One of the things every blogger wants to know is whether or not they're talking about things people find interesting. When you get your blog established and you have a following you begin to have a sense of what people are looking for, but what about when you're just getting started?
One of tools I've discovered in the last few months is Google's keyword tool. With the keyword tool you're getting actual data from Google about the exact words and phrases people are searching for. As a result, you can begin to tweak your blog posts to incorporate the same phrases people are most interested in.
Case In Point - Mossy Creek Custom's Blogging
I was talking to Jeff over at Mossy Creek Custom recently about this very thing. He's been blogging for over two years now but after spending some time on the Google keyword tool he realized he's made some incorrect assumptions about the topics people really want to know about when it comes to the custom gunsmith business. Now he's blogging more strategically because he has data that's giving him an advantage. He has information that he didn't have before and he's blogging better as a result.
Getting Started
To get started with the Google Keyword Tool just do the following:
- Visit the site.
- Type some words or phrases for your particular industry or business that you think people are searching for. This list may be words or phrases you would like most associated with your own organization, products, or services.
- Evaluate the results compared to the other keywords and phrases Google shows you. You'll see numbers under the "local search volume" and the "global search volume" headings. Local, in this case means the USA for those of us in the U.S. Global of course is all searches on that keyword globally.
- Review the second list Google provides called the "additional keywords to consider" found under the initial results list. This group of keywords will give you more insight into some of the highest volume keywords that are related to your particluar search terms.
- Make a list of the top results that apply to your organziation and start blogging with these keywords. I don't recommend that you start changing everything about your blogging strategy based on this new information, rather, let it inform what you're already doing so you do it better from now on.
If a great blogger is someone who provides valuable content to the people they're trying to reach (and I contend that it is), then the keyword tool will help you get a better sense of the very things people are valuing in your area of business.