Choosing keywords is more complicated than simply choosing the keywords that you assume people search for most often.? Doing so usually results in lack of traffic and/or lack of sales.? Either you might not get sufficient traffic from those keywords or those keywords might not convert well.? Here are some metrics to consider for choosing the best keywords to target with your website.

Keyword Search Volume

It is very important to know which keywords get frequent searches through the major search engines.? There is no point in targeting a keyword that gets very few daily searches.? You need keywords that will produce enough traffic to sustain your business.? Of course you don’t want to just sustain your business – you want it to thrive and flourish.? So you’ll need to target the high volume keywords that can bring you the increase in traffic and sales that you desire.

It is relatively easy to get approximate keyword search volume statistics.? Google has several free tools that will show this data for searches done on Google and their search network.? There are also various tools that give estimates for Yahoo and MSN.? The free tools have limited accuracy though.? For more precise predictions, you may want to consider investing in some paid keyword tools.? Even if you can’t get precise numbers, you can still use keyword tools to compare one keyword to another.

Keyword Competitiveness

Unfortunately you can’t just target the highest volume keywords and automatically get great search engine rankings for those keywords.? Higher volume keywords are usually the most competitive within a niche.? When a keyword is more competitive your website needs to be more relevant than all the other websites that are targeting that keyword.? To make the search engines think that your website is more relevant for a particular keyword you need to wisely use that keyword throughout your website.? More importantly, you need lots of quality websites to link to your website using that keyword as link anchor text.? Since keywords have varying levels of competitiveness, you should be targeting keywords that you can realistically get good rankings for.? You need to consider your resources, time and SEO knowledge.

Gauging the level of competition can be difficult.? Some people simply check how many results show up in Google for that keyword, but that tells you very little.? That tells you how many websites either have that keyword on their website or in their links.? It doesn’t tell you how many websites are aggressively targeting that keyword and how strong those websites are.

To see how many websites are aggressively targeting a keyword, you can check how many websites use that keyword in their links and in their page title.? In Google use the ‘inanchor:keyword’ command to see how many websites use that specific keyword in their backlinks.? Also in Google, use the ‘intitle:keyword’ command to see how many websites include that keyword in their page title.? You can even combine those commands to see who is targeting the keyword aggressively enough that the keyword is in both their title and backlinks.

Next you will want to check how strong each of those websites is.? The most important factor to consider here is backlinks.? There are various ways to analyze a website’s link profile, but I recommend you use the SEO for Firefox add-on.? This will show you many important stats right in your searches.? You need to consider how many links those websites have and how strong each of those linking websites is.? It also helps to know how many of their links are used to target the specific keyword in question.

Keyword Relevancy

When you start compiling a potential keyword list, you will notice that some keywords are highly relevant and some may only be mildly relevant.? Obviously you will want to target the keywords that are most relevant to your website.

For each potential keyword, you should ask yourself “could this searcher be looking for something other than what I offer?”? Try to make an educated guess about what percentage is likely looking for what you specifically offer.? Usually the broader a keyword is, the less relevant it is.? A more exact keyword usually converts better because the searcher already knows exactly what they want.? They are essentially pre-qualified potential customers.

When a keyword is highly irrelevant it is usually not worth the effort it takes to target it.? For example, don’t waste your time going after competitor company names or brand names only offered by your competitors.? You might get traffic from those keywords, but most people would quickly hit the back button when they don’t find what they want.? Only target keywords where the searcher can easily find what they are looking for on your website.

Summary

Do not take keyword research lightly.? It is an extremely important part of marketing a website.? Without the right keywords, you will not succeed.? So take the time to do thorough keyword research before you start doing any website marketing.

You need to consider important keyword selection metrics: search volume, competitiveness and relevancy.? Combine all of that research to choose the keywords that have the best balance of all three metrics.? A keyword is only good if it can satisfy all your needs.

Let me preface this report by citing advertisers in 2004 have spent 4 Billion dollars on search engine marketing according to (SEMPO) the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.

Website marketers cited Search engine positioning was the top method to drive traffic to their sites (66%), followed by email marketing (54%). Source: Direct Marketing Association. Accordingly, the most cost effective way to market your web site online is to obtain several top 10-search engine rankings in the major search engines for your keywords.

According to a recent Jupiter Research Survey, searching on the search engines is one of the main uses of the Internet among 79% of users. Source: September 2002 Jupiter Research Survey. So that being the case, whatever your promoting you?ll want to make sure it can be found on the first page of the search engines results page.

