The all-important first step

Getting found by the people who are looking for what you have to offer is, in many ways, a whole lot easier today than it was 20 years ago. Back before the internet and the world wide web were a staple of everyday life, you had to either have a massive advertising and marketing budget or a whole lot of friends in the right places, to get the word out about what you had to offer. Word of mouth was key for independent folks, as were advertisements in targeted publications, radio, even television.

The big problem was, however, you rarely had a clear sense of exactly how to find the people who cared about what you had to offer, and you rarely had a way of measuring precisely how many of those people you reached, and how many reacted to what you had to say.

Now things are very, very different. You have the web. You have Facebook. You have Twitter. You have email. You have podcasts. You have RSS. You have YouTube. And more. Each of the above services has tens of “cousins” which are like them — there are lots of additional communities and messaging platforms and media sites that are pretty similar to the “big guys”, many of which are niche communities or have a small but loyal following.

Now the problem is not finding a way to get the word out about what you’re offering. The real problem is picking the best route to follow. Social… mobile… web… media… it never seems to end, right? And for practitioners and independents who have been active in their practice for more than 20 years, it can seem pretty daunting. Heck, for anyone who’s trying to figure out how to find a specific audience and reach them, this can seem like a huge undertaking.

Let’s take me, for example. I’m working a book for people who are in transition in their lives, who are trying to figure out how to find a job. The book is the story of what happened to me, nearly 20 years ago, when I moved from California to Boston and got a job within a week of arriving — in a completely new place, where I knew no one. I showed up on the East Coast, practically sight-unseen, with bills to pay and rent to make, and thanks to steps I took both before leaving California and when I got to Boston, I had a source of income within days of unpacking the moving truck.

Looking back, it seems like a pretty bold (okay, maybe crazy) thing to do, but at the time I had very little choice — I had to make that move. And I learned a ton in the process. So, why not share what I’ve learned with others? There are plenty of outlets to let people know about this book. How hard can it be, right? I’ll build a website, make sure it’s clearly about “finding a job”, I’ll do some online publicity, do some social networking, and that’ll be that…

One problem: It’s pretty crowded out there. When I Google “find a job”, about 212,000,000 results come back. Okay, so even if I do put the book out there, and I create a website that’s about finding a job, I have to get the attention of people in the midst of of 212 million people who have Googled “find a job”.

Hm. Okay. So, maybe I need to back up a little bit and give this some more thought. Maybe I need a more focused way of presenting my ideas and my book. I need to know more than what I want to offer other people — I need to figure out what people actually want.

But how?

Ah, dear readers, here’s where the fun starts — have you heard of the Google AdWords Keyword Tool? Maybe? Maybe not? Don’t let the name fool you — it’s actually not just for figuring out which AdWords you want to buy (although that’s what it was created for). It’s also an excellent way of finding out what people are searching for online, what they care about, and what parts of the world care the most about which terms.

I need to find out what people are searching for, when they are looking for “find a job” information. I want to find out what people need, what they are telling Google they need… and then I need to get those keywords and incorporate them into my site.

The first thing I do is go over to the Google Adwords: Keyword Tool and login. You can sign up for free. Here’s what it looks like (the top of the screen):

Start here

I plug in the terms
find a job
employment
work
job search

and click Search, and I get a page full of results showing me how many people have searched on those terms each month. Here’s a picture of what I see (part of it):

Click to see a larger version

Now, looking at everything that’s on there, you can see what people are paying to use these keywords in their ads (I’m not going to talk about Google AdWords advertising at all — there are lots of other blogs that talk about $earch engine marketing with Google). What I really care about, is the information on monthly searches — global and local.

So, I click on the column heading for Global Monthly Searches, so I can see who’s searching for what. I don’t pay any attention to the “Competition” column. That’s not what I care about. I want to see who’s looking for what — who wants to know about what.

The red section is what I care about

So, now I have a much better idea about what people are looking for, and if what I’m creating has any value out there — do people need it? Do people want it? Apparently, with over 200 million people searching for the top five search phrases, and 185 million people searching on the next four… well, it looks like I may have something that can help a lot of people.

I’ve got to run to work now, but if you’re curious about how your offerings may serve others, get your Google Analytics login, and start researching. It’s so much fun! I do it just to pass the time, sometimes… to see what’s going on out in the world, as well as to figure out if I’m in synch with the people I’m trying to help.

Knowing whether or not people are interested in what you’re offering is just one step in the whole process of getting the word out about your work, but it’s probably the most important one of all.

So, get that Google Analytics login and start researching. It’s good stuff