Picture taken by Hanna at the Zoo
While I don’t think keywords are the most important thing for a blog like this I do think it’s always smart to add another possible traffic stream for you blog. With some quick and easy keyword research you can include Google and the other search engines to the possible ways you can get traffic to your site.
We are not going to start our work with keywords. We’re going to start our work, our writing, in our imaginations, in forums ~ where people who talk about your topic hang out, at twitter, where your market is talking. We’re going to start our work there. This is really important because that’s where you get IDEAS. It’s where you connect, with your market, their problems, their confusion, their issues ~ and you get to help them figure it all out.
Let’s walk through this whole thing with an example.
Last week Hanna and I went to this “new” interactive wildlife park in our area. We had a lot of fun. I’m one of those parents who thinks reading the signs and LEARNING is part of going to the zoo. Luckily my kiddo is one of those kids who likes to learn at the zoo. 
She was particularly interested in where each animal lived that day. Anyway… when I got home I remembered one time we’d gone to the botanical gardens and they had bingo cards for the little kids. The cards had pictures of things they would find throughout the gardens, they had to find them and cross them off as they did.
That was our best trip to Botanica EVER! Hanna had a blast looking for things and crossing things off. I thought that would be a lot of fun to do when we go to the zoo next time. Well, like with most ideas I have, I thought, what a great blog post that would make.
I did a little looking around and realized the bingo game probably wasn’t the only zoo game around, so I did a little digging to see what people were looking for.
I opened micro niche finder, and set it to broad match. I searched for zoo games just to see what would come up.
Apparently there are some zoo related computer games 
but that’s not what I am looking for this time. (But I did make a note to check it out and put it on the list of possible future topics) I looked through the options and here’s a few I found that I thought would work for my blog post.
Animals zoo games
Games for Zoo (which I would add a the into)
cool zoo games
free zoo games
kids zoo games
make your own zoo games
zoo games to play
That was just from doing a quick look and looking for something that related to what I was really going to write about ~ which is NOT about a computer game. Some of the keywords had great search volume, but you could tell they were really talking about online games. If I chose one of those I might get traffic, but it wouldn’t be what they were really looking for so they probably wouldn’t read the whole thing and they most probably wouldn’t come back again.
You always want to choose titles and keywords for your posts that are congruent to your content. If your title doesn’t match your content it doesn’t matter how many people stop by your site to look, they won’t stay and they won’t convert to sales. It’s better to find a keyword that is an exact match to what you’re talking about even if it has minimal search volume ~ it will still result in more sales than a high search volume keyword that isn’t relevant.
So I spent literally 1 minute doing this part. Do not get obsessive ~ we are again, just looking for the semantics of how people are looking for what you’re talking about. I didn’t check competition ~ this is a long term prospect and at some point your site will have the authority to rank for anything.
I will probably pick the keyword “zoo games to play” and my title will look something like Zoo Games to Play on Your Next Zoo Adventure or Trip to the Zoo or something like that.
This doesn’t need to be hard, nor do you need to make it complicated. You can use micro niche finder, or the free google adwords tool, or any other piece of keyword research equipment you have. The tools don’t matter, you just want to make sure you’re using words that other people are using when they search your topic.
When I went to write this post I was really thinking of calling it zoo bingo. Which actually isn’t a bad keyword. It has a search volume of 590. I could still do that post ~ or I could turn the zoo games to play keyword into a series and do 3 posts on different zoo games to play ~ using zoo bingo as one. I could even pull in that computer game (which has a million keywords for it) and talk about zoo games they can play at home if you can’t go to the zoo one day.
There are infinite possible ways to do this… I hope I’m starting to make that clear. There’s no right or wrong. There is no right way to do this. It’s whatever makes you feel good.
