The best part about the end of January for internet marketers, aside from the fact that we’re that much closer to spring, is that we get to analyze the impact of our efforts of the past year and try again.
Some things we’ll like. Some things we’ll wish we’ve done better. Some things we’ll just as soon forget.
And for some internet marketers, the end of January brings around a traditional debate:
“High-Traffic or Long Tail Keywords”
It took me a few years, but eventually I backed into my answer for this question:
“Yes.”
Why?
Because when I first started SEO copy writing I was afraid to go after the high-traffic keywords Keyword Discovery and AdWords Keyword told me I desired. So what I’d do to combat my fear was to wrap the keywords I craved inside long tail phrases that could give me better quality traffic along the way. I wasn’t doing it to be aggressive. I was doing it because I wasn’t sure of my skills, yet. I admit it.
But as I backed into my strategy, I realized how effective it was and tried to apply it to everything.
That’s where the “Maybe” comes in
After a few months, I actually made the keyword goals I one thought unattainable, but they didn’t get me the traffic I coveted.
That’s when I turned to Analytics and Closed Loop Marketing
Analytics told me what the quality traffic was using to get to the site. Closed loop marketing was telling me what inbound marketing efforts were most profitable. Couple those with the PPC efforts and analysis and not only was I able to find better keywords for my site, I was able to use keywords that were better for my site.
And because I had a year’s worth of content on terms that were couple close cranks on the Google Wonder Wheel, it only took a few mods and tweaks on a key posts to help transform my site and increase my relevant traffic.
So if you’ve found the keywords you want, wrapping them around long tail phrases so you can optimize for more than one term is smart. It’s always smart. Why optimize for one phrase when you can use the same space to optimize for multiple terms – so long as the content is fluid, makes sense, and engaging. Yes, SEO Copywriting is an art form.
But take the time to do a closed loop analysis. See what phrases people are using in places Google can’t reach. There’s always a good chance that you’ll find phrases you would have otherwise never considered.
Next week, I’ll go into greater detail about why closed loop analysis is so important.
Check out The Adventures of SEO Boy: Heroic Feats of Search Engine Optimization at http://www.seoboy.com/. Copyright © 2008-2009 Hanapin Marketing, LLC.
