Choosing the correct keywords for your site

By Sumantra Roy

In this article, we focus on the correct way of finding out the keywords for which you should optimize your site for the search engines. This article will give you the formula for the Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) - a mathematical formula which I have developed to help you determine which keywords you should be
optimizing your site for.

Step 1: Open your text editor or word processor and write down all the words and phrases that you might have searched for if you were looking for a company which offers products and services similar to yours. For example, suppose your company organizes packaged tours to Australia. Here's a list of phrases that I might have searched for if I were planning to make a trip to Australi

tourism in Australia
travel to Australia
travelling in Australia
travel agencies in Australia
travelling agencies in Australia
Australian travel agencies

Ofcourse, the keywords that came to your mind may have been different. But that's not important - the important thing is to get an initial list of keywords.

You may be wondering why I have not used single word keywords. Here's why:

Firstly, single word keywords tend to be hyper-competitive. A search for "tourism" or "travelling" in any search engine will probably generate hundreds of thousands of pages. While it is possible that you may get your page in the top 10 for such a single word keyword, it is quite unlikely.

Secondly, because of the sheer number of pages that single word searches can throw up, most search engine users have realized that they can get more relevant pages if they search for phrases rather than individual words. Statistical research has shown that most people are now searching for 2 or 3 word phrases rather than
for single words.

Thirdly, single word keywords won't get you targeted traffic. When people search for "tourism", they are not ecessarily looking for tourist destinations in Australia - they may be interested in any other country of the world.

Even if you got your site into the top 10 for tourism, you gain nothing from such visitors. However, when someone searches for "tourism in Australia", he/she is your potential customer, and hence, it makes sense for you to try and get a top ranking for your site for that keyword. Hence, whenever you are trying to generate keywords, try to be location specific. Try to think of keywords which apply to the geographic area that your product or service is designed to serve.

Step 2: Open any spreadsheet program that is installed in your hard drive. I assume you are using Microsoft Excel. If you are using some other spreadsheet program, just change the spreadsheet related procedures outlined here to fit your program.

Create 4 columns - one for the keyword, one for the popularity of the keyword, one for the number of sites that appear in AltaVista for that keyword and the last for something I call the Keyword Effectiveness Index (don't worry - I'll explain what KEI means later on). In order to ensure that you can follow what I am saying, I recommend that you add the following column headers to the first four columns of the first row of your spreadsheet:

Keyword
Popularity

No. of Competitors
KEI

In case you don't want to take the trouble of creating your own spreadsheet, download the keywords.zip file from http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5095&download.htm The file contains a sample spreadsheet in Excel 97 format.

Step 3: A great way to obtain a list of keywords related to the ones you have developed in the first step is to use WordTracker's keyword generation service by going to http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5095&wordtracker/

Click on the "Trial" option at the top of the site. In the page that appears, type in your name and email address and click on the "Start the trial >>" button. In the next page, click on "Click here to start the trial". In the next page, type in the first keyword that you developed in Step 1, i.e. "tourism in Australia", in the text box. Click on the "Proceed >>" button.

Step 4: In the next page, WordTracker will display a list of keywords related to the keyword that you had typed in. (Just scroll down the left pane to see the keywords). Now, click on the first keyword in the left pane which is applicable for your site. In the right pane, WordTracker will show a list of keywords which contain the keyword you had clicked on in the left pane.

Then in the table that you have created in your spreadsheet, copy each of the keywords in the right pane and paste them in the first column of the table. Also, copy the number of times those keywords have been used (i.e. the figure present in the Count column in WordTracker) and paste them in the second column. In order to ensure that you can follow me, make sure that you type the first keyword in the second row of your spreadsheet. Of course, you should only bother adding a keyword to your spreadsheet if it is applicable for your site.

Once you have added all the keywords in the right pane which are applicable for your site, click on the next keyword in the left pane which is applicable for your site. Once again, WordTracker will display a list of keywords in the right pane which contain the keyword you had clicked on in the left pane. Again, copy the keywords in the right pane which are applicable for your site and paste them in the first column of your spreadsheet.

