Choosing the best keywords for your site

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Target the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be in vain. Choose the right keywords, and you'll see your traffic skyrocket. Therefore, think long and hard on what keywords people are likely to use to find you. Make lists of keywords and then combine them into two- or three-word phrases.

For example, you rarely want to target a single keyword for two reasons:

1) The keyword is probably highly competitive and very general, making it difficult, if not impossible, for you to score a top-10 ranking.

2) If you're lucky enough to get a top-10 ranking for a very general keyword, you may have a lot of traffic to your site, but that traffic won't convert to sales. Aren't you ultimately after traffic that converts to sales?

Suggested steps for choosing the best keywords for your site:

1) The first thing you need to do when considering keywords is to determine your target audience. Who are you targeting with your Web site? Most Web sites have more than one target audience. Choose your keyword phrases and write your Web site content based on your target audience(s).

2) When choosing keywords, it's crucial to FOCUS! People learn quickly that if they type in "real estate" or "properties," they'll get listings for real estate from all over the world. A better use of your time is to PAIR the generic keywords with something more specific. Then, you're targeting your page after your target audience, which may bring you less traffic but more qualified prospects and a lot less competition.

WebPosition is designed to monitor your rankings on a broad array of keywords and informational pages very quickly. However, we're continually dismayed by people trying to monitor their positions on keywords that people are highly unlikely to use. For example, we had a well-meaning customer send a list of his keywords for the "cheap airfares" that his company sold. His list went something like this:

cheap
flights
"cheap flights"
quote
discounted
airfares

The word "cheap" alone does nothing to target his audience. It has to be paired with other words like "flights" or "airline reservations" to have any meaning. It's the same with "quote" and "discounted" -- too broad. Pair them with one or two other words. Statistically, most people search for two- to three-word phrases to avoid getting back too many unrelated matches. Keep this in mind when you design your pages.

3) Don't worry about there not being enough top 10 slots where you can achieve a high ranking. True, there are some keywords that are very competitive. But if you determine your target audience and learn what they're doing when they go online, the number of potential keyword choices is endless. There are SO MANY other keywords and keyword combinations where you can achieve a top-10 ranking. It's really NOT very difficult at all! Once you tap into phrases people are searching on to find your Web site, you'll have tapped into a continuous stream of free advertising for your online business, which sure beats paying out a $1,000 or more a month in unsuccessful banner ads.

For example, if you don't achieve a good ranking on "cheap airfares," keep trying, but also be creative and target "inexpensive airfares" too. It's all about thinking like your customer or clientele. It's really pretty easy to find a keyword combination that you can dominate in the search engines. You'll often find that there are more people searching for these other phrases than were searching for the first phrase you thought of. In marketing, this is called "carving out your niche."

If you're Microsoft, you can afford to fight over who has the best "browser software." But, for the rest of us, we know we can't always fight the big boys. So instead, what savvy marketers do is to identify a "niche" that few others are targeting and go after it. We've created pages for other Web sites where we posted an informational page that has remained in the top-10 ranking for six to ten months in a row. Other slots may change more often, but that's why you have WebPosition to help you stay on top of your rank under ALL the important keywords and keyword combinations. Good management is the key to achieving a range of good rankings, each of which will bring you scores of new traffic…if you choose the proper keywords.

If interested we provide several internet advertising, search engine optimisation and search engine submission services to promote and advertise your business.