Let me guess. You spent hours doing your keyword research and now you wonder what on earth to do with all those keyword phrases you came up with. Am I right? No worries! This tutorial will walk you through some of the ways you can use your keyword phrases on your website. By the way, this is called “on-site” optimization. Your website is under your full control (hopefully) so you have more control of what is added to it and it’s important that you use your keywords in all the appropriate places.

Before we get started, I need to give you a word of warning. Please don’t just stuff your keyword phrases all over your website. It’s important that you do not overuse your phrases. When you do this, it turns off your readers (which I’m guessing is not your goal) and it could bring penalties from search engines. Your goal is to incorporate the phrases into the appropriate places on your website in such a way that they blend in seamlessly.

Also, PLEASE keep in mind is that it’s very hard to optimize a page for multiple keyword phrases. Someone with enough experience can handle more than one phrase but I recommend that you focus on ONE keyword phrase per page in the beginning.

OK now let’s get to work!

Supplies Needed:

• Website/Blog
• Computer with Internet Connection
• Keyword Phrases obtained through keyword research

Step 1: Title Tag
The first place and the most important one to include your keyword phrases is the Title tag. This is what you see at the top left of the browser window when you visit a website. For example, if you visit DIYPLR.com, you will see “PLR Content - Step-by-Step How-To Private Label Rights Content”.

To add the Title Tag to your page, you simply add it in the html code like this:

If Local Search is something that matters for your site, you should also include your location. The example above should work for you. Whatever you put between the  opening and closing title tags will be your Title for that page.

Tips: Length should not exceed 72 characters to ensure that the entire title appears in the SERP (search engine results page). Your title should include at least 4 words and your keyword phrase should be at the beginning. If you can’t fit it all, try to include as much as you can without causing it to not make sense.
Step 2: Description

Whatever you place in the Description is what will usually be shown in the search engine results. The important thing is to write a compelling description that will make the potential visitor click on your link. If you do not include a description, ensure that you have good content in the body of the page as some search engines will pull from there if needed.

To add the Description, you simply add it in the html code like this:

<meta name="description" content="Description goes here” />

Example:

Step 3: Headings/Subheadings

Another extremely important place to put your keyword phrase is the headings and subheadings for your page. Search engines know that the text you place in these tags is important to the structure of your page.

Here’s how your code might look using H1, H2 and H3 tags:

Step 4: Body

It really should go without saying but you should include your keyword phrases in the body of your page. This shows the reader who searched on that phrase that the page truly is about what they were looking for. It makes logical sense to give them what they asked for. Notice I did not say you must put the keywords in the body of the page. There are so many other factors that it’s possible for you to rank without the keywords phrases being in the body. There is no requirement that I’ve seen that requires it. It does of course typically make perfect sense and one would think it would help with the conversion rate.

NOTE: Don’t forget to use your keyword phrases in bulleted lists, testimonials, resource box, etc. when appropriate.

Step 5: Alt text for images

One technique that not everyone is aware of is to include your keywords in the Alt text for your images. If applicable, sprinkle (notice I didn’t say “stuff”) them throughout your site’s alt text.

Example:

Step 6: Page name and path

When you save your page, think about your keyword phrases. Rather than page1.html or products.html, use your keywords.

Example:

If you sell widgets, name your page widgets.html. If it’s feasible to have a page for each widget color, create them and save them as redwidgets.html, bluewidgets, greenwidgets.html, etc.

By “path”, I mean the path to get to the page. If you save your pages in a subfolder, name it widgets rather than folder1. If you use categories, name your categories appropriately.

Step 7: Elsewhere on your website

Internal Links from other pages/posts – When you have numerous pages, link them all together as much as possible. If you have a page about credit card debt and you create another page detailing a financial plan (which includes eliminating credit card debt), link to the page in your new page.

Navigation – This could possibly go without saying but I don’t want to assume anything. It’s very important to use your keyword phrases in your navigation menu as well as in your links that are in the body of your website.

Sidebar – If your site uses WordPress, include your keywords in the items you place in the sidebar.