Also, copy the figures present in the Count column and paste them in the second column beside the corresponding keywords. Repeat this process for each of the keywords in the left pane.

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

Step 6: Go to AltaVista. Search for the first keyword that is present in your spreadsheet using exact match search (i.e. you should wrap the keyword in quotes, i.e. you should type a quotation mark before
typing the keyword and a quotation mark after typing it). AltaVista will return the number of sites which are relevant to that keyword.

Add this number to the third column of the spreadsheet in the same row in which the keyword is present. Repeat this process for each of the keywords present in your spreadsheet. Once you have done that, your first column will contain the keywords, your second column will show the popularity of the keywords and your third column will contain the number of sites you are competing against to get a high ranking for those keywords.

Now it's time to calculate the KEI!

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

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

I am assuming that you have created the spreadsheet columns in the 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 the formula to the requirements of your spreadsheet program. Click on cell D2. Type in the following exactly as it is shown: =IF(C2<>0,B2^2/C2*1000,B2^2*1000)

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

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

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

Tying up the loose ends:

The number of related keywords that WordTracker displays in the trial version is limited. In order to get all the keywords which are related to the 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.

Article Courtesy:

Sumantra is one of the most respected search engine positioning specialists on the Internet. To have Sumantra's company place your site at the top of the search engines, go to http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5095

For more advice on how you can take your web site to the top of the search engines, subscribe to his FREE newsletter by going to http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?5095&newsletter.htm

Learning to Build Profitable Websites

By Kellie Fowler

Online BootCamp Provides Affiliate Marketers Of All Levels With LIVE Interaction, Answers to Their Questions as They Go, Dramatically Reducing Learning Curve And Providing the Confidence (and the Detail Roadmap) Needed to Build Profitable Websites – All From the Comfort of Their Own Homes

The 8-week curriculum will be delivered one evening per week for eight weeks, with each "night-school" style class dedicated to one of the eight steps outlined in Martell’s top-selling downloadable Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook. Attendees are sure to stay on track with Martell’s weekly live instruction and ongoing access to 10 hours of NEW video.

If you’re struggling to keep up with busy schedules, growing time constraints, escalating financial issues, and a family that you yearn to spend more time with, you’re not alone. Like you, more and more people are fed up with the 9-5 grind and with putting in overtime hours and efforts that go above and beyond only to receive disappointing paychecks.

But you don’t have to miss out on life! Instead, you can create financial freedom from home and you are about to learn, step-by-step, exactly how!

Whether looking for supplemental income or a legitimate business that you can “grow” to make your monthly income your weekly income, you’re in the right place.

BootCamp Video Trailer (3:00 minutes)

It’s called affiliate marketing and you now have the opportunity to learn from the top expert in this field how he took his starting goal of making an additional $200 a month and turned it into an income that provides he and his family with the lifestyle they previously only dreamed about.

With little start-up costs and the only resources needed including just a computer and Internet access, this online publishing business is freeing people up to live their lives to the fullest, all the while finally achieving financial freedom, while simultaneously spending more quality time with family and friends.

It may sound too good to be true, but it’s not.

Better yet, you can learn the techniques and strategies used every day by James Martell, a successful affiliate marketer, in his online course, to be conducted one evening per week for eight weeks.

It’s called James Martell’s Affiliate Marketers BootCamp - Online "Night School" Edition and “seats” do fill up fast!

Why? Because Martell has been successfully teaching students how to create profitable affiliate marketing businesses for years.

See for yourself what one Martell student says about the BootCamp training: “In the past, I've attended several seminars with multiple speakers. None came close to James' powerful, articulate, hands-on, gritty presentation. He's by far the best Instructor I've been privy to hearing... and grasping.”

Martell BootCamp student Darryl Ruff agrees: “I’m a slow learner, but James makes things simple to understand. Would I attend another BootCamp as a refresher? In a heartbeat!”

Martell’s BootCamp students consistently give the training an enthusiastic thumbs-up, with BootCamp student Sheldon Smollan calling the BootCamp “a genius opportunity.”

