How do people find your business online?

Stop guessing and ask how people find your business online.   Ask your target demographic how they would find you online.  You might think you know the words or phrases people use to find you online, but what if you are wrong?  What if there are a bunch of words you are missing which your competition isn't?  What if they are getting the clicks and you are not?

Search from a business perspective is all about chasing clicks.  Trying to be visible when your target demographic searches for the services you offer online.  If you are not visible, meaning in the first 4 search hits, then it is unlikely anyone will click on your website and use your services.

My advice is to print off a card like in the image.  Ask two questions from each of your target demographic.

1.  How would you find our business, products or service in search?

2.  First search result did not give you any good options, how would you refine your search?

ask how people find your business online?

The refine search is really important because often the initial search people make is too broad from a search engine's perspective.    If you are searching for a dry cleaning business you don't care about all the businesses in the world.  Just those in your isolated geographic area, so the refine search could mean adding a geographic marker such as "city name or postal code".   

Getting people to write down things is also important because it will make people think and give you a hard copy to transfer into your spreadsheet where you are keeping track of this information.

This is step one of keyword research which for now we are defining as the process of discovering how people find your business online.

Ivan