Once you have added all keywords in right pane which are applicable for your site, click on next keyword in left pane which is applicable for your site. Once again, WordTracker will display a list of keywords in right pane which contain keyword you had clicked on in left pane. Again, copy keywords in right pane which are applicable for your site and paste them in first column of your spreadsheet. Also, copy figures present in Count column and paste them in second column beside corresponding keywords. Repeat this process for each of keywords in left pane.

Step 5: Once you have finished with all keywords in left pane, press your browser's Back button a number of times until WordTracker again displays text box which asks you to type in a keyword. Type in second keyword in your original list (i.e. "travel to Australia"), click on "Proceed >>" button and repeat Step 4. Do this for each of keywords that you developed in Step 1.

Step 6: Go to AltaVista. Search for first keyword that is present in your spreadsheet using exact match search (i.e. you should wrap keyword in quotes, i.e. you should type a quotation mark before typing keyword and a quotation mark after typing it). AltaVista will return number of sites which are relevant to that keyword. Add this number to third column of spreadsheet in same row in which keyword is present. Repeat this process for each of keywords present in your spreadsheet. Once you have done that, your first column will contain keywords, your second column will show popularity of keywords and your third column will contain number of sites you are competing against to get a high ranking for those keywords.

Now it's time to calculate KEI!

Step 7: The Keyword Effectiveness Index is square of popularity of a keyword multiplied by 1000 and divided by number of sites which appear in AltaVista for that keyword. It is designed to measure which keywords are worth optimizing your site for. Higher KEI, better keyword. How formula for KEI is arrived at is beyond scope of this article. If you want to know, send a blank email to mailto:kei@1stSearchRanking.com

If you had used spreadsheet file that I created for you (see Step 2), you won't need to enter formula for calculating KEI yourself. The KEI would be automatically calculated for you moment you enter values in columns 2 and 3. You can go straight to Step 8.

In case you didn't download file, here's how you can calculate KEI.

I am assuming that you have created spreadsheet columns in way I recommended in Step 3 and that you are using Microsoft Excel. If you using some other spreadsheet program, you will need to adjust formula to requirements of your spreadsheet program. Click on cell D2. Type in following exactly as it is shown:

=IF(C2<>0,B2^2/C2*1000,B2^2*1000)

Then click on Copy button to copy formula, select all cells in column 4 which have keywords associated with them and press Paste button to paste formula. The KEI for each keyword will be displayed.

Step 8: Use your spreadsheet program's Sort feature to sort rows in descending order of KEI. In Excel 97, you would click on Data menu, click on Sort menu item, choose KEI from drop-down combo box named "Sort by", click on "Descending" option next to it, and then click on OK.

And guess what - that's it! You now know keywords which you should optimize your site for. You can now start optimizing your site one by one for each keyword, starting with keyword with highest KEI. Exactly how many of keywords you choose to optimize your site for largely depends on amount of time that you can spare from your normal business activities. But whatever number of keywords that you target, it obviously makes sense to go for most effective keywords first.

Tying up loose ends:

The number of related keywords that WordTracker displays in trial version is limited. In order to get all keywords which are related to keywords you had developed in Step 1, you would need to subscribe to WordTracker's paid service. We highly recommend that you do subscribe to WordTracker's paid service as otherwise, you will miss out on a lot of keywords that can prove to be extremely valuable to you.

Sure, it may be a noble deed to educate people about prevention, but world does not always work that way. The majority of people look for a home based business only when they get retrenched, when they run out of savings, or when they retire. So why not make your recruitment efforts match this need? Why not develop your niche market based on this category of people?

Instead of teaching them about residual income and power of duplication which they are not interested in, wouldn't your message be more effective if you taught them how to earn a comfortable retirement income, or how to replace their current income instead?

The point is this - as a home based entrepreneur you must understand your target market's need, and serve them well. You should focus on being best in providing cure, not best in preaching about prevention. Focus on customer needs, and they will flock to you.

4) Are You Having Fun?

Everything about Google spells fun. But don't get me wrong. They are probably most innovative company at moment.

The fact that they can present their complicated technology in such a simple way to end-users is an act that every company can envy. Have you ever heard anyone complain about Google search being too complicated to use? Yet as an Internet marketer I can go crazy trying to understand complexity behind simple white page and squiggly logo.

Leave complexity of a home based or network marketing business behind scenes. Teach people how to have fun, while achieving goals and building their business. Show them that you are having fun yourself, and they will buy, they will join, or at least tell someone else about you, and your exciting business.

When you're having fun, it will not seem like work at all. Everyone could use a little fun in their lives, don't you think?

5) Focus on Your Core Competency

Yes, this is another phrase that is thrown around in business world, but how many entrepreneurs actually practice it? As a home based entrepreneur, you may find need to explore other sources of income. There's nothing wrong in that, but here's catch - don't go where money is, especially if it's not related to what you're doing.

Many people tend to find other sources of income that is totally unrelated to their main home business. As a result of that, they become an expert in nothing, and they become best in nothing. If you make custom furniture at home, why take a job at a fast food chain to make ends meet, when you can explore other ways to make money out of your core competency? Having woodworking workshops, writing a 'how to' book on woodworking, or even a sales job at a furniture outlet can make good sources of additional revenue, while building your name and expertise on your core competency itself.

Starting out as a search engine, Google pretty much maintained their core competency until today. When they explore other sources of revenue or develop new products, you can be pretty sure it's related to search technology. And undisputed result of that is that there is simply no other better alternative when it comes to search and information retrieval.

Therefore, we have much to learn from success story of Google. Just as much as age old story of entrepreneurs who drop out of school, and go on to develop multi-million dollar businesses armed with nothing more than guts and ingenuity, Google's success story is inspirational to say least.

A tale of humble beginnings with extraordinary endings. Maybe that will someday be story of your life, and your home based business...