Developing a Keyword List in 5 Steps

Developing a keyword list is one of the first matters of business that needs to be completed when starting an online business. Keyword optimization is critical to your success since it is the easiest way for you to attract search engine traffic to your website. This type of traffic is the best to have since it is free and highly targeted. It is therefore essential to learn how to develop a list of business keywords for your site that are relevant and well searched upon.

Here are 5 simple steps to take in putting together a list of business keywords that will attract plenty of free search engine traffic to your site.

Brainstorming

Your first step is compile a list of words that you feel are relevant to your site or business and jot them down. By doing a little bit of brainstorming (yes there are still things we can do WITHOUT the help of a computer) start to pull together your list of words. Speak to others about what it is you are doing and listen to their suggestions for any other words you may find suitable for your cause.

Scope Out Your Competitors

Take the list you have compiled so far and enter them into an online search. Now you want to review the search results and look at the top 10 sites that come up. Visit each site and check their meta tags which are located in the source code of the site. Take note of the keywords they are using for their site and add them to your list.

Drill Deeper on Keywords

Now take the list you have got and using a keyword suggestion tool enter these words into that tool. Look over the results you come up with and jot down any other words that you find relevant for your purposes.

Evaluate Your Competition

With the list of keywords you have accumulated so far take them and enter them into another online search but this time you want to search for a direct match. To do these simply place quotes ("") around your keywords and the results will reflect only those sites using the same keywords you are targeting. This is going to be your competition for these keywords. Take note of how many sites there are using these same keywords.

Finalize Your List

Now you can take all your findings and determine which words will be those you will want to use. Be careful NOT to select the words that have the greatest amount of results since this also means LOTS of competition. Ideally you may want to choose only those words that have less than 12000 results in and about. This will give you words that are being searched upon but not with too much competition.

Developing a keyword list should be one of the first tasks completed when starting an online business. The business keywords you select should be relevant and well searched upon in order for them to attract the traffic you will need. By following the 5 simple steps we reviewed above will serve to increase the effectiveness of your keyword optimization efforts. The results you get will be plenty of free and highly targeted search engine traffic diverted to your site.