The reason is numerically simple. An I prospect Survey in 2002 reported that 78% of web users abandon their search if the first 3 pages don’t provide an answer to their question, and 28% don?t scroll past the 2nd page of results. Source: Media Post article reporting results of Spring 2002 IProspect survey.

Combine those facts with the Internets explosive growth rate of 1.8 Million people worldwide going online every week for the very first time, Source: Official Guide To Internet Promotion and you can soon appreciate what a top 10 ranking can mean to you.

Google receives approximately 39.4% of all search engine traffic. Yahoo receives approximately 30.4%. They?re simply the largest search engines being utilized online today.

Bringing up the rear is MSN at 29.6%, and AOL 15.5% then Ask Jeeves with 8.5%. Source: Nielsen//NetRatings January 2004

How much traffic is that? Well, Google and its partner sites were reporting a whopping 250 million searches a day in February 2003.

Overture and its partners were reporting over 167 million searches per day. Inktomi reported 80 million followed by Look Smart with 45 million per day.

Find what reported 33 million while Ask Jeeves reported 20 million, Alta Vista reported 18 million and finally fast reported 12 Million searches per day. Source: Searchenginewatch.com 2004.

With all said, you can easily see how your search engine rankings are directly proportional to the traffic your web site receives, and your site traffic is directly related to your potential to profit online.

Oh, and in case you?re wondering how much money is spent online; a recent Forrester Research Report indicated that online spending reached $95,700,000,000 million in 2003!

That’s a cool 95.7 billion dollars. Projected online spending is estimated to grow to $229 billion in 2008! A whopping 139% increase in online spending! Source: Forrester Research

Now with these facts in mind I?m confident you can clearly see what a top 10-search engine ranking can mean for your bottom line. Although it does leave a question unanswered in my mind, what has a higher ROI? organic search engine optimization or paid search?

According to SEMPO?s key analysis, the U.S.

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SOCIAL NETWORKING and ? SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

?? Dean Bouridis, 2009

Dean Bouridis BA, CDM, BSA

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1.0?????? EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

?The convergence of retail and community building online has become known as “social networking”.? This online phenomenon is spreading across the globe. Nearly all internet users are being engaged in some aspect of this online activity.? It ranges from social shopping, networking to community building.

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2.0????????????? SEARCH ENGINE OVERVIEW

?In light of the rapidly growing phenomenon termed social networking, the ultimate goal of search engines is to adopt a risk management program that will enhance the customer experience; to create repeat sales and enthusiastic word-of-mouth referrals. To accomplish this, an effective program has to be driven by the organization’s business operating environment.? An organization has to maintain an environment that meets:

?-????????? Customer’s expectations.?

-????????? Operational business needs

?An organization is challenged with the on-going need to focus on, evaluate and improve each of its functional services.

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?2.1?????? Keywork Search Optimization

?Some online loyalty programs operate as a means to simply encourage customers to stick with a particular brand. Other programs encourage customers to throw more business towards a company, by establishing tiers.? They use incentive programs that offer greater rewards for increased levels of spending.

?The leading search engine is positioned on top of the evolving web mosaic.? Their unique positioning allows the search engine to maintain its competitive advantage by:

?-????????? Monitoring any area of growth

-????????? Acquiring the first position for any area they want to compete in.

?To maintain their position, the leading search engines adopt a marketing strategy which has the flexibility to reposition them in the marketplace when deemed necessary.? If the organization is uncertain of their competitive positioning, they have on occasion listed their services alongside a couple of other competitors.? Often they have demonstrated they will maintain this positioning until their internal stats show their product is superior. ?The leader in the industry has mastered the concept that offering free exposure along with free benchmarking equates to great advantages.

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3.0?????? SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

?3.1????????????? Keyword Tools

?To optimize search engine keywords (SEO) There are many free or low-cost keyword tools one can use within the social networking environment.? The search engine Google for example uses the AdWords keyword tool as a focus of its innovative business models. Adwords is associated with the pay per click concept. ?Adwords is still one of Google’s main sources of revenues.

?A percentage of business owners that want to make money online are taking advantage of innovative internet marketing strategies and internet advertising.? Businesses that use Google AdSense ads for instance make money online on the front end, and by writing articles on the back end.

