Are keywords clouding your vision?
June 6th, 2009 by Nick
The world is constantly evolving to keep up with the times. Technology has taken off in the last century and where we once couldn’t imagine a life with it, we now cannot live without it. That includes the wonder of the internet. Cyberspace and all that it entails has changed our lives irreversibly and it will continue to do so. You can either focus on the negative impact it is having on people’s lives or you can see the glass as half full and look at the benefits instead. The benefits are far less depressing and so much more rewarding.
SEO is hard work
Search engine optimization has introduced the concept of using keywords to target a spot in the search rankings. You live by keywords, you swear by them and you build your entire website upon them. But are keywords and key phrases really all that? Yes they are. However, because you’ve stuck some keywords into your SEO copy doesn’t get you off the hook yet. As everyone knows, the internet evolves to keep up with changing times and trends. Your target market dictates which keywords you use and they dictate that you need to change too.
SEO is not child’s play and you cannot expect to sit back and do nothing once you have made the initial effort. In fact you will never be able to stop making an effort because the crawlers and spiders see your content as something new each time you tweak it a little. Your audience will change the keywords they are using to search and so you too will have to change. You need to change according to what is popular and what your target market wants.
Keywords aren’t everything
Yes, your target market wants to find the keywords they are looking for in your SEO copy, but that is not all they want. They are not simply looking for keywords; they are looking for customer service, the feeling of being valued and appreciation. Next time you focus solely on your keywords look at the rest of your copy as well. Read it from a prospect’s point of view and see if you like it.
If you don’t, how can you expect your customers and prospects to fall head over heels for it? You can’t. SEO is aimed at both your human as well as your crawler traffic. Strike a balance and don’t neglect either.
Learn from your own experiences
Have you ever gone to a store and left feeling as though you were an inconvenience? Perhaps you went to the counter to pay for your goods, but needed some extra items from the kiosk as well, but the cashier radiated frustration at having to go the extra mile for you. You probably don’t want to go back there again and your prospects feel the same way.
If that cashier had asked you if you wanted anything else with your shopping you would have felt welcome. You would have felt valued and that is exactly how your copy must make your prospects feel. Change your keywords and focus on them to please the spiders, but never neglect to make your customers feel that you are catering to their needs.
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The reference to being in a store and not feeling welcome struck home. We purchased a new HVAC unit some years back and had annual servicing issues with the supplying installing company. We contacted the manufacturer and found another dealer who would honor the warranty work, if required. They have proven to be reliable and reasonable. Low and behold, comes a recession, and the original company contacts us after several years of non-contact. And, they expect us to jump back into their laps! What will happen when they get busy again? We’ll probably be forgotten once more.