Obviously, keywords are words that relate to your site/product/etc. and they are the words that people might type into the search engine to find your site or product. The "key" is to use the right keywords and to use them properly. I’ve noticed that many people still seem to be guessing at what their keywords should be rather than doing a bit of keyword research to ensure they get the best results – even when doing something as simple as writing a blog post. Guessing may leave you far behind your competitors who are crossing their ‘T’s and dotting their ‘I’s. Getting good keywords will be discussed further in a moment. You also need to know what "short tail keywords" are vs. "long tail keywords". Short tail keywords are generally very broad whereas long tail keywords are usually more specific and can help you target a more specific niche. Short Tail Keywords vs. Long Tail Keywords If you are in the Internet Marketing business and you simply use the keyword "Internet Marketing", you’re using a short tail keyword that has major competition and spans many topics and areas. If you use the term "Internet Marketing Strategy" or "Free Internet Marketing Strategy" then you are using long tail keywords that are a bit more specific and reduce some of the competition. It’s imperative that you use long tail keywords in combination with your short tail keywords to bring more traffic for specific terms your way…and here’s the lovely thing; you will also get credit for the short tail keywords contained within your long tail keywords. So "Free Internet Marketing Strategy" would give me credit for that term as well as "Internet Marketing Strategy" AND "Internet Marketing". Nice. The long tail keywords can get even longer and more specific. It might even be "Free Internet Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses". Now that’s much more targeted and specific. And there are a combination of keywords in there that I would get credit for. Anchor Text The next thing you absolutely must do with your keywords is use them as anchor text. Anchor text just means that you hyperlink certain words with your desired URL. So, instead of using the raw link www.online-marketing-wizards.com I would use Internet Marketing Strategy (see how those words are clickable, that’s because they are hyperlinked to the website). What’s fantastic about anchor text is that you still get credit for your raw link but you credit your link with whatever keywords you’ve hyperlinked/anchored. So, using the example above, online-marketing-wizards.com would get credit for the keywords "Internet Marketing Strategy" and "Internet Marketing"…because remember we get credit for the short tail keywords in there too. Anchor text MUST be a part of your Internet Marketing strategy. No two ways about it. Now, getting good keywords. This can be a little tricky and we’ll get into even more details in another post but let’s cover the basics. Finding Good Keywords If you are setting up your website, you need to do thorough keyword research and this can get really deep if you’re researching like the experts. You need to find all of the terms that are being used to search for sites/products in your niche and maybe even take a look at the trends. There are a number of tools out there to do this with and each of them varies in their method and result. Most of the free tools will do the job just fine but you’ll need to spend a bit more time than if you pay for a keyword research tool to do the time-consuming stuff for you. If you’re making a blog post or bookmarking, your keyword research doesn’t have to be as deep but you still need to take a couple of minutes to see what keywords are being searched for in order to really benefit from the traffic that’s out there. Please don’t just guess because the words you might relate to your post may not be the same words someone else thinks of when they search…and using misspellings can bring you some decent traffic at times too. Many people misspell stuff when they are searching. Under the right circumstances, misspelled keywords can be great for you. When I’m doing a blog post or bookmarking something, there are two free tools I quickly reference. One is Wordtracker and one is the Google Adwords Tool. You can even use one or the other when doing a quick search at what keywords you need to target but I like to take a quick glance at both of them because they are very different tools. I like Wordtracker because it gives me the basics and I like the Google Adwords Tool because it gives me more details. This Google Adwords Tool will give you search data but it will also show you the competition that’s actually paying to rank high for particular keywords. I like to throw in a mix of the words that have high competition with the words that don’t have as much, or any, competition. And again, oftentimes, the words that don’t have as much, or any competition, contain the short tail keywords I’m also targeting so it can give me a double benefit. Don’t be scared of the words that don’t have many searches. If they don’t have much competition, they can be of great benefit for you the few times that one does use that keyword for their search. You will rank much higher for the less competitive keywords so you’ll very likely get the business over someone else simply because you used the less competitive keyword. If you’re in an extremely competitive niche, it will take you longer to get higher rankings but if you use the right keywords and you use your anchor text everywhere possible you will get there. Karen J. for Contemporary VA

Link building is one of the ways to optimize your website for search engines. However, different types of links carry different value in the search engines. Overall, Google and other search engines want quality content. The theory is that quality content will lead to more quality links which will lead to a higher rank with the search engines. In other words, a link to your website is a vote of confidence for the content it provides. Types of Links That Don’t Work for SEO Paid links (i.e. advertisements) are not quality links. Many search engines dismiss this type of link since it was put in place by you. Reciprocal links, where you exchange links with other sites, also don’t hold a lot of weight with the search engines since the links may or may not have anything to do with the content on your site. Circular links are essentially non-direct reciprocal links. One site links to another, and that site links to the next, and so on until the last site links to the first. There is no direct reciprocal link, however the webmasters at Google have the technology to locate and break these links when found. How to Get High Quality Links for SEO Directory listings can offer good links if it is a niche directory. For example, if your webpage is on flower design, a link in a directory of florists will mean more than a general business directory. Think in terms of your keywords. Find directories that cater to those keyword niches. The search engines will recognize the link and associate it with your keyword rich content. Partnership or affiliate links can boost your SEO ranking when they link directly to your site without requiring a reciprocal link. Online communities and discussion forums can all provide quality links to your site. When posting to a forum don’t go in with a heavy sales pitch. Engage with the community first. After some time, if you have a solution to a problem that is being discussed on the site, casually direct them to where they can find the answer (i.e. your site). Keyword links are better than links provided in a list. Again, this all relates back to content. When blogging, make your links to a keyword in the post or article rather than providing it in a listing on the side. Find Out Who’s Linking to You Google provides a handy tool for you to see which sites they recognize as linking to you. Google doesn’t capture all links. Links from higher ranking pages will make their list easier. To find out which links Google recognizes type “link:webaddress” in a Google search box. For example, if your website is www.widgets.com, type in link:www.widgets.com. If a number of known links aren’t appearing on the list, it’s telling you that you need to find some better quality links if your goal is to make it to the top of the search engines. Cathy Yerges Partnering in Your Marketing Success

1. Look on your own web site. Choose words that are used on your site to describe your product or service. 2. Think like a customer. Find words that customers might use when trying to find you. Be sure to include words from all buying stages. For example, someone beginning to research navigational units might search on “GPS”. As they learn more, their search will include specific brand names like “Garmin GPS”. Once they narrow in on what they want to buy, their search will become even more specific to include a make or model reference such as “Garmin Forerunner 101 GPS”. 3. Use a keyword suggestion tool. When your creative juices run low, utilize a keyword suggestion tool. Google and Yahoo offer these tools as part of their pay-per-click programs. You can also look to keyword programs like WordTracker, Nichebot, or Good Keywords for suggestions. 

Cathy Yerges

Partnering in Your Marketing Success