Wrap-up

The bottom line is there are many and varying ways to maximize your on-site optimization. Utilize the keyword phrases that you carefully researched in several places on your website and see what happens to your rankings.

Be careful not to go overboard though. A term we haven’t talked about is keyword density. This is the percentage of times a keyword (or keyword phrase) is used on a webpage in comparison to the total # of words on the page. If the keyword density is too low, you aren’t getting the maximum effect. If it’s too high (meaning you’ve used the keyword or phrase too much for that # of words) search engines will not like it. The trick is to find the appropriate amount. My recommendation is to do what makes sense for the site and see how it goes. You can always add or take away but the important thing is to take action and get those keyword phrases into your copy.

If you need any help with on-site optimization, please contact me and I will give you a quote. If you just have a basic question, feel free to paste it in the comments section below.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

This post is part of the 30 Day Blogger Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Feel free to join us!

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


Optimizing Your Google Places Page | SEOmoz
Rank Higher in Google Places and Yahoo Local | GetListed.org
Top 7 Tricks to Rank in Google Places | Search Engine Journal

NOTE: This guide was written prior to the keyword research tool being made in the plugins (I use the WordPress plugin) so it walks you through the web version. To use the plugin version, simply look for Scribe Keyword Research on the right side of your post (same as when using the Scribe SEO Content Optimizer).

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


How to Get Your Website High on Google Places | MasterGoogle.com
Getting Listed In Google Places Is - Optimize Your Website ...
Rank Higher in Google Places and Yahoo Local | GetListed.org

Market Samurai is very powerful software that you install on your computer but don’t worry, it works with Windows and Mac. According to the makers of Market Samurai, The 3 Golden Rules of success are High Traffic, Commercial Value, and Low Competition. Properly analyzing your keyword phrases will help you win at all 3 of the golden rules. Please note that this tutorial is basic and will not cover all the features of Market Samurai.

Supplies Needed:

• Market Samurai Software
• Computer with Internet Connection
• List of Keyword Phrases you want to research

Step 1: Create a new project

Once you have installed the trial or registered version of Market Samurai, open the software and click on “New Project” to create a new project.

After clicking on “New Project”, the “Project Settings” screen below will appear.

When doing keyword research, I recommend you start with at least 10 keyword phrases that you want to research. These would be keyword phrases you believe apply to your business website. If you already have a website, you can review your stats to see which phrases are already bringing you traffic. If you haven’t optimized for the phrase and you are already getting some traffic, imagine how much more you can get if you create a page or post and optimize it specifically for that phrase. Please avoid one-word keywords (i.e. gluten) as it is usually very hard to rank for these. Do a good enough job with your keyword phrases though and you may end up ranking for a few one-word keywords.

Ok, let’s get started. Enter your primary keyword phrase and complete the rest of the screen.

Step 2: Select the Keyword Research module.

Market Samurai has quite a few modules. Rank Tracker, Keyword Research, SEO Competition, Monetization, Find Content, Publish Content, Promotion and Adwords.

Choose the Keyword Research module by clicking on it.

NOTE: You will now see a tab at the top with your keywords.

Step 3: Complete your initial search

To begin your Keyword Research, click on the “Generate Keywords” button.

Enter the CAPTCHA text in the box and click on Submit. The purpose of this step is to ensure a human is performing the search rather than an automated process.

At this point, you will see a popup box that says the data is being generated.

When the box below goes away, you will see your results.

Step 4: Evalute the results.

As you probably noticed in the graphic above, Market Samurai uses Google’s database.

Here is a screen print of the initial results for the keyword phrase “Christian ministry”.

Step 5: Eliminate irrelevant keyword phrases.

Eliminate any keyword phrases that you already know you do not want to target by simply clicking the X to the right of that phrase.

Step 6: Determine the appropriate phrase length.

If you only want keyword phrases that are at least 3 words, change the “min” value to 3. I recommend changing this value to “2” as it is usually difficult to rank high for one word keywords.

Step 7: Run your analysis.

Click the Analyze Keywords button.

Step 8: Fine-tune the results.

