Brainstorming For The Right Keywords

The first thing you want to do is sit down with a pen and paper and write down every single word that may be related to your product, service or business. Don’t take this lightly or brush it off. Your search engine ranking is dependant on your keywords!

Let’s stick with our car Web site example and come up with a few key words. How about:

• cars
• automobiles
• vans
• trucks
• Sports Utility Vehicles

The above keywords describe the products of your business, but they are a bit general. Let’s get specific and list some car manufacturers like:

• Nissan
• Toyota
• General Motors
• Lexus
• BMW
• Porsche

I’m sure you can list a few more manufacturers, but I think you get the point. Now, let’s take it a step further and get real specific by listing the model types:

• Altima
• Camry
• Corvette
• SC400
• 4Runner
• Boxster

So far you’ve got a fairly good list, but you need to go beyond that and use your imagination. What will your customers be looking for? What other words are related to cars?

Well, you can also list accessories like:

• turbo
• leather seats
• head lights
• steering wheel
• …and other related items

“What if I don’t sell those items?”

That’s a good question. Let’s say someone comes to your site looking for something that has to do with cars, but you don’t carry that specific product. The worse case scenario is that the customer leaves your site. Best case scenario is that the potential customer sees something else he likes and buys from you and/or he may refer your site to someone else.

Don’t limit yourself or your business by thinking, “What do I sell?” You must open up your mind and ask yourself, “What might my customers be looking for?”

Phrases

I don’t know about you, but when I’m searching for something on the Net, I usually type in a phrase rather than just one word. Statistically, more people narrow their searches by searching on two or more keywords in combination.

So, after you’ve written up your list of keywords, try to combine them into keyword phrases. Instead of Lexus or SC400, use Lexus SC400. Or Toyota Camry, Porsche 911 Turbo, BMW 540is, Toyota 4Runner SR5 4X4, etc.

Plurals And Longer Words

Always use the longer form of a word and then add an “S” at the end of it. In the exact words of Fred Marckini:

“In general, choose the longer form of a keyword. The reason is a concept called Word stemming. This can often pull in results that are not an exact match for what you searched for, but may be close or the same thing. When a search engine does use stemming or word stems, it means that searches for word roots will also include the variations of that word. For instance, searches for consult would also return documents that have the words consulting and consultants unless the user chooses to do an exact search.”

Also, most people usually search by using the plural of words (with an “s” at the end) - cars, automobiles, dealerships, etc.

Misspelled Keywords

Most people are poor spellers (myself included). Take advantage of this fact and include commonly misspelled keywords into your list. Also, when typing in keywords, many people are in such a hurry they accidentally hit the wrong vutton and nisspell words!

Your Location

Depending on what your product or service is, where you live may play a very important role in choosing additional keywords. For example, sticking with our car site, you may be located in the city of Van Nuys… which is located in Los Angeles County… which is located in the state of California.

All this matters because you’re going to have a very difficult time selling cars to people in Buffalo, New York! So, make sure you also brainstorm some keywords in regards to your state, city and even surrounding cities!

Avoid “Skip” or “Stop” Words

In order to speed up searches and save disk space, most search engines ignore common words (especially Internet-type words) like a, an, the, and, of, Internet, web, services, homepage, etc. These words are sometimes called “stop” or “skip” words because most search engines will “stop” indexing your page or “skip” that word in your title when indexing your site.

If your Web page contains one of these common “stop” words in areas where a robot spider looks for copy to index, the stop words may be “skipped” or ignored, possible effecting how you’re ranked on that search engine. Sometimes, your site may be placed in a wrong category.

For example, let’s say you want your site to be indexed as a “web advertiser”. Since “web” is a common word, many of the search engines will skip that word and index your site under advertising - not “web” advertising.

If you think one of your keywords may be a “stop” word, simply test it by going to AltaVista and typing it in. If nothing comes up or if millions of pages are registered, chances are you should find another word OR put that word in “quotes”.

Lower Case

One last note, some search engines are case-sensitive… so always keep your keywords in lower case letters. There are two reasons you should do this.

This first is that most people are typing in their keywords in lower case (unless they have “CAPS LOCK” on) and secondly, if they did happen to type in the words in upper case letters, the search engines will still find your lower case words and match them up - but not the other way around. (confused?…)

Example: if someone types in keyword “cars”, most search engines will pick up CARS, Cars and cars. But if keyword “CARS” was typed in, the search engine may only find a match for CARS, but not Cars or cars. Get it?… Good!

Testing Your Keywords

Now keep your list handy, visit all the major search engines and enter your keywords one by one to see what comes up in the search results list. Study a few of the top pages which will have a similar topic to yours, and see if there are any other good keywords/keyword phrases you could add to your list which you hadn’t thought of before.

