Spring is coming – so it’s time to freshen up your website by once again choosing keywords for your site and updating your web page content.

When was the last time that you conducted keyword research on your site? If the answer is a year – or more – then it’s definitely time to repeat the process. First, rerun all the keyphrases that you’ve been using. (The Search Guru provides links to terrific free keyword research tool options.)

What changes do you notice in your keyword research results? Why do you think those changes are occurring? What do they mean to your business?

For example, perhaps you’ve been featuring the luxury version of your product, because keyword research had previously indicated that there was significant interest in that product line. Perhaps, in today’s more uncertain economy, fewer people are searching for the luxury version of your product – but there is much stronger search traffic now on another product line of yours. How will this change your business – and search – strategies?

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What if there was a free keyword research tool that let you find out what questions people had about your areas of expertise? Well, there is!

Wordtracker provides a free keyword research tool called Keyword Questions that is quick and easy to use. You simply enter a phrase and, in return, you get a list of questions that people have asked about that phrase.

Let’s say that you’re an accountant. This time of year, people are starting to organize material for their income taxes and are looking for helpful information online. If they find the information that they need on your site – in other words, if they find the answers to their questions – then you’ve got an excellent opportunity to also sell them on your services.

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How “green” is your site? Your keywords’ supply and demand changes and your site should too.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is a mantra for those who are environmentally aware. But it should be a mantra for those who do SEO as well. When you check a website for keywords, you should also occasionally recheck the old keywords.

Knowing how to pick keywords for a site is important, but you need to make sure that those keywords remain useful to your site. Your sites’ keywords supply and demand can rise and fall in relation to trends and seasonal changes. The ideal amount of keywords found in summer may not be as effective in winter or if you check a website for keywords one year, a year later they may not be as effective.
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You’re busy at work and haven’t had time to find the best keywords to improve search engine results for your company’s website.

Maybe your company sells excellent software specifically created for accountants. One key benefit is that it helps accountants in multiple areas of their job. So, throughout your website, you talk about your “seamless business applications for accountants.”

You’re frustrated, though, because you aren’t getting enough online traffic and nowhere near enough sales. But, you’re sure that the right customers are out there! Somewhere…

You are not ranking well for particular keywords that your customer uses.

Let’s imagine your ideal customer. He’s searching Google; keyphrases he uses are what he thinks will find the right accounting software.
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Increase targeted web site traffic by imagining yourself at the keyboards of your customers.

Let’s say that you sell shoes. You should conduct keyword research to determine if potential buyers search by:

• Brand name (Nike or Birkenstock),
• Price (affordable designer shoes),
• Demographics (shoes for teens),
• Geography (shoe stores in Michigan) and / or
• Product (athletic shoes or matching shoes and handbags).

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