Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Keyword selection: Choosing the right words



Selecting the right keywords can help give a website a huge boost in visitor traffic. Webmasters who choose the wrong keywords to target often end up with less than desired numbers of visitors. Lower visitor numbers will mean lower overall sales. Fewer total prospects means a lower level of potential customers for the products and services on offer at the site.

Spending some time, effort, and even a bit of money to find the right keywords, will pay off in the long run. Focussing on the best keywords for the site, and improving the site’s ranking in the search engines, will create much larger numbers of visitors. Website owners should always be aware of what searches are finding their web pages.

Employing several strategies in combination, will ensure that the correct keywords for the website, receive the most attention. There are several techniques to determine the most appropriate traffic building keywords for a site. Utilizing as many available keyword tools and methods as possible, will enhance the probability of focussing on the heaviest traffic builders. Instead of spending time on keywords that add few visitors, maximum effort can be put into the keywords that work.



Emphasising the right keywords for your website might be the most important factor in developing a strong traffic flow to your web pages. Gaining visitor traffic from the major search engines is entirely dependent upon your keyword selections. After all, that’s why people use search engines in the first place.

Search engine users are trying to locate sites that provide products or information on their chosen search terms. To get those internet searchers to find your site, you need to include keywords that are part of their searches.

A good place to begin a keyword selection program is by employing such keyword search tools as Wordtracker and Yahoo Overture. By establishing the most sought after keywords, a website owner can be certain that searches are actually conducted for those terms. Being ranked number one for a term that receives no search volume will definitely not translate into any visitor traffic.

After you have determined the major keyword phrases for your site as quantified by the major search tools, it's time for some low tech keyword phrase discovery. Start by writing down every keyword phrase that you think is related to your business and industry. Don't bother editing it as you write. There will be lots of time for shortening the list later.



The next step is to ask your staff, your clients, and even your family how they would find a business offering a product or service similar to that of your company. Add their phrases to your list as well. You might find some duplication. That's a good thing as it shows the importance of those search terms. Real world searchers often look for the unexpected too. Take those offbeat searches into consideration.

Now you are ready to write your onpage information copy, add your site title tags, and develop your site. You can start out your online business with the confidence that you are targeting the search terms that will provide several benefits. Your site will rank highly in the search engines for those terms. You will also rank well for terms you never dreamed of considering as a direct result of your keyword phrase discovery efforts.

The searchers finding your site through Google will represent real customers who are actively seeking your products and services. After all, a number one ranking has no value if it brings in no paying customers.

Selecting and emphasising the right keywords pays off in the end.

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