Well as long as we’re talking about doing business online, let’s talk a little about my favorite subject (okay one of my favorite subjects) SEO!. I have spent many an hour learning and discovering the ways search engine works. So I’m going to share some of my thoughts with you on choosing keywords to help drive natural traffic to your website or blog.
Most Internet users rely on search engines like Google™, Yahoo!®, MSN/BING®, AOL® Search, etc. when searching for content on the Internet. This means that if you want to claim your share of the booming Internet market, you must ensure that the search engines are directing visitors to your site. In other words, you need to “search-engine optimize” your all the pages of your site. The search engine optimization process begins with choosing the keywords for your site.
Researching Your Keywords
Keywords are words and phrases that describe the content of a Web page. The keywords must match the search terms Internet users are typing into search engines when looking for the type of content offered by your site or blog. The proper keywords for your site should reflect the products and services you are selling and your particular niche market.
So how do you determine the right keywords for your site? The first thing you need to do is to put yourself in the Internet users’ place and imagine which search terms they would be using when looking for a deal on the products you are offering. Those words/phrases are dependent on your product selection and don’t forget keywords specific for your niche market.
In order to perform a search for keywords just pop over to http://www.keywords.Google.com and type in the main words you’re thinking of using. It will come back with a list of the most “searched” terms for that specific keyword or words. If you’d like some help with using this tool or deciphering how to utilize the data seen there, I’d recommend signing up for this my free brief tutorial.
Another good place to start your keyword research is to take a look at your competition. Simply look at the site of your main competitors and take a closer look at the keywords used in “Title tags“, “Meta tags“, “page copy“, etc. To learn who your main competitors are, simply go to one of the top search engines and type in the keywords you are considering for your site. The top results returned by the search engine will reveal the nature of your competition.
Now in order to find out what their “tags” are; simple right click anywhere on the site and select “View Source” or it may say just “Source” (depending on your browser) from the menu box that should open up next to your cursor. Once selected a larger viewing pane will open and you’ll see all this glorious “code”. Never mind the code, unless you read code, but what you are looking for (generally located on between lines 5-30) is the “Meta Tag = Keywords” or “Meta Name = Keywords”. This is where you can find out what keywords your competition has on each of their pages.
There are other ways of locating the “meta source” code but this method works on all browsers.
This should help you get started with your keyword optimization for the new year. Check your own site or blog against your competitions and see how you can “spice it up” a little.
Until next time, here’s to your business growth in 2012
Dr. Ande
Author of, 65 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Success
Host of, Dr. Ande’s Marketing Radio & Biz Talk with Dr. Ande
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