Maximizing The Value Of Keyword Research: Complete Guide For eLearning Marketers

Maximizing The Value Of Keyword Research: Complete Guide For eLearning Marketers
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Summary: The use of keywords or keyword phrases ensures that you establish the main topic for each page of content, thus giving readers a better understanding of what your company is about. But how do you perform a successful keyword research and which mistakes should you avoid in the process? In this article, I'll share 7 tips to add maximized value to your keyword research.

7 Ways To Maximize The Value Of Keyword Research

Keyword research is worth its weight in gold when it comes to your digital marketing efforts. The term “keyword research” refers to the practice of tracking down the actual words people use when conducting online searches [1]. These specific terms can help companies plan their content strategy or, in some cases their overarching marketing strategy.

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Find out what to consider as eLearning Marketer when developing your Content Marketing plan.

Your website’s keyword rankings can be the difference between an abundance of customers and almost none. And while you certainly don’t want the latter outcome, the goal of keyword research is not to get a ton of customers. The goal is to get the right customers.

You want to attract visitors who are going to convert either by reaching out to you or by making a purchase. By researching the keywords within your market [2], you can learn more about consumers. More importantly, you can learn how to target them, and how to retain their attention.

Speaking Keyword Language

Keywords lay the groundwork for your content. Using keywords or keyword phrases, you can establish the main topic for each page of content and give readers a better understanding of the material. Readers might scan your content for the information relevant to their initial search, which makes those keywords incredibly important.

Keywords are also meant to help search engines [3]. Google, Bing, and other search engines scan your website, and your content you may publish on other industry-related websites, categorizing every bit of content along the way. This in-depth research allows search engines to figure out how your content fits into the wider web.

When it comes down to it, there are four categories of keywords: broad, fat head, chunky middle and the long-tail.

Broad keywords are precise as the name implies, one word that can be applied to many companies within your industry. For instance, “eLearning” would be considered a broad keyword.

Similar to broad keywords, fat head keywords work for almost any company. The main difference is that they are made up of two or three words, like “eLearning industry.”

Chunky middle keywords are the more general terms that potential customers use on a daily basis, such as “corporate employee training.”

Meanwhile, long-tail keywords are longer phrases that are specific to your company, products, and services. “best LMS for extended enterprise”, or “benefits of outsourcing eLearning content development”, or “content library for compliance training” are excellent examples of long-tail keywords. Note that long-tail keywords typically point to someone who is ready to make a purchase.

Now that you know the general categories of keywords, it’s time to explore how to perform keyword research, as well as a few mistakes to avoid along the way.

Avoiding Rookie Mistakes

When you first begin diving into keyword research, it’s easy to assume you need to shove as many keywords into one page as possible. Not only will that lead Google to penalize your website, but it’s also not the best strategy if you want to create compelling content.

When you research keywords, use them to create relevant topics for your audience and your business. You would not write about horseshoes if your company created stilettos, even if the search term came up quite a bit.

And it doesn’t end there. Here are seven strategies you should use when performing keyword research to ensure you end up at the top of the list when people search for your products or services:

1. Catalog Every Topic Relevant To Your Business

What does your company do? And what service or product category would you fit into? Consider what you — and, thus, your customer — would search for when trying to find your company. Brainstorm about 10 general topic ideas, which you’ll use later when generating specific keywords. These topic areas should include the things your team frequently discusses internally and with potential customers.

2. Identify Your Keywords

Once you have identified the topics you want to focus on, drill down into more specific keywords. Find some chunky middle and long-tail keywords to help you boost your brand awareness in front of your buyer personas. These chunky middle terms will have a ton of search volume, and your long-tail keywords will help you draw better traffic because of how specific they are leading to a more effective lead generation process. Which is the final goal for each eLearning company, right?

Another way to drum up ideas for target keywords is by looking at how your website already ranks. You can find this information through tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, or Ahrefs.

3. Dive Into Your Competitors’ Rankings

While you should not do everything your competitors are doing, it’s a good idea to understand what keywords they are targeting. It should help you see what keywords to target while evaluating where you stand against the competition.

Beyond competition within your market, you might identify other organizations to monitor when it comes to search rankings. Do a quick search of the keywords you’re interested in targeting to learn who you are competing with regarding search rankings. If you feel like a particular keyword is loaded with heavy hitters, shift your keywords around until you find a category you can dominate.

4. Edit Down Your Keyword List

Use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner to narrow down your list further. This tool allows you to see search volume and traffic estimates for any keywords you are considering. While you’re at it, use Google Trends to see the history and future projections associated with your list of potential keywords.

5. Consistently test out new keywords

During your research, you likely came across a few keywords that look good on paper but might not apply directly to your company. To assess how successful they might be, build a page on your website for testing and populate it with paid keyword content. Do this multiple times, using different keywords each time to see what works best. Scale keywords up as they succeed and drop them from your list as they fail.

6. Perform Keyword Research At A Steady Cadence

You want to make sure you’re regularly checking in to determine whether your target keywords are still relevant to your audience. Some companies make the mistake of doing their research once and then sticking with that original list until the end of the road. Remember that search terms are fluid, so your keyword list should continuously shift based on frequency, relevance, and rankings.

7. Look For An Experienced Agency Of Your Niche And Ask For Advice

Nowadays each industry has its own niche-specific online communities, websites or even marketing agencies which have all the know-how you are missing. Since they create content and monitor the competition on a daily basis they can help marketers not only to find popular keywords, with thousands of searches per month, but also the most converting ones, in terms of lead generation.

Thanks to today's digital economy, keywords can make or break your business. By putting plenty of thought into the keywords you target, you can reach the right potential customers with content that matches their search tendencies. Just remember that keywords are like any other aspect of your business, they must evolve to ensure they’re as effective down the road as they are today.

Content Marketing serves the purpose of improving conversions using a very strategic approach, connecting and supplying leads and potential customers with real value. Download the free eBook Digital Content Marketing Strategy For eLearning Marketers: An Essential Guide to delve into an excellent method to start building long-lasting relationships by establishing trust, and see conversions skyrocket by giving users the information they need to make an informed purchasing decision.

References:

[1] How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner's Guide

[2] Beginners guide to SEO

[3] How to Figure Out What Keywords Your Potential Customers are Using

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