When creating any document on the internet, whether this is a sales page or an article of some description, it is of paramount importance that you choose the best possible Keywords in order to draw people to your information and improve your ranking in the search engines. If this is a new area of activity for you, you probably don’t yet understand what keywords are, what they do and how they enhance Search Engine Optimisation; – often abbreviated to SEO. Understanding the importance of keywords and how they work is crucial when it comes to bringing traffic to your site and, therefore, to the success of your online business.
So, exactly what are Keywords? If you have spent time slaving away at the computer to produce a valuable resource for your webpage, it would be a great shame if nobody dropped by to read it. If the proprietors of a café in a pokey little corner of the high street get very few diners to visit and taste their wares, a simple sign such as “Homemade Cakes” placed conspicuously outside the door should change their fortunes significantly. Those two words on the sign are Keywords, which will catch the eye of passers-by and make them take notice. Keywords are used by search engines to ascertain whether your site will meet the needs of the internet users by matching words that they enter into their search engine with the words you use in your writing.
Getting the Keyword balance on a webpage is a matter of judgement and experience. To produce an article or sales-page which is little more than a list of Keywords will not go down well with the search engines. They may be just computerised technology, but they aren’t stupid! Such a webpage is unlikely to make interesting reading anyway, which is the whole point of producing it in the first place; – to interest your visitors. If the search engines don’t tell you to “Get Lost!” the potential customers certainly will. If, however, you have not done sufficient research and the Keyword content of your webpage is very sparse, you are likely to be largely overlooked by the search engines. It’s all a question of balance based on research. So, as you can clearly see, the choice of Keywords is an important part of the Internet Marketing process.
A quick nip around the internet will reveal all kinds of resources that will help you with the research; many of them are free. The basic approach, which most people in my experience seem to use, is to begin with a fairly general term and then gradually work inwards to more specific and precise niche words. The online tools will help you to do this. What you are looking for are words which don’t produce tens of thousands of responses from a search engine. A much lower figure will obviously tend to get you noticed. Exact figures given vary significantly depending on which source you read. The internet is a big and busy place, so the Keywords you choose must stand out in the crowd.
Another way to search out good Keywords is to visit the websites of people who are promoting in a similar niche to you. It’s a bit like gardening. When you move into a new area and you want to know what plants to grow in your new garden, the recommendation is to walk around the area to see what is growing well in other people’s gardens. If it grows well in their gardens it should grow well in yours. The whole process of Keyword selection is a bit of a labour of love, but is ultimately well worth the effort. To find good Keywords requires good research; good Keywords equal more traffic; more traffic equals more sales. It’s a no-brainer.