Importance of Keyword Research & Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Importance, Keyword, Research, Selection

Importance of Keyword Research & Selection

Keyword Research & Selection
Keyword is the base of SEO and SMO to generate business online. Keyword Research & Selection is the first step towards internet marketing no matter whether it is SEO, Email campaigning, press releases, articles etc. Before we start up with Keyword Research & Selection, let’s understand the meaning of a keyword.

Meaning of Keyword
Keyword is a term associated with the promotion of products online through search engines. It may be a single word or a phrase. A keyword tells what the product is all about and the repeated use of a keyword highlights the increasing sophistication of search engines and their understanding of linguistics.

Let’s take an example of a tour agency providing world tour packages. Now the website is all about world tour, its destinations and price etc. Now with this in mind, it’s important to build a range of keywords in the content specifying the services they provide that draw the traffic of the visitors they wish to receive, i.e., the travelers looking for world tour packages. Just for instance World Tour, World Tour Packages, Discounted World Tour Packages can be the main keywords to promote the website as it will draw the attention of only the world tour seekers.

Importance of Keyword Research
Keyword Research is done to select the right keyword to target the traffic to your website. Keyword Research is not limited only to the selecting the keywords that help to improve ROI, it also includes finding, analyzing, prioritizing and organizing keywords together in such a way that when they are implemented in a website, they create the most effective marketing campaigns possible. If the selected keyword does not target the correct areas, you will have a whole mess of phrases with no clear picture and ability to drive targeted traffic.

How to select right Keywords?

1) Describe your product/service:

A keyword should be relevant to what you are selling. Effective use of keywords is very essential to describe the structures and features of the product.

2) Know your Customers:

How your customers search?

What words do they use?
What’s their intent?

Related Keyword Research Articles

Pay Per Click Advertising – Keywords Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Advertising, Click, Keywords, Selection

Pay Per Click Advertising – Keywords Selection

Keywords are the phrases people use when searching for information like what’s on your website.  It’s vital that you use keywords if you utilize pay per click ads on your website.  Keywords will draw in traffic from people all over the world.  The more traffic your website gets, the more people who will get the chance to click on your pay per click ads.

Try to think like a consumer when choosing your keywords.  What phrases would you type into a search engine to find your website?  Take these phrases and incorporate them into your content.  You want anywhere from about 2 to 5 percent keyword density in the content on your website.  This means that 2 to 5 percent of the words on each page should be your keywords.  Anything over a 5 percent keyword density can cause search engines to filter your content out of their results, so you’ve got to watch your keyword density.

Another important consideration for keywords is their value.  Keywords with a higher value will also pay more money from the pay per click advertising that appears on your page.  There are many programs available that will help you calculate the value of the keywords you’ve chosen.  These programs will help you see if you did actually think like the average consumer when you created your keywords list.

Keywords are also very important for your advertisers, so keep them in mind when you’re creating your list of keywords.  PPC ads will only appear on your site if you have appropriate keywords that match the keywords the advertisers are targeting.  This means in order to get pay per click ads on your website, you’ve got to be savvy enough to know which words advertisers are approaching customers with.  Keywords can make or break any website and pay per click ad campaign, so you’ve got to think them through carefully as you plan your website.

You may even want different keywords for different seasons.  For example, a pest control expert might want different keywords during the summer and during the winter because different pests are active during different parts of the year.

Infolinks leads the way for In Text advertising by guaranteeing the highest payout possible from In Text pay per click advertising on your website.  The latest technology available through Infolinks will get you the best ad matches for your keywords every time.

 

Find More Keyword Density Articles

Keyword Selection Process For Search Engine Optimization

admin    Web Marketing     Engine, Keyword, optimization, Process, Search, Selection

Keyword Selection Process For Search Engine Optimization

Keyword selection is the most important piece of information you need to figure out to be successful online. To build a search engine friendly website, you have to have content and that content must be filled with words that would be used to identify your company and its products. Keywords are words that are searched for often on the major search engines. These are important because you want people to easily find your website when they are looking for the type of product you offer.

