Delivering Your Final Keywords

This entry is part of an ongo­ing series on how to iden­tify the best key­words to help your tar­get cus­tomers find your com­pany online.

Besides the project kick-off meeting, the final delivery of the keywords (i.e., the output) is the single most important meeting, so be well prepared:

• Have a clear agenda
• Schedule time for questions and feedback
• Review the final presentation carefully and ensure that it communicates both output and the research process clearly and succinctly
• Send the presentation out in advance to give meeting attendees a chance to review and formulate their feedback before the meeting.

Finally, conduct a mini-planning session with the keyword researcher to plan for an update of the keyword list in the future. Market conditions change very quickly, and your keyword list can become obsolete in a short period of time.

How often you will want to refresh your keyword list will depend on your company’s resources, priorities, and operational rhythms, but at the very least, schedule a future meeting to review your results; this will give your team an opportunity to decide whether to make adjustment to the keyword list in the future. Communicate your plans well with the stakeholders, so they are aware of your future plans.

To help, here is a checklist for the keyword researcher:

• I have a project execution plan that has been approved by the project sponsor, and agreed upon by other team members.
• I have taken the following steps to ensure primary and secondary research success:
  • Scheduled interviews with relevant staff members
  • Reviewed prior keyword research results
  • Reviewed our present marketing materials
  • Secured access to data sources such as website analytics, paid search analytics, site search analytics, and referral analytics
  • Compiled competitors’ names, websites, and publicly available materials
  • Compiled industry reports
  • Compiled lists of most important websites in the selected segment(s)
• The research and prioritization processes are transparent and accessible to all stakeholders.
• The data is high quality and the output is sound.
• I have in place:
  • A standardized data entry template
  • A standardized data entry procedure
  • A standardized research output template
• I have conducted a rigorous data review.
• I have incorporated feedback and input from all stakeholders on the output of the project, and will incorporate their feedback as appropriate.
• The keyword list is the best list possible.

Stay tuned for more infor­ma­tion on find­ing the best key­words for your tar­get audi­ence.  Next week I will pro­vide a detailed Quick Start guide for the keyword researcher.