Starting a Business | SEO & Google

Keyword Research

Research suggests that only 7% of websites employ any search engine optimisation whatsoever. Get this right and you're on your way to fame and fortune...

Finding key phrases to attract potential customers is critical. Most businesses that decide to trade on the Internet establish themselves first offline. They have created a brand and they try to replicate that brand online. But their brand is non-transferable, as is. You have to work on building both an offline and an online presence.

Far too specific, or not...

If you ask Marlene, who owns the domain name www.marlenescakes.co.uk, where she ranks on Google, the chances are she'll say number 1. But she'll be referring to searches conducted containing the keywords 'marlene' and 'cakes' - and this is not how people search. No one knows Marlene, so, in need of some cake, they will search for 'cake' or 'wedding cake' or 'birthday cake, Manchester ', etc. Marlene and her site do not exist, as far as the search engines are concerned, because she hasn't optimised her site to this level. Users will be directed to the sites that have capitalised on the generic search terms (or keywords) and the site that appears in the search results will gain the customer, even though, theoretically, they might be on the other side of the world. Marlene may well have the most appropriate offering, but if users can't find her, the site may as well not be there.

Finding the most appropriate key phrases

It's all very well having a sexy business name such as 'Orion Services' but the name itself means nothing. Are you a scientific agency dealing with the mapping of the stars, a washing-machine repairer or a business consultancy? Who knows? Your potential customer certainly doesn't know, and no amount of searching on Google is likely to find you. Your domain name should incorporate your key deliverables. If you're a guest house on the Isle of Lewis, then include some of those terms in your domain name. I used to sell wooden toys online and the business was called Toytopia - a clever name simply because it incorporated the keyword that defined the product. If you provide management training it's no good calling yourself Atlantis Ltd; far better to be Management- Trainer.co.uk. These are the sort of phrases that UK Internet users employ, so work it to your advantage.

Here's an idea for you

Within your web browser, open your website and view its source code to see your own meta keywords (in some versions of Internet Explorer, for example, you do this by clicking on 'view' and then 'source'). Use the same technique to view your competitors' pages and those of any other websites that interest you. Chances are you'll soon learn what works, and what doesn't. You'll see what techniques your competitors are employing and what can be copied across to your site - and all this critical information is available for free!


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