example, “mountain bike.” With this option, your ad could be shown to people searching for “mountain” and “bike” but only in that order and with other terms included. Select what will give each keyword or phrase the best results. A good tip is to use exact match for single word keywords.
4. Write Creative and Clear Ad Text
In writing your ad, avoid repetition and be concise. Put one of your strongest keywords in the headline and emphasize unique aspects of your product or service. Be sure to include a strong call-to-action within the advertisement along with a sense of urgency.
5. Choose Useful Destination Pages
When someone clicks on your ad, make sure that the page you send them to is completely relevant to what you were advertising. Anything different may frustrate the user out of trying to navigate the site and purchasing anything.
6. Track Results Frequently and Modify Campaign
Tracking your results is one of the most important steps. Get rid of keywords that aren’t performing well and add more keywords like the ones that are performing well. Without tracking your keywords your ads could be absolutely useless. Don’t spend time and effort trying to generate leads that aren’t going to help your business be profitable. Plus, once you set a monthly or daily budget for your campaigns – stick to that budget – that way over time, from tracking, you’ll know how much each “click” is worth to you!
Identify your goals, build a targeted keyword list, use the right keyword matching, write creative and clear ad text, choose useful destination pages, and track your results! These are extremely important steps to generate leads and get sales. Choosing the right keywords will get your advertisements to the right people. And getting these qualified leads will bring your business sales and profits!
Tyler Houts is the Public Relations Director for Kinetica Media, an internet marketing company that works to harness the power of the internet for businesses of all sizes. Visit www.kineticamedia.com to see how their proven online marketing campaigns can enhance customer loyalty and attract new clients
