As a Virtual Chief Financial Officer (CFO), building a better visibility for your business is key to connecting with potential clients. With your virtual CFO services, you can help business owners make better financial decisions and maximize their impact. But if your target market can’t find you? Well, then they don’t get to grow with your customized financial solutions. This is where finding the best SEO keyword for virtual CFOs comes into play.
Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is a sustainable content marketing strategy that allows you to bring qualified leads right to the doorstep of your virtual CFO business. When you strategically optimize your online presence with relevant keywords and content, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are reaching the right people. This not only increases opportunities for client acquisition but also cultivates trust and credibility, positioning you as an authoritative figure in your niche.
So, how can virtual CFOs find the best SEO keywords to market their services? Here’s your comprehensive guide to finding competitive keywords that’ll rank high on search engines and help you get more clients.
Why Keyword Targeting Is Important for Virtual CFOs
SEO keyword targeting is the practice of strategically selecting and optimizing specific keywords to attract relevant traffic from search engines. Instead of using all and any keywords without any SEO strategies in place, keyword targeting is all about identifying and prioritizing keywords that align with your services and the needs of your potential clients.
Whether you’re new to SEO or it has been a part of your online marketing for years, keyword targeting should be the first step of your SEO optimization process.
Better Visibility
When you use strategically chosen SEO keywords, you increase your chances of ranking higher in search results for queries related to your services. This means that more prospective clients are going to discover your small business and, if you have high-quality content on your website, inquire.
That said, you’re not going to have a lot of success with SEO if you don’t focus on targeted keywords that make sense for your business and domain authority. Keyword targeting gives you better visibility because it’s all about finding the right keywords to rank for, not just any keywords.
More Qualified Leads
When you have a targeted SEO strategy, the leads who find your website in search engine results are already pre-qualified and interested in your CFO services or products. They find your website because they’re searching for a solution to their specific problem. When you create targeted content that gives them the answers to this problem, curious lurkers are much more likely to convert into new clients.
The top traffic source for all websites is organic search, so when you attract the right audience with the right keyword phrases…well, you practically create an endless stream of pre-qualified leads through your SEO efforts! This is what we did for one of our financial advisor clients. Read the case study.
Long-Term Sustainability
When you consistently optimize your website with relevant keywords, you lay a solid foundation for enduring online visibility and organic traffic generation. When your keyword ranking results make sense for the nature of your business and your target audience, you create continuous exposure over time, leading to a steady influx of qualified leads and potential clients.
Read: you’ll be able to stop having to constantly “show up” on multiple social media platforms and start making sales on autopilot.
Enhanced Authority and Trust
When you align your online content with the specific needs and desires of your target audience, you establish yourself as an authoritative figure in your niche that has the answers that your people are searching for. When your potential clients search for financial solutions online and keep not only coming across your website but also getting valuable insights from it, it instills confidence and credibility.
Over time, your prospective clients become more likely to entrust their financial needs to you because they know that you are someone who has the expertise and experience they need.
Cost-Effective Marketing
When done right, SEO is a highly cost-effective strategy for virtual CFOs, especially when compared with other digital marketing strategies. Unlike paid ads, which require ongoing financial investment to maintain visibility, investing in SEO is a long-term solution that’s going to continue driving traffic to your website for years to come.
When you strategically target keywords and optimize your website content, you attract highly relevant organic traffic without incurring additional costs for each click or impression. The benefits of SEO also accrue over time, as your content continues to rank higher in search results over time.
How to Find the Best SEO Keywords for Virtual CFOs
Now that you understand the positive impact that finding the right SEO keywords for virtual CFOs can have on your business, it’s time to figure out how to find the best keywords for your business. We also teach you how to do this in our Content Brief Training.
1. Define Your Target Audience
The very first step to creating a strong SEO strategy is defining who your target audience is and getting crystal clear on the kinds of information that they’re searching for. Understanding the demographics, preferences, and behaviors of your audience allows you to identify the specific keywords they are likely to use when searching for financial advice or services for their small businesses.
When you know who your ideal clients are, you can tailor your keyword research to align with their needs, interests, and pain points so that the content you publish on your website is genuinely helpful to them. Defining your target audience not only increases your chances of ranking high in search results but also allows you to attract the right clients who need exactly what you offer instead of random people from different industries.