?Google AdSense is positioned to allow advertisers to get both targeted traffic and sales, – but so is everyone else.? However, by writing articles, the Internet marketers who incorporate Google AdSense, can also make more money online, if done properly with this internet marketing strategy.

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3.2?????? Keyword Positioning Strategies

?The objective of applying key word search techniques is to meet client needs with minimal effort.? This equates to higher profits, better budgeting and a faster return on investment.? It is accomplished by managing the web site’s traffic relative to the investment output.? The impact of the key word searches, is measured by the competitiveness of the data used as well as the popularity of the applied data.? The right competitive mix of keyword search usage allows the search engine to be optimized; to measure the traffic on investment of any keywords.?

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3.3?????? Search Engine Optimization

?To optimize the search engine performance, one has to take into account certain factors.? For example, one has to equate a webmaster’s degree of intent to compete.? They also have to mitigate any obstacle that may impede the ranking for a targeted keyword

?Other factors to take into account include:

-????????? data integrity

-????????? impact of automated searches

-????????? manipulation of data collected by search engines

-????????? relativity and consistency

-????????? seasonal data

-????????? private keyword sources

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?4.0?????? SEO OPTIMIZATION? STRATEGIES

?4.1?????? Effective Online Search Marketing

Effective search engine marketing is an ongoing qualified measurement and improvement program.? Such a program has to constantly scrutinize the statistical data being collected to optimize the search engine marketing campaign.? Adjustments have to be made regularly for the highest possible return on investment.

?A reliable internet online marketing experience is mandatory to provide services such as:

?-????????? Building professional, search engine friendly web sites

-????????? Making the best presentation of your company to potential clients

-????????? Branding in the global marketplace

-????????? Structuring paid search marketing campaigns

-????????? Designing landing pages that convert to leads

-????????? Creating dynamic web content

-????????? Providing measurable results

?The goal of keyword researches is to obtain search volume estimates.? This is essential to maximize search engine optimization. An organization wants to make sure their online subscribers are expanding their efforts on the most leveraged keywords. Usually these are the keywords or terms with the most searches.

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4.2?????? Maximizing Return in Investment

?To maximize the return on your investment, one has to closely monitor certain keyword search variables.?

?4.2.1??????? Keyword Matches

?Keyword searches are impacted by:

?-????????? Total Matches

-????????? Exact Matches

-????????? InURL Matches

-????????? InAnchor Matches

-????????? InTitle matches

-????????? inText Matches

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4.2.2??????? Page Links

?The strength of a site’s inbound links is related to the page ranking applied by the search engine. To determine the strength of the inbound links in relation to its derived page ranking, one has to understand the driving force and resulting impact of the search engine’s page ranking? The page rank of the URL is in essence a function of all back links pointing to it. These back links come from inside and outside the domain.

?Furthermore, pages are ranked based on a series of variables:

?-????????? Ranking Page Links

-????????? Ranking Page PageRank

-????????? Ranking Page In Title

-????????? Ranking Page inText, etc.

?Another goal of keyword searches is to ensure your domain is properly ranked.? Variations on the key phrases one has selected within their domain can have a significant impact of your search engines’ optimization. Sometimes the first phrase that comes to mind isn’t the first one to come to the searcher’s mind.? For instance, if you’re selling a technical product or one that involves technical jargon, a person may not relate to the terminology used within your domain.

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4.2.3??? Domain Ranking

?Domains are ranked as follows:

?-????????? Ranking Domain Links

-????????? Ranking Domain PageRank

-????????? Ranking Domain Age

?Following the above noted matrix guidelines will allow the search engine to be optimized for your Internet marketing campaign.? You should start to measure the increasing return on your on-line marketing campaign’s investment.

?Keep close tabs on key PPC (pay-per-click) metrics such as CTR (click-through-rate) and conversion rates by keyword, as well as quality score. Tweak your campaign by dialing down losers and boosting winners. The goal here isn’t only to gather data, but ideally to get conversions as well!

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5.0 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

?5.1 Evaluating New Technologies

?Investing in the Search Engine Optimization strategies – information technology solution is an important part of staying competitive with potentially positive impacts on growth, risk, and online marketing outcomes. When evaluating new keyword techniques, there are several important issues the Business Analyst has to consider.

?The project objective is to provide “personalized keywords” and the intersections between the emerging

fields and the electronic data records. This entails the planning for and executing projects to meet

business and target marketing objectives.