In fact, if you decide not to use any keyword research for some posts ~ hey that’s ok too. Some days I forget to do it, and I still get traffic (it just doesn’t come from Google) and in the beginning it WON’T be coming from Google anyway. It’s smart to use all the resources you have available to you, and that includes Google, and some keyword research, but it’s not going to “wreck” your blog if you don’t do it. There’s a whole universe of bloggers out there who know nothing of SEO and kw research who are doing fine. Yes, really.
So today is the day. If you haven’t written any content yet, it’s time to write and publish your first post. You can just take a look at your editorial calendar, see what you’ve written down you want to talk about. Go check out the way other people are searching for that information and use that keyword in your title. (You can even leave the title til last if it’s overwhelming for you.) Just write like I called you up and said “Hey… can you tell me more about (insert your topic here), I’d really like to know more about it” When you’ve got the post done you can go to the search tools and find the keywords you want to use, but write it.
Can’t wait to see your posts! When you get your post written make sure you come back and leave a comment. You can use the url field for your homepage or the post. Commentluv will pick up your last post so it’s up to you. Let’s take some time to read some blog posts and do a little promoting for the posts we love :) Stumbles, tweets, fb mentions, bookmarking. All great ways to help each other out.
If you have any questions makes sure you leave those in the comments section as well.
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I srill use Google Insights as well to check how powerful a keyword phrase is against one I already know gets good traffic.
I sill use Google Insights as well to check how powerful a keyword phrase is against one I already know gets good traffic. Things move very quickly in this world and it can be hard to keep up to date sometimes!
Jackelyn´s last [type] ..dating sites
I really enjoyed your relaxed approach to providing good information to your followers. I always find a little gem in there that I hadn’t thought about… |
hunterX0506´s last [type] ..bike games online
I sill use Google Insights as well to check how powerful a keyword phrase is against one I already know gets good traffic. Things move very quickly in this world and it can be hard to keep up to date sometimes!
Haidie´s last [type] ..Home Remedies For Yeast Infection
Excellent! love your site! good article. What you’re basically describing is how to optimize your posts for long tail SEO effects! Thanks for sharing..
Janah´s last [type] ..movies to watch for free online
What a great tips. Thank you for sharing.
Ruthie´s last [type] ..games online
so far i am working and use the SEO so far it is good.but for now i am busy of searching a domain then i can start work.
Gail´s last [type] ..online dating websites
I know after many many years of thinking there’s a right way to do everything it can be very overwhelming. It’s so much more fun and easy to let it flow and have fun doing it.
anyway thank you so much for sharing it.
Champsey´s last [type] ..watch movies for free online
i have been doing that with my title, happy to know I am on the right track. I have been doing that also with my signature links. Hope it’s wise also.
juddann´s last [type] ..- DATING ADVICE
Your point is really relevant, I always think on title when I’m posting an article. But I think that the page doesn’t have to be too much optimized. Some webmaster use title, content, url … Few keyword in the content the title for sure and you are good
!
Robin@Vente privee´s last [type] ..Classement – ventes privées spécialisés -
Great post, overall I really enjoyed reading this one, you made some really good points that I found this article to be particularly interesting and entertaining. You displayed some great examples of how to find and target some of the longer tail search terms, I especially liked the Zoo example.
Whitney Segura´s last [type] ..Tips for Building Back Links to Blogs with Comment Kahuna
[...] This post was Twitted by Sherly Joyce [...]
Hey Jackie, you’ve made some really good points. I do similar things to you with my blogs in that I try to do a little keyword research (just enough and no more) to help get more traffic where possible. I also do this when I’m writing articles for the likes of EzineArticles…by doing 5 minutes of keyword research I can sometimes create top ranking articles and drive even more traffic to my website as well as benefit from a couple of backlinks
Clair @ Alice in Wonderland Costume´s last [type] ..About Us
@Jackie:
It’s a good point that optimizing should be aimed at phrases that has a certain search volume. Balancing this up against phrases that doesn’t have too much competetion, could be the road to success!
One should always carry out the necessary keyword research prior to publishing a blog article, many do not however.
