Keyword phrases are the gold of  SEO content writing. Select the right keyword phrases, write useful information around those key phrases, and watch the traffic come to your website.  If your SEO content writer has been using the same keyword phrases for six months or even a year, it’s a good idea to head back to Google Adwords for a checkup. Go to the Google keyword tool and see how things have changed. Are new related keywords popping up? Has the competitiveness of certain keywords changed? What are the trends?

Everyone wants to rank for the broad keywords, but competition is keen. B2B content marketers need to look beyond the obvious. A simple spreadsheet can help you organize keywords into stacks or groups of related keywords for more effective SEO content writing. Here are five ways to develop and organize keywords for B2B products and services.

1. Keywords related to problems

What problems do your products or services solve?  Searchers in this group don’t know what the answer  might be yet, they just know they have a problem.

For example,  a restaurant owner is throwing away too much food at the end of the day.  He types in “how to reduce food spoilage.” For a company that sells food storage solutions, this might be a keyword phrase.

2. Keywords related to solutions

People in this category have some idea of how to solve their problem. For example the same restaurant owner  might type in “Food Storage Solutions” or  “best inventory management for restaurants.”

3. Product or brand keywords

People who already know the solution for their problem might type in a specific product category or brand name. For example they might type in “Rubbermaid Commercial Food Storage” or “Commercial Restaurant Storage.”

4. Service keywords

A service-related search would include service terms rather than specific products.  A restaurant operator might type in”menu planning“, “foodservice purchasing“, or “foodservice consulting.”

5. Keywords related to cost

Searchers who are checking out costs are definitely in buying mode. Is your website optimized to capture traffic from these potential buyers?

6. Keywords based on your own site analytics

Check your analytics to see what terms drive people to your site. You may find some golden keywords you didn’t even know existed.

The important part of effective keyword research is to put yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer at various stages of the buying process. Then, use keyword research tools to prioritize your keywords based on the number of searches and competition. But remember keywords are a moving target. Continue to monitor regularly to avoid missing a an opportunity.

Who does your keyword research? While clients may give us a few keywords, at Content for Biz we always do our own keyword research.  We believe this is an important factor in the success of any SEO writing project.

It’s the start of a new year. What better time to find some new keyword phrases that can help you drive business in 2012.

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