So, how do you do market research? One of our favorite methods is to browse social media websites and forums that can offer insight into what your target market is thinking about. For example, on this Reddit thread, a small business owner is asking for advice on whether or not to hire a CFO.
This potential client may search for keywords like “benefits of hiring a virtual CFO” or “when to hire a CFO.” You should also browse the comments to see what other potential clients are saying and suggesting to gain further insight.
2. Do a Brain Dump
Once you’ve collected enough market research and are ready to kickstart the process of identifying the right keywords for your virtual CFO business, do a brain dump. Gather all relevant topics, terms, and phrases related to your services that come to mind and write them down in a Google Doc or your project management tool.
Allow your ideas to flow freely! You’ll verify whether these potential keywords make sense for your business in the later steps. This brainstorming session is an exercise to tap into your industry knowledge, experience, and expertise so you can generate a diverse pool of keyword ideas to refine and prioritize.
3. Use Keyword Research Tools
To build a strong SEO strategy, you need to find keywords that your target audience is searching for and that you can also rank for. Now that you have different keyword ideas to test out, it’s time to use SEO keyword research tools so you can check the stats and make informed decisions about which keywords to target.
There are many keyword research tools out there for small business owners, including Semrush, Ahrefs (our personal favorite!), and Ubersuggest. You’ll need to cover the cost of the subscription, which is often expensive. That said, when you work with SEO experts like SJ Digital Solutions, the cost of SEO tools is already included in your cost of service!
4. Analyze Competitor Keywords
Another way to find SEO keywords for virtual CFOs is to study the keywords that your competitors are targeting. This helps you identify which keywords are driving traffic to their websites and how they are positioning themselves within the market. It also allows you to identify gaps and opportunities in your own keyword strategy, pinpointing areas where you can differentiate and capitalize on untapped keyword opportunities.
Many SEO keyword research tools have competitor analysis or gap features that allow you to see the keywords that your competitors are ranking for in just one click of a button. Make a note of the keywords you find and figure out a way to use them to enrich your website’s structure and content.
5. Check “People Also Ask For” on Google
Sometimes you don’t need fancy SEO tools to build a competitive keyword strategy because the answers are right in front of you.
Checking the “People Also Ask For” (PAA) section on Google is a valuable technique for uncovering additional keywords relevant to your virtual CFO business. This feature displays related questions and topics that users frequently search for alongside their original query, giving you insight into the specific concerns and interests of your target audience.
By exploring the PAA section, you can identify common inquiries related to financial services and use them as inspiration for new keyword ideas. These user-generated questions not only reflect the language and terminology used by your audience but also offer opportunities to address their needs and provide valuable solutions through your content.
For example, when you search “hiring a CFO” on Google, multiple other questions come up as well.
From reading the PAA section, you can see that small business owners also want to know about the costs associated with hiring a CFO and at what point they need to hire a CFO, among other topics. Use this knowledge to inform your keyword strategy, expand your horizons, and refine your SEO keywords.
6. Check for Matching and Related Terms
Most SEO tools will give you a list of matching and related terms that are related or synonymous with your primary target keywords. When you broaden your keyword scope to include matching and related terms, you can capture a wider range of search queries and expand your reach to different segments of your target audience. You don’t need to have huge lists of secondary keywords, but they can definitely be helpful for search engine optimization (SEO).
Here are the matching and related terms that our SEO tool of choice, Ahrefs, gives us when we search for “hiring a CFO.” You can see that if you’re writing an article on “hiring a CFO,” you could also include keywords such as “when to hire a CFO” and “when to hire a CFO startup.”
7. Prioritize Long-Tail Keywords
Short-tail keywords are search terms that typically consist of one to three words, such as “CFO services.” Many people search for these keywords, but they’re hard to rank for and less specific to user intent. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific search phrases. They often contain three or more words, such as “outsourcing CFO services for startups.” Fewer people search for these terms, but the people who do search for them are more qualified and ready to convert.
When you focus on long-tail keywords that reflect the unique needs and preferences of your target audience, you can attract highly qualified traffic that is more likely to convert into clients. Long-tail keywords also typically have lower competition levels. They’re easing to rank for and help you establish your website’s authority, especially if your domain is relatively new.
