• Wordtracker www.wordtracker.com


• Google AdWords https://adwords.google.com/select/ (Click to sign up, it is free to do the keyphrase research)


• Snap www.snap.com

• What keyphrases are they using (take a peek at their keyword Meta tag)?
  
• What are the titles of their sites?
  
• When you do a search for the keyphrases you are considering, who comes up in the top five rankings?
  
• What is their title/keyphrases?
  
• Are the top ranking sites your competitors or are they industry associations?

• Can you get links from the same sites as your competitors?
  
• Are there industry associations or organizations that are linking to the top sites, but not to you?

• Getting the keyphrase into the title (this is the second most important factor)
  
• Getting the keyphrase into the Meta description tag, the Meta keyword tag, the headers and sub headers, the alt tags, and into some link text (some of these factors are VERY minor)
  
• Having a good site map so that the search engine spiders can easily navigate your site
  
• Having a robots.txt to include the pages that you want the search engines to include
  
• Don't use frames
  
• Use flash wisely (not the WHOLE site in flash)
  
• Use external files for your java scripts
  
• Use cascading style sheets (a .css file)
  
• Use dynamic URL's wisely (Avoid using URL's with ? or & in them)

• Write about your keyphrases.
  
• Write extra pages.
  
• Write about your industry.
  
• Write about your product or service's uses.
  
• How will your product/service improve the life of the consumer? Find out, and then write about it.
  
• Why is your product/service better than your competitor's? Think of a reason and write about it.
  
• What is the history of your product/service? Or your industry? Write about it.
  
• Who are you? Everyone always enjoys "about us" pages…
  
• And of course, be sure to serve the search engine spiders with a tasty main dish full of keyphrases!

• Industry associations and organizations
  
• Web sites about your industry
  
• Sites related to your product or service
  
• Suppliers
  
• Resellers
  
• Competitors who don't compete in the same region
  
• Sites that sell products/services that relate to your, but don't compete directly

• Google
  
• Yahoo
  
• MSN

• Build your web site for your customers, within the guidelines that the search engines set out.
  
• Don't make the site awkward by over-conforming.
  
• The site's first focus should be on what your clients want.
  
• Create good content. Good, quality content that reads well and flows seamlessly.
  
• Update it regularly. An active, living site is healthier than a stagnant, dead one (the search engines spiders like their food alive and full of life).

About the Author

Shawn Campbell is an enthusiastic player in the ecommerce marketplace, and co-founded Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc. He has been researching and developing marketing strategies to achieve more prominent listings in search engine results since 1998. Shawn is one of the earliest pioneers in the search engine optimization field.