Keyword research and content ideation for small businesses

When it comes to succeeding online, you need to be creating top quality content. From researching the right keywords, to generating content ideas, that will lead to engaging and dynamic articles and blogs, high quality content is something you have to work hard for. And although this might seem daunting for small business owners, it doesn’t have to be. Here at Pumpkin Web Design, we provide dedicated web design and web marketing support for clients across the region. From Preston to Chorley, and Blackburn to Wigan, we are the professionals you can count on. As a result, we have produced this guide to keyword research and content ideation for small businesses.

What are keywords?

First of all, what do we mean by keywords? Well, keywords are used throughout content to attract interested visitors to your website. If you want your website to appear as a result to particular search terms, you need to include those search terms, or keywords from those search terms, in your website content. However, too many keywords, and your website will be penalized. So you have to get the balance right.

Different types of keyword

In addition, there are different types of keywords you can use, which are split into long tail or short tail keywords.

Short tail keywords are focused on consumers that are at the end of their buying journey, and are simply looking for a product or service. As a result, these keywords can look like, “Boiler installation Blackburn” or “MOT Preston”.

In contrast, long tail keywords are aiming to provide information and advice that can help guide or funnel visitors towards making a purchase, signing up, or using the service. These types of keywords can include “How often does my car need an MOT”, or “Boiler warning signs”.

Ultimately, your website home page, and services pages, should be targeted at people at the end of their search journey. They are looking for companies and professionals that seem reliable and trustworthy, as well as knowledgeable and experienced. As a result, these pages should really be looking to sell all the positive aspects of working with your company. And should definitely include the relevant short tailed keywords for your industry and location.

At the same time, you should be thinking about regular blog content that can be used to target the long tail keywords relevant to your industry. By using articles that explain “How to…” or “Why”, you can target interested searchers, help inform their decisions, and finally persuade them to take a look at the rest of your website, or even sign up or shop.

Ranking in the search engine results page for both types of keyword will double your chances of generating traffic and potential leads.

Keyword research

However, for your long tailed keywords within your blogs or articles, you shouldn’t just choose keywords out of the sky. Good content begins for with good keyword research. This means:

Taking a look at the content your competitors are creating. After all, they’ve probably done the keyword research already, right? Well, possibly, but don’t count on it. It’s your companies time and money you’ll be wasting. Always do your own keyword research, even if you want to right along similar lines to your competitors.
Use a full keyword tool, like those provided by Google Analytics, to show the highest performing keywords for your business area.
If you have a piece of content or the keyword already in mind, take a look at how many articles are returned from a simple search. Then take a look at the quality of the authors of the top ranking positions. As a small business it can be hard to compete with industry giants, but a simple tweak can dramatically lower your number of competitors. This will make your article more likely to rank.

Keyword research and content ideation for small businesses

Content ideation is all about coming up with ideas for new content. As you can see, keyword research is essential for this process, as without it, you are just making a leap into the dark with your blog or article. It’s always better to make an informed decision.

Content ideation is where you use your chosen keyword to create a map of all the possible angles your content could take. For example, if your long tailed keyword is “Choosing a kitchen colour scheme” you could opt for:

⦁ a “listicle” of all the possible kitchen colour schemes for contemporary kitchens

⦁ an info-graphic comparing the percentages of different colours used in the ktichen

⦁ an explainer article highlighting the different things to consider when choosing a kitchen colour scheme- i.e. kitchen style, finish or material options and colour psychology

As you can see, for any keyword choice, you have a range of content options to create. For small businesses, choosing the right content comes down to your budget, your time, and your branding. Whichever content style you choose, you need to make sure it reflects the personality of your company.

As a result, your content creation should look like this:

1. Keyword research- which keywords can we rank for?

2. Keyword selection

3. Content ideation- use the selected keyword to think of content ideas

4. Content selection- choose the content that matches your style and suits your users needs

5. Content creation

6. Analyzing content performance

In summary

Making an informed decision about the keywords you use can have a positive influence on your websites performance, and your company as a whole. However, they need to be placed strategically within top quality, original content, otherwise they wont be effective. This mean that you should use your keyword research to try and determine the angle you should take with your content. And choose the right content type for your company.

For more information about keyword research and content ideation for small businesses, get in touch with the experts here at Pumpkin Web Design today.