Keywords are the ขKEYข to a Profitable Web Site
by: Gail Kaufman
The only activity that should preface keyword research is the brainstorming you do to come up with list of potential themes for your web site. Think about things that you find interesting, are passionate about or that leverage your skills. Once this is done you are ready to find out which topic on your list will be the most profitable to pursue.
Keyword Research
Keyword Research will reveal answers to 3 critical questions:
1. Is there a demand for what your site offers? If not, you need to keep moving down your list until you find something that people are already looking for.
2. How are people searching for your topic? For example, if your theme is ขJapanese foodข how are people searching for information? Are they typing in ขJapanese recipesข, ขlow sodium miso soupข, ขhistory of Japanese foodข, ขJapanese food in NYCข, etc. This part of the search will allow you to build up good topics for your site pages and provide keywords that you will use to optimize your pages to become a search engine magnet.
3. How many sites will you be competing with – does demand outstrip supply or vice versa? Right now your job is to build huge lists of highdemand, lowcompetition keywords. Be thorough and exhaustive in looking for phrases that people might use to find your site.
You cannot cut corners at this stage of the process or your business will suffer. This can be slow, tedious work but fortunately there are some good tools to help you automate your keyword research and help find the most profitable keywords to build your content around. There are some good free tools to help you make light work of this including Search It! and Overture. More comprehensive tools that provide demand, supply and profitability data that help you find profitable niches include Brainstorm It! from Site Build It! and Wordtracker.
Keyword Optimization
You may have heard the terms ขsearch engine optimization (SEO)ข, ขkeyword optimizationข, ขpage optimizationข, etc. Basically, they all refer to the same thing – making sure your pages have the right amount of keywords, placed correctly, to effectively get your site ขspideredข or found by the search engines, such as Google.
Repeating keywords throughout a site is just as important as choosing the right keywords. If you use the keywords too often the search engines will ignore them; if you don’t use them enough the search engines will not find and index them properly.
The main keyword, in our example ขJapanese foodข, should be used as part of the domain name and in the title tag of the HTML code for the page. It should also be used in the heading of the page where you tell visitors what the page is about. Also, most SEO experts agree that it is best to put your keyword in the first and last sentences of your page.
As for the body copy, there are some good rulesofthumb that help you achieve the correct กkeyword densityก or keyword repetition. Many experts say you should use the 4% 7% rule (approx. 25 words in a 500 word document). However, don’t use a single keyword over and over or your copy will seem forced. Instead, weave in some variations of the keyword (e.g. plural forms, synonyms) to ensure your content flows well and makes sense! Simply filling up a site with your keywords will not fool the search engines; rather, it may be considered spamming and your site can get banned!
Many people say that content is king, but in fact, it’s content that is keyword rich that is king. It is absolutely critical to find your best keywords and use them in the right way to attract targeted traffic. It takes some time and practice but if you persevere your web site will be built on a strong foundation.
About The Author
Written by Gail Kaufman cofounder of http://www.websitedesigngenius.com
Visit her site for information, free valuable ebooks and practical tips on how to build an affordable and profitable web site with no technical skills.
This article was posted on August 24
by Gail Kaufman