Change the Phrase to Broad Match Ratio (PBR) to 15. This will, according to Market Samurai, “eiminate those misleading and dangerous keyword phrases that Google can sometimes return”.

To change the PBR, click the + sign beside that option.

Enter “15” in the box that opens up.

You can also at this point, change the Match Type to Phrase or Exact if you so desire.

To refresh the keyword data, click on “Refresh Filters”.

Click the word “Searches” in the column header to sort the data by # of searches.

The screen print below shows the first few results (without the more advanced columns). You will, of course, want to scroll down and review all of the results.

Keep in mind that the # of Searches is being pulled from Google’s data. The # of searches is, according to Market Samurai, the average # of people searching for that phrase daily.

Depending what other tools you are using, you may need to adjust your data if you want to be able to compare data across tools.

I personally do not recommend comparing the information from various tools to each other. I recommend that you choose one tool and stick with it. That way, you know you are comparing apples to apples.

The goal here is to look for phrases that apply to your website and will likely convert the visitor into a buyer/customer.

If your website is less than a year old, you should probably focus on phrases toward the bottom of the list. If your website is older and you are good at acquiring backlinks, then you can probably pull from the top results as well.

Look for long-tail keyword phrases. That means look for the longer phrases that are more targeted. If your website sells women’s shoes but only high-heel wedding shoes, you wouldn’t want to optimize for “women’s shoes” as someone looking for sandals or tennis shoes would not be your potential customer.

Review the results from your search. Choose 5-10 keyword phrases you believe you can get ranked for. If you’re a beginner at creating keyword-rich content, you’ll probably want to target only two keyword phrases per page or post. Your main keyword phrase will be your primary and the other is considered secondary.

Step 4: Create and optimize your content using the keyword phrases
This is a beginner guide so we won’t go into much detail here but you need to actually USE the keyword phrases in your content for the research to accomplish anything.

Make sure you use your keyword phrases in the Title, Description, Headings, Alt Text, etc. When possible, link from other pages/posts to the new page or post using the keyword phrase. This is called internal linking.

You’ll also want to get external links from websites other than yours. The external links need to appear natural to search engines so don’t obsess over all of the links having the same phrase.

Additional Tips

The more popular a search is, the fiercer the competition usually is. Make sure you look for long-tail keyword phrases. These are phrases with multiple words that further define the search. For example, “web design” would be a typical search and “small business web design” would be a long-tail keyword phrase related to web design. The number of searches on “web design” is far higher than for “small business web design” but getting a first page ranking is harder with the more popular search.

Step 8: Rinse and repeat

Things change over time so conduct keyword research periodically to make sure you are still targeting the best keyword phrases.

NOTE: This tool is very powerful. This is a beginner tutorial so we just scratched the surface. I would highly recommend you at least download the trial version and give it a try if you are serious about keyword research.

RESOURCES

Introduction to Keyword Research – Video Tutorials with transcripts - http://www.noblesamurai.com/dojo/marketsamurai/7284-introduction-to-keyword-research

Video Tutorials and Support
http://www.noblesamurai.com/support

If you need any help with KEYWORD RESEARCH or Market Samurai, please contact me and I will give you a quote. If you just have a basic question, feel free to ask it in the comments section below.

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

This post is part of the 30 Day Blogger Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Feel free to join us!

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


Google Places Optimization - Optimize Your Google Maps Listing to ...
How to Get Your Website High on Google Places | MasterGoogle.com
Top 7 Tricks to Rank in Google Places | Search Engine Journal

Wordtracker allows you to discover the keywords you need to succeed online. The free tool provided by Wordtracker provides lots of really helpful information, you just need to know how to use it. This tutorial will walk you through doing basic keyword research using Wordtracker's free tool.

Supplies Needed:

• Computer with Internet Connection
• List of Keyword Phrases you want to research

Step 1: Navigate to Wordtracker’s free tool

In your browser’s address bar, navigate to http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/.

