What's the purpose of a keyword?
Technically a keyword is used to find useful results in an Internet search. Type in your keyword and the search engine returns a list of sites where that word is found.
And to be even more technical, a keyword (or any word for that matter) is a combination of 1s and 0s that allows a message to be transmitted across the web to your computer or vice versa..
Just to be clear - a keyword can be one word - for example "insurance " - or a keyword can be a string of words (known as a long tail keyword) - for example "honeymoon destinations in the Caribbean." Both are referred to with the singular "keyword.."
Because the Internet is fundamentally a text based medium, words are the basic tool everyone uses to travel and navigate the web.
Even with the onset of audio and video, search engine spyders cannot read anything but text. So no matter how impressive a site may appear to be, the spyders read only words and that's why keywords are so important.
Okay, that's the head side of a keyword. What about the heart side?
As a marketer, what are you doing - really doing - when you're searching out the best keywords to place in an online ad, or build a sales page, or write an article?
Ultimately you're trying to connect with the heart of your potential buyer, your ideal customer - right?
In fact, think about yourself for a moment.
Bring to mind a time when you searched online for something you really wanted, something significant that you searched for and found.
What were you thinking and feeling when you searched for the right place to get what you needed or wanted?
Oh sure, you might have thought about the money - how much or how little. Maybe you were concerned about the brand name - Nike, Ben and Jerry's, or Pontiac. And location might have been a factor - made in the U.S.A or made in China.
But none of that really, really, really mattered did it?
Because there were deeper thoughts and feelings that were driving you to search - weren't there?
And it's those deeper thoughts that contained the keywords that were specific to you and your desire.
And more deeply, what about what you were feeling? How did your feelings color your thoughts?
And - when it came to what you typed into the search bar - what specific words did you use to describe your particular need, your specific feeling of need?
You may have been excited with the anticipation of pleasure and your feelings and thoughts followed.
You may have been in pain and were desperate to find a way out. That certainly would have generated a different kind of feeling state and the thoughts that matched.
Now, imagine if someone marketing exactly what you were looking for had understood what you were feeling and thinking and chose keywords that matched your experience. Wouldn't there have been an instant connection?
Yes, of course!
You would have made your purchase with ease and comfort and relief knowing you'd found the right place.
That's the real power of keywords. They make a connection. They are the first moment in the building of a relationship.
Not just 1s and 0s, but the grounds for an identification between marketer and searcher. A sense of - "You know who I am. You know what I'm going through." That's far more than just technical. It's a deeply personal and felt connection.
Keywords ARE personal. Very personal. They are the doorway into the mind and heart of your prospective customer. They are the touchpoint between two people - one with a problem needing to be solved or a desire to be fulfilled and the other with the solution.
