How Valuable is A Keyword to You?

In asking trainers, consultants, and professional coaches what their keyword focus is, the answer is typically something general like “Sales Training”. There are two problems with this general objective. The first is that such a simple term will be very hard to rank highly because the competition will be intense and it will take a lot of time, energy, and/or money to get a meaningful rank. The second problem is that it will attract a general audience, many of which are not a good target for specific products or services. In considering keywords, come up with a valuation and target the ones that give the biggest bang for your buck.

So how does a trainer, consultant, or professional coach find target keywords? There are a ton of tools available. For simplicity sake, I typically recommend Google Keyword planner which is free with an AdWords account. The Google Keyword Planner will show you stats like average monthly searches, competition level (high, medium, or low), and the average cost per click for a pay per click campaign.

These stats can give you insights into the keywords that are most valuable to you. Focus on the terms that accurately describe your business in a fair amount of detail. For example, “Sales Training Programs in PA for Technology Professionals”. This is focusing on the long-tail search terms, or in other words, it’s the most valuable keywords specific to your business that can be ranked well with significantly less effort than general terms.

Often times, general keywords are targeted because the thought is that long-tail keywords don’t net as many people. While it’s true that a general term will outrank a single long-tail term, the inverse is true when looking at them collectively. Typically the aggregate of the long-tail keywords will make up 70% of total searches as compared to 30% of general searches.

The other major advantage to long-tail terms is that it connects with users that are further down the sales funnel. A search for “sales training” does not necessarily mean the searcher is interested in buying a program. They could be looking for a book or articles. “Technology Sales Training Programs in PA”, however, sounds like someone interested in a specific program in a specific area.

Spend some time researching keywords to discover the ones most valuable to you. You’ll find that SEO efforts to rank highly will be more successful and the hits that come from those keywords will convert at a higher rate.