Step 2: Conduct your keyword search

When doing keyword research, I recommend you start with at least 10 keyword phrases that you want to research. These would be keyword phrases you believe apply to your business website. If you already have a website, you can review your stats to see which phrases are already bringing you traffic. If you haven’t optimized for the phrase and you are already getting some traffic, imagine how much more you can get if you create a page or post and optimize it specifically for that phrase. Please avoid one-word keywords (i.e. gluten) as it is usually very hard to rank for these. Do a good enough job with your keyword phrases though and you may end up ranking for a few one-word keywords.
Ok, let’s get started. Enter your first keyword phrase and click on the button that says “Hit Me.”

NOTE: The adult filter has the following options. Choose one before clicking on “Hit Me.”

Step 3: Evalute the results.

After clicking on “Hit Me”, wait for a few seconds for your results. Wordtracker gives you the top 100 results in the free version. If you want more results, you’ll need to use the paid version.

Below is the top 15. In your results, you will, of course, need to scroll to see the complete list.

If you hover your mouse over the ? next to Searches at the top right, you will see

This tells you what the # given for “Searches” is. Keep in mind that Wordtracker’s database does not have the exact same data as other databases.

Depending what other tools you are using, you may need to divide the # by 12 to get a monthly figure or by 365 to get a daily figure if you want to be able to compare data across tools.

I personally do not recommend comparing the information from various tools to each other. I recommend that you choose one tool and stick with it. That way, you know you are comparing apples to apples.

The goal here is to look for phrases that apply to your website and will likely convert the visitor into a buyer/customer.

If your website is less than a year old, you should probably focus on phrases toward the bottom of the list. If your website is older and you are good at acquiring backlinks, then you can probably pull from the top results as well.

Look for long-tail keyword phrases. That means look for the longer phrases that are more targeted. If your website sells women’s shoes but only high-heel wedding shoes, you wouldn’t want to optimize for “women’s shoes” as someone looking for sandals or tennis shoes would not be your potential customer.

Review the results from your search. Choose 5-10 keyword phrases you believe you can get ranked for. If you’re a beginner at creating keyword-rich content, you’ll probably want to target only two keyword phrases per page or post. Your main keyword phrase will be your primary and the other is considered secondary.

Example: If you provide online real estate investing classes, you would want to target “online real estate investing classes” rather than “real estate investing”. Over time, as your site becomes more popular and you create more keyword-rich content, you will naturally move up in the rankings for “online real estate” but not everyone looking for “online real estate” is looking for classes. By targeting the long-tail keyword phrase, you ensure that your traffic is qualified but you still could naturally rank for the shorter phrase.

If you’re thinking 87 searches per year is not very much, you are correct. The key is to optimize different pages/posts for different keyword phrases. Over time, they will all add up if you work consistently to improve your rankings.

Step 4: Create and optimize your content using the keyword phrases
This is a beginner guide so we won’t go into much detail here but you need to actually USE the keyword phrases in your content for the research to accomplish anything.

Make sure you use your keyword phrases in the Title, Description, Headings, Alt Text, etc. When possible, link from other pages/posts to the new page or post using the keyword phrase. This is called internal linking.

You’ll also want to get external links from websites other than yours. The external links need to appear natural to search engines so don’t obsess over all of the links having the same phrase.

Additional Tips

The more popular a search is, the fiercer the competition usually is. Make sure you look for long-tail keyword phrases. These are phrases with multiple words that further define the search. For example, “web design” would be a typical search and “small business web design” would be a long-tail keyword phrase related to web design. The number of searches on “web design” is far higher than for “small business web design” but getting a first page ranking is harder with the more popular search.

Step 8: Rinse and repeat

Things change over time so conduct keyword research periodically to make sure you are still targeting the best keyword phrases.

NOTE: This tool does not give you a lot of information in the free version. However, quite a # of people happily use it every day to gather data. The important thing is to keep in mind that you are only seeing the # of searches in Wordtracker’s partner databases in the last 365 days.

Find the Best Keywords for Your Business and Drive More Traffic to Your Website! Get your free trial today..