Choosing the Best SEO Keywords for Virtual CFOs
Now that you know how to find the best SEO keywords for virtual CFOs, you should also learn how to choose the ones with a high traffic potential that you can actually rank for. These are three factors that CFOs should consider when choosing which keywords to target: search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent.
Search Volume
Search volume shows the level of demand and interest among Internet users for a certain keyword. If a keyword has a high search volume, it means that it’s a popular topic that many people are searching for. When you choose keywords with a high search volume, there’s potential for increased visibility and traffic to your website.
Keyword Difficulty
Keyword difficulty (KD) is a metric that measures the competitiveness of a keyword based on factors such as search volume, competition, and the strength of existing rankings. In essence, it shows you how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword phrase.
Keywords with a high KD have a lot of competition. If your domain is relatively new and not established, it’s virtually impossible to rank for high KD keywords. Keywords with low difficulty scores give you an opportunity for quicker and easier ranking, especially if your website is newer.
Search Intent
Search intent is a metric that shows the underlying motivation behind a user’s online search. For example, your potential clients may be searching for an answer to ther question (informational search intent) or to buy a specific product (transactional search intent).
If your target audience is searching for “when is it time to hire a SEO,” they want to read an educational article to determine whether they’re in a good place to bring a CFO onboard. If they’re searching for “CFO near me,” they’re looking to hire, and an educational article wouldn’t resonate with their search intent.
Summing It Up
When looking for the right SEO keywords for virtual CFOs, you need to consider three main factors: search volume, keyword difficultly, and search intent.
Search volume gives you insight into the level of demand for a keyword, showing you how much traffic you could potentially get if you target a certain keyword. Keyword difficulty shows you if you have a realistic chance of ranking for a certain keyword. And lastly, understanding search intent behind a certain keyword allows you to make sure that the content you create gives your audience the content they’re actually looking for.
Remember to target less competitive keywords if your website is newer or less established!
Examples of SEO Keywords for Virtual CFOs
Here are a few examples of SEO for virtual CFOs, backed up by our favorite keyword research tool, Ahrefs!
- When to hire a CFO
- What are virtual CFO services
- CEO vs CFO
- Benefits of virtual CFO
- How to manage small business finances
You should have a dedicated place to keep a running list of potential keywords to target, whether it’s in your keyword research tool, project management tool, or in a Google spreadsheet.
FAQs
How Can Virtual CFOs Incorporate SEO Keywords into Their Content?
The most important thing when incorporating SEO keywords into the content on your website, whether it’s website copy or blog post articles, is to remember that you’re writing for human beings, not robots or Google bots. While there are certain ways to organize your content to boost your rankings (for example, using your primary keyword in the first 50-100 words of your article), you’re ultimately writing for your target audience and your content should be engaging and easy to read. Avoid stuffing keywords in unnatural places and do your best to make your content genuinely helpful!
What Are the Best SEO Tools for Virtual CFOs?
There are various SEO tools that virtual CFOs can try depending on your budget and needs. At SJ Digital Solutions, we use Ahrefs to do keyword research and Surfer SEO to optimize content as we write. Many CFOs also like Semrush, Ubersuggest, Mangools, and other SEO tools. If you want to DIY your own SEO, it’s important to experiment with different tools and see which one works best for you and generates the best results. If you decide to outsource your SEO to us, the best tools in the game are already included in your package!
Is SEO Important for Virtual CFOs?
Absolutely, SEO is one of the most important marketing investments that you can make in your CFO business. Optimizing your website for SEO and achieving high rankings generates qualified leads, improves your authority, and drives more traffic to your website. SEO is a cost-effective strategy that will continue bringing positive results and helping you grow your business for years to come. Learn more about our SEO services.
Comprehensive SEO Keyword Support for Virtual CFOs
Ready to get your SEO strategy up and running? According to research, SEO drives 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media. And it all starts with finding the right keywords to target with your content.
We can help you figure out what those keywords are with our keyword research service. If you’re ready to expand your reach, be seen by your ideal clients, and finally get to the first page of Google, this is the service for you!
