5. If You're Branded, Use Your Company Name. It pays to include your company name in your keyword phrases if you're a well known brand. A site like RadioShack should preface its key phrases like this: RadioShack computers, RadioShack electronic components, RadioShack telephones, etc. If recruiting employees, it might use key phrases such as: work for RadioShack, RadioShack jobs nationwide, and executive RadioShack positions to recruit specific levels of employees.

   However, if your name is Jack Jones Realty, very few people will type that name in a search query unless they know you, so it doesn't pay to include company names in keyword phrases if you're not branded.

    

6. Use Geographic Location. If your location is key, include it in your keywords. For instance, Jack Jones Realty in Palm Springs, California, may find Palm Springs real estate to be a useful keyword.

    

7. Review Your Competitors' Keywords. It's a good idea to look up your competitors' keywords to get ideas on some you might have missed. Don't copy anyone else's keywords because you don't know how or why they were selected -- you need to generate your own. Just look for an idea or two to supplement the keywords you identify for yourself.

    

8. Don't Use Keywords or Phrases That Are Too Broad. Instead, use modifiers to make generic keywords and phrases more specific. A site offering insurance-related services might use health insurance quotes, auto insurance quotes, life insurance quotes, etc.

   To prequalify your visitors, your keywords and phrases should identify your niche. If you're in the entertainment business, use entertainment news, movie trailers, celebrity stories, entertainment center, etc. Identifying your niche attracts the kind of traffic you need. This is important no matter what you sell. A smaller, targeted audience is more likely to result in conversions than a large volume of traffic that came thinking you were selling something else.

    

9. Don't Use Single Words. Multi-word phrases work better than single words. It's difficult for search engines to return relevant results on single-word searches because there are too many answers to such a query, and users won't wade through hundreds of result pages. They learn quickly to be very specific. A user looking for an e-commerce software solution for an auction site won't be searching for software.

    

10. Don't Use Trademark Names Other Than Your Own. Stay away from competitors' trademarks in your keywords or you might get sued. Some companies will give permission to use their terms. An e-commerce site wanting to use Tide can contact Procter and Gamble to request permission. Permission will depend on potential affiliation – a manufacturer will likely give permission to use its name to promote and sell its products on a vendor site. However, using another company's trademark or product name to profit from its brand is unacceptable and breaches federal trademark-protection laws.

These strategies will help point prequalified visitors to your site. Keyword selection is among the most important tasks in search engine marketing, so take the time to do it right.

Paul J. Bruemmer paul2@web-ignite.com is the CEO of Web Ignite, http://www.web-ignite.com/ a professional search engine marketing company. Founded in 1995, Web-Ignite has helped promote over 15,000 Web sites. Client testimonials report traffic increases of 150 to 500 percent. Paul's articles have appeared on ClickZ and many other sites.