ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

Search engine marketing is one of the most effective ways to get customers and clients to your Web site. But if your site isn't popping up high on those searches, there is almost always one thing you're doing wrong: It all comes down to choosing the right keywords.

SearchEngineLand's Christine Churchill sums up the situation: "The success of search marketing hinges on whether the keywords the searcher puts in the query box match the keywords the company has targeted in their online campaigns. If the company selling goods has properly identified the keywords a searcher might use to find products, then there is a good chance a conversion will occur."

It all sounds very simple but the truth is identifying the correct keywords has become something of an art. Many smaller businesses have taken to hiring a search engine optimization consultants to help them with this very thing and whether you do or not, it's vital that you at least recognize that your smaller business' success online depends to a large extent on these keywords.

Churchill's list of eight common keyword mistakes can help those businesses who are going it alone – or even those who want to be able to have some input with their SEM or SEO consultants. Among the common pitfalls she identifies are:

• Targeting keywords that people never use. Don't use industry jargon that customers will never enter into a search box. (An important aside: She notes that business should be aware that some SEO firms purposely select "off-the-wall keyword phrases so they can guarantee rankings on those phrases. " Also, be wary of any SEO firm that guarantees anything.)


• Confusing keyword popularity with keyword appropriateness. For a smaller business, it makes more sense, she writes, to "pursue more focused, more relevant terms that are less popular, but be better choices because they convert better."


• Not considering user intent in keyword selection, selecting single word keywords, and keyword misalignment.


• Not considering the competition. It's especially important for smaller businesses to consider what Churchill calls "the competitive landscape" of that phrase on the Web.


• Failing to periodically review keywords.


• Not allocating enough resources and time to perform good keyword research.

As Churchill writes: "A sound keyword process is one of the best investments a company can make."