TheBuckmaker.com

An often over looked aspect of set up of new sites is the keywords. A person who is setting up a site for the very first time can think that keywords are only something used in the heading of a sites html code. They treat those keywords as an after thought, something that is put in once the site has been designed but the truth is that your keywords should be an essential part of your sites design.

When is the best time to think about keywords?

As early as possible. If you can get the pool of words going when you first develop your sites concept. If you are already past this point make your list now and then we can get to the research step.

How to research your keywords.

Step 1: Compile your list and get to your search engines. It is best if you use multiple engines, and at least one should be the open directory (dmoz.org), which feeds information to many search engines. You will enter each term on each engine and record the number of results displayed per engine.

Step 2: Calculate the average number of hits per term in all engines.

Step 3: Examine the words popularity. Both there are a few engines that have specialized capacity for this. This author recommends that you use the free tool at SEO Book*, but you can use any one that you are familiar with. Pick one and record this next to the averaged hits number.

Step 4: Now is the time to choose your words. They should be a mix of popular words and words with a small amount of competition, relatively speaking. If one word falls into both categories it is a must have.

Step 5: Repeat as needed with more detailed and numerous keywords until you strike a balance.

Now you have methodically researched words that should drive traffic to your site.

*When you use this engine you may discover that it not only gives you the word that you searched for, but related terms hits as well. This can be a helpful feature if your words are slightly off the mark, so always give these a read.