The first step in the process of keyword selection is finding the right keywords. There is a free tool available on overture for keyword selection, the url is:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Overture is the company that handles Yahoo’s pay-per-click advertising and other programs. This tool will tell you how many times any given keywords were searched for during the period one or two months prior. It can give you a very good idea of what keywords or keyword phrases to optimize your site for by using the free tool above.

You should always try to mix up the popularity of the keywords you choose. The most searched keyword or phrase is important to optimize your website for, but you should choose some lesser searched phrases, as well. This should make it easier for your prospective customers to find you. The lesser searched keywords and phrases are not optimized for as often as the most searched terms and will be much easier for your company to rank well for them.

Once you know what your main keywords are, you need to take one or two keywords and create a page of content based on the keywords you chose. You can do this by writing information on your products. If you offer furniture and hard wood furniture is one of the keyword phrases you have chosen, you should write a page on the quality of the wood you use in your furniture products. By using the term “hard wood furniture” as often as possible, you will be able to show the search engines why you should be ranked for that term. Feel free to scatter your other main keywords throughout the content you write for your website. This can only help you obtain good rankings for those keywords. You must create a page of content for every one or two keywords you want to rank well for.

Once you have content written for your keywords, it is important to have a solid linking structure for the interior of your website. Search Engines look at exterior and interior links to figure out what is important to your customers and help them find you easier. In English, this means that you will rank better by using the correct words inside the hyperlinks used on your website. These words are given extra weight by search engines by being used inside a link. You should include a link to another content page inside of every content page you write that points to a separate content or product page inside of your website.

The last, and possibly the most important, piece of your search engine optimization puzzle must be the exterior links pointing to your website. Major search engines, especially Google, put a very large focus on the words that are used to link to your website from other web pages. It is also important to obtain links from “authority” sites. A relevant site’s link is worth much more than a site that has nothing to do with what your company does. By following the simple steps above, you will be on your way to better search engine rankings for the most important keywords.

More Keywords Articles

Keyword Selection Necessities for Search Engine Optimization

admin    Web Marketing     Engine, Keyword, Necessities, optimization, Search, Selection

Keyword Selection Necessities for Search Engine Optimization

Keyword selection is the most important piece of information to be successful online. To build a search engine friendly website, you have to have content. That content must be filled with words that would be used to identify your company and its products. Keywords are words that are often searched on the major search engines. Keywords are important because you want people to easily find your website when they are looking for the type of product you offer.

Finding the right keywords is the first step in the process of keyword selection. You have available a free tool on the internet called Overture for keyword selection. You can find the URL for Overture by accessing Google.

Overture will tell you how many times any given keyword was accessed during the prior one or two month period. It can give you a very good idea of what keywords or keyword phrases to optimize your site by using the free tool above.

It would be a good idea for you to choose some lesser-searched phrases for keywords. This should make it easier for your prospective customers to find you. The lesser searched keywords and phrases are not optimized as often as the most searched terms and will be much easier for your company to rank well for them.

Once you know what your main keywords are, you need to take one or two keywords and create a page of content based on these keywords. You do this by writing down information about your products. If you offer china dolls, and “china dolls” is one of the keyword phrases you have chosen, you should write a page on the quality of the dolls you use in your products. By using the term “china dolls” as often as possible, you will be able to show the search engines why you should be ranked for that term. Feel free to scatter your other main keywords throughout the content you write for your website. This can only help you obtain good rankings for those keywords. You must create a page of content for every one or two keywords for which you want to rank well.

Once you have content written for your keywords, it is very important to have a solid linking structure for the interior of your website. Search engines look at exterior and interior links to figure out what is important to your customers and help them find you. In English, this means that you will rank better by using the correct words inside the hyperlinks used on your website. These words are given extra weight by search engines by being used inside a link. You should include a link to another content page inside of every content page you write that points to a separate content or product page inside of your website.

The last and possibly the most important piece of your search engine optimization puzzle must be the exterior links pointing to your website. Major search engines, especially Google, put a very large focus on the words that are used to link to your website from other web pages. It is also important to obtain links from “authority” sites. A relevant site’s link is worth much more than a site that has nothing to do with what your company does. By following the simple steps above, you will be on your way to better search engine rankings for the most important keywords.

