Better Keywords More Sales - Three Steps to Better Search Engine Keyword Selection

Are you among the Web masters in search of the search engine ranking Holy Grail? If so, sooner or later you have to accept the fact that search engines are the vehicles that drive potential customers to your Web sites. But in order for visitors to reach their destination your Web site and then find their way within the Web site, you need to provide them with specific and effective signs. This can be done by creating carefully chosen keywords.

Think of the right keywords as the “Open Sesame”! of the Internet for the search engines and your customers. Find the exact right words or phrases, and presto! Hoards of traffic will be pulling up to your front door. But if your keywords are vague or over-used, the possibility of visitors actually making it to your site or you seeing any real profits from the visitors reduces drastically.

Your keywords serve as the foundation of your marketing strategy. Aggressive marketing campaign without precise selection of keywords is just a very expensive exercise in wasting time and resources. The right people may never get the chance to find out about your products and services. 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. In the middle of the business battlefield it's hard to be objective. This is why 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 possible 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.

Your customers are an invaluable resource. The words you gather from talking with them may not have been considered from deep inside the trenches of your business. Only after you have gathered as many keyword phrases from outside resources should you add your own keywords to the list. With this list in hand, you are ready for the next step: evaluation. Consider the first step brain storming in which you just gather ideas without bias.

Evaluation step is where you narrow down your list to a small number of words and phrases that will direct the highest number of quality visitors to your Web site. By quality visitors I mean visitors who are most likely to buy rather than just cruise around your site and take off for greener pastures. In evaluating the effectiveness of keywords, consider three elements: Demand, specificity, and motivation.

Demand is the easiest to evaluate because it is an objective quality. The more demand your keyword has, the more likely the chances are that the visitors use it while searching for your products on the Internet. Demand is sometimes called popularity as well.

You can now purchase software that will rate the popularity of keywords and phrases by giving words a number rating based on real search engine activity. Some software will even suggest variations of your words and phrases. Higher demand for keyword means more potential traffic for you.

The only problem with high demand keyword is the intense competition which makes it difficult for your site to show up at the top of the search engine search results. If you are down at the bottom of the search results, the consumer will probably never scroll down to find you. Most search engine optimizing firms emphasize the fact that if your Web site is not on the first three pages, you will likely not see a significant traffic.

In your search for the right keyword, popularity isn't enough. You must move on to the next criteria, which is specificity. Specific keywords that are usually a combination of three or four words indicate that the consumer is really looking to buy something. At least one search engine optimizing guru shared that his data shows most people who type in one or two words in looking for a product or service are doing research and those who type in three or four words are looking to buy.

There is another consideration. Imagine that you have obtained popularity rankings for the keyword "gift shop." However, your company specializes in wedding anniversary gifts only. The keyword "wedding anniversary gift" would rank lower on the demand scale than "gift shop," but it would bring you the right customers. Instead of getting a bunch of people interested in baby shower gifts and graduation gifts, with the right keyword phrase, you will get only those consumers with pending need to find an anniversary gift quick.

In short, consumers ready to buy your product or take advantage of your services are the ones who will find you. Also, the more specific a keyword is the less competition you will face.

The third factor is consumer motivation. You always need to put yourself inside the mind of the customer rather than the seller to figure out what motivates them to look for a service or product. If you owned a talent agency, which one of the following two headings would appeal to your customers? "New York Job Listings" or "New York Talent Agency." The second one, of course! By using the second keyword combination you target people who have decided on their career, have the necessary experience, and are looking for a talent agent services. These are just the kind of clients who are motivated to talk to you.

After choosing the right keyword you must continually evaluate performance across a variety of search engines and the change in search engine algorithms. Your log files are not enough since they only show you a brief traffic analysis but they do not indicate how many of your visitors actually made a purchase.

The most important connection you can make after the visitors enter your site is the connection between the keyword they used to get to your site and the sales you made after they entered your site.

For this, you need to rely on tools that track the visitors’ behavior after they enter your site. There are many programs that accomplish this task and in the next article we will review them and how they work.

Just remember that more traffic is a good thing only if you can convert casual visitors to paying customers. You need to find keywords that direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product, fill out your forms, or download your product. Keep the final profitability goal in mind as you search for those illusive profitable keywords.

Vishy Dadsetan writes articles that can actually help your clients. Articles that entertain. Articles just like this one. Additional information is available at: search engine submission, internet marketing strategy, and ppc search engine

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