Keyword Marketing Selection for Optimal Search Engine Ranking

Secrets of compelling Web pages

Keyword selection is critical to the success of your site as well as each web page on your site.

Keywords should be selected with three criteria in mind. Success on all three areas will bring you traffic that will buy your products.

1. Keywords Should be Popular

You can often say what you mean in more than one way. The words you use are important.

So, the words you use on your web site can often make the difference between success and just another learning experience.

Use the right words, and the search engines will reward you with loads of hits. Use the wrong words and you'll wonder if anyone is interested in your topic.

For example, search engine statistics indicate that:

• "cable tv" nearly 10 times more popular than "cable television"
• "computer game" is nearly 9 times more popular than "pc game"
• "work at home" is two-and-a-half times more popular than "work from home"
• "online gambling" is nearly three times more popular than "gamble online"

Each and every page on your site should be "tuned" for one or more keyword phrases.

But, how do you find the most popular keywords that apply to each of your pages?

One free tool you can use to identify important keywords is Good Keywords from Softnik Technologies. This free tool accepts a keyword and searches the OVERTURE.COM site statistics.

You start by entering a single keyword. It displays all the search phrases containing this word and their frequency of use.

You can then look at several keywords that convey the same meaning. Remember those that have high enough popularity.

You can also use Good Keywords to brainstorm other words that might be related to your site.

Now you've got several keywords that can generate significant traffic. But, sometimes the top keywords are just too popular. Every Webmaster is using those keywords to drive traffic to his or her site.

How should you go about choosing among the top keywords?

There will be a lot of competition for many of these keywords. People will try every trick in the book to reach the number one position. Everyone wants to be number one for the popular keywords.

Unless you're willing to expend a lot of time and energy, you'll find bing "number one" for certain keywords a difficult task.

This brings us to the second rule. This rule helps you pick among the top keywords.

2. Use Top Keywords With the Least Competition

Next, let's find out what the competition is for each keyword.

WordTracker is a unique service that provides information about both the popularity of keywords and the competition you'll face.

WordTracker requires you to sign in by giving your name and email address.

You'll then see the introduction that explains what WordTracker is going to do for you.

Next, you'll enter a keyword or keyword phrase.

After a bit of scrolling, you'll see the related keywords and keyword phrases that WordTracker has found.

When you click any of the keywords on the left, the key phrases that contain that keyword will be displayed on the right.

The "Count" column shows the number of times each keyword appears in WordTracker's database. A count of 54 tells us that this particular word has appeared 54 times out of 30 million (the total number of words in the database).

The "Predicted" column shows the number of times that term is searched each day on the major search engines. If your site were at the top in each engine, you could experience that many hits each day.

Click each keyword on the right that applies to your page or site. These keywords will be collected for further analysis. Then click near the bottom of the screen to go to step 3.

You'll then see a list of all the keywords you selected. You can delete any keywords that you think don't exactly match your page. Then click to proceed to step 4.

This is where you spot your niches in the search engines.

The far right column shows your competition. This shows how many other web pages are competing for your keyword.

The 24 Hrs column shows the predicted traffic for this search engine based on the current 24 hour period. Of course, your title and description will pay a key factor in attracting traffic.

The Count column shows how many time that particular keyword appears in the Wordtracker database. It is a measure of keyword popularity.

The Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) compares the popularity with the number of competing web pages to pinpoint exactly which keywords are most effective for your campaign. Your best bets are the ones at the top. They are the most popular and have the fewest people fighting for them!

Let's take an example, the keyword at the top of the list - "web advertising agency". This has a KEI of 20.771 and is therefore a good keyword to target (it's KEI is between 10 and a 100).

Keep in mind that there may be a better keyword that will produce KEI values even higher than 100. You may have to brainstorm to find this keyword, but it will probably be worth it.

So getting to the top should be less of a problem for those keywords near the top of this analysis.

WordTracker is a powerful tool. You can use it for free. The free service uses AltaVista, now one of the smaller engines. For a fee, you can get results that comprise data from all the major search engines.

But, you won't sell more if you are merely going after hits. You'll need to follow rule three:

3. Use Pertinent Keywords

Have you ever gone to a Web site only to find it wasn't what you expected? Either the title or description was misleading.

What did you do?

You probably clicked the button as quickly as possible.

Your keywords must honestly describe your Web page or your site.

If your keywords don't pertain to your site, your visitors will exercise their mouse on the button.

Most people are in a hurry. They want to get certain information from the Web. They aren't interested in moving randomly from one site to another.

They don't have time to examine your site -- and they won't buy from you.

Or worse, they'll complain to the search engines. You could lose your listing on a search engine.

Your goal is to attract targeted customers to your site. You want visitors who think your site is just what they need.

Once they get to your site, they'll read your top heading and a sentence or two. This has to hit them "right between the eyes." Your site should be just what they spent the last hour searching for.

You've succeeded in capturing a targeted customer.

But, how exactly do you do that?

There are two ways to follow Rule 3:

1. Select keywords from your list that truly reflect your subject. Work these keywords into your TITLE, DESCRIPTION, headings and other areas of your pages.
2. Select popular keywords that interest you and write about the subjects they describe.

That's it. Either you've already written something and are now tuning your page by selecting the right keywords. Or, you are wondering what popular topic you could write about.

That sounds really simple. But, it's not easy to write pages that really sell.

Have you suffered the frustrating reality of not being able to write persuasive sales copy to match your business topic?

How many times have you closed your eyes, put your head down, and said to yourself

"I can't do this!"

Well, you can do it.

You can if you know the secrets of writing well.

I'll tell you a couple of secrets.

But, remember, there are hundreds of books on the subject. You could easily read thousands of page about this subject. In fact, I'll recommend a great resource in a couple of minutes.

The first "Secret" I'll tell you is this:

When a customer comes to your site, what does he or she want?

Do they want to know the exact features of your product?

• How fast is it?
• How many megabytes is it?
• What color is it?

No. That's not why they came to your site.

They came to solve a problem.

Maybe they wanted to:

• Find a specific fact
• Locate a lost friend
• Find a money-making opportunity they can work at home
• Find a disease that could cause certain symptoms they are experiencing
• Find the ideal vacation spot
• Find a safe product that will help them lose weight

You need to identify with your customers. Understand their problems and how they feel about them.

When they come to your site they are looking for solutions to their problems.

They want to know how the benefits of your product will help them.

To do this you'll need to make two lists:

1. A list of all your customer's problems
2. A list of all your product's benefits

Of course, you'll then match up the problems with the benefits.

Your site will be directed at showing your customer how your product's benefits will solve their problems.

Your "potential" customer will likely become an "actual" customer.

And, you will be able to write a compelling Web page that really grabs their attention. And, you'll do that without hanging your head and wondering why you ever starting this project in the first place.

And then there's secret number two:

Use words that attract your customer.

Have you been looking for a product and found a corporate Web site?

The typical corporate Web site talks about how wonderful they are. How long they have been in business. How much revenue they make each year.

The word that's missing is YOU.

Yes, there are boring, ho-hum words and there are exciting, attention getting words.

The word FREE used to be attention getting. Now is just over-used. Everything is "free" so what's the big deal.

But exciting words like:

• You
• At last
• Exclusive
• Earn money
• Secrets of

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