Marketing Matrix: 3 Tips for Understanding How People Search for You Online [Marketing Cast]

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

3 Tips for Understanding How People Search for You Online [Marketing Cast]

right keywords What’s tougher than finding the right words to communicate something? Finding the right keywords to predict how something might be looked for in search engines.

Do you ever pause to think about the search terms prospects are using to find you online? This should be your mindset when you are creating new offers, launching marketing campaigns, and generating buzz around your brand. In this episode of the Weekly Marketing Cast, we discuss how you can prepare for the way people are looking for you online.

1. Start With Interviews

You should conduct interviews with current and potential customers, David Meerman Scott advises. Because their language can be very different from the way you talk about your products or services, interviews will help you learn what sort of search terms prospects are using to find you. You need to enter that mindset in order to create the content they need.

2. Check Out Industry Events

Go to the registration pages of conferences, industry events, and webinars. The descriptions on these pages will give you a sense of the terms and expressions your niche is already actively using. Equipped with this knowledge, you might be able to create other keyword variations that are less competitive.

3. Don’t Make Stuff Up

There is a range of tools that will enable you to do keyword research (e.g. the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, the Google Insights for Search tool, and HubSpot’s Keyword Grader). In any case, you have enough reliable (and often free) resources available that take the guesswork out. The most successful strategy is doing your own research rather than making stuff up.

How do you do keyword research?

Photo credit: caffeina