“Keywords” is one of the mostly widely used online terms, so often, that many glaze right over what

they truly represent.

In our LinkedIn training webinars and products, we talk a lot about the importance of  “keywords” and show you how to make the most of them in your profile and group discussions.  We also give our customers tools for research and train them how to optimize keywords in their profiles.  First, let’s back up some and discuss the “science” of keywords.

Keywords are mostly commonly thought of as words you use because Google will rank you higher and/or more people will find you from search.   This is the “finding” component of keywords that drives us online marketing and SEO types to obsession.  It is extremely important, yet strangely most people don’t consider this when designing websites, personal profiles, headlines, etc.

Keywords also represent a “thinking” aspect that is critical, words are how people *think* about things and can create various emotions or interpretations.   Copywriting gurus understand this well and try to create trigger words in their headlines and copy that entice people to buy.  This is even less emphasized by many or thought to be a “creative” exercise.  Many of our customers attempt to be crafty, yet don’t understand the real science behind this.   If you haven’t read the classic advertising bible “Tested Advertising Methods” by John Caples, it should be your starting point to understanding this better.

So here I present two different keyword “sciences”, that should be the starting point for everyone to think about and research more.  Even the description you use to describe yourself in a LinkedIn Profile this becomes essential.   By understanding how people are searching and how people are thinking using keywords, you gain an unbelievable power to make meaningful connections with the right audience.   This is not a science of deception either, its a science of having someone find you and connect emotionally with your message using words only.

Let me give 2 very basic examples.

Example 1 ~25 million people search for “sofa” on google each year as opposed to  ~6 million for “couch”.   If you were a furniture store owner, would this be relevant to what “keywords” you used to describe your product?  How about for a headline in LinkedIn “Sofa King”? Well maybe not the headline, but you get the idea.

Example 2 -  Which ad do you think would get the best response rate   ‘How to repair cars – quickly, easily, right”  or “How to fix cars – quickly, easily, right”.     The latter in testing had a 20% higher response rate.   Why do you think this is so?   The answer is that “fix” sounds quicker and easy than “repair” so has a different emotional and practical interpretation by some (from Caples book above)

It’s easy to get analysis paralysis with all this, which I don’t want you to do.  Certainly my blog headline and post I could have used some more “science” on.  However for things as important as your LinkedIn Profile or adverstising headlines that you have a high investment in, you absolutely should consider these aspects as they are extremely powerful.   As we say in our LinkedIn training, take this mentality with the most important product you sell everyday, yourself!

If you are interested in more information, please subscribe below, bookmark this site, and/or join our RSS feed.  I will be going much more indepth on this topic in the future and expanding on more advance approaches to keyword analysis, relationship and positioning strategies of keywords,  and common thinking patterns that cause people to connect deeper with some words vs others.   Also, if you join one of our live paid webinar http://linkedinformarketing.com/training/pimp-your-linkedin-profile/  , Self Promotion Expert Jorge Olson will personally consult you on the type of ways you can and should leverage keywords in your profile

Please provide comments if you have questions or thoughts on related topics.

Thanks for your time,

Dave Albertson
Business Growth Expert