STRATEGIC INTERNET MARKETING Powerful Promotion Techniques Web Site Promotion Services Pay Per Click PPC Services Link Exchange with Us Free Internet Marketing Quote Free Website Design Quote

Easy Web Site Builder with Free Hosting, Free Domain Registration

Search Engine Management : A Straightforward Guide to Keywords and Search Engine Optimization

Webmasters need to have realistic expectations when it comes to keyword selection. There is a critical technique in choosing keywords effective for search engine optimization.

Finding Keywords

It's essential to understand your audience and aim for powerful, concise keywords that are not vague or generic. Broad, generic, expansive keywords rarely attract the audience you seek, lead to disappointing search engine placement, and are wasteful expenditures of cash.

If you want a healthy return on investment from search engine optimization (SEO), your success - or failure - hinges on the keywords you select when combined with other factors like link popularity and web site design.

If your web site has content and design barriers, lacks saturation (meaning how well a site is indexed by search engines), and isn't found on many other relevant web sites, you're odds of ranking well are pretty low.

Factors of Keyword Research

Be careful with keyword research to avoid missing opportunities, or aim too broadly targeting phrases that will never rank well. Get your act together, and use these 5 tips as a guide to effective keyword research.

1. Know your audience, and think through your business goals. Many businesses simply pick keywords out of thin air. They don't talk to customers or prospects to determine what might be useful search terms. Keywords need to match your business strategy. What are your main products? Where are sales lagging? Are there products or services that do well and could soar with SEO? Which products have the highest margins? You should have scores of other questions that make sense for your business. The information should be readily available. If it's not, you're way behind in the SEO process.
2. Watch the broad search terms. Companies make a mistake in this area more than any other. The keyword landscape is more inviting than a one-hour toy store shopping spree for a child. The excitement forces people to ignore reality. Who can blame them? Wouldn't it be great to be number 1 on Google for "food," "cars," "software"? Yes, single words can help drive sales, but they're difficult to achieve. It is easier to control other factors in search engine placement, such as link popularity, web site content, and site structure.
3. Learn how to form search terms. You can start with "automobile" all you want, but build on your core phrase by adding on other words relevant to your business like "suppliers," "products," "services," "companies," "firms."
4. Analyze log files. Often overlooked and easily underplayed, web site log files reveal much about the way people search. You can generate many keyword and search phrase ideas just by examining the data with an intuitive sense.
5. Know your link popularity. First you need to know your competitors - compare their link popularity to yours. How far do you need to go to catch up? Study who else links to their site. Would those web sites be willing to link to your site? Would you be required to do a link exchange with them? Use a Link Popularity Check (www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com) service to ascertain how your site is faring with link popularity.

About the Author : Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, a Cleveland, Ohio-based search engine optimization firm.

Easy Web Site Builder with Free Hosting, Free Domain Registration