Keywords Selection for the Search Engines

Search engines are one of the means that bring potential customers to your websites. However, in order for visitors to reach your website you need to provide them with specific and effective signs that will direct them right to your site. You do this by creating carefully chosen keywords.

Assume that the right keywords are the Open Sesame of the Internet. Look for the right words or phrases, and bingo, avalanche of traffic will be lining up to your front door. If your keywords are too broad or too over-used, the possibility of visitors actually making it all the way to your site - or of seeing any real profits from the visitors that do arrive - decreases dramatically.

Keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. If they are not chosen with great precision, no matter how aggressive your marketing campaign may be, the right people may never get the chance to find out about it. So your first step in plotting your strategy is to gather and evaluate keywords and phrases.

You probably think you already know exactly the right words for your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven't followed certain specific steps, you are probably WRONG. It's hard to be objective when you are right in the center of your business network, which is the reason that you may not be able to choose the most efficient keywords from the inside. You need to be able to think like your customers. And since you are a business owner and not the consumer, your best bet is to go directly to the source.

Instead of plunging in and scribbling down a list of potential search words and phrases yourself, ask for words from as many potential customers as you can. You will most likely find out that your understanding of your business and your customers' understanding is significantly different.

The consumer is an invaluable resource. You will find the words you accumulate from them are words and phrases you probably never would have considered from deep inside the trenches of your business.

Only after you have gathered as many words and phrases from outside resources should you add your own keyword to the list. Once you have this list in hand, you are ready for the next step: evaluation.

The aim of evaluation is to narrow down your list to a small number of words and phrases that will direct the highest number of quality visitors to your website. By
"quality visitors" I mean those consumers who are most likely to make a purchase rather than just cruise around your site and take off for greener pastures.

In the next post we will look into the three elements of evaluating the effectiveness of keywords which are: popularity, specificity, and motivation.