January 16, 2008

Subject: Keyword Mania

I have noticed over the past year that a lot of businesses are beginning to understand the term keyword or keyword phrase as related to their business, product or service and the search engines. And that is a good thing. The problem is as we have all heard, “A little knowledge is dangerous.”

Trying to get ranked for the relative keyword phrase that best describes your business on the first page of a search engine natural list is great. But lets look at this a little closer. If this is your main exposure to the Internet and feel you MUST have this type of listing then you are chasing an elusive goal. Starting from scratch in the natural search, it will take months to achieve this if you are generic for most businesses. Regional area placement is easier but still a challenge. And once you get there, who is to say that someone else or several other companies are not determined to do the same thing.

Its Ok to try getting the ranking but a smart business will spread their exposure over several keywords and pages. They will also try to get picked up by different web sites and portals of mutual interest. The best approach to this type of exposure on the Internet is to spread the words and pages around. This way no one can take aim and knock you off from that one perch. The worst thing you can do is try and play a “one up” on a competitor. It is time consuming and costly if you are having someone or yourself do it.

Take the time and get the word out. Place it on other sites. Do press releases and maybe a little Pay Per Click. In a year’s time you will be well entrenched and start getting good results. Continue the process and it will only get better.

Yes top page ranking is impressive and if you get it great but algorithms for search engines change and there is always someone trying to knock you off. Take the smart approach and you will have just as much and probably more traffic. Also, who said that the keywords you are fighting to get on the first page are definitely the best?