Did you start your business blog yet? You know I always encourage you to do so. If you haven’t and aren’t sure if you should go for it, be sure to check out my post on 3 Top Reasons To Blog For Your Business. If you have started, that’s excellent news! I haven’t written much about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and I want to be sure you’re taking full advantage of your blog.
When you blog at first it does take some time to gain page rank from the search engines. Google looks for keywords to rank your blog and it has a special formula called an algorithm. It has made many changes to ensure each website has a fair advantage to gain rank. It looks at content and how long people take to view your website. The more I did research on it the more complex it got to fully understand. The fact is that there are “good” or organic ways to SEO and there are “bad” or shady ways to SEO. Google does not get fooled quite easily therefore that’s why I wanted to point out the organic way.
The majority of people will start off using Google AdWords to use the keyword tool. This will provide suggestions of keywords from the keyword you’re thinking about using for a blog topic. For example, if I want to blog about blogs I would simply go to the keyword planner and see what keywords are related to blogs. Take a look below:
I received 800 results however you would use the list to find what keywords are searched the most under Average Monthly Searches. If the number is high, then you would pick that keyword to use in your blog. Thus potentially ranking higher on the search pages. Now this isn’t the only keyword search, there are more than a dozen out there. After a while you’ll start to look around to see what works best for you.
HitTail
Now I found out about HitTail as a keyword search and I have used it for a couple of weeks now. I have to say how easy it was to set-up and how quickly I was getting keywords. Moz has a great way of explaining keywords and the importance in their beginner’s guide. HitTail takes care of the long tail keywords, which means the more descriptive keywords.
What’s neat about HitTail is that integrates with your website analytics to find organic keywords off of your existing keywords. Meaning you’re not typing in a keyword that you’re thinking about to blog. It automatically comes up with keywords that are ranked to let you know what’s working for YOUR blog.
Set-up
First when you sign up, you will be asked to add them to your Google Webmaster site as a user with restricted access. If you haven’t signed up with Google Webmaster please do so that Google can find you. Once this step is complete, your keywords will start populating.
“Quick and easy, my friend.”
Q&A
If you have any questions, all their questions are answered with quick videos. Although if you don’t find an answer on their website, email them and they will respond that day. I did receive an email in error stating I wasn’t connected however they emailed me right away to let me know to disregard it. HitTail has great customer service.
Dashboard
Here’s how your HitTail dashboard looks once you’re all setup.
Features
When I first started it only listed just a few keywords but it’s getting more to list each day. The list provides suggested keywords along with a score. You can use it as a planner and click the ones you want to use to add to your To-Do List.
What I found interesting too was their Article button. If you don’t have time to write a blog post because work has gotten super busy or you’re sick then you can order an article to be written for you regarding the selected keyword. They’ll send you a 400-word article within 2 days for $19. Pretty slick, right? I thought this was a nice feature too. Especially for any entrepreneur, small business, or small non-profit… what happens when you can’t get that blog post done when your readers expect something every week.
Review
I like HitTail a lot so far and I’ll keep you updated with any new features or issues. Right now if I had to rate HitTail it would be 5 STARS! The Article button was a total surprise, in an awesome way.
The fact is keywords are how to get your blog noticed on the search engines. – TWEET THIS!
What about you? Have you heard of HitTail? Let me know your thoughts.
That’s all for now.
Take care,
Lillian De Jesus
Tigerlily 
Hi Lillian, I have never heard of Hittail before. It does look like it would be very useful, however, I see it also connects to the Google keyword search and Google has banned my Adsense account, so it wouldn’t help me.
I’m sure this would work wonders for many others learning about keyword research.
Have a great day.
Hey there Monna!
Oh my. What a shame you’ve been banned. I think HitTail could help you too. Darn. Thanks for your comment!
Take care and Have a great day too,
Lillian
Hello Lillian:
Really great post! I haven’t heard of Hittail either. I understand the basics of SEO but I’m no expert. I actually think Hittail might be able to help me select hot topics to write about! I often have too many topics rolling around in my mind!
It would be great to just have an SEO plan for my blog and know ahead of time that it was something readers would truly want to read.
Thank you for posting! 🙂
Deborah
Hi Deborah,
Thanks! HitTail is really going to help plan for posts especially when it can provide the keywords that people are searching to get to your website anyway. It came up with some older topics I had, making me rethink some updates. Very useful!
Take care,
Lillian
Hi Lillian,
I think I lost my comment but here goes again: I want to thank you for introducing me to HitTail and explaining how and why it works so well. I know I need to pay more attention to my SEO. This sounds like a perfect solution!
Cheers!
-Donna
Hey there Donna,
Sorry to hear that! I got this one. I’m glad to hear this will help you.
Take care,
Lillian
Hello Lillian,
Looks I am not the only one who has never heard of Hittail before, I for one am terrible with SEO and this looks so easy.. Thanks GF I am off to check all of this out…
Chery :))
Hi Chery!
SO sorry, you were in my SPAM. FIXED IT!
I’m glad this will help you. It’s wonderfully easy, I think you’ll like it.
Take care,
Lillian
I have never heard of Hit Tail either, so thanks for drawing my attention to it, Lillian… it sounds terrific. I am off to check it out….
Hi Liz,
That sounds great! It’s pretty awesome.
Take care,
Lillian
This seems pretty slick! SEO is a difficult field to master and it definitely takes time. Thank you for sharing!
I know isn’t it cool! I do love it. It comes up with keywords that I’m like wow people are looking for that.
Glad it will help!
Lillian