Keyword Selection and SEO
Keyword research
Web traffic is largely driven by search engines.
Currently, the top three search powers are Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Massive amounts of people use them, because they can produce instant and relevant results by taking in a single word or phrase.
Put yourself in the shoes of your average client.
Which engine are you most likely to use?
What keywords or phrases would you type in?
Keyword suggestion tools will give you the most popular search queries in your niche.
This will tell you your niche's total demand as well as the most requested keyword phrases.
Remember that to gain your share of traffic, you'll have to appear in the top three search result pages.
Seek keywords which are not only requested a lot, but the ones that have not been saturated.
Wordtracker
Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool
Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Keywords versus phrases
Phrases are strings of keywords that surfers may search for.
In contrast to popular belief, general terms are usually less valuable (although more requested, they are less targeted) compared to specific multi-keyword phrases.
A visitor looking for "cheap soccer gear" is likely to purchase something,
whereas a person searching for just "soccer" could be looking for the latest news.
Settling on good phrases requires research and planning.
Apart from finding popular and targeted search queries, you also need to investigate who you will be competing against.
Let's say that a competitor has already monopolized the major search phrase "soccer boots".
In order to challenge him, you might respond by simultaneously targeting a number of less requested (yet similar) terms like "soccer cleats", "soccer footwear" and "soccer shoes".
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Search Optimization