Check out "Blogging for Business"
It's just $39

RESOURCES

Wordtracker Academy - http://www.wordtracker.com/academy

Wordtracker’s paid version has a lot of information that is not included in the free version.
Sign up for a  free trial at https://www.wordtracker.com/trial/

Free Keyword Research Guide - http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/keyword-research

Need some help? One of the primary services provided by Premium Web Design and Hosting is keyword research.

If you’d like the entire keyword research guide, please email g@premiumwebdesign.com & ask how you can get it!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

This post is part of the 30 Day Blogger Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Feel free to join us!

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


Google Places
Optimizing Your Google Places Page | SEOmoz
How to Get Your Website High on Google Places | MasterGoogle.com

Google Adwords is designed for those who wish to advertise their products and services. It allows you to create ads and have them run alongside searches at http://www.google.com/. However, Google graciously allows free use of the tool so even if you are not using Adwords, you can use the tool to determine your best keywords. That tool is what we will be talking about today. It is very powerful and can give you more than enough information to determine which keywords to target for your website or blog.

Supplies Needed:

• Computer with Internet Connection
• List of Keyword Phrases you want to research

Step 1: Navigate to the tool in your browser

This tool is pretty handy so you’ll probably want to bookmark it. You can always find it by going to Google and typing Google Adwords Keyword tool. It will most likely be #1. The URL is https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Step 2: Conduct your keyword search.

It's a good idea to start with at least 10 keyword phrases that you want to research. These would be keyword phrases you believe apply (or will apply) to your business website. If you already have a website, you can review your stats to see which phrases are already bringing you traffic. If you haven’t optimized for the phrase and you are already getting some traffic, imagine how much more you can get if you create a page or post and optimize it specifically for that phrase. Please avoid one-word keywords (i.e. gluten) as it is usually very hard to rank for these. Do a good enough job with your keyword phrases though and you may end up ranking for a few one-word keywords.

Ok, let’s get started. In the box that says “Word of phrase (one per line)”, enter your keyword phrase and then click on the Search button. (If needed, change the Location.)

Step 3: Evaluate your results.

After you click on the Search button, wait a few seconds for your results to appear.

Below is just the top 6 results. If you do not see the competition column, click on the “Columns” button (top right of the screen) and choose which columns you want then search again. You will want to play around with the settings to see which ones work best for you. Given screen print limitations, I am only showing the first few columns here. The other columns give you some very helpful information so do not be afraid to experiment.

After clicking on the Search button, wait for the results to appear.

NOTE: You will most likely need to scroll to see the complete list.

The search volume for this tool is Monthly so depending what other tools you are using, you may need to make adjustments if you want to be able to compare data across tools. If local search engine traffic is important to you, be sure to pay attention to the “Local Monthly Searches” column (not shown in the screen print).

I personally do not recommend comparing the information from various tools to each other. I recommend that you choose one tool and stick with it. That way, you know you are comparing apples to apples.

The goal here is to look for phrases that apply to your website and will likely convert the visitor into a buyer/customer.

If your website is less than a year old, you should probably focus on phrases toward the bottom of the list. If your website is older and you are good at acquiring backlinks, then you can probably pull from the top results as well.

Look for long-tail keyword phrases. That means look for the longer phrases that are more targeted. If your website sells women’s shoes but only “high-heel wedding shoes”, you might not want to optimize for “women’s shoes” as someone looking for sandals or tennis shoes would not be your potential customer. As soon as they hit your page and see you do not have what they want, they’re gone anyway.

Review the results from your search. Choose 5-10 keyword phrases you believe you can get ranked for. If you’re a beginner at creating keyword-rich content, you’ll probably want to target only two keyword phrases per page or post. Your main keyword phrase will be your primary and the other is considered secondary.

Step 4: Look at the Google Trends data.

For keyword phrases you are seriously considering, click the (magnifying glass) to review the Google Trends data. This information is very helpful. It shows you how that keyword phrase has been searched over time.

Google Trends will give you an entire year but here is just the last 4 months for “outdoor solar lights” which as you can see has declined. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad keyword phrase, only that it’s seasonal as one would expect.

The criteria you can edit once you are on the Google Trends screen contains the following choices:

There is also some interesting data presented at the bottom of the Google Trends screen. Click on any of the links and the page automatically refreshes to give you Google Trends data for that keyword phrase.

