Recently, I took a look at the log files for a blogging client. To be honest, I expected the worst. She had only posted 15 blog posts to her blog over the past three months. Not only was she not posting regularly, but none of the posts were tagged nor were they created with her ideal keywords in mind. I braced for the worst.
Imagine my surprise when things weren’t dismal on the traffic front at all. When she then reported how many newsletter subscribers, I was floored. She was getting a 25% sign up rate for her newsletter via her blog with VERY little blogging effort.
When I began looking at the keywords that people were using to find her blog, well it was then that I saw the key to her success. Her domain name and blog name both contained a vital keyword, essential to her business model.
The right domain name, a domain name that contains a keyword which people are using to find the very solutions this client is offering… is making up for a HUGE blogging misstep on her part (not posting regularly to your blog is a HUGE blog mistake many beginning bloggers make).
Which brings us to two essential tools you need to have in your arsenal before you launch your blog.
Blog Keywords:
First, you need a better than the average bear way to find the keywords that are really worth the time and effort of optimizing your blog. Wordze is well worth the investment on this front.
For example, there’s a 4-word keyword phrase which is well worth optimizing for today. (Things change from day to day when it comes to keywords, which is yet another reason to make the investment in a paid tool rather than wait for the trickle down to occur into the free tools.)
On the free keyword front, the Google Keyword tool shows you that the keywords on the singular and the plural of this keyword combo both have a competition level equal to the searches performed. (Meanwhile the incredibly similar 3 word keyword phrase has an average search volume with very high advertiser competition.)
What the Google tool doesn’t show is that there is a lack of competition on the singular version of the 4-word keyword phrase. Wordze does. Oh, did I mention the .net extension of this exact keyword phrase was available for registration? This keyword has had a 94% growth over the past 30 days.
In other words, Wordze is WELL worth the money… especially if you’re getting ready to launch a blog.
Once you have your keywords, it’s time to pick up a domain name.
Blog Domain Names
My blog client got lucky. She was insanely lucky in the fact that she chose a keyword combination that people were already using to find her services. She also picked a keyword competition without a lot of competition.
I wish I had that kind of luck, but I don’t. I have to use Wordze and then plug in those results into the Domain Twist domain name finder tool.
This tool allows you to plug in two essential keywords and find interesting (and available) domain name combinations.
The right domain name, one that contains essential keywords, can act like rocket fuel for launching your blog. I can only imagine how much further she could be if she had been creating her titles with those essential keywords in mind.