John gave another example

He says, "If you're selling 'digital cameras,' don't optimize for 'digital cameras.' Did you know that everyone is searching for 'Digital Cameras Review'? Build a page offering reviews of digital cameras, which has a KEI that just blew me away."

Another effective strategy: Top Reports

Besides Comprehensive Search, John also likes to look at top reports for high performance keywords or topics that are related to his client.

John explains, "I'll review Long Term Reports, which are top 1000 keywords over past 24 hours. Then, I cut and paste any topics related to my client into Comprehensive Search to get streams of currently 'hot topics.' I define a hot topic as a popular topic in high demand, which may also have lists of related keywords phrases also in high demand."

What happens if you can't find a hot topic that relates to your site in top 1000?

John answers, "Many people do not know that Wordtracker offers extensive top word reports beyond database. All you have to do is ask, and they'll sell you:

* The Top 20,000 words $99

* The Top 100,000 words $500

* The Top 500,000 words $2000"

Additional suggestions

* When John goes to Comprehensive Search, he doesn't put in a huge list of keyword phrases. He types in one single word, then lets Comprehensive Search do rest. This allows him to come up with ideas and angles that he would have never considered before.

* Like John, spend a lot of time thinking of your target audience. Who are you trying to sell products or services to? There may be several target audiences, as in case of our aromatherapy example. If so, go after keyword choices to target each of those audiences.

* Don't be afraid to let your creativity take hold. If your first few choices don't work, continue trying. Using Comprehensive Search, it doesn't take long to go back through system with a different keyword idea. Keep going back until you find a possibility that might work for your site or site of a client.

* Be sure to give surfer what they're looking for when they choose your site from search results. If you promised them "techniques of massage," then be sure to give them good, solid content in that area, including related links. Weave your products and services throughout page as you can. But, don't ever try to trick a surfer.

* If you get stuck and just can't find a keyword phrase with a high KEI and a low level of competition that will work for you, take a slightly different approach. Instead of trying to bring in a large amount of traffic through one single window, try creating several windows and bring in a little traffic through each one. Though more time consuming, this strategy can be equally effective in long run.

* If you aren't already a member of Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com), sign up for free trial and test system out for yourself. Pricing is very reasonable, depending on your needs. For example, you can use service for a week for $19.94, and many other plans are available.

The bottom line is this: if you are serious about your Web site, you've got to be serious about keyword choice. If you're serious about keyword choice, Wordtracker is a "must have" service for you.

Copyright 2002 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.

Let's look at an example

John has a client who sells baby furniture and products online, so he needed to find target audience for baby furniture. Putting his creative mind at work, he started thinking about who would want to buy baby beds and strollers. Not people with newborns - after all, they already own all of furniture they need. The true audience for his client is soon to become parents, grandparents, etc.

His next step was to use Comprehensive Search to try to determine what his target audience is looking for. John typed in "baby," and he found some very interesting results.

People searching for word "baby" were searching for keyword phrases like "baby names," "Baby Names," "Baby Boy Names," and so forth.

Bingo! He had angle he needed to get traffic to site. Rather than concentrating on actual product he was trying to sell, he thought of a way to pull in traffic through a different window. After all, what will his target audience be looking for on Internet? Ideas for names for their new babies!

John adds, "Keep in mind that this angle is also based on fact that babies are always on way, around world, day after day, which creates an extremely unique market for certain products. Understand advantages of identifying people's behavior, and you'll never look at keyword research quite same."

After he has captured visitors at his site, he can easily slide in fact that site is also selling baby products and furniture. He's gotten them to site, which is step #1; they are his target audience, which is step #2; and with compelling content, he can increase site's conversion rate to go along with increase in traffic.

How did John proceed? He created a page that focused on meanings of baby names.

Keep in mind that page he created has value and unique content. He didn't just toss together a page, simply for sake of getting a top ranking. Instead, he worked hard to find links all over Web to sites that offer meaning of baby names. His page offers tremendous value to search engine and users as a one-stop resource for finding links to meanings of baby names. Then, in strategically placed spots on page, he subtly added pictures of his client's products with links to related pages.

John explains, "Don't ever trick your audience or they will simply never buy. Give them exactly what they are looking for right up front. In this example, I created a page that offers baby names and meanings of baby names, and I subtly offered a few product listings or links to my client's storefront. It is essential that you always provide content related to their search first, and then offer links to appropriate products within your client's site."

The bottom line?

How did John's strategy work out for his client? The baby names page alone pulls in an additional 500 unique visitors of extremely targeted traffic each month.

John adds, "I cannot give you percentage in terms of exact increase in sales, but I can tell you that client has been very pleased with results."

Remember that this is just one page that John added to site.

He explains, "Had I really wanted to pull out all stops, I could have created several entry pages around this one theme. For example, targeting keyword phrases such as: 'most popular baby names,' etc. You could also build content right into site and extend it through all of races:

* Spanish baby names

* Italian baby names

* Jewish baby name

* French baby names"

(See Part 2)