Doing keyword research and search engine optimization may sound extremely boring and even complicated but it doesn’t have to be either of these things.

Knowing what keywords people are using when looking for your site means you know what your target market wants, which in turn means you can then deliver it to them.

A business owner who keeps up on their keyword research has a clear advantage over other online business owners. Some of the benefits of knowing your keyword or keyword phrases are:
• Know the terminology or language people are using to find something
• Know how many people are looking for a product or service
• Can target your message to what people want

As I mentioned keyword research and search engine optimization don’t have to be complicated or boring. I’m going to show you a 5-step process for using keyword phrases as you build each page of your website so that you can consistently be putting out content that others are searching for.

Step 1: Content Analysis
In this step you will have a webpage that you need to optimize so that it can be found in the search engines. What you want to do is go through that page and put yourself in the position of a visitor who’s coming to your site for the first time. What are they looking for? What words would they use to find it?

Step 2: Keyword Tools
In this step you’ll need to pull out a couple of keyword tools. Two of my favorite to use are Wordtracker and Googles Keyword Analysis Tool. Here are the links:
Wordtracker Free Tool: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com
Google Free Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Start searching on keyword phrases relating to the site or webpage you’re optimizing
We’re looking for keywords that are about 4-6 words in length because they are what’s called ‘the long tail’. They won’t get as many searches as the shorter words but they will be easier to rank well for and they will also be more specific, making the audience you attract with these words more qualified prospects.

You may want to open up a notepad or an excel file to start saving all the keywords you find. I don’t bother doing this anymore because I find that I never go back and look at the files again, so instead I do research as I need it and use it right away. Plus, keyword phrases can change over time so it’s better to get the words ads you need them so you’re not missing any trends.

When searching for keywords you’ll want to pay attention to the daily count. The higher the count the better but it’s better to go with a less searched term then to choose the wrong term altogether

Step 3: Searching Google
Now you’ll want to go to google.com and do a quick search to see if there is competition on the keyword you’re considering optimizing the page for.
Start typing the words you found as potential good keyword phrases into Google like this “keywords here”—make sure you put quotes around them.
Check the number of results it shows in the upper right-hand corner of google. For example it will say ‘Results 1-10 of 1,357’. IF that number is less than 5,000 then it’s a relatively under-optimized word. If the number is 1,000 or less and has a high ‘Count’ that is perfect.

Step 4: Optimize Webpage
Now that you’ve chosen a 4-6 keyword phrase to optimize your page with, it’s time to start optimizing.

The important parts of the page as far as the search engines are concerned are:
* Title: — the title is what shows up in the blue bar that is across the very top of your browser screen, your keywords should show up in the title

* Meta Description: This is a description of the page and depending on the search engine will appear in the search results when someone is looking for the page.

* Meta Keywords: There is not a lot of weight given to the keywords but it doesn’t hurt to include them.

* URL: The URL of the webpage is important in terms of search engine listings and should have the keyword included.

* Image Alt Tags: It helps to have alt tags on your images with a description including keywords where appropriate, this also tells readers what the image was should they not be able to see your image.

Now to Optimize:
You’ve chosen the keyword phrase to use, let’s say it’s ‘internet marketing virtual assistant’. What you DON’T want to do is then stick that phrase into all the spots mentioned above. While most of them should contain some part of your keyword phrase you need to make it as natural as possible and not like you are trying to get ranked well in the search engines before you are concerned about readability.

Important: If optimizing a site that already has pages set up and traffic coming in you probably don’t want to start changing the pages around. If you rename a page you will loose the traffic that is currently coming to that site unless you do a redirect.

Written By: Angela Wills, Internet Business Trainer

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