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5.2?????? Business Analysis Project Scope:

?Within the scope of the project the Business Analyst will examine the Search Engine Optimization -

information technology solution:

?1. How the technology is utilized to mitigate key risk factors such as errors in keyword identification and delays in search report availability

2. What’s available and what’s on the in automation, including interfacing with processing devices as well as new labeling technologies

3. Integrating data from multiple sources into a single data record (inbound results)

4. Training – as new technologies emerge or become available, how do you build the necessary skill sets?

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5.3?????? Target Marketing

?Evolving Standards of Keyword Searches:

?- Is the standard advancing in a particular field?

- Does the peer-reviewed literature and regulators support the advance?

- Do users and stakeholders expect the highest standard, and if so, what is the liability risk of not upgrading?

?Search Engine Outcomes:

?- What effect will the new technology have on keyword search outcomes?

- Will outcomes improve, stay the same, or worsen?

?Workflow Efficiencies:

?- What impact will the new technology have on workflow efficiencies?

- Will it increase capacity?

- What effects will it have on human resources in terms of increased revenue streams and return on investment?

- Will it improve operations?

- Can the technology be incorporated into a lean operation?

?Differentiation:

?- Does the technology allow you to stand out from other web sites?

- Is it a marketing differentiator?

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5.4?????? Working with the Technology Partner:

?Does the Search Engine Optimization – information technology solution have a proven implementation team that will analyze specific business needs and customize the solution to meet them?

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5.5????????????? Support Resources:

?Does the Search Engine Optimization – information technology solution provide support resources for

marketing, training, and educational opportunities?

?Greater accuracy is based on a statistically significant improvement in sensitivity and a statistically significant improvement in specificity of the individual marketing campaign. False-negative reduction is based on a statistically significant improvement in sensitivity.

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5.6?????? Return on Investment:

?Providing additional tests represents an improvement for keyword search results in terms of maximized access to your web site.

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?6.0?????? DELIVERABLES

?The objective is top increase the web site throughput capacity. This can have a positive impact on revenue streams, client consistency, traffic flow standardization, reproducibility, and revenue growth.

- The Business Analyst conducts, and directs the analysis of business problems to be solved with automated systems

- Partners with users to identify, evaluate, and develop systems and procedures, which are, cost effective and meet functional requirements

- Plans and executes unit, integration, and acceptance testing

- Creates specifications for systems to meet business requirements

- Designs details of automated systems

- Leads cross-functional linked teams to address business or systems issues

- Plans, conduct, and direct the analysis of business problems to be solved with automated systems

- Partners with users to identify, evaluate, and develop systems and procedures which are cost effective and meet user requirements

- Plans and executes keyword search integration, and acceptance testing

- Creates specifications for systems to meet financial targets

- Designs details of automated financial systems

- Leads cross-functional linked teams to address business or revenue issues

- Enhances efficiency through customizable search engine workflow

- Improves diagnostic processes and search engine financial interpretations

- Provides convenient, immediate access to comprehensive keyword search financial data

- Decreases diagnosis delivery turnaround time

- Eliminates errors and redundancy caused by recording results via ETL system

- Improves transcription workflow

- Increases revenue through efficient, accurate coding and charge capture

- Lowers total cost of campaign

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?7.0?????? QUANTITATIVE and MEASURABLE RESULTS

Search engines today face many challenges. Revenue generation and competitive differentiation are key to their success in overcoming those challenges. The proposed search engine systems integration and implementation overcome many of the inherent challenges of a consolidating marketplace, workflow inefficiencies, and mitigate liability.? This is paramount in the advancement of the standard of search engine optimization and thereby creating a positive financial impact on both traffic revenues and business outcomes.

?The Business Analyst will continue to evaluate the development of new technologies that will address the needs of search engine optimization.

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?7.1?????? Functional Next Step

?Performing a business needs assessment is a powerful method to diagnose workflow inefficiencies and identify opportunities for financial improvement and revenue growth.

