Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Let’s pretend there are three words in the English language (ok, just for search terms). The three words are flowers, florist, and replica.

Let us start this exercise with the following facts.
“Flower” is highly used by competition as a “paid” search term.
“Flower” is highly used in searches by net users.

“Florist” is highly used by competition as a “paid” search term.
“Florist” is seldom used in searches by net users.

“Replica” is highly used by competition as a “paid” search term.
“Replica” is highly used in searches by net users.

In order to be effective, should  copy use frequently used keywords? Does one use words less commonly used by competition? If so, don’t we then end up with a less-likely possibility of being searched by net users? If we do compete for the best usages (sentence structure) of the keyword, don’t we then end up with a less-likely possibility of appearing in the top of search engine ranks?

My problem is… By using less searched phrases like “florist” I get less people looking at the site of my imitation flowers. I`m also not a florist. By using a commonly used phrase like "flower and replica” I have the potential of more people searching the phrase, but more competition to get the search engine to list me near the top of the search results.

In the past I had been trying to coin the term earthborn & handmade. If you type “earthborn handmade” into nearly any search engine, you will find some connection to Elusive Treasures. But I understand, if no one’s searching for that phrase, what’s the point? Please tell me what you think about this situation regarding keyword selection.

I hope someone can clarify the strategy for me.



-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Vincent,

What is the search status of words such as:

imitation flowers; artificial flowers; decorative flowers; fake flowers

Just wondering how these terms rate in your research.

R@

-------------------------

Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

R@... I think you are talking about these stats…

The following is what I found with possible keywords for the wood flowers.

This information was gathered using https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Keyword    imitation
Competition    highest
Search Volume    medium

Keyword    replica
Competition    highest
Search Volume    medium

Keyword    flower
Competition    highest
Search Volume    fairly high

Keyword    decorative
Competition    highest
Search Volume    average

This information was gathered using http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Measuring is searches during the month of October. Single word searches provided no usable results. Therefore the word in the parenthesis was added to achieve more helpful results.

Keyword    imitation (flower)
Search Volume    40 times

Keyword    replica (flower)
Search Volume    0 times

Keyword    flower (artificial)
Search Volume    6904 times

Keyword    decorative (flower)
Search Volume    293 times

Is this what you are asking for R@?


-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Hi,

First of all I went to your site and your flowers are absolutely beautiful. 

I would never use the terms earthborn or handmade when searching for flowers.  Personally, if I were looking to buy I would type in very specific keywords like artificial magnolia or silk magnolia (not knowing about wood flowers) because I want to buy Magnolias. In my experience, I have found the more specific the keyword phrase, the more targeted traffic I recieve more likely to turn into customers.  I might suggest using the term silk alternative Magnolia.  Your sight should show up for the person who is looking for silk flowers because most people are familiar with silk and don`t know there is wood.  You are right if you stay as general as flower or florist you will be buried.  But then you said there were only flower, florist and replica...

Good luck,

Vicki 

onthebeach... Yes. I think you get my point exactly. I wouldn`t search earthborn & handmade when wanting to find artificial flowers for my home or office. Thus, the question. What is the best thing to do when all your keywords are highly competitive and including the keywords not often used.

Is the idea to use a highly used keyword and hope the search engines list you as a quality link based on other SEO criteria?


-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Vincent - thanks for the additional info. Another question.

Do you know the top 100 - 200 search words/terms visitors are now using to find your site? Your web stats should show you these. If so, can you share some of these?

Thanks - R@

-------------------------

Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

Vincent,

I took a look at your source code on your home page and noticed that you don`t use any commas inbetween your key words. Maybe this is not a big deal but I was taught there must be commas otherwise the robots see these words as one phrase or word. Another suggestion - pick a word or words like silk flowers (or one you think is better) and plug it into the beginning of your meta key word list and test that for a month or so - see if you notice any change in hits or visits to certain pages.

Also, I checked your source on your "flower decor" page and the "wood flower" page and the meta keyword description was "contact elusive teasures san jose california". Shouldn`t you have speicfic key words on these pages and specific key words on all of the different pages?

I would do these meta key word changes on every page and then track results for at least a month. I think you`ll notice a difference.

R@

PS - one more thought. Look at all of your page titles. I believe you can do a better job of describing each page - the title page description helps in searches, too.

-------------------------

Richard Arnold · Key Concept Writers · Business Communication: The "Key" To Success· Law of Attraction Blog · Life Ain`t Brain Surgery Blog

In addition to all of the great comments above, these should help give you an idea as to how to use the keywords in your content.

When u click the link below, you`ll see 3 video links at the extreme top of the page, click each one and watch. They do a lot of talking but the information they drop is priceless. You should be able to put the pieces together after you watch the video.

http://www.stomperblog.com/

Also, download this free keyword guide from Word Traker, it breaks this stuff down in easy-to-understand terms:

http://wordtracker.com/keyword-research-guide.pdf

None of the links above are affiliate links --- but they`re full of information

-------------------------

Website Startup Coach: Step-by-Step Coaching to Help You Build a Profitable Business Online!

Keycon… good catch! I am actually working on updating the meta tags and such. I am also in the beginning stages of a rewrite of the content. I am writing more keyword specific material and adding call to actions and stuff.

Anyway, here’s the keyword information I could find. People are getting to elusivetreasures.com using the following words in the search engines…

  26        4.60%        bottles  
  22        3.89%        decorative  
  22        3.89%        flower  
  18        3.19%        wall  
  18        3.19%        glass  
  15        2.65%        plants  
  14        2.48%        spider  
  14        2.48%        treasures  
  13        2.30%        elusive  
  12        2.12%        plant  
  12        2.12%        vases  
  11        1.95%        egyptian  
  10        1.77%        art  
  10        1.77%        decor  
  9        1.59%        san  
  9        1.59%        jose  
  7        1.24%        lotus  
  7        1.24%        painting  
  7        1.24%        wood  
  6        1.06%        crossbow  
  6        1.06%        african  
  5        0.88%        starters  
  5        0.88%        bamboo  
  5        0.88%        mk45  
  5        0.88%        flowers  
  5        0.88%        quanza  
  5        0.88%        pottery  
  5        0.88%        live  
  5        0.88%        handmade  
  4        0.71%        sculpture  
  4        0.71%        artisans  
  4        0.71%        papyrus  
  4        0.71%        holiday  
  4        0.71%        for  
  4        0.71%        egypt  
  4        0.71%        pod  
  3        0.53%        outdoor  
  3        0.53%        tutankhamun  
  3        0.53%        and  
  3        0.53%        seed  
  3        0.53%        jerky  
  3        0.53%        invitation  
  3        0.53%        50lb  
  3        0.53%        starter  
  3        0.53%        magnolia  
  3        0.53%        wooden  
  3        0.53%        information  
  3        0.53%        indoor  
  2        0.35%        fly  
  2        0.35%        stone  
  2        0.35%        cotta

As I have been updating things to be more SEO`zed, I have notice a small amount of additional traffic. After these SEO updates, I will be implimenting some marketing campaigns. I should be able to measure which campaign works best.


-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

cartess3... thank you, I will definately look into the information you have provided. 

-------------------------

Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words