Posted on

Finding the Best Keywords for Your Business 

Has some slick search engine optimization (SEO) person kept saying how important ‘keywords’ are for your website? Think keywords sound too complicated to figure out or impossible to use without being a tech genius? If you would like more people to find your website without spending money on ads, then read on for helpful tips.

Keywords are words you type into a search engine to find information and sites helpful to you. No doubt you’ve typed in a phrase before and, looking at the results, thought “Oh, that’s not it” and reworded your query for better results. Understanding your customer will help you find the best keywords for your food and farm business. 

What goes into picking good keywords?

There are a few factors that go into picking good keywords. Here are several different ways, try the one that is most interesting to you:

Popularity

Using common words that people are familiar with is a first place to start with keywords. We can use tools to help us find related keywords (we’ll get into that below) by starting with a general search. 

For example, by searching ‘microgreens’, we can see other suggested keywords and their relative volume of search. Tip: To create more traffic, use clear words and phrases that people will naturally look for. Keep it simple. 

With this tool “Keywords everywhere” you can see related keywords and how often they are searched.

In the example above, you will see that there are words (or phrases) as well as the volume of search they experience. For example searching ‘microgreens benefits’ gets 1,900 searches in the US. These numbers give us the relative popularity of the words. 

Relevancy

Using relevant keywords to your business will help you narrow down the list of popular options. For example: ‘grow microgreens’ might be more popular than ‘buy microgreens’ but if you aren’t helping people grow microgreens with your products or services, you won’t end up getting the right people to your website. 

My favorite example of relevancy came up while doing keyword research for an environmental non-profit. I discovered that ‘gulf stream’ was a popular search term. When I saw the other relevant searches, I quickly realized the popularity (looking at ‘related terms’ searched) was about recreational vehicles and not the Atlantic Ocean. While putting the words ‘gulf stream’ all over their website might have gotten traffic, that traffic would have immediately clicked away when they realized that the page was not the topic they were looking for. Read more Finding the Best Keywords for Your Business 

Posted on

Local Foods on the Radio!

We welcomed Todd Moe, a morning host on North Country Public Radio (NCPR), to the Learning Farm last week to tell him more about a new project we’ve been excitedly working on. It’s time to unveil In Season: Our Rural Food System in Photos!

Click here to hear Flip Filippi, Local Food Program Leader and Lauren Olson, Local Food Marketing and Development Educator share the scoop on this photography exhibit celebrating farming and food in St. Lawrence County that has been five years in the making.

The public is invited to the exhibit opening Saturday, May 14th, 1-4pm at Traditional Arts of Upstate NY (TAUNY) at 53 Main Street in Canton. There’s parking on the treet and behind the building. If you miss us on Saturday, drop by TAUNY Monday-Friday 10am-5pm or Saturday 10am-4pm. In addition to the hundreds of professionally taken local images, there’s marketing materials for dozens of local food producers.

There’s ample inspiration in the gallery to jumpstart a delicious season of buying local.

Posted on

Create a cut flower garden Part II: Planting

Read Part I of this series,  here: Create a cut flower garden: Planning

When choosing a location for a cut flower garden, look for an area where you’ll be able to pass comfortably, even when carrying a basket or bucket  of flowers. Consider a border against a south facing wall of your home, a designated garden patch, or even adding clumps or rows of flowers to an existing vegetable garden.

Cut flowers need well-drained soil that’s rich in organic matter so that it will hold water for your blossoms. Plan to work in 2-3 inches of compost or well-rotted leaves to your soil. Add a dose of a balanced, slow-acting granular organic fertilizer at the beginning of the season. If you notice blooms fading later on, fertilize them during the season as well.

Transplant your seedlings after the last spring frost (May 15-31 for Zone 4). Be sure to check the heights of your mature flowers and plant the tall ones to the north of the shorter flowers to prevent shading. For direct seeded plants, sow a few extra seeds – we have a short growing season and don’t have time to reseed if they don’t germinate the first time. It’s better to thin them later than to start over. To control weeds and retain soil moisture, add a 2-3” layer of mulch around the plants, staying at least an inch away from the plant on all sides. Read more Create a cut flower garden Part II: Planting