Blunders In Keyword Research And Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Blunders, Keyword, Research, Selection

Blunders In Keyword Research And Selection

Keyword research is one the most important aspects of the SEO campaign. If overlooked or done thoughtlessly, the success of the campaign is jeopardized. We can then never achieve what we want to get out of our website and either we will get the wrong people on our website or no traffic at all. Few things which must be kept in mind while deciding upon the keywords are:

The first, most committed and the deadliest mistake is to get ranked for the name of the business. Let me clear the misconception. There is nothing wrong for having a desire to rank for the business name but it is not that important. The reason is simple – only those people can search your business who knows your business’s name and the number of these people is quite limited unless you are a world leader in your domain which is rare thing to happen. After all why a world leader needs SEO? You are doing online business which means you want to reach out to people irrespective of their geographic location and if they can’t search you by your offerings then you aren’t utilizing the power of search engine optimally.

Many business houses due to their ignorance make the mistake of wanting to rank well for some very business specific or rather intricate words. They think that they are offering a particular thing or are doing something very specific then they must rank for keywords related to their product or service. But on the other hand the reality is quite different. Only few people out of massive online population include those keywords in their queries. Use of generic and related words is very important.

While developing the SEO campaign it is advised to study the competitors’ website. It is very much true, but, sometimes it is overdone i.e. webmasters not only study those websites but copy them as well. This step is quite wrong. Though the other person is our competitor but his usage of keywords are relevant to his website only and not ours. Therefore, when studying the competitors’ website we must carefully select only those keywords which are relevant to our website and its theme. Moreover, it is not necessary that our competitors are always right.

Aspiring to rank for a single keyword is yet another silly mistake done by some webmasters. The reason behind avoiding this mistake lies in the following question. How many times have you searched for stand alone term on your favorite search engine? Moreover, even if you search something using single keywords you will not get the desired result. Additionally, you will have to face stiff competition. Therefore, always go for combination of two or more words but limited to four words including the location.

To avoid these kind of mistakes follow the following points:

Don’t think as a webmaster or online marketer but think like a visitor, customer or a searcher.
Take feedback from the people around you.
Put aside the subjectivity and focus on the facts.
Study the keyword popularity and competitiveness.
Find out and use the synonyms.

Hence, keyword research and selection is neither as simple as it looks nor it is too difficult. Follow the points above and try to balance the usage of keywords with visitors on one side and competitors’ on the other side.

Keyword Research and Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Keyword, Research, Selection

Keyword Research and Selection

Choosing the right set of keywords is an essential aspect of search engine optimization or SEO. If you do not know which ones should be incorporated in your site, you will not be able to drive visitors to your site and improve ranking in search engine results pages.

Keyword research entails time and hard work. You need to know the popular search terms that people enter into search engines when they want information about a particular topic. After that, analyze keywords and select those terms that can bring potential customers. Here are some pointers to keep in mind when it comes to keyword research and selection:

You may get thousands of site visitors, but what’s more important is to ensure that these people will convert into sales. Identify the keywords that will drive your target market to your site to get more leads.
Create a list of all potential keywords. You can ask others what search terms they would use when they need information about web design, for instance. This will enable you to know the keywords that are related to your site based on a potential customer’s perspective.
Use online keyword research tools. These provide lists of popular search terms related to a particular topic as well as the number of times each keyword is used.
Use key phrases instead of single-word terms. It is very likely that thousands of sites are already targeting the same keyword. Opt for two- and three-word terms that are related to your site. Key phrases may be less popular than single-word terms but the former can still drive potential customers to your site and improve ranking.
Avoid using keywords that are too general or too specific. Those words that are too general are highly competitive. You will find it hard to compete against thousands of other sites. On the other hand, keywords that are very specific may not be able to bring a decent number of potential customers. Use terms that are not too popular and specific but can offer positive results in terms of traffic.

Pay close attention to the keyword research and selection for your website. This is an important element of SEO and will greatly affect your site ranking.