When done correctly and with the right planning, you can often drive tons more targeted traffic to your website.
When I am creating a blog post I usually think that the title is the keyword and I haven’t tried to optimize my blog post, I just ping my new blog post and submit it to social bookmarking sites like digg, stumble upon, delicious, newsvine etc. After a few weeks when I search the title of my blog post, it shows high ranking on search engines.
.-= jhoy@outrageous marketing´s last blog ..How To Storyboard Your Way To Business Success =-.
Right… but if you don’t do a little research on your title/keyword to see if it’s got some search volume it doesn’t do you any good even if it does come up #1. Having your site rank for keywords that no one looks for doesn’t bring you any traffic.
Hey, great post. I also use Micro Niche Finder and find it to be really effective in identifying keywords to target. I spend a bit of time on my blog post titles but not too much…I just focus on writing a high quality article first and foremost. If I remember correctly, the maximum number of character Google shows in the title bar of the search results page is 65, so I make my titles 65 characters or less
.-= Tim @ Green Hornet Costumes´s last blog ..About Us =-.
I agree that choosing the right keyword will enable us to gain quality traffic to our website, sometimes the competition makes it harder for us to make the right choice in keywords, but after reading this blog post you have informed us well on how to make the right keyword choosing. Thanks!
.-= diocelin@website design münchen´s last blog ..XT Commerce Abonnement Modul =-.
You have posted some really helpful comments here. I think you are right to say, do not get too bogged down in all the detail, when looking for key words. As you say a great time saver is micro niche finder which I use all the time. I sill use Google Insights as well to check how powerful a keyword phrase is against one I already know gets good traffic. Things move very quickly in this world and it can be hard to keep up to date sometimes!
.-= Judith @ Elephant Costume´s last blog ..Disclaimer =-.
Hey Jackie, I love your site! Good article. What you’re basically describing is how to optimize your posts for long tail SEO effects!
I’m using Google Adwords Keyword Tool for this, as well as Google SK tools. Which is still in beta. Check it out though at http://www.google.com/sktool/. You can get TONS of results with these tools!
Did you know about this one?
You don’t have to set them up. They come from someone else linking to your post from somewhere else. You can see one on this post if you scroll down. If you click the link under the trackbacks and pingbacks section and scroll down you’ll see a link to this post under the “related articles by zemanta” area.
When that popped up I got an email that I had a pingback. It was then up to me to decide if I wanted it to show up on my blog. I could have deleted it and it wouldn’t have shown up on this post (giving them a link back to THEIR site from mine). I usually leave them if there is real content and they haven’t stolen my entire post lol.
Even if I had deleted the pingback my link would still be on that site ~ I just wouldn’t be giving that blog a link from my site. (you should think about how easy it was for that guy to get a link from my blog doing that lol, while not everyone publishes pingbacks ~ many do.)
Hi Jackie I love the information that you provide. it always seems to be just what I am looking for. One thing that I am having a hard time with are trackbacks. I understand what the do but can’t figure out how to set them up.
It won’t make or break the whole site but it could very well make or break whether that post gets picked up and gets traffic. If you don’t use keywords ~ then how is the search engine supposed to know what to rank your post for? The title tag is one of the most important elements in SEO ~ if you want to get traffic from the search engines ~ then you really need to consider the keywords for your title.
I just wonder whether a mere keyword in the Title text can make or mar the chances of a website on the net?
@Prime Travel ~ this blog uses the keywordluv plugin ~ you can use your name and then @yourkeywords. Then I can address you as a human being and not prime travel.
Anyway… before you spend a ton of time worrying about the title keyword I suggest you go in and change your permalink setting to show your post title in the url. Post 149 does absolutely NOTHING for you and getting traffic to your site. More tutorials on this here: http://internetmarketingformommies.com/choosing-your-blog-settings-and-theme/
Much of out time is spent on selection of relevant keywords and keywords for the Title Text. Your post has proved invaluable to rethink this whole issue.
