Choosing right keywords and phrases for your search engine optimization (SEO) program is critical to its success. The right keywords drive targeted traffic to your website - prospects that are ready to buy. The wrong keywords attract web visitors that are not likely to purchase your products and services - wasting everyone's time and your money.

By following these simple rules, you will be able to determine right mix of keywords and phrases that will generate targeted prospects to your website. Remember that good search terms are those that are related to your business and have sufficient monthly search traffic.

Rule #1 Select keywords that represent your company's "bread and butter." What products and service lines are most profitable, have strongest sales, and continue to show good market demand. And yes, typically 80/20 rule applies here. 80% of your sales and sales leads are produced by 20% of your keywords and phrases.

Rule #2 Look at complementary products and services that people tend to buy that you don't offer. Often, these keywords generate good prospects and typically have less competition than your primary keywords and phrases.

Rule #3 Use online tools to help determine keyword variations and search frequency. The best free programs to use include Overture's search term suggestion tool - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion and Google's AdWords suggestion tool - https://adwords.google.com/select/main.

Rule #4 Use WordTracker - www.wordtracker.com. For a small fee, you can use this tool to find niche keywords, use thesaurus to find related search terms and determine general monthly search frequency. This is a great tool and worth investment.

Well,

It can be done. I've done it many times in many different industries. There is no secret, but rather, it's just knowing what to do. I've made just about every mistake one can make with a website, but I learned from every setback. If you were only allowed to do one thing to get ranked for your site in Google, without a doubt, all you'd need to do is get links for your site.

Yes, there are many other factors involved in getting your site to a top position. But this is most powerful way as of this writing to get a top spot in Google. It's not just enough to have links pointing to your site, but you need to have your keyword "anchor linked" to your site. Anchor linking is when you use your keyword phrase as click-able text for a link. So, instead of saying "Click Here", you would use "Widgets" as link text.

Now, another point of consideration is determening what keyword/phrase you want to use to get your site found. Most times, people impulsively choose a one word phrase. While this would be a great way to bring traffic to your site, would it bring targeted traffic, with people looking specifically for your product or service? Most times when people type in a one letter keyphrase, they are in beginning of their search.

They may type in "Shoes", but are really looking for "Running Shoes". So, if you have a top ranking for shoes, do you serve that user's needs? Maybe, but they may also be looking for dress, casual, Women's, Men's, Children's, athletic, girl's, boy's, etc. This is why when you begin to optimize your site, you should focus on more targeted keyword phrases.