Selecting Keywords for Your Website

Selecting a string of Keyword Phases is vital to any Search Engine Optimisation campaign and is the first step to building a successful website.

Although very little emphasis (if any) is currently placed on the actual Keywords Meta Tag, this sting of words/phases should form the basis of all your online website marketing. Your Keyword Phases should be used throughout your website in both the source code (in the form of Tags) and in the visible body copy that appears on your website.

Selecting The Right Keywords

The first step is to brainstorm a list of words and phrases related to what your business offers. Research by asking people which words they would type into a search engine if they wanted to find a site offering your products or services.

You can analysis competitors' websites to see what Keywords they use. Do this by looking under 'view' then 'source' on the browser menu. Near the top of the newly opened page, you should find a Keyword Meta Tag, containing a list of Keywords. Consider adding any to your list that relate to your business that you may not have thought of.

You should then narrow down your initial list to 4 or 5 Keyword Phrases which emphasis your company's unique selling point(s). What is it that set's your product or service apart from your competitors' in the eyes of your potential clients?

For example, if you are a small business making traditional handmade suits, the temptation will arise to try and rank number 1 for the term "suits". Ranking for such a popular general term is probably aiming a little too high for a new website, considering all the competition out there.

However, you're unique selling point is that your suits are handmade in the traditional fashion. This is what set's you apart from the majority of the websites listed under the search term "suits". Therefore phrases such as "handmade suits" or "hand tailored suits" are more likely to bring interested customers to your website.

Optimising Your Websites Code

Once you have selected your list of Keyword Phrases, these should be included in the code of your website in the following areas:

• Title Meat Tag
• Description Meta Tag
• Alt Tags
• Header Tags
• Link Text

Keyword Rich Body Copy

Keywords in the actual content of your website are equally important as they compliment the Tag’s in your code. The more times keywords appear in the body text of your website, the more relevant it will be to that search.

However, it's important to get the right balance, don't overuse them and make the page sound phony, but don't not mention the subject repeatedly either. Reading it out loud to yourself is a great way to judge how natural your text sounds.

Ideally, each page should have between 200 to 600 words on it. Too few, and the search engines won't consider it to be relevant enough. Too many words and the search engine spiders may have a hard time determining the actual subject or focus of the page.

Concentrate on writing quality pages that actually appeal to the human reader. Write pages that provide the reader with exactly what they are looking for; that is, information about the exact search phrase they've entered.

Search Engine Friendly Design

If you want to increase your chances of being highly ranked by Search Engines, your site will need to be designed with all of these optimised techniques in mind. Avoid Flash and Frame based site and instead make sure your website is designed using W3C standard HTML and CSS (cascading style sheets).

Summery

Creating a Search Engine Friendly website, using your selected Keyword Phrases in all the relevant Tag’s and having them sprinkled throughout the content of your web pages will prove to the search engines without a shadow of a doubt that your website is about those particular Keywords. Increasing the relevance of your website to anyone entering those words into a search engine.

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