The best keywords are over the phone.

6 replies
In a recent discussion with a friend/local business owner who had set up his own blog, he asked me about what keywords to write about in order to get found by the search engines. At least he had some idea about what he had to do, but couldn't exactly get a handle on the direction he needed to take.

He works out of his home office like I do, but he serves local clients only. I had a look at his blog and it seemed decent enough. So in helping him with keywords we logged into my account for worktracker and did some basic searching for concepts related to his business. The thing is, being in Canada certain businesses use completely different terms and Wordtracker has no data for that at all. So in this situation there is some extrapolating to do, and then elimination testing.

We could only do so much with the best keyword resource available, so I asked him who answers his phones. He says "Mostly me, why?" "Well, Do you have repeated questions, or certain questions that usually lead to more business for you?"

He said he never tracked it, but could spew out a few questions right there that came to mind. We jotted them down because I told him, that in serving local clients those phone calls/questions (he gets lots), should be your first inspiration for keywords to blog about.

Google gives more credence to resources/websites for searches that require local help. Dentist, accountant, lawyer, contractor, etc. So if someone in the business owners' area hits on his keyword - especially longtail, then he will rank VERY high, very quickly in that local search, and this can be accomplished quite easily.

The thing is, if a business owner is getting phone calls about certain subjects, then there is a strong likelihood that there are many more online searches being done with the exact same question, within his vicinity.

Together, we got a few keywords for him to start blogging on, but I told him to START WRITING DOWN the main question of each phone call he gets over the next month. The plan is to go back and help him get his blog more focused and see which of those questions turn into sales leads for him.

If you have local clients, this suggestion may be deemed of great value to them.
#keywords #phone
  • Profile picture of the author miked
    Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

    We could only do so much with the best keyword resource available, so I asked him who answers his phones. He says "Mostly me, why?" "Well, Do you have repeated questions, or certain questions that usually lead to more business for you?"

    He said he never tracked it, but could spew out a few questions right there that came to mind. We jotted them down because I told him, that in serving local clients those phone calls/questions (he gets lots), should be your first inspiration for keywords to blog about.
    Marty, this is a great idea.

    I have been working with some local off-line businesses, and the concept of keywords and building and constructing blog pages or web pages around that seems to be so difficult to convey.

    What a great idea. Ask them when someone calls and asks questions, what questions lead to more business?

    I have been trying to get one of my clients to blog at least once a month...and this might be turning on the light bulb for him.

    Again, kudos!

    -Mike D.
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  • Profile picture of the author maxygxl
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    Marty,

    That is a brilliant Idea. Thanks for posting about this. One of my first off line customers was a flower shop and he got a website so people could get answers to questions and free up his phone. I didn't think of using the questions as key words.

    Thanks Again,
    George
    Signature
    "The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book." Mickey Spillane
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  • Profile picture of the author jayden.fellze
    Going back to the very basic is always the best idea thus can avoid complication. You have then a brilliant idea, because people need answers that is why, they go over the internet or make a phone call, and it would be a great help if we could give them answers that they need.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aritra Basu
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Gee, Marty, thanks a lot. Now I have to wear a hat all day when I go out...

      It covers this big red mark from slapping my forehead for not picking up on this myself, seeing as how I'm the local expert and all...
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  • Profile picture of the author Marty S
    Glad to help. Some other thoughts would be to be sure that your clients' location is well documented in the blog/website and combined with potential keywords as a way to become more locally relevant.

    For example: Let's say there is a cyclical seasonal problem of red ant hills in grass and lawns in a certain community called Springfield! If your Springfield is small, this is likely isolated geographically, and searches simply wont show up in wordtracker to any substantial volume - at least not quickly. However if your client has been fielding calls to this problem, then it is VERY significant to him.

    He could be targeting a mix of keywords that rotate and combine his location. Such as:

    Red ant problem
    Red ants problem in Springfield
    How to get rid of ant hills
    removing red ant in Springfield

    Because Google has an IP reference as to where the search originated, your clients' keywords could rank very high, even if the search does not include location.

    I would be interested to see if those who use this idea can post some of their feedback iin regards to local clients using such a tactic. You wouldn't have to be so protective of sharing it either since it is a local / micro strategy that can be shared without threat.
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