by Ken Knorr

When Starting an SEO campaign its often very tempting to just start tuning meta tags, changing title tags and modifying content. However you need to come up with an intelligent SEO strategy FIRST. By identifying the target audience and the ways to reach them ahead of the implementation you will be much more likely to reach your goals. Much like a conventional advertising campaign involves careful planning and research of the target audience, Internet Search Engine Optimization efforts are not successful without careful and correct selection of primary keyword phrases and search terms.

Careful Planning - Means Success

If you go the wrong way from the very start targeting keywords that no one searches for, you will end up with great but useless rankings for artificial search phrases. The only way you can ensure the success of your Internet Search Engine Optimization campaign is by doing preliminary keyword research.

When starting a company, owners typically take the time to test their market and do some research to determine demand. Why should your efforts with SEO be any different. You need to carefully consider all possible search phrases that are likely to be used by your potential clients. Further you should look at your competition to learn what key words they rank for. The next part is important, Compile a SHORT list of search terms related to your products and services that would represent your company best.

Keywords are compiled what next?

Once youve compiled your initial list of keywords you can start expanding it. At this stage you need to find out which of the keywords you have identified are most often used by the searchers. There are a number of useful tools such as Overture Search Suggestion Tool and Google AdWords Keyword Tool that you can employ for this purpose. All youve got to do is just type your search terms into the suggestion box and you will have them rated according to their popularity with the number of searches per month.

Study your Competitors!

The next phase of your Internet (SEO)Search Engine Optimization campaign you should make deep analysis of the level of competition for your keywords to accurately determine just how difficult (or simple) it may be to win top positions for your desired key phrases. While it can be much simpler to go after only the most popular search phrases, your initial success with the hyper-competitive search phrases may be limited. Therefore you should set reasonable and incremental goals. The competitiveness for the most searched key phrases can be exceptionally difficult especially for a start up site. Targeting the top searched phrases may be unrealistic. SEO Management Competitive intelligence reports from professional SEO firms can often reduce the guess work from this type of research and increase your rate of success.

After youve researched and analyzed your keywords, it will be much easier to narrow down the list to the core search terms that you will target in your Internet Search Engine Optimization campaign. Bear in mind that you shouldnt target every keyword on the index page of your website. While it is the main page it has the biggest potential of winning top placement which should be used rationally. Choose up to 10 of your most important search phrases and place them on the index page.

Plan your Attack and then Attack your Plan

Now that your prepared for an Internet (SEO) Search Engine Optimization campaign you’re much more likely to reach the goals you have established . Good luck with your project!

About the Author:
Knorr, the CEO of Buildtelligence which offers SEO Services and SEO Campaign Management. Knorr is an author, instructor, and speaker on the subjects of SEO, and Search Engine Marketing.