SEO Expert, Anthony Yap

SEO experts perform extensive keyword research and analysis prior to starting any SEO campaign. Much like PPC marketing, obtaining a large list of related keywords gives a search marketer the opportunity to select the most profitable and high traffic terms. Without a large list of keyword phrases, choices for optimization are slim and probabilities for success decline along with it.

Armed with a good research tool (which is usually a paid version), a SEO collects a large subset of related terms in a list and analyzes the competition levels for the ones with higher search traffic first. It is important for web marketers to understand that keyword research tools are not perfect in their data by any means. This is because many of the search tools available gather data from meta search engines. Unless the search tool is directly linked to the actual search engine database and outputs data in it’s entirety, there is always room for possible error since the data collection method is not perfect in itself. For search engines to provide direct access to this data without limitations would be any SEOs dream come true. This, however, is unlikely to happen because the potential for abuse is just too high. There are two ways keyword research tools may not report completely accurate data. First, your tool of choice may output incorrect daily or monthly search traffic. Second, it may not list other keywords that are actually being searched for. Just because the data isn’t perfect doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. We can still deduce relative search traffic strengths from the numbers given so you can feel reasonably safe, in general, when viewing traffic potential on relative terms.

Great search engine optimization experts, though, are not only looking for the most targeted and relevant search terms but are also seeking keywords and search phrases that have a decent chance of getting ranked in the search engines. Like any marketplace, there are gaps and opportunities which competent SEOs will seek out before expending a large amount of resources on optimizing similar good search phrases. This is because similar, yet relevant, search terms have varying levels of difficulty and competition levels. After collecting a large subset of related terms in a list, a SEO analyzes the keyword competition levels for the ones with higher search traffic first.

For websites starting their optimization, it is highly recommended the internet marketer goes after the low-hanging fruit. Why? This simply means to quickly rank for terms with the least competition levels and reasonable traffic volume. Many inexperienced to the SEO game, naturally lean towards the highest search traffic terms first. This is the single biggest mistake newbies make and sets them up for failure before the SEO campaign even gets started. Let’s say you sell diamond jewelry. An amateur would go for “diamond jewelry” as their first target since this keyword yields a higher number of searches. In most cases, however, the keyword which is the most intuitive is not the one to go after because it is the most generic term for that product. Rather than going after “diamond jewelry”, you have a choice of related terms such as “black diamond jewelry”, “blue diamond jewelry”, “discount diamond jewelry”, “blue diamond wedding jewelry” and so on. Of course, you’d generally only optimize for products you actually sell so as to increase sales conversion and not mislead your visitors. Thus, if you don’t offer “blue diamond jewelry”, you don’t want to go after it unless your expertise as a diamond retailer tells you that black diamonds are far superior to blue diamonds and you are attempting to sway potential buyers of blue diamonds to black diamonds as a strategy.

With a more straightforward approach to optimization, these search terms “black diamond jewelry”, “blue diamond jewelry”, and “discount diamond jewelry” show significantly lower search numbers relative to “diamond jewelry”. These keyword phrases are considered tier two search terms. Jewelry and diamond jewelry are considered tier one search terms. For most niche markets, optimizing for more specific terms and directing the visitor to the related subpage of the website converts a whole lot better than general terms. Therefore, it is a great strategy to go ahead and optimize for these tier two keywords (after you’ve confirmed the competitiveness of the keyword search phrase). By building up traffic for the a bigger basket of lesser competitive terms, you will be able to have the equivalent traffic levels as if you were going after one or two difficult search terms. You’ll reach your goal of getting higher search rankings with faster and with less resources.

There is also another benefit many fail to realize. Notice also that the terms above have the base term “diamond jewelry” in them. As an experienced SEO company, we have found that you are getting credit for the base term even though you aren’t specifically going after it in your inbound anchor link text. Furthermore, in terms of business cashflow, it is going to be much easier to rank the lower search traffic terms first and therefore start getting some sales to generate more profit that can be channeled into the tougher key phrases. Rather than hoping to rank a tougher search term which usually takes longer and costs more, it makes sense to generate profits that can be applied towards further aggressive Internet marketing and ensure that your pool of marketing funds don’t dry up before getting higher search engine rankings. Once you reach the top ten rankings for the tier two or tier three search terms, your attempt to rank your website for tier one terms, jewelry and diamond jewelry or even gold jewelry, will be an easier climb to the top.

We’ll cover how to perform detailed keyword and competition analysis in part two of this article. In the meantime, here are some useful free online keyword tools for starters:
WordTracker Free Keyword Tool
Google Adwords External Keyword Tool
Overture Search Suggestion Tool

More search engine optimization resources are available on our SEO tools page.

Written by Anthony Yap, leading SEO expert for http://www.searchmarketingroi.com. Search Marketing ROI offers unique, customized online marketing programs and internet marketing consulting for online businesses. Gain search engine visibility with our search engine optimization or link building packages.

In my past article about Google bombing where I mentioned how current President George W. Bush ranked for the term “failure”, I discussed how this technique could be used to manipulate rankings and even hurt a competitor’s business or a person’s name. Matt Cutts, of Google, announced that they have changed the algorithm to reduce the effects of this problem. Reports have come in indicating that this tactic is no longer effective.
Since that time, web entrepreneurs have unnecessarily worried about this happening to them. While some businesses may have been affected by this malicious intent, for most businesses and individuals, the concern is largely unwarranted and over-exaggerated. To put things into perspective, link building is a tedious and time-consuming task. For someone to attempt to rank a site for a non-relevant term, it would have required lots of links. Links cost money (even time=money). The sheer number of links required to rank for generic terms would easily deter most people. That’s why link building is usually outsourced to SEO experts because companies understand the value of their time and focus instead on their core competencies.

