Article: The Magic Keywords
by Bob McElwain
What will your potential visitor enter into a search
engine to find your site? If you can find these magic
keywords, phrases real people will use, then optimize
your pages for them, you will have taken a key step toward
generating hits. If you use the wrong words, you will
waste a good deal of effort and achieve next to nothing.
A friend of mine has been working with an ex-IRS agent
who can be of significant help to those with tax problems.
But he has decided to search for clients only in the area
in which he lives, the Santa Clarita Valley in Southern
California. It is a snap to get a #1 position on most
search engines with such phrases as Santa Clarita Tax
Expert, Santa Clarita Tax Solutions, and so forth. And
he did so. But he is not getting any hits.
The problem is in two parts. Many people who live in
the Santa Clarita Valley do not know that they do. Even
those who do tend to feel they live in Los Angeles. Secondly,
many do not know how to spell Santa Clarita. So his first
place position is meaningless, unless he turns to advertising
in locally circulated newspapers, magazines, and newsletters.
This can cost bucks, and he could have done this without
the effort it took to build his site.
Discovering what potential visitors might enter to find
your site is a challenging problem, one often overlooked
in advice regards position on search engines. One way
to begin is to list a few words you feel will work, go
to your favorite search engine, enter them, and see what
comes up. Any phrase that generates a lot of unconnected
listings is not likely a good candidate.
When you find something that ranks your competitors high
in the list, check out the sites. Once the page has fully
loaded, take the option in your browser to view the page
source code. Find the keyword meta statement near the
top of the page, and check those listed. Add as appropriate
to your list. Also check the page content to see which
keywords are sprinkled throughout it. These may be the
most important ones. In particular, see how the keyword
you used to get this page is handled. You may find clues
as to how best to use it on your page.
When you think you have a good list, try this useful
resource at GoTo.Com. - http://www.goto.com/ At the very
bottom of the home page, click Manage Your Account. On
the new page, click Tools And Tips To Help Manage Your
Account. On the new page, click Search Term Suggestion
List. Enter the keywords you are thinking about. Some
of the suggestions made can be added to your list, particularly
those used most often. GoTo.Com provides this service
because they hope you will find additional words to bid
on (pay for high rankings in lists - another topic). But
you do not need to use their service to take advantage
of this resource.
At this point you have found and expanded your list to
include keywords others use. So is that it?
No! To stop at this point assumes you have found what
potential visitors will enter when they want a product
or service such as yours. But you do not *know* these
are the phrases real people will use. You do not know
you have the magic keywords.
I have a suggestion. It is not a guaranteed solution,
but I have used it successfully. It goes like this.
I write a good description of the product or service
I want to sell, maybe half a page. I describe what it
is, what it does, and how one will benefit from it. I
write much as I would when producing an ad. However, I
do all possible to *avoid* the keywords I feel will be
used.
Next I pester everyone I know, asking what they might
enter to find this product. And I give it time; not everyone
is as interested in my problem as I am.
When I have collected replies, I go back and pester these
same people with a list ranked with the most common suggestions
up top, including phrases I found that were not mentioned.
I ask them to pick four or five they feel are best.
I have found some really neat keywords in this way, phrases
I would never have discovered on my own. I hope you can
make it work for you.
I sense this is an aspect of search engine positioning
often overlooked. It is easy for me to pick a phrase related
to your business and get you top position on at least
some search engines. It is meaningless, though, unless
people actually enter that phrase.
Brought to you by: World Wide Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/,
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Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success."
How to build ANY business you want, just the way you want
it, with only pocket money. http://sitetipsandtricks.com/opts/mcb.html
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