?What to look for in the Search Engine Optimization – information technology solution:

?1. Deliver current, evolving optimization standards

2. Improve keyword search financial outcomes

3. Expand revenue capacity

4. Improve workflow efficiencies

5. Provide a business needs assessment and support throughout implementation

6. Support resources will make a significant contribution to keyword screening and search engine management

7. Flexible task-driven workflow search engine

8. Full keyword context with embedded dictation and transcription workflow

9. Encoding and mapping to keyword search optimization standard codes

10. Common terminology manager

11. Comprehensive, accurate activities-based costing

13. Integrated search engine methodologies

14. Common platform and service methodology

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By using hotel search engine marketing (SEM) strategies, hospitality organisations across the globe can boost sales, add revenue, and enhance their visibility in the online world. Yes, it is easier said than done but it can be done. In fact, SEM is one of the highest revenue generating models for the hotel industry. It delivers the highest returns on investments (ROI), takes a little bit of skill and understanding on how it works, and can be put into effect quite easily. In today’s multi-connected world where travel plans and hotel bookings are made via phones, websites, chat platforms, social media engagements, etc. ? SEM is perhaps the least expensive and most under-utilised tool of promotion.

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Some basics about hotel search engine marketing that you should know about are that SEM uses various strategies to enhance page rankings on search engines. Making the hotel website search engine optimised (SEO friendly) is one aspect of it. Other aspects include paid advertising, contextual advertising, and paid inclusions.

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Making a search engine optimised website means populating the website with online content that uses specific keywords that the customers would use when they search for a hotel. Using meta-tags is another aspect of SEO. The idea being that every website should be both search and user friendly to generate maximum impact.

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Hotel search engine marketing also uses paid search as a tool to draw in customers. From sponsored ads that can be seen on any search engine results page, to banner placements on the web pages of a major newspaper’s travel section and travel blogs ? it is all a part of the SEM action plan. Making a landing page where the customer “lands” after clicking on any ad is another key aspect of the process. This is where a consumer can opt-in through email to receive the best promotions and updates.

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On smart phones today, internet and mobile browsers allow users to search for and look at content. Contextual advertising makes it easy for marketers to place promotions that are relevant to the content being displayed on the screens. As one of the many tools available in the hotel search engine marketing portfolio, contextual advertising continues to deliver the results. This is because contextual advertisements are usually more targeted and therefore are more likely to be clicked.

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Paid inclusions are a product that search engines companies sell to their clients. These are basically promotions of websites that are included in the search index (as opposed to paid advertisements which are listed separately and not in the search index). Using this tool can be a great search engine marketing strategy for hotels especially because most hotel websites feature dynamic content that is frequently changed. With paid inclusions, website owners can specify the schedule for crawling the page.

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Getting into paid search for the first time can be very overwhelming, as the field is filled with all types of acronyms, algorithms, and new information coming in every day.

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1)???? Get to know the acronyms and terms.

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In the world of Search, there are numerous terms that are thrown around, so in order to understand the literature on best practices as well as industry updates, it will benefit you to understand the most constantly used terms.? Some good sources to start with are Google, Urban Dictionary, IAB, and Search Engine Watch.

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2)???? Don’t Always Use Acronyms

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When dealing with clients, leave the acronyms behind, as it will only serve to confuse them.? It is important develop ways of describing ideas and solutions through real life examples so that your clients can better understand the concepts.

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3)???? Understand Why

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It is vital for all search marketers to be proficient in data analysis.? When you have promotional activity going on, you need to be capable of collecting data and analyzing it to determine why your campaign is either effective or not.

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4)???? Be Aware of General Marketing Concepts

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As search has become more mainstream, many companies are looking to consolidate search with their more general marketing endeavors.? Therefore, it is important to know the basic ideas and terms used in meetings with various other types of marketing.

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5)???? Become an expert at excel.

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A majority of your activity as a search marketer will be done in excel, so you will need to become very proficient with the intricacies of the program, specifically vlookups, freeze panels, pivot tables, etc.

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6)???? User Tracking Concepts

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You will have to understand the tracking of users.? Many tools are used to trace the users path to your site, as well as from your site via sessions stored by the browser, IP addresses, cookies, etc.? It would be wise to invest some time into learning the Google Analytics system as well as the Google Adwords program.

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7)???? Test, Test, Test

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When launching new marketing campaigns, it will be extremely important for you to be able to properly test it using various methodologies and best practices so that you can determine the efficiency and effectiveness of your programs.

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8)???? Always improve

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With the way that the realm of search continues to change every day, you can’t afford to rest on your laurels.? You must try to keep up with the continuously evolving best practices.? To do this, it is vital that you subscribe to RSS feeds of sites that you feel offer valuable updates and content that will provide thoughtful insight.

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