The online world is big and, sometimes, scary. The question is no longer, “Where do I start” but rather “How do I stand out amidst this sea of competitors?”

 

Whether you’re a pro shop owner trying to sell more arrows or an auto parts shop trying to move more lifestyle accessories, you can grow your business and service offerings by employing a few simple tools in your online approach. Here’s a quick look at two of them. If used correctly, all of them will drive more traffic to your website and help you better engage with your customers.

 

Keyword Optimization

It doesn’t matter if you’re in the business of selling Realtree Max-4® wedding bands, shower curtains or hiking boots, if you want people to find your products online, you need to be employing search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. And, although SEO is a science in and of itself, it all boils down to keywords and how you use them in your sales, promotions and marketing efforts.

 

Keywords are precise phrases that online users type into search engines when looking for more information. The more unique and precise the keyword, the higher the odds these individuals will land on your website. Once their there, it’s up to you to keep them around and coming back for more.

 

Here’s a glance at some of the better keyword tools out there:

 

1. Google AdWords.

https://adwords.google.com

Google’s AdWord tool is the king of keyword generators, but it’s no longer free. You can, however, get some free suggestions from the service if you sign up for an account.

 

2. Keyword Tools.

http://keywordtool.io

This service provides 750 free keyword suggestions for every keyword based off of your individual website. This will help you find out what your specific audience is searching for on a weekly basis.

 

Example, let’s say you want to drive more attention to your new seat covers that feature Realtree® Camouflage. Simply type that in the keyword tool and 59 suggestions pop up, including “Realtree Camo Seat Covers for Chevy Silverado,” and “Realtree Camo Seat Covers for Ford F150.”

 

In this narrow example, you could easily get by with using those specific keywords when building your content, but as they say, “Nothing good in this world is free.” To maximize your efforts and hone your messages, you really need to subscribe to one of the keyword services. This will help you pin down precise analytics like search volume and keyword competition.

 

For example, you might learn that “Realtree Camo Seat Covers for Chevy Silverado” is a highly competitive term. Armed with the subscriber-provided term data, you can hone your message to bring up your site first. That might require minor tweaks to the exact phrase. Utilizing generic or highly competitive keywords will no doubt help boost your efforts, but you will not be able to separate yourself from your competitors until you hone in on the premium keywords for each category your content serves.

 

Other free keyword tools to check out:

3. Internet Marketing Ninjas

www.internetmarketingninjas.com

This is an extremely helpful service that provides a free keyword combination generator. Simply type in two sets of phrases, and it spits out precise keyword suggestions from Google, Yahoo and Bing.

 

4. SemRush

http://www.semrush.com

This is a competitor research tool that provides your competitors’ keywords and where they are ranking.

 

5. Google Analytics

Sign up for this free service, and you can track everything on your website from content traffic performance (pageviews, uniques, etc) to time-on-site statistics (how long are people staying on your site?) to traffic referrals and monetization.

 

How are your customers finding your site? What are they reading? Which paths are they taking to navigate around your site? What was popular last week? Last month? Last year? Easily find out the answers to those questions plus hundreds more with Google Analytics.

 

Data isn’t real-time, but it’s close. You can monitor content responsiveness within a few hours time, which is especially helpful for ecommerce sites that hold 1-day sales or weekend events. This monitoring will allow you to tweak your content on the fly if you notice peaks or valleys in your site’s traffic.

 

Google Analytics also allows you to create unique tracking codes that you can building into your online posts that help pinpoint which posts are responsible for revenue-driving traffic.

 

Conclusion

Building any business takes good old-fashioned hard work. Don’t be intimidated by the work involved in driving more traffic to your website. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. If you build your plan slowly and methodically, you’ll be pleased with the end results.