When building the copy for a web site, choosing the right keywords can increase site traffic and increase customer or visitor participation. Choosing keywords that get a lot of hits, however, is not as effective as choosing keywords that garner a lot of customers or participants. To do this, keyword analysis is needed to make sure that you "fish smarter."

There is an old adage that fishing is called "fishing" and not "catching" because you have to actually pursue and trick the fish into taking your bait. The same principle applies to coming up with keywords. Getting people to accidentally "hit" your web site is easy, getting them to actually stay there and purchase something, request information or join is another matter all together. That is why keyword analysis is so critical to small business success online.

For instance, if a company sells autographed footballs, they can use the keyword football and anyone searching the word football on the web will likely see their web site. That does not, however, translate into sales of autographed footballs. Many fans of football may search to find football scores, schedules or even other memorabilia like jerseys. So how does this company lessen the propensity of those not interested in making a purchase to visit their site and leave and increase the likelihood that a visitor of the web site will actually purchase an autographed football?

The best method to figure out how to narrow your visitors to likely purchasers is to use keyword analysis. There is no way to eliminate those who type football in the search engines; they will always be led to your site or at least see it as a result of their search. The trick is to use words that allow those searching for your product to see your site after a search.

Keyword analysis looks at common and uncommon words related to a product, organization or service and helps determine which words will likely garner participants versus observers (those who just look and do not buy.) This type of analysis identifies which words will likely be the words used by someone looking specifically for a product or service. It also allows a web site owner to include many of those words into their descriptions of a product, service or company and increase the likelihood of effective hits.

In the case of the autographed football dealer, they might include famous football players names in their description, like "Joe Montana Autographed Football", or they might include a unique keyword or phrase that is an industry standard, like "autographed football memorabilia". This is called SEO copywriting - short for Search Engine Optimization. This will not reduce the number of hits they get from non purchasing football fans, but fans looking for their product will see a narrowed version of their search, thus increasing the propensity of the dealer to get buyers to the site. Keyword analysis also allows the copywriter to tailor their copy to more elaborate keyword strategies, such as tying other popular phrases or words that will generate web searchers who might not be looking for an autographed football, but might be enticed to make a purchase if they are exposed to a specific product.

A good example of this, using our example, would be to include the names of every NFL player in the history of the game in the web site, maybe through a career/stats directory. That way, anyone looking for, say, Joe Montana's career history might visit the site out of curiosity and decide that an autographed football by Joe Montana might look good on their mantle. Keyword analysis allows for the targeting of an audience as well as the casting of a broader, but more focused net, ensuring a higher volume of visits, but more interest and potentially, more sales.