When I get ready to write an article or prepare a speech, the first thought I have is: What is the central message I want to communicate? Or more precisely what is the purpose of the message?

Without this central theme, the article or speech can go in all directions. There will not be a focused message that either informs the audience or helps them solve their problems. At best, this will be a casual conversation which is delivered without purpose and with no expected results in mind. This conversation does not add value to the listener nor the person delivering it.

Tip#1 for speaking and writing is to know the purpose of your message. And as we write around that central theme, there will be categories of related keywords that will be used without any conscious effort on our part. For example, if I write on the topic of “stress management”, related words that will pop up may include “stress management techniques”, “work stress management” as well as categories of keywords such as “burnt out”, “emotional fatigue”, “anxiety” and “depression” etc.

Where am I going with this? Bear with me.


When we want to research on a topic as we prepare for our speech or article we go to google and type in these keywords or related keywords, or even long tail keywords, right? (“Work related stress management” or “stress management for parents” may be the long tail keywords for my seed keyword “stress management”).


When we type in these keywords, google will come back and supply us with lists of relevant articles, videos, blog posts that use these keywords. We can then look through these relevant sources or content and do our research. It helps so we don’t have to pull ideas out of thin air.

So far so good?
So we use keywords to help us do research, write and publish our content (speech or articles).


Now if you are contemplating an online business or presence, and if you want to rank high on google (so that when others search using your keyword you come out on the top 1 or 2 listing), then you need to know what keywords to use to achieve that. If you want to be searchable or visible on google, bing or yahoo, you need to know what seed keyword, categories of keywords and long tail keywords to use so you are searchable online.

How do you do that? You can use google keyword tool, it is free but I find that rather complicated, time consuming and challenging. Lately, I have been using a software that is also free (you can download Market Samurai here) and it makes the whole process of research, finding content and publishing consent much more friendly and easier.

With this software, Market Samurai, you not only can do all the above in one place, you can also find out if the seed keyword you choose has high Search Engine Optimization values, reasonable search traffic or whether this is a keyword that will bring your people who are willing and ready to pay you money for the products or services you sell at your site. Pretty cool huh?

I have avoided doing keyword research for the longest time although I know how important it is. It was over my head and I was quite lost until I tried using Market Samurai, the friendly yet super duper keyword analysis software. I find myself making progress in this area and not fearing keyword research.

You can check it out, it is free to download. There is also a paid version that comes with a suite of other features but if you do not need the other modules, you can keep Keyword Research for free.

Without using the correct keyword your message will go nowhere; there is no focus and you will be lucky to rank anywhere on search engine results.

So in summary, finding and using the correct keyword(s) for your content or online presence is basic and paramount. Get this wrong and we will not be able to add value to others or ourselves. We can be writing and posting but there will be little or no visitors/traffic if we do not rank high on the search engines. That translates into a waste of time, effort and money, lots of frustration and with nothing much accomplished.

There are lots of video tutorials to guide you through what Keyword Research is. If you like to give this a try just click on the banner below to download it Any online work will benefit from doing some basi keyword research!

Original article published at Abundant Lives Coaching.

 
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