Look at your competitors Title as well as their Description to find any new keywords. You could also look for these keywords by using your browsers “source code” for that Web page and taking a look at the META tags.

If you find any word that may be more targeted, simply write them down and add them to your list.

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Creating Doorway Pages

Doorway pages are designed to optimize and get a high ranking on search engines for specific keyword(s) and/or keyword phrases(s). They utilize all the “tricks” and they are meant for search engines, not for humans. That’s why these pages will act as “doorways” to the real Web page on your site containing content specific for that keyword, product or service.

Title Of Your Page

The title of your Web page is probably the most important information needed to achieve top ranking on all search engines and directories. Make sure you utilize your <TITLE> tags by inserting them right after your <HEAD> tag and before your <META> tags.

<HEAD>
<TITLE>Your title goes here. Make sure it contains keywords.</TITLE>
</HEAD>

Insert META Tags

Make sure you have META description and META keyword tags on all your Web pages. META tags provide information for search engine’s spiders/robots with the description of your site and the keywords relevant to that page.

If you don’t have these tags, then some of the search engine robots will simply choose the first 25 words on your page as the description (some won’t even do that!). Make sure your META tags are in your <HEAD> tags, right after your <TITLE> tag, like this:

<HEAD>
<TITLE>eBooksone Online marketing library.</TITLE>
<META name=”description” content=”Describe your site here. Throw in one or two keywords.“>
<META name=”keywords” content=”List your keywords here, separated by commas and repeat them 1-3 times only.“>
</HEAD>

Use <H1>Header</H6> Tags

Make sure you insert keywords in your <H1> through <H6> header tags. Most search engines assign higher relevancy points to words inside header tags, so take advantage of it. Remember, <H1> gets more relevancy points than <H6>.

Keep Keywords At The Top

Most search engines look at the first 100-150 words on a page when indexing. So make sure you insert your most important keywords at the top of your page, the first 25 words being the most important!

URL Keywords

Try to insert keywords in your URL. For example:

www.yourcompany.com/keyword1/keyword2/keyword3.html

Keyword Links

Hyperlink keywords within your page… preferable to URL keywords. For example:

<A href=”http://www.yourcompany.com/keyword.htm”>Keyword1 and Keyword2 are linked.</A>

Use ALT Tags

ALT tags are used to describe images on a page for people who browse the web with their graphics turned off. But, you can take advantage of these tags by inserting your keywords in them. For example:

<IMG src=”picture.gif” ALT=”keywords go here, repeated 1-3 times only.“>

Use <!– Comment –> Tags

Comment tags are HTML code that webmasters make to themselves, when designing Web pages. They can only be seen in your source HTML codes and NOT on your Web page. But, you can take advantage of this by inserting some keywords in your comment tags and make sure you keep them at the top of your page for best results.

<HEAD>
<TITLE>Page Title.</TITLE>
<META name=”description” content=”Describe your site here. Throw in one or two keywords.”>
<META name=”keywords” content=”List your keywords here, separated by commas and repeat them 1-3 times only.”>
</HEAD>

<!– comment tags go here with keywords repeated 1-3 times only –>

Submit Maximum Of Ten A Day

When submitting your pages to the search engines, submit no more than 10 pages a day (I prefer 5 only). Make sure you submit your most important pages first and never submit the same page twice within a 24-hour period!

Submit Often

There are thousands of new Web sites added daily to the search engines. Due to this huge influx of sites, your ranking will drop dramatically and sometimes your site will disappear all together! Because of this, I’d suggest you re-submit your Web pages about once a month.

Again, submit no more that 5-10 pages a day and only re-submit your most important pages (doorway pages are a must).

So, it’s your first time on the Internet and you’d like some information on “cars”. Where do you go? There are so many search engines and directories, which one do you start with?… Which one is best? Which of the many search engines really matter?

Well, the best search engines are usually the most popular and most used ones. This will be true for both the Web site owner as well as the Web searcher/consumer.

Here’s the reason: More often than not, the well-known/popular search engines tend to promote themselves very well and have strong relations and strategic alliances with other Internet powers (AOL and Netscape immediately come to mind). This alone will bring in lots of traffic, especially when compared to the lesser-known search engines.

If you are a Web site owner and your site gets listed high with one these well-known search engines, you’re guaranteed a ton of traffic to your site (a good thing, especially since it didn’t cost you any money!).

For the searcher/consumer, a well-known (hence, very wealthy and commercially backed) search engine will generally give more dependable and accurate results. These search engines will work faster, load quicker and are more likely to be well-maintained and upgraded regularly to keep up with the rapid growth of the Net!

Before getting into the specifics of each search engine, let’s first define the differences between the two primary types of search “services”.

Search Engines

Search engines use robots called “spiders” to index (categorize) your Web site. You submit your Web site and/or page to a particular search engine and the “spider” will index your submission.