I suspect a large part of the algorithm takes into account relevancy of keyword phrase to the site that it is pointing to.  Thus, a site selling electronics is not likely to rank well for sports equipment since none of the keywords and content on the entire site correspond in any way to the keyword being searched.
It is relieving though to know that this tactic cannot be used with much effectiveness anymore. Such malicious behavior online can seriously damage a person’s reputation. Companies getting bad publicity still have to deal with it and one of the ways is through effective online reputation management. One way is to “push” negative search results from showing up in the top 10 is to create separate sites built around the company getting the negative online publicity and rank these new sites separately. The effort should be combined with an effort to contain the problem and not ignore it hoping that it’ll go away. This can be accomplished by simply opening up a dialog with the other party to resolve any “sore” issues. Facing the problem and addressing any hurt caused will go a long way to establishing a company’s reputation and customer loyalty. Remember that it can take as little as one complaint to hurt a business.

A better more proactive approach rather than “complaints handling” is to manage your customers well.

Here are simple key points to take note on customer relationship management:

• Regularly ask for feedback. Sometimes, customers keep quiet about their dissatisfaction. These customers tend to be the ones that will stop doing business without telling you why and leave you wondering why the customer attrition rate is so high.
• Handle complaints when they occur immediately. Don’t hide under a rock and pray that it’ll disappear. Deal with it as soon as possible to avoid it escalating further. The sooner it’s handled, the less probable it’ll end up in some blog or forum post.
• Have a complaint handling procedure. Don’t leave anything to chance. Make sure everyone knows how to handle them and do training on it if you must.
• Get everyone (not just customer service) involved in the servicing of customers and clients in the business
• Track your customer complaints. Just like everything else in business, get it down to numbers and study the trend. If you’ve already put systems in place to handle it and it is still occurring at the same level, find out why. If it’s decreased, find out what aspect of your business made the difference.
• Maintain regular contact with your customer/client. Build rapport and trust with them so they’ll truly be honest with you.

Customer relationship management is really not rocket science as many books will lead you to believe. Often times, it’s just dealing with it face-to-face, heart-to-heart. Unfortunately, when businesses get big, they also get dumb. They become impersonal and faceless. Customers trying to resolve simple issues have to jump through hoops to get what they want.

Instead of thinking how much you can take from one customer, think about lifetime value. How many more transactions will this person have with you. How many friends and family will they send over as referrals. You’ll be on your way to a happier and more fulfilling business when you focus on taking care of the customer.

Link building is one of the major keys in ranking effectively with the search engines. Many techniques have evolved to capitalize on the hidden gold from attaining top rankings and getting free search engine traffic. Of them all, link baiting has to be one of the best methods to build incoming links.

Link baiting boosts the link popularity of a web site and has quickly become a very effective method of promoting web sites, by increasing their traffic and raising their search engine rankings. Due to the viral aspects of link baiting, inbound links increase very quickly without much additional input after it has been setup. Despite the fact that some consider it to be a black hat technique, link baiting is very popular these days and many top SEOs recommend it highly.

What is link baiting? It is simply a means of creating content that spreads like a virus on the internet. No, this isn’t the kind of virus that infects your computer. Rather, viral content writing involves material that is made freely available online such as tools, useful software, articles, news, gossip, humor, or controversy. The goal of this original content is to attract the interest of other web publishers or peers in the industry, who in return, will add links to their web pages because they like or consider the posted material to be interesting, original, or useful for their site visitors. The materials used in link baiting can provide a valuable information resource to their readers and visitors or it may be just rumor or gossip posted on the web site for the sole purpose of “hooking” as many links as possible.

This technique doesn’t involve requesting any links actively from other webmasters. Webmasters voluntarily link to your website. This is a safer technique when compared to reciprocal linking or purchasing off-topic links which can get a site owner in trouble. It represents the true value and meaning of the Internet.

The first thing everyone needs if they are going to ‘bait’ a link is of course a good ‘hook’. As mentioned before, there are various types of hooks, such as tools, software, news, attacks, humor, rumors, controversy, articles, stories and essays. There are “nice” hooks and “nasty” hooks. SEOs do not recommend the nasty hooks, as they may lead to unexpected consequences (such as litigation).

In order to prepare the bait with the highest probability of success, you have to know the current trends, latest news and any rumors on the web. Find the hottest, most intriguing topics or fill a void of a sufficiently large market that needs to be addressed.

After you decide on a theme and write the material, you must promote it. It’s easy to promote something if you are a well-known author or blogger. In case you aren’t, try to contact a professional and ask for his help. Never ask for a link because most people get annoyed by that. If the material being promoted has good content, it will most likely be noticed, read and linked automatically without having to “beg” anyone to link to your site. Something that “catches the eye” will spread all over the Internet like wildfire and attract lots of quality visitors to your website.

Link baiting has been revived somewhat lately due to the increase in popularity of blogs and RSS which provide people with an easy method of posting their material online.

The main disadvantage of utilizing link-bait methods is that they are usually time consuming and can be quite difficult to develop. In order to write interesting and original material for link baiting, a great deal of investment in time and effort on research and brainstorming are needed.

At first sight link baiting may seem like it’s not worth the effort because of the time and effort involved. Well-orchestrated link baiting, however enables any webmaster to generate a ton of free links from well-known sites and even top industry authority sites that would otherwise be expensive or otherwise impossible to obtain. It can save thousands of dollars in advertising costs to obtain these links and can potentially generate a lot of sales by attracting high quality traffic to your web site especially if your materials have good content. With many top SEOs recommending it, this phenomenon has grown into a more mainstream marketing vehicle for webmasters.