More Keyword Research Articles

Keyword Research and Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Keyword, Research, Selection

Keyword Research and Selection

Choosing the right set of keywords is an essential aspect of search engine optimization or SEO. If you do not know which ones should be incorporated in your site, you will not be able to drive visitors to your site and improve ranking in search engine results pages.

Keyword research entails time and hard work. You need to know the popular search terms that people enter into search engines when they want information about a particular topic. After that, analyze keywords and select those terms that can bring potential customers. Here are some pointers to keep in mind when it comes to keyword research and selection:

You may get thousands of site visitors, but what’s more important is to ensure that these people will convert into sales. Identify the keywords that will drive your target market to your site to get more leads.
Create a list of all potential keywords. You can ask others what search terms they would use when they need information about web design, for instance. This will enable you to know the keywords that are related to your site based on a potential customer’s perspective.
Use online keyword research tools. These provide lists of popular search terms related to a particular topic as well as the number of times each keyword is used.
Use key phrases instead of single-word terms. It is very likely that thousands of sites are already targeting the same keyword. Opt for two- and three-word terms that are related to your site. Key phrases may be less popular than single-word terms but the former can still drive potential customers to your site and improve ranking.
Avoid using keywords that are too general or too specific. Those words that are too general are highly competitive. You will find it hard to compete against thousands of other sites. On the other hand, keywords that are very specific may not be able to bring a decent number of potential customers. Use terms that are not too popular and specific but can offer positive results in terms of traffic.

Pay close attention to the keyword research and selection for your website. This is an important element of SEO and will greatly affect your site ranking.

Article Marketing Tips 101: the Importance of Good Keyword Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Article, Good, Importance, Keyword, marketing, Selection, Tips

Article Marketing Tips 101: the Importance of Good Keyword Selection

If you are using article marketing to generate traffic for your site, it’s important to use the right keyword selection to get the most out of it. It’s also crucial that the article be structured with search engine optimization in mind.

To find the right keyword selection to use when writing your articles, you should use a keyword tool.

There are three major keyword tool that I recommend:

1. Google Keyword Tool: Google offers a free keyword tool and this can be a great place to start. The one drawback about using Google’s free tool is that it doesn’t give exact numbers. You’ll get search volumes and competition for a particular keyword as a ratio based on the other keywords in that category.

2. Wordtracker: Wordtracker is a great keyword tool because not only does it quickly generate keyword lists, but it also gives you the amount of searches performed for each term and the amount of competition you will have. They use the “KEI” index which stand for Keyword Effectiveness Index so you can easily know which keywords are worth it and which aren’t. You can actually try it for free by using the link at the end of this article.

3. Keyword Elite: Keyword elite is not only a valuable keyword finding tool, it’s also a versatile tool for finding hidden niches and google adsense campaigns. When you use keyword elite to find keywords it gives you much more information that the other keyword tools. You will know how many people search for the keyword, how many results are found on the web, how many ad campaigns exist for google, miva (yahoo) and enhance (msn), and how much advertisers are paying for each keyword with google adwords. Not only that, but you also get to see exactly what each ads look like which is great if you are running PPC campaigns.

In order to properly optimize your articles for search engines, be sure to include the selected keyword numerous times in the text. Using special text such as bold, underline and italics on the keyword also makes it stand out. Be careful not to overdo it because if you do, your article may be discounted by the search engines as spam. If you keep the keyword density at or below 3%, you will be fine.

Using the appropriate keyword selection will ensure that your article marketing efforts are not wasted on highly competitive keywords. It will also give a chance for your articles to rank high on the search engines which will result in more natural traffic to your site.

More Keywords Articles

Search Engine Keywords Phrase Selection

admin    Web Marketing     Engine, Keywords, Phrase, Search, Selection

Search Engine Keywords Phrase Selection

Search engines are the vehicles that drive potential customers to your websites. Specific and effective road signs are needed to direct these visitors to your site. You do this by creating carefully chosen keywords. The right keywords are, to phrase it lightly, the ‘Open Sesame!’ of the Internet.

The right words or phrases will bring an unlimited amount of traffic to your site. However, if your keywords are too general or over-used, the possibility of visitors actually making it the way to your site, or of you seeing any real profits from the visitors who do arrive, decreases at a dramatic rate.

Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. If they are not chosen carefully, the right people may never get the chance to find out about your marketing campaign regardless of how carefully planned and effective it may be. Your first step in plotting your strategy is to gather and evaluate keywords and phrases.

You probably think you already know the exact words to use for your search phrases. Unfortunately, if you haven’t followed certain specific steps, you are probably wrong. Objectivity is difficult when you are in the midst of your business network, which is why you may not be able to choose the most efficient keywords from the inside.

You need 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 possible. You will most likely find out that your perspective of your business differs significantly from that of your customers.

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

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

In evaluating the effectiveness of keywords, bear in mind these three elements: popularity, specificity, and motivation.

Popularity is the easiest to evaluate because it is an objective quality. The more popular your keyword is, the more likely the chances are that it will be typed into a search engine likely to direct visitors to your URL. You can purchase software that will rate the popularity of keywords and phrases by giving words a number rating based on genuine search engine activity. Software such as WordTracker will suggest variations of your words and phrases.

The higher the number this software assigns to a given keyword, the more traffic you can expect to be directed to your site. The only fallacy with this idea is that the more popular the keyword is, the greater the search engine position you must obtain. If you are down at the bottom of the search results, the consumer likely will never scroll down to find you.

Specificity is also important. The more specific a keyword is, the more likely that the consumer who is ready to purchase your goods or services will find you. Let’s look at a hypothetical example. Say you have obtained popularity rankings for the keyword “automobile companies.” However, you company specializes in bodywork only. The keyword “automobile body shops” would rank lower on the popularity scale than “automobile companies,” but it would serve you much better.

Instead of getting a slew of people interested in everything from buying a car to changing oil filters, you will attract only those consumers with trashed front ends or crumpled fenders. In other words, consumers prepared to buy your services are the ones who will find you immediately. Not only that, but the greater the specificity of your keyword, the less competition you will face.

The third factor is consumer motivation. Once again, this requires putting yourself inside the mind of the customer rather than the seller to figure out what motivation prompts a person looking for a service or product to type in a particular word or phrase. Let’s look at another example, such as a consumer who seeks job as an IT manager in a new city.

If you have to choose between “Seattle job listings” and “Seattle IT recruiters,” which do you think will benefit the consumer more? If you were looking for this type of specific job, which keyword would you type into a search engine? The second one, naturally, as it targets people who have decided on their career, have earned the necessary experience, and are ready to enlist you as their recruiter, rather than someone just out of school who is casually trying to figure out what to do with his or her life in between keg parties.

You want to find people who are ready to act or make a purchase, and this requires subtle tinkering of your keywords until you find the most specific and directly targeted phrases to bring the most motivated traffic to your site.

Once you have chosen your keywords, your work is not done. You must evaluate performance across a variety of search engines on a continuous basis, bearing in mind that times and trends shift, as does popular lingo. You cannot rely on your log traffic analysis alone because it will not tell you how many of your visitors actually made a purchase.

Luckily, some new tools have been invented to help you judge the effectiveness of your keywords in individual search engines. Software is now available that analyzes consumer behavior in relation to consumer traffic. This allows you to discern which keywords are bringing you the most valuable customers.

After all, numbers alone do not make a good keyword; profits per visitor do. You must find keywords that direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product, fill out your forms, or download your product. This is the most important factor in evaluating the efficacy of a keyword or phrase, and should be the sword you wield when discarding and replacing ineffective or inefficient keywords with keywords that bring in better profits.

Ongoing analysis of tested keywords is the formula for search engine success. Although this is a labor-intensive process, the amount of informed effort you put into your keyword campaign will ultimately generate your business’ rewards.

Find More Keywords Articles

Keyword Selection to Increase Conversion Rates

admin    Web Marketing     Conversion, Increase, Keyword, Rates, Selection

Keyword Selection to Increase Conversion Rates

There are no two ways about the importance of link building in an SEO campaign. But a proper keyword strategy too is being hailed as equally important, if not more, in order to enjoy a greater conversion rate. David Dougherty, in a bid to accord keyword strategy a supreme position as far as an SEO campaign is concerned, says, “Link building may be regarded as the “holy grail of SEO”, but what do you think fills the cup? Keywords are the fuel for all search engine optimization campaigns.” So without dwelling much on the importance of a keyword strategy, let us have an insight into the best selection process of a keyword for your site.