Here’s how it works: A spider (which is also called a “crawler”) visits your Web site, reads your page… and then follows links to other pages within your site. This is what is meant when someone says your site has been “spidered” or “crawled”. The spider will also return to your site on a timed and regular basis (say once every couple months) to look for any new changes.

Once the spider has all your information, it goes back home to the search engine where it will begin to “index” what it has found. Most of the time, it can take a while for new pages (or changes that the spider finds) to be added to the index. Thus, your Web page may have been “spidered”, but not yet “indexed”!

Until your site has been indexed (added to the index/search engine listing), you are NOT yet available for search (you don’t exist yet as far as consumers are concerned).

Now, some promotional “gurus” say that you don’t have to actually “submit” your Web site/pages to these “deep” search engines because in theory, these robots are “spidering” new Web sites everyday and supposedly they will find and index your site (eventually).

But the reality is that unless you have links from other sites leading to yours, OR you have registered your site with one of these search engines, your Web site will NOT be indexed - hence, you will never exist!

[I’ll explain this in more detail later, but make sure that you submit all of your pages to the search engines. Don’t wait for them to spider you!]

Examples of some of the more popular search engines that use “spiders” are:

• AltaVista
• Excite
• HotBot
• Infoseek
• Lycos
• WebCrawler

Next come the…

Directories

Directories will NOT list your Web site and will never become aware of your existence unless you register with them. More often than not, they will only register your home page and not your sub-pages.

The main difference between directories and search engines is that directories will “categorize” Web sites. Hence, if your Web site has to do with cars, you will be indexed under the category of “automobiles” or “cars” or some other relevant topic.

This difference alone will usually make directories a more “relevant” search engine. Examples of some of the more popular directories are:

• LinkStar
• LookSmart
• Snap
• Starting Point
• WWWYellowPages
• Yahoo! (the most popular of the bunch)

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Your web site can include programs to help you communicate and send newsletters. You can invite old customers to participate in surveys, and have a general message area where they can communicate and help other customers solve their problems.

Take your mailing list and send a letter to all past customers informing them of your new web site, and perhaps a free gift just for visiting. This will help migrate them to your web site, and help you to save money on mailing offers.

Make sure to include your new URL on all your business cards, stationary, products and anything else that leaves your office. You wil find more tips inside our library of eBooks that are available.

If you are going to be building the site yourself, and are too overwhelmed to try to install a CGI program like this yourself, there are free ones you can use. All the free message board providers require you to carry their banner ad on your message board. You get free use of the board in exchange for them being able to advertise to all your visitors.

Your best choice is to have a developer install one for you on your web site. If you would rather use a free service, here is a list of places that will provide you with a message board you can use, and link to your site.

JAVASCRIPT:

Of the 700 or so browsers and versions of browsers being used to surf the web today, some of them support javascript. For security reasons, unfounded or not, many surf with Javascript turned off. The most popular browsers, Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer, each one since version 2.0 of Netscape, has supported Javascript differently. This means what will work in one, will not necessarily work in both. If you are relying on information included in your Javascript to help sell your products or navigate your site, depending on what version of Javascript you use, you have just reduced your potential customers to about one-third of the Internet.

FLASH

Although great for animation and special effects, typical small file sizes can easily exceed 1 megabyte. The download of the Shockwave plugin, and waiting for the file to load means a potential customer may have to wait between 10 minutes to an hour to see your information. Oh, yes. I know many people who are still using the 14.4K modem. Chances are they will not stick around to view your information. Even if they were successful at the download, there are good chances that this will use up all of their system resources and crash their computer.

DHTML:

This is based on the fusion of Javascript and Cascading Stylesheets interacting with the Document Object Model (DOM). The popular browsers support different levels of Javascript, different variations in their support for (CCS) stylesheets, and maintain different standards for the Document Object Models. If your sales information relies on the user’s browser to interpret DHTML, you may only have 1-2 of the 700 browsers able to view your information.

ANIMATION:

Not only do animated .gif images distract your reader from your sales copy, they also create longer download times and reduce resources on your readers computer. They are very annoying, so if you feel you have to use them, be careful how you use them. Make your site classy and do not clutter it with useless animation.

JAVA:

Once again, only a handful of browsers support Java, and many of these users elect to have it turned off. Early editions of Windows 95 had a memory leak and memory allotted to display Java on web pages could not be recaptured without re-setting the computer. Others feel Java presents a potential security hazard, and refuse to enable it.

When I think of successful models of business sites on the web, it brings to mind images of Yahoo and Amazon.com. Before you build or have your web site built, you should visit these sites and see just how much of these technologies are being used by them. The onus is on you to be knowledgeable about problems that could affect your profit potential on the Web.