Now offered online, Martell’s BootCamp students can save time, money and collapse the lengthy timeframes associated with mastering a new career, all the while receiving face-to-face instruction, the opportunity to ask questions as they go, and being provided a detailed step-by-step plan that takes you from start to finish in the race to achieve online success.

Truly, it’s like having Martell look over their shoulder every step of the way and available to your answer questions, clarify points, address concerns, and more.

So, even if you already have Martell’s top-selling Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook, or listen to his engaging weekly audio newsletter, the Affiliate Buzz, this online course curriculum may be just what you need to propel your online efforts to sure-fire success.

And if you are not familiar with “Martell’s book, buzz and bootcamp” (as they are referred to throughout the industry), you can get everything you need now in the upcoming exciting and informative online BootCamp course.

“I believe my experience at BootCamp was the best investment I've ever made in myself, in my family, and in our dreams,” explains BootCamp attendee Denis Vaillancourt. “This opportunity has energized and motivated me to get to the next level of my affiliate marketing career. I'm confident in my future success now because of me BootCamp experience.”

Understanding from students like Vaillancourt the overwhelmingly positive impact the BootCamp has made on their personal, professional, and financial lives, Martell has searched for some time for a way to personally deliver his training “live” to his worldwide audience, but it wasn’t until recently that he found the robust technology he felt truly mirrored the personal training he painstakingly delivers through his off-line BootCamps.

So, just a few weeks back when Martell was exposed to an online conference room that would allow him to present the entire BootCamp using his PowerPoint presentation, live videos and live audio feeds, he knew he found the answer - and the first ever online affiliate marketer’s course curriculum was born.

Structured much like a night-school course, the curriculum will be delivered by Martell “live” in eight classes.

Martell will dedicate each class to covering one of the eight steps outlined in his recently refreshed Affiliate Marketer’s Handbook - "2006" (THIRD EDITION).

Students can watch via the Internet as Martell personally delivers the powerful tutorials that allow students to watch him as goes step-by-step through all the stages of building a website, finding products to promote, determining which companies to partner with as affiliates, adding keyword-rich content to his site and submitting his site to the search engines.

What’s more, Martell’s online students will participate in live, interactive question and answer sessions, and be on track to complete weekly assignments all of which, when added together, make the online BootCamp experience as effective as the off-line BootCamp experience.

Martell’s online BootCamp attendees will also have unlimited access to 10 hours of professionally recorded LIVE video, which showcases Martell and his students in his hometown, going through an intensive step-by-step instruction, allowing you to review information at your convenience long after the online BootCamp has concluded. It’s like having a virtual library at your fingertips!

And because you’re learning from someone who uses these same eight steps day-in and day-out to maintain his own enviable success, you bypass the steep learning curve associated with affiliate marketing and can be up and running and making money in a matter of weeks, after implementing Martell’s proven eight steps - which have more than withstood the test of time, much like Martell himself.

What this means for you is that you can get your online business up and running faster and you can be assured that, once you implement the eight steps just as Martell details them, you’ll be on your way to making money – be it part-time or full-time – from the comfort of your own home.

Now, you really can take control of your future and your family’s future and steer it in the direction of financial freedom, allowing you to determine how much you work and even how much you make.

So, the big question is: What’s stopping you?

You and your family are worth it and this online training is, as Martell’s students have pointed out, the chance of a lifetime.

All you have to do is grab it.

For more information, and for class schedules, visit:

http://www.affiliate-marketers-bootcamp.com/.

About The Author

Kellie Fowler is a successful freelance writer and a seasoned professional providing valuable insight and advice to those wanting to create work from home based business for themselves. Her numerous articles offer real-life tips and techniques to those looking for a way out of the rat race.

Affiliate Happenings For January 2007

Just to write something for this month...

Some of tehe handful of events taking place in January 2007 for affiliate marketers are listed below...

The Affiliate Managers Best Practices Meeting in Orange County will be held at Friday, January 12, 2007, 3pm at Smarthome.
The address is 16542 Millikan Avenue, Irvine, CA 92606 (cross streets Jamboree and Barranca). Anyone interested in attending this free event should e-mail lmann@smarthome.com.

So join Lisa Mann and other affiliate managers for a discussion on best practices. This event is free.