Large websites and those that have been around for a long time, often have an advantage in the competition for the top spot in search engines like Google or Yahoo. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot though.
In an effort to bring potential customers the best results possible, search engines are weighing relevancy rather heavily. You just have to targer your niche. And that’s what you can use to your advantage even as a newbie. Here’s how:
Be Specific – Focus on Long Tail Keywords And Niche Down
If you have a new website and want to be found in a free organic search, you don’t want to go after a top, very broad keyword for your niche.
Let’s say you’re selling red wagons. Don’t go after the term “red wagons”. Yes, it gets the highest search volume, but not everyone searching will be ready to buy red wagons from you.
Maybe they’re looking for pictures of red wagons because they want to know what they look like.
Maybe they’re looking for instructions on fixing their red wagon, or they want to find someone who can customize a red wagon.
Instead, go after the long tail version of the keyword. Use key phrases like “where to buy red wagons online” or “best place to get customized red wagons in Denver”.
Even better, find a way to set yourself apart from the competition by becoming the place that sells red wagons for tween girls. Make yourself the expert. It’s way better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.
Stay On Topic
Relevancy is all about staying on topic. A small website dedicated to sharing great content exclusively on one topic will rank higher than larger sites that share everything.
That’s why despite its huge authority, Wikipedia doesn’t rank for everything. Even though there’s a page on just about everything on that site.
It ranks high for lots of other topics though because of its thoroughness. It covers topics so comprehensively that the search engines often reward it with the top spot.
Let’s say you decide to build a site about sports. Pick a niche within that and stick to it. That’s how you may become one of the authority sites about something like football equipment or how to become a football referee.
Each time you work on a new piece of content ask yourself if it is on topic. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Relevancy really does matter.
Go Local Where It Makes Sense
I touched on this earlier, but it’s an important topic, so let’s dive a little deeper. Where it makes sense, it can be very beneficial to make your content local.
Instead of becoming one more seller of red widgets online, you could become the seller of red widgets for your state or your city and draw all of the local traffic looking for your products.
Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone, especially if your business doesn’t have a brick and mortar location. But let’s say you are great at email marketing.
Instead of putting up yet another site and offering yet another course to everyone on the topic, go after the small businesses in your area. Be seen as the go-to resource for small business marketing.
For example, become the expert for email marketing in Toronto. It will be much easier to rank for this longer tail keyword and it opens up all kinds of new opportunities for local marketing.
And don’t forget about higher priced products and services that you can offer locally like in-person workshops and services.
Have you thought of some long tail keywords you can use to target your niche?