Tips for Choosing the Best Keywords

Google Keyword Finder Tool

The Best Keywords are Targeted
The best keyword phrases are not always the most popular.  The number of competing websites and what would be involved in achieving top placement for a term are also critical factors. How focused/niche your keyword phrases are in relationship to your products or services can make all the difference in success.

1. Target keyword phrases can produce a nice flow of relevant traffic to your site if you can identify some that still have a decent monthly search volume. For example choosing "Dallas seo company" over just plain old "seo".  This will also keep you from having to compete with dictionary websites, Wikipedia and top web directories for national, 1st page placement. Usurping these giants is next to impossible.
   

2. Target keyword phrases will save you time and money. While you could devote all your efforts and internet marketing budget towards trying to achieve top rankings for fiercely competitive terms like "seo", the investment would probably not be worth it, and may take forever to recoup. Let your competitors waste their precious resources on the fiercely-competitive terms.  In the same amount of time it would take to achieve a top ranking for one of your industry's most popular terms, you could have won top placement for ten other key phrases.
   

3. Target keyword phrases convert more visitors to buyers. That's because they are more focused. For example someone searching for "seo company Dallas" is more likely ready to hire an seo located in Dallas - and not just conducting general research on "seo" to better understand what it is and how it can help them... so the chances of conversion are much higher.
   

4. Choose long-tail keyword phrases that also contain nested, short-tail phrases so that when you are writing about them you will be optimizing for more than one at the same time... i.e. "seo company Dallas" covers "seo" "seo company" and "seo Dallas".