What keywords should i target

[ClaireH-184886]

Hi, we are having a re-launch of our online lifestyle magazine and i am wanting to know if anyone on here reads lifestyle magazines and if so, what keywords should i be targeting to drive traffic to our magazine.

I would like to know what sections you would expect to see in a lifestyle magazine as this would help me determine the keywords.

I would also like to know if you were looking to read a lifestyle magazine online what would you put into the search engines, besides the word lifestyle magazine

Any help would be great.

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey Diane

I may be wrong, but I tend to think that you would be better flipping this on it's head and working from the content back to the larger keywords. If we look at lifestyle magazine as a keyword, we see some search traffic, but there is some strong competition. Then, if we look at modifiers like mens lifestyle magazine the numbers are paltry.

You have to consider, do people look for content in this way? That is, do they do a meta search like lifestyle magazine when what they really want is a specific piece of content covering a specific topic.

The way I would see this working is that you create lots of articles and content that is of interest to your target audience and that will bring people in to the site. You then work hard to convert these people to social media channels so you can then push them new content and bring them back to the site.

I certainly think, a broad, category type search is of little relevance here so focus on the other end and the content that is going to bring people in and then make sure they become familiar with the brand.

It really is a pure content driven approach that will win the day here I feel.

Hope that helps
Marcus

[ClaireH-184886]

thank you for this, can you explain more on

You then work hard to convert these people to social media channels so you can then push them new content and bring them back to the site.

and how you would do it

many thanks

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey Diane

That should be the easy bit. Really, if someone likes your content and enjoys reading it it should be easy enough to ask them to like you on facebook at the end of each article.

So, we have two obvious social mechanisms we would like to take advantage of:

1. Tweet, Share on Facebook, Google+1

These are the standard sharing icons where we can ask someone to share an article that they have enjoyed via the social channels they participate in. This should help drive exposure and bring more people in as the content comes with extra weight (if relevant) due to the referral from a friend / associate.

2. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+

People are at a stage where they now understand that they can follow content sources they like and want more of so as long as you have a prominent section on your site which asks people to visit your social page(s) then they can easily click the like button.

Maybe a dedicated part of your page template should have links to your Facebook, Twitter and Google+ pages and you can also use some kind of call to action or hook in your articles like...

_"If you enjoyed this article be sure to head on over to our Facebook Page and Like us over there to get swift access to all of our juicy content" _

Ultimately, you are just reminding people, you can't trick them, they understand how this works now I use Facebook almost as a bookmark and the sites that I enjoy reading, I follow them and when I log into my facebook it is almost a feed of content that I can dip into.

Rand did a great whiteboard friday on improving your calls to action for social channels which is certainly worth a watch:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/improving-social-subscription-calls-to-action-whiteboard-friday

Also, don't forget the other options, email, rss etc. You can also use a hook to drive people to your email or social channels much like a free (something) that people get for following / liking etc.

As ever, there are a lot of moving parts, play with your articles and calls to action, see what works, push your content notifications out at different times to see what works. Do multiple pushes of content, push older content for newer audiences and just experiment and find out what works for you and your audience.

One last tip, maybe look at the established players in your niche, see what they are doing to drive traffic to their social platforms and work with those conventions.

Hope that helps!
Marcus

[ClaireH-184886]

this is briliant, thank you. One thing we have trouble with in the past is trying to set up a facebook page just for our site as they want you to sign up as a person and then do a fan page but we have seen companies where they just have a company page on there.

so is there a way around this or will we just have to have a normal facebook page and then a fan page. would really love to have one like weight watches and other companies where they have a strong facebook page

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey

all facebook pages exist as a child of a personal account but you do not have to do anything with the personal account. If you have a personal account just create the page as a child of that and it will not have any relationship with your personal page other than you are the manager of said page.

Just log in and go here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Hope that helps!
Marcus

[ClaireH-184886]

thank you for all the great advice this is great.

[Vizergy]

Brilliant, Marcus.  Thumbs up!  Diane, be sure to mark his answers as 'Good Answers"

Cheers!