How to Choose Your Keywords

Need a little advice when it comes to choosing the right keywords? Who doesn't? Picking the right keywords is one of the biggest and best things you can do to boost your business and optimize your website for the search engines. If you optimize your site for the wrong keywords the battle is a complete waste of time, effort, money, and energy. You do not want to invest time in keywords that are not going to pay off when all is said and done.

Demystifying the Keyword Selection Process

While it may seem like a big mystery; once you learn how to choose keywords, the process becomes much easier over time. The first thing you need to determine is the type of site you are creating. Those that are database driven (or dynamic sites) can be optimized for a virtually limitless supply of keywords. If your site is a static site, which is a site that isn't driven by a database you are more limited in your options for keywords and need to be far more selective. For this reason it is better to determine the type of site you are creating before you begin the keyword selection process.

Now that you've narrowed down the type of site you can begin to select your keywords. Static sites perform better with highly targeted long tail keyword phrases and variations that include singles and plurals. Selecting one or two keyword phrases and focusing on those within a static site will pay off much better than spreading the focus between too many keywords, which could seem like stuffing to the search engines. Dynamic sites, on the other hand, are a giant buffet for keywords. You can optimize for as many keywords as you are interested in creating pages to promote them.

Brainstorm a list of potential keywords or keyword phrases based on the type of site you are creating. Once you have a list you can use the following criteria to eliminate and narrow your list.

How long is the phrase?

The longer the phrase, the more likely it will be to generate traffic that converts into sales. As long as the phrase is being searched; it can convert into sales. For this reason you should avoid creating phrases that are so long that no one is searching for them. You want phrases that are being searched so that you can get the traffic that will convert to sales. You also want phrases that have less competition.

Who will be using the phrase?

One thing you don't want to do is create a website that attracts those who are only looking for information and not looking to buy. It does little good to create a wealth of traffic if you aren't making any sales for your efforts.

When you use these ideas in your keyword strategy you should find that you are not only selecting keywords that generate traffic but also keywords that convert into sales.