Mat Siltala of DreamSystemsMedia.com tells Moller Marketing all about keyword research and why its vital when starting an online business.
Mat Siltala has been in the industry of search engine optimization and online marketing for about 10 years. He started his career online working for a radio station and saw the little things he did for that company pay off. He owns several internet businesses online, including Rocky Mountain Mattress and a search engine optimization consulting firm.
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Why is keyword research so important when it comes to marketing online?
- It helps separate you from your competitors
- It helps you learn what your competitors are doing
- It helps you determine who your target audience is
How do you determine which keywords are the quality ones?
Research your competition. Which keywords are they going after? Look at their title tags, content, links, etc. to see what they are using. Find variations of those words. Spend time on keywords that are targeted (niche), not the general phrases that everyone is going after. Targeted keywords tend to convert better too.
How do you use keywords to market your website online?
Keyword research is a key part of my marketing campaign. There are many different tools out there to use. Aaron Wall has a great keyword research too. Keyword Discovery has one. SEOMoz is pretty good. Wordtracker too. Using your competition can help you so much – you can develop more of a targeted niche, something to build the content around.
Once clients have done the keyword research, where do they put those keyword phrases?
- Anchor Text in Off-site marketing – links pointing people back to your site (ie. writing articles, press releases, blog comments, submitting to free and paid directories, and link sharing with related websites)
- Inside the content of your site
- If your site has 500 words of content, need to use specific keywords at least 5 times to show search engines what you are about.
- Blog posts
- Navigation
- Title Tags
- Header Tags
- Friendly URLs
- Alt Tags in pictures and links
- Meta tag title, description and keywords
Why is keyword research an ongoing process?
You never want to stop figuring out what are the best converting keywords. Just because you’re being found for one word doesn’t mean its the best one.
What analytics software do you recommend?
- Google Analytics
- HaveaMint.com – $30 one time fee with Real Time Stats
- Blvdstatus.com – Sign up for Beta Program today. This software will help track real time stats.
What are your websites?
RockyMountainMattress.com sells memory foam mattresses and custom mattresses.
Any other recommendations?
Understand that you’re competing with people that have been doing this for years. It won’t happen overnight. Take it slow, build quality content and links, figure out the right keywords and build trust and credibility.
11 replies on “Exclusive Interview – Mat Siltala on Keyword Research”
Good article on the basics of keyword research. I thought it was interesting about why keyword research is so important.
While it is definitely important to know what your competitors are doing and to differentiate yourself from them, I think it’s more important to connect with your target audience.
I think it’s important to take a content-focused approach to SEO rather than a strictly technical approach. That means talking to your target audience of human beings and not just search engines.
As I’ve said many times before, keyword research is my favourite part of the whole SEO process. It’s central to SEO and I’m just a word geek. People hate playing Scrabble with me. 🙂
For me, search engine optimization was a natural extension of my business and journalism background. Even as an SEO guy I still do a lot of content writing, making sure it’s written naturally and SEOd well.
Great comment Alain! SEO really is all about GOOD CONTENT. Like what was said in the interview with Shoemoney, you can’t write for the search engines primarily. You have to write for your readers, your potential buyers, etc. and the SEO stuff will come.
The one vital thing all internet owners have to be aware of is that if they don’t use their keywords when the opportunity is there, even the BEST content won’t be helpful: if you don’t have traffic and get the word out who’s going to find you?
That’s why Meta Tags are crucial for all pages, using keywords as anchor text instead of “Click Here” links or general phrases like “Products”.
Thanks again for the insightful comment!
[…] you haven’t taken the big plunge and adapted effective keyword research strategies to your online marketing plan, you’re probably a day late and a dollar short! There’s […]
I really liked the article, and i am a novice to the internet. One thing i would have liked to see would be definitions to some of the terms. like i said i am a novice, so for most people those all make sense, but just a suggestion.
thanks again
Thanks for the comment Aaron. Which terms can I help you with?
Luckily for you, we will be going over each of the “technical” things on the phone, but if there are terms that I can better describe, explain, or define, I’ll be happy to.
Thanks for the feedback!
I am mainly referring to these terms:
# Navigation
# Title Tags
# Header Tags
# Friendly URLs
I’m sure we will cover these soon.
thanks again nate
Navigation: Often referring to the side navigation, this is where most sites have their pages listed. In the case of MollerMarketing, my “Side Navigation Bar” is where you find the Site Search, Free Subscription, Most Commented, Hot Topics, Etc. The Top Navigation is at the very top of the page where it says, “How to Start an Online Business”, “About Moller Marketing”, and “Contact Moller Marketing”.
Title Tags: See this article about Meta Tags. We will definitely talk about this more as we build your keyword list.
Header Tags: a header tag has to do with HTML Code and looks like this h1, h2, h3, etc. These are 3 different header tag codes; there can be more. Basically, if you put these brackets around a word, it will cause the word to look like this:
Starting an Online Business
. Not only does it stand out to people, but search engines also recognize it more.
Friendly URLs: we discuss this in further detail. Here’s an example of a non-friendly URL: http://clogon.com/index.pmg/rd-1?sid=85608474192b1f5f365e1d28a1cf4e1f vs. a Friendly URL: http://www.clogon.com/clogging-shoes.html. The friendly URL has keywords in the domain name and doesn’t have tons of numbers and letters that you would never remember. Most good builders will allow you to customize the URL to make it friendly for search engines and visitors alike.
Hope this helps! Keep the questions coming!
great article. I have know Matt for a few years and know that he is one of the leading experts in online marketing. most of what he has to say is right on and if you don’t listen you will miss out. Is there a part two to this interview or other topics that you have interview Matt about?
Yeah, Mat has a special place in my heart – ha! (he’ll love to read that). I have talked with him quite a bit and will see if there is more he’s willing to share.
Any topics in particular that you’d like to hear about? Let me know via direct email at mollermarketing at gmail dot com.
Thanks.
Have printed article and will review this weekend.
Just thought I’d mention a trap that’s very easy to fall into with this and that is writing content for Google and putting less of an emphasis on the people who you are actually writing for. As social media is taking off, writing quality and helpful content is fast becoming the only way to get quality traffic. Gone are the days where you can put a million links at the bottom of your site (hidden from view) and rank #1 in google (It used to work, I did it).
So write and create with your target demographic as your principle target, Google should be a second priority.