Google Trends will even give you an idea which searches are rising.

Step 5: Create and optimize your content using the keyword phrases

This is a beginner guide so we won’t go into much detail here but you need to actually USE the keyword phrases in your content for the research to accomplish anything.

Make sure you use your keyword phrases in the Title, Description, Headings, Alt Text, etc. When possible, link from other pages/posts to the new page or post using the keyword phrase. This is called internal linking.

You’ll also want to get external links from websites other than yours. The external links need to appear natural to search engines so don’t obsess over all of the links having the same phrase.

Additional Tips

The more popular a search is, the fiercer the competition usually is. Don’t forget to make sure you look for long-tail keyword phrases. These are phrases with multiple words that further define the search. For example, “web design” would be a typical search and “small business web design” would be a long-tail keyword phrase related to web design. The number of searches on “web design” is far higher than for “small business web design” but getting a first page ranking is harder with the more popular search.

Step 6: Rinse and repeat

Things change over time so conduct keyword research periodically to make sure you are still targeting the best keyword phrases.

Need some help? One of the primary services provided by Premium Web Design and Hosting is keyword research.

If you'd like the entire keyword research guide, please email g@premiumwebdesign.com & ask how you can get it!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

This post is part of the 30 Day Blogger Challenge and the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Feel free to join us!

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


Google Places Optimization - Optimize Your Google Maps Listing to ...
Getting Listed In Google Places Is - Optimize Your Website ...
Welcome to Google Places for Business

It’s time to step-up your Search Engine Optimization! You can even get an awesome deal using the below coupon code.

First of all, you need to realize that SEO is not rocket science for people who create online content. It’s just a matter of knowing what to do and consistently doing it.

It's as easy as 1-2-3

1.      Do your keyword research.
2.      Optimize your reader-focused content.
3.      Build links to your site.

That’s basically it. Effectively and consistently do those three tasks, and you’ll achieve higher rankings and more targeted traffic.

Thousands of content creators do all three of these fundamental tasks right from WordPress (or Joomla, or Drupal). And scores of professional web writers use a web-based application to perform SEO for clients for use on any content platform.

How? With this awesome SEO software that allows you to analyze your content.

Users of Scribe SEO are raving about increased search traffic, higher rankings, increased efficiency, and easy content optimization. Now you can join them in stepping up your traffic and search rankings, and get a great deal at the same time.

Through November 5, 2010, get an amazing deal on this amazing web-based software.

For a limited time, you can “step up” your number of monthly Scribe content evaluations and keyword searches without paying the higher price for the next-level plan. That means you get a higher value Scribe plan for the price of the plan below it. This represents amazing savings off the regular Scribe pricing.

Before I send you over to the site to learn more about the product, you need to remember STEPUP.

That’s the code you’ll enter on the Plans and Pricing page to get the next higher plan for the lower price. Simply look for the yellow box below the plan option boxes, enter STEPUP in the promo code field, and push the “Get” button to see your new “step up” choices.

Ready? Discover how Scribe steps up your traffic and rankings here:

http://scribeseo.com/

Remember, the code STEPUP is the key to the deal, so don’t forget to enter it. This offer ends at 5:00 PM Central time, November 5, 2010 (do it now because it will come and go before you know what hit you), so . . .

Get started as a Scribe subscriber today:

http://scribeseo.com/

Happy SEOing!

Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


Local Search Ranking Factors | Local SEO Best Practices for ...
Google Places
Google Places Optimization - Optimize Your Google Maps Listing to ...

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
http://adlab.msn.com/ForecastV2
http://adlab.msn.com/contextSim/Default.aspx
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
http://www.seosleuth.com/site/www.seochat.com
http://www.seodigger.com
http://www.spyfu.com/

LInks to other sites you may find helpful for this topic


How to Get Your Website High on Google Places | MasterGoogle.com
Google Places Optimization - Optimize Your Google Maps Listing to ...
Getting Listed In Google Places Is - Optimize Your Website ...