Start with thinking of words that best describe your products or services, because that will help you target visitors that might become prospective buyers. Keyword selection also depends a lot on the type of your website. Static sites that are not database driven must be optimized for a few keywords, while dynamic sites that are database driven can be optimized for an unlimited number of keywords. Some keyword selection tips worth considering are coming up. 

Analyze the competition

Whatever keyword or phrase you have in mind, it is necessary to check how competitive the term is. This means checking out how many other sites are competing with yours for the same keyword or phrase. There are tools available to determine not only the level of competition, but also the amount of traffic you can expect to receive for your keyword.

Be specific

It is better to keep a keyword or phrase specific to drive qualified traffic to your website. Single word phrases or short phrases in general make it difficult to rank well with search engines due to their not being highly targeted. Longer phrases that are strongly related to the content of your web page will see more visitor-to-buyer conversions than anything else. It is also a known fact that short phrase searches denote shoppers while long phrase searches denote buyers. It, therefore, pays to be precise.

Make use of keyword variations

Some universal words that can be applied to any keyword phrase are known as qualifiers. These include the names of the country, state, region, city, or words like help, tips, services, information, etc. These qualifiers should help enhance the effect of your keyword phrases. Make use of these qualifiers to make keyword variations and rank well for all of them. For example, if your website is being optimized for pipe repairing, make it rank well for pipe repairing services or pipe repairing information.

Word stemming

When a search engine crawls the web for the root of a word instead of only that form of the word that is searched for, it is called word stemming. So, when a searcher searches for ‘conversion’ it will be treated the same as ‘convert’. Search engines usually use word stemming, but it is safer to include the most frequently used versions of a word as your keyword variations. Also, a searcher might misspell a particular word. Though it is not advisable to have a misspelled word as your keyword, it is a good option to include it in the keyword meta tag. Do not forget to include both the singular and plural forms of the words, too.

Hyphenated phrases:

If your keyword phrase is hyphenated, check the level of competition as well as traffic for both the hyphenated and non-hyphenated term. Go for the term which has low competition and more traffic.

Brand names

Most searchers enter a popular brand name as a search term. It is always a good option to include them in your keyword or phrase or at least, make them one of the qualifiers. But also take care to be politically correct when using brand names of your competitors.

Traffic driving ability

Test your keywords or phrases for their traffic driving ability. Though you want maximum traffic to visit your website, it is better to concentrate on building a steady stream of quality traffic. A mere quantity in terms of traffic will not ensure high conversion rates. Always bother to take a look at whether your keywords are capable of driving targeted traffic to your website and decide on an appropriate keyword accordingly.

A searcher’s motive

Be careful about a searcher’s motive when deciding upon a keyword phrase. Like if you are optimizing for ‘duct tape marketing’, a Google search for the same phrase will prove that people are looking out for companies that are marketing duct tape and not for information on a particular type of marketing. So look out for the real reason behind people’s search.

While selecting a keyword, it is best to follow the elimination approach. List any words or phrases that best describe your area of business. Keep on eliminating others that do not fit in. Like if you are into marketing packaged food in California, the major keywords can be packaged food, food items, ready to eat food, etc. Adding qualifiers to these words is the next step. If you want to attract customers from the vicinity, add California to your chosen keyword. If you are selling products of a particular brand, which is also one of the most popular one in the market, try adding the brand name to your keyword. So it will be something like ‘Kellogg’s packaged food in California’. 

If you are building a new website and want to think of optimization beforehand, it is necessary that you build its architecture around the keyword. It is better to increase the number of pages depending upon the number of keywords you want your site to be optimized for. 

With so many factors deciding the selection of a right keyword, the only thing that can safely be said about a keyword selection strategy is that it is as difficult as it is important to an SEO campaign.

Find More Keywords Articles