Mastering Keywords

In the course of a developing a new website for a client, our team is inevitably tasked to “just design a site”. Many clients - never having launched a website before - don’t consider that proper planning at the outset is a critical factor in the site’s ultimate success. One such facet is keyword research and how it ties into copywriting and search engine optimization.

In addition to explaining our own view to clients, here’s an excellent treatise from SitePoint (part 1 | part 2)

“Too often, webmasters either perform no keyword research, or do their research on an ad hoc basis. As a result, they miss out on many opportunities to drive more traffic to their sites. In this article, I’ll explain why planning is so essential and should be closely aligned to your business strategy.”

“Good planning and a systematic approach will allow you to get the best results from your keyword research. Don’t dive straight into a project! Take the time to think it through and understand exactly what you’re trying to achieve before you start work. People who think about keyword research before jumping in are much more likely to spot and exploit major opportunities.”

• Organizing your Keyword Research
• Step 1: Start with a Good List of Seed Keywords
• Step 2: Find Related Keywords
• Step 3: Map Out Your Web Content Structure
• Step 4: Find Long Tail Keywords
• Step 5: Create Your Detailed Content Plan
• Keyword Research Complete?
• Determine the Primary Keywords (and the Hot Issues)
• Find Authority Web Sites
• Start Publishing Web Content and Obtaining Keyword-rich Links
• Keyword + Hot Issue = Content Idea
• Look for Early Evidence of Search Engine Success

Read part 1 and part 2 of the series from SitePoint.

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