How will your site be presented? Would you like all the links on the bottom, top, left or right hand side. It would be a good idea to visit competitors sits to see what they have done. If you will be serving the same market, you may wish to provide similar layout and navigation. This means visitors to your site will already be comfortable with the design, and will find it easier to move around and find the information you have provided.

Do some research about hiring developers and take a look at what you would have to learn if you decided to do it yourself. Once again, establish the success of your competitors web sites and try to emulate and incorporate their development ideas and concepts into your own. You don’t have to be overly innovative. It is quite simple really. What is working for them, will work for you.

Develop your content. Whether you choose to do it yourself or hire someone to do it, it is wise to be prepared with the information. Content can include articles, games, software, gifts, promotions, giveaways and anything else you can think of that will attract visitors. The number one question on every visitors mind before they “click on” your site is: “What’s in it for me?”

The amount of content you provide can be based on past marketing practices. You have probably determined how many days a classified ad ran before you received any inquires. If your product(s) is guaranteed to be wanted by your target market, then obviously you will need less content. However, if the benefits are not immediate and you have found that people require more exposure than the initial acknowledgment, then you need to find a way to bring visitors back to your site. You can do this with content.You can have free traffic to your website or blog by simply going to Traffexone.com.

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When you first got on the Internet (way back when…), what method did you use to track down and find the information you were looking for on the World Wide Web?Chances are you used one of the many search engines/directories. Even though there are literally hundreds and thousands of search engines, you probably used one of the top 10 (like Yahoo!, AltaVista, AOL, HotBot, InfoSeek, etc., etc., etc.)

This is exactly how most people (over 90%) find information on the Net when they first get on. It’s not the most effective way, but it’s a start. As time goes on and you become more familiar (and comfortable) with the Net, you add in alternate ways of finding information… Through banner ads, affiliate and associate programs, newsletter/ezine ads, referral links, etc.

Just as there is no one “best” way of finding information or a Web site on the Net, there is also no best way of promoting your business, product or service either.

So, why is a good search engine ranking so important… if at all?

Well, the truth is that it is and it’s not. Let’s take quick look at the pros and cons of search engine promotion.

Pros

	It’s free! It doesn’t cost you anything to get placed on the search engines. This is very important for the beginning entrepreneur when money is tight and you’re still learning the ropes of Internet marketing.
	Lots of traffic! A good/high search engine ranking can bring in lots of traffic… targeted traffic! A potential customer types in a specific keyword search and if your site comes up, then it’s a direct hit. They will be coming to your site because they want to. They are not forced, tricked or persuaded by outside forces.
	It levels out the playing field. The truth is that a big Fortune 500 company has no advantage over you, the smaller and sometimes “broke” home based business. You have just as much an opportunity to rank well, and above these big time spenders.
	Results can sometimes be seen very quickly. This is a big bonus, especially if you are in desperate need of some initial traffic and sales.
	Search engines are the first place most of the new Internet users go to when searching for information or a product/service (actually, this is true for even the veteran marketer). This is very important because new comers are very open to the Internet and your initial “sales pitch”. They are like kids in a candy store. Because of the high competition and vast amount of information available on the Net, if a “newbie” comes to your site, they will probably buy from you or at least listen to what you have to say. (The theory is that you came first, so “I will trust you first”. This is why Amazon.com or AOL.com have so many loyal customers… they were “first” on the Net!)

Cons

	It’s not very reliable. Sometimes, you can do everything right and use every single search engine trick in the book… and still, some totally lame and untargeted Web site will rank much better than yours. This is a problem that no body can predict with the search engines.
	It’s time consuming. It will take a lot of work to get to the top and stay there! Most search engines change their ranking criteria’s as often as you change your underwear! What works one day may not work the next. Also, each of the top search engines have their own set of rules, so it will take some time to get used to and juggle everyone’s “do’s and don’ts”.
	It takes too long! Even though you may see results within a week on some of the search engines, on others… it can take up to 6-8 weeks before you are listed, let alone get traffic to your site. That’s a lot of time that is wasted that could be better used for other promotional tactics.
	Secret search engine tactics are hidden! There are plenty of tried and proven ways of getting and keeping a good ranking on the search engines. In fact, there are 3 methods (maybe one or two more) that only a small handful of Internet marketers know of that can literally drive thousands of very targeted customers to your site… with very little effort or upkeep on your part… for pennies! But guess what, these “secret” tactics are just that - secret and well-guarded! So, the problem is that most of the information that your read on the Net (at least 98% of it) is just a bunch of bull or it’s totally out dated. This, ironically will get you in very big trouble with some of the search engines and you may be booted of their directory forever! (this is because a lot of the search engine tactics on the Net are considered as “spam” to the search engines… and this is a big no-no!) You need to be very careful about where you get your search engine information… VERY careful!

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