I just read Maureen Henry' blog on How does your website rate? Don't guess - find out here (used without permission, but I'm going to email her for approval when posted!!!) and the use of the Wedexl Website Analyzer . This tool is free, and GREAT. Another good place for a collection of tools is http://www.seochat.com/. This site has every tool you can imagine, and I use it often.
These are all great things, and I love them. I use all of them frequently (now that I've started learning more), but what happens to those who find all of this a bit of a mystery? Let me offer a cost effective solution.
First - And foremost. I believe you have to start with the phrase or phrases you think are most effective in your market area. Keywords starts from the top down. You could write copy, and extract keywords and titles, but I think that's the tail wagging the dog. Start with purpose, and message copy around that.
Your market area isn't "Real Estate" - This search will show you LOTS of competition, with moderatly high searches performed (I know, Overture tools, and others - but I'm talking EASY and CONCEPT). I found the most searched phrase for my area was "Wichita Kansas Real Estate", but had high competition. By playing, I found high searches with low competition (Wichita Ks homes for instance) see http://whyrealtyworld.com/SEO_toolset.htm for examples. Take time choosing your words, and look for holes. As you start getting higher in these more obscure searches, you'll start rising in the main search as well.
So far free. And for those that looked at the above report, you'l be asking "how can I get that?". This is one report from a whole series available at http://www.seotoolset.com/. This service has free tools, and a collection of paid tools. At $90 per quarter, it's not cheap. But you don't have to buy the whole year, just go with a quarter if you like. Now here's the real skinny..... Look at this test page I set up on one of my sites: http://whyrealtyworld.com/SEO_toolset.htm. Now pay attention to the following chart:
| 2 Word Phrases | ||||||||||
| Keywords Page Keywords Site Keywords | META Title 12 | META Descr 22 | META Keywords 41 | Heads 34 | <!-- Skip | ALT Codes 10 | Hyper Links 142 | First Words 201 | All Body Words 678 | ALL Words 939 |
| wichita ks | 50.0% (3) | 36.4% (4) | 24.4% (5) | 17.6% (3) | - | - | 7.0% (5) | 5.0% (5) | 5.0% (17) | 7.9% (37) |
| real estate | 16.7% (1) | 18.2% (2) | 4.9% (1) | 5.9% (1) | - | - | 2.8% (2) | 6.0% (6) | 6.2% (21) | 6.0% (28) |
| realty world | - | - | 4.9% (1) | 11.8% (2) | - | - | - | 2.0% (2) | 2.9% (10) | 2.8% (13) |
| world wichita | - | - | 4.9% (1) | 11.8% (2) | - | - | - | 2.0% (2) | 2.9% (10) | 2.8% (13) |
| homes sale | 16.7% (1) | 9.1% (1) | 9.8% (2) | 5.9% (1) | - | - | 4.2% (3) | 3.0% (3) | 1.2% (4) | 2.6% (12) |
| ks homes | - | 18.2% (2) | 9.8% (2) | - | - | - | 4.2% (3) | 1.0% (1) | 1.5% (5) | 2.6% (12) |
| ks real | 16.7% (1) | 9.1% (1) | 4.9% (1) | 5.9% (1) | - | - | - | 2.0% (2) | 1.8% (6) | 2.1% (10) |
| estate wichita | - | 9.1% (1) | 4.9% (1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 1.8% (6) | 1.7% (8) |
| ks home | - | - | - | 5.9% (1) | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 1.5% (5) | 