What do we know about the internet? It acts like the force having a light side and a dark side while holding our universe together. Okay, so maybe holding the universe together was a bit of a stretch, but out of the 7.5 billion people that live on this planet, 49.7 percent of them use the internet. So out of the 3.7 billion people scanning the web, you can be guaranteed that a good chunk out there need whatever you have to offer. You just have to help them find you.

Of course, the essence of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is built upon the foundation of keywords. Everyone seems to preach that content is king, but what good would your content do if people never found it? So the question is, how do you pick the right words.

It may seem like a daunting task, but we’ll break it down piece by piece to simplify maximizing your online potential.

Step 1: Brainstorming

It can get pretty difficult to wrap your mind around all of these principles if you hear them using only technological terms, so we will run you through the process as the CEO of a Pool Cleaning Business.

The first step of keyword research is of course brainstorming. Grab a pad and pen, and start thinking of what words are most relevant to your business. Don’t edit yourself throughout the brainstorming process, and when you’re finished, you should have ideas all over the place.

In our pool example, you will end up all the way from “Clean Pools” and “Safe Chemicals” to “How Tom Cruise Cleans His Pool”. You don’t even need to check if Tom Cruise actually has a pool, just take some time to step into your potential customers’ shoes and ask what they would associate your company with.

Remember that search engines like Google sort websites and articles based on relevance, so are your keywords or keyphrases relevant to your online material?

Step 2: Analyze Your Other Marketing Material

If you have already put some time into establishing your business, check pamphlets, ads, billboards, or commercials you may have run to see what worked best in the past. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Add some of the other successful terms to your established list.

This is also a great opportunity to check out what your competitors may be doing to promote their business. Maybe you have a competitor in your pool business that has found a new market niche and is running everything with “Pool Cleaning Tablets” instead of chlorine. It’s a great opportunity to raid the enemy’s weapon storage.

Step 3: Narrow Your List Down With The Pros

The next cog in the works is taking your list to a marketing specialist. There are tons of options out there that act as a translator. The purpose of marketing is to communicate with your potential customers and “speak their language” as it were. Services like Google AdWords or Bing Ads work like trying to translate something online, weeding out the best options from your list. It can be sufficient most of the time, but like online translating, errors happen pretty often.

Here at LOJO, we work like natives translating what you want to say so your customers will understand it best. We’re with you every step of the way and speak to your customers for you in proficient SEO lingo.

For your pool cleaning business, you get to decide if you would like to put in the legwork of online analysis or increase your ROI with us. We may sound a little biased, but time is money and we can get your marketing up and running efficiently and effectively.

Step 4: Grow Your List With Permutations And Synonyms

You should be at the point now where you are starting to see what is striking a chord with your customers best. Maybe people really aren’t that into how Tom Cruise cleans his pool, but the bit you got from your competitor about a pool cleaning tablet is really starting to catch on. How else can you say “Pool Cleaning Tablet”?

The best way to grow your most effective keywords is to look at all the different angles it can be approached from. Remember that you are dealing with people at different stages across the process. A search bar looking for “safest way to clean pools” will churn out different results than “pool tablet vs. pool vacuum”. Your goal is to generate relevant keywords for all situations that can be related back to your business.

Written by Nicole Wilson