Razor Thin Findability: How to Do Keyword Research Right!

By Heather Lutze, CEO
Findability Consulting & Speaking

Often when I go out for an internal-team training or a keynote presentation, I get complaints from attendees along the lines of, “SEO people are snake oil salesman,” “I’ve spent so much on SEO with no results!” and “My marketing team cannot agree with my IT Team—therefore we just are stalled on SEO.”

Any of these scenarios sound familiar?

I hear your frustration; I’ve heard it time and time again. The line between being “lost” and “found” on the internet is razor thin. If you want to make SEO work you have to evolve as a leader in your organization.

Remember when you didn’t have a cell phone? I even remember the “brick” telephones with the battery backpacks. Ok, now I’m dating myself. But we are, in most cases, “digital immigrants.” We didn’t grow up in today’s technological world, cell phone in our hands. We didn’t learn to text at a young age, and we certainly didn’t grow up with Social Media. But we absolutely need to master these things now, or risk becoming as extinct as the dodo.

So the key to making SEO work for your organization lies in understanding the components of SEO—what I call “Findability.” Keyword domination online is based solely on increased traffic!

“Ok great,” you say, “and how do I get that, again?”

Simply follow this roadmap, to take you from lost to found:

1) LOST: You realize you are lost on the internet – No Findability. Your mom can’t even find your website. Sigh . . .

2) DISCOVERY: Do your customer discovery or keyword phrase discovery online. What keywords do my target searchers use? How are they looking for my type of business?

3) OPTIMIZE: Rewrite or add to your website’s content, page titles, descriptions, meta-descriptions, etc., optimizing for those key search phrases.

4) FOUND: Google easily and efficiently matches your site with searchers using those keyword phrases and you start being found online. Hallelujah!

5) CONVERT: You start converting search traffic into action on your site and $$ in your bank account. Double hallelujah!

6) DOMINATE: Finally, you now dominate search results under a small number of specific and vital keyword phrases. Everyone can find you . . . raise a glass of bubbly!

Sounds easy, doesn’t it!

Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. As the leader in your organization, you must figure out the roadmap for success, but leave the tactical implementation to your SEO firm or your internal teams.

This can be challenging when you’re still a “digital immigrant,” not yet a full-fledged citizen in the world of geeks, techno talk and SEO tactics. How can you assess the use of money, time and resources for a topic you know nothing about? Well, read on . . .

After a recent meeting in LA, I spoke with a great CEO group, comprised of some of the best in their respective industries—florists, uniforms, health food and many others.  In talking with them, I came across an excellent example of razor thin Findability.

Now, those of you who know me know that my “crack” is the Google Keyword tool (and other keyword tools that help companies go from “lost” to “found” on the internet). But it’s not just about Findability, it’s about the right kind of Findability, targeted to customers who are ready buy when they get to your site.

A large, international floral business within this CEO group called themselves wholesale florists—that was their main keyword phrase.

When I looked deeper into how they see their company and what they do, it was very clear to me that they were missing a large part of their searching audience by calling themselves only “wholesale florists.”

Let me explain; it will be even more helpful if you follow along.

• Go to Google.com and type “keyword tool” into the search box.
• Click on the first organic listing that shows up
• This takes you to the Adwords Keyword Tool which is often used for Pay Per Click Advertising, but I recommend it for “customer connection” research, via keywords.

(With the floral company, I actually conducted a keyword brainstorming session. You can find out how to do this same brainstorming in Chapter 6 of my book the Findability Formula.)

Take a look at some of the keywords that came up from our session:

Look at the difference between the keyword wholesale florist, with 60,500 searches per month and the term wholesale flowers, which gets much more—110,000 searches per month. This customer already dominated under wholesale florist, that’s what got them to where they are today. But they rank nowhere on the search results page for wholesale flowers, which is an even bigger search term—and they are a wholesale flower company at heart!

As a company, it’s all too easy to flatline in your site’s traffic. To grow their business, this client needs to optimize for Findability using the keywords “wholesale flowers.” I’d recommend that they also incorporate the phrase “bulk flowers” (with 27,100 searches a month) as well. Why not?

What important search terms is your website missing out on?

Heather Lutze

Author, Internet Marketing Speaker, Trainer and Consultant