.-= Prime Travel´s last blog ..HANOI-HALONG BAY-HANOI 2/3 days. =-.
Hi Theresa,
Remember that great resource the articles page.
There you will find posts on how to install your theme ~ it’s under build a blog section.
I just wrote a post last week that is a step by step tutorial of how to change the header logo image in a theme. http://internetmarketingformommies.com/header-image/
Hi Jackie,
Finding the perfect title for a blog is more involved than finding a name for your first born !!! Ran every “cute” name that I could via Google and came up with the above title all the other names were taken. Alas !! just a quick question: Do you happen to have a video explaining how to open and upload files into the cpanel for “WP” I have HostGator and while I did like the theme Vigilance I had to change it because I could not figure out how to remove the logo that came with the Free Theme. So I settled for the one that I am using now. Which unfortunately only has the left sidebar..I also noticed that there are very few themes that offer 3 columns with both sidebars on One side.
.-= Theresa@UniqueIdealGifts´s last blog ..Bodyblade for Health =-.
For best SEO it should be toward the beginning ~ AND it doesn’t really matter on this type of site. You could do as I have done in this post and use your kw first and then ask a question or make a statement. That’s what I usually do when they are difficult to fit in normally.
Are you supposed to put the KW(s) as close to the front or does it matter?
If yes, then I have issues, lol. Writing for the readers first as I do, I title as often as possible in the form of a question…like moths to a flame, I tell ya. But I don’t think it lends itself well to keywording properly.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Would You Like a FREE Banner Ad Position? =-.
Thank you Jackie for the challenge. It has inspired to better and follow your step by step method.
Thank you for these great tips. I always struggle with keywords and spend far too long stressing over catchy titles.
.-= Mark´s last blog ..5 Golden Rules of Forum Marketing =-.
Jackie,
I really enjoyed your relaxed approach to providing good information to your followers. I always find a little gem in there that I hadn’t thought about…
“In this last post the way you say: “Just write like I called you up and said “Hey… can you tell me more about (insert your topic here), I’d really like to know more about it” When you’ve got the post done you can go to the search tools and find the keywords you want to use, but write it.”
That is a good recipe for putting me in a relaxed mood about writing
that post and then looking for some keywords… it takes off the
pressure!
Thank you
.-= Fran@boomersmakemoney´s last blog ..The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work =-.
Glad I could help. I know after many many years of thinking there’s a “right” way to do everything it can be very overwhelming. It’s so much more fun (and easy) to let it flow and have fun doing it.
(it’s more profitable too ~ the difference in energy is palpable and people can feel it when they read your posts).
Hi Jackie! As always I love your simple approach to everything. Zoo games sounds like such a fun post topic!
.-= Tina@RideOnToys´s last blog ..Spring Has Sprung And Patience Is A Virtue! =-.
OK! I’m way behind you, but I’m behind you all the way. I’m just going to buy my domain name and get things started, but I’ll catch up with you soon. Thanks so much for being the kick in the butt that I need.
.-= Kelly @ What We’re Eating (and More!)´s last blog ..Free Pastry at Starbucks! =-.
You’re never behind. This is an ongoing project. Wherever you are is just right. Just keep moving forward.
Nice post Julie. I tweeted it for you. Do you have your tweetmeme settings set so it does the @floorance in your retweet ~ just asking because it didn’t show up when I tweeted it just now. You can find that in the dashboard under settings -> tweetmeme just put your twitter id in there where it asks for it.
DOH! I had it set up but didn’t put in my Twitter ID
Thanks for catching that (and for the tweet 
)
.-= Julie´s last blog ..Finding Joy In The Journey =-.
Jackie – these are awesome tips! I took your advice and did this with my post for today. Not a HUGE search volume – but certainly focused!
.-= Julie´s last blog ..Finding Joy In The Journey =-.