Keyword research
A rule of thumb is that the less competition for a keyword the less traffic it will bring you because not many people search for it. Still, you need to have some way of predicting traffic or else you're just shooting in the dark.
There are two ways to predict the traffic a keyword will bring you. The first (and most common) method is to get indications about search volumes by using industry standard keyword research tools such as Overture and WordTracker. In fact, experience bears this out when actual traffic is measured.
Now that you know how to pick the right keywords out of a group of keywords you are considering, you may want to know how to come up with keywords to consider in the first place.
- Make a list of all the keywords you think people might find you with
- Ask your customers to make a list of all the keywords they would try to find you with
- Once you start doing keyword research on the list you have, the research tools will make additional suggestions. Get keyword suggestions from the Overture tool, WordTracker and your Google AdWords PPC campaign
Your overall search engine optimization strategy will be determined by the picture that emerges from your research.
With SEO, the work you have done now will produce results for years to come, so the cost is amortized over time. Furthermore, SEO is most effective when undertaken as a long-term strategy. Start by setting up a good, solid foundation for SEO in your website architecture. Then keep building over time toward high rankings for more competitive keywords by expanding your website into what Google considers an "authority" site.
Your web analytics will show you your increasing traffic and help you to determine which keywords and which strategies are producing the highest number of new customers. Based on that perspective you will mold your website into a search engine magnet for an ever increasing number of competitive keywords.