Week of September 13, 2013 - Keywords, The Key to Increasing Your Audience

By Joan Whetzel

 

Keywords, roughly defined, are main words people use to hunt for specific topics and information on the internet. Using these keywords to help you write your online content can reward you with increased readership – as long as your writing is good.

 

There’s No Replacement for Good Thinking and Writing

The best writing is cultivated by thorough research as well as careful analysis of your subject matter. No amount of keyword use can substitute for doing your homework, organizing your information, and self-editing. The combination of keywords and good research and writing will draw in your audience and keep them coming back for more. The trick with keywords, is in predicting which ones most readers are like to use when hunting for information that you provide in your online content, and not overusing them.

 

Why Predict the Best Keywords?

1.                  You’ll beat out the competition for readership.

2.                  More readers, combined with good research and writing, will set you up as an expert in your field, or at the very least, the go to writer when it comes to informative articles.

3.                  Your existing readers will recommend your writing to others, thereby increasing your readership further,  because the writing is good and because the information was easy to find since you chose the right keywords.

4.                  You’ll build your reputation as a credible source for good information.

 

Keyword Selection Tools

Google has a keyword selection tool that is quite useful for helping writers select keywords for the articles and online content that they’re working on. A lot of writers use these tools, and they’re great for helping to find the best keywords. The problem is that these sites are providing are not only providing the best keywords to you, they’re providing them to everyone else as well. My best suggestion is to use them at first, to get an idea of what keywords readers are using to hunt for your information. But once you start getting the hang of it, start relying on your own best judgment.

 

Other People’s Keywords

In your own searches for information, look closely to see if others leave a list of their own keywords,. The ones they used to do their research and the keywords they used to write their own articles and online content. Also ask people you know to make a list of keywords they’d use to hunt for the topics you’re writing about. Check out social media sites for the keywords they’re users work with. What are the latest buzzwords surrounding your topic? They make for good keywords, at least as long as the buzzwords are hot. Once they cool down, you might need to change them out for newer keywords.

 

Common Sense

Common sense will suggest the keywords that are most relevant to the topic you’re writing on. Once you’re identified your audience, use their everyday vernacular to help you choose keywords. A 6^th grader will choose different keywords to search for information than a 10^th grader, than his or her parents, or even someone in their 80s.

 

Keywords, generally speaking, are best chosen before you begin writing, that way you’ll have a list of topic-related keywords to incorporate into your writing. Once you get the hang of selecting topic-related keywords, you’ll probably find yourself, keeping a running catalog in your head. The trick, then, becomes using the keywords naturally, so they become part of the writing, like they belong there. Make sure to use at least one of the keywords in the title and the summary used to draw audiences to your writing. That way your reader’s will know, up front, that they’re in the right place.

 

By all means use keywords. Just be careful how you choose them, and how you use them.