Keyword selection.

Guess the two words I would use to describe
your business and become a millionaire.

That is what keywords are all about. If someone wants to find something on a search engine they simply type in two or three words that they think should define what they want. The words are then matched against the database and results appear in order of how relevant they are to those words.

If your pages match the right keywords, the ones that most people would use to find the products and services you offer, you could have thousands of potential customers flocking to your site every single day.

So now you need to guess the right keywords. Think like a customer not like a promoter. When you choose your keywords think of what someone looking for your product is likely to pick as the two or three words to define their search.

This is not a five-minute job. Keyword selection is the single most important factor of all website promotion through the search engines. In that light give it all the attention it deserves.

Market Research for Keywords.

There are some great resources available for researching the keywords that customers really do use on a regular basis. However, there are really only a few that I generally use.

The first and foremost is WordTracker which provides statistics and data about genuine searches actually made in millions of real searches. This allows you to make realistic predictions of the proportional values of various keyword and phrase variations.

WordTracker has a lot for free, but it is somewhat deceptive, as the paid service includes many more features not even hinted at in free usage. I can't recommend WordTracker highly enough.

The second main tool is the Yahoo!/Overture tool for advising PPC listing customers of which are the major keywords to go for, and how many searches were made for given words and related words in the last month.

The third tool is simply analysis of your own web log files. Look for specific phrases used in searching that appear in the referring page URL from search engines.

Use all of the above to get inside knowledge of the simple words and phrases that could gain you an endless supply of eager customers.

Additional Tips for researching your keywords.

Ask everyone you know how they would search for your product or service. To make the most of this research take notes not only of the keywords, but also the search engine they would use, or any sites they would look in for links.

Go to a couple of internet cafes. For the price of a few cups of coffee you can gain invaluable insight into the search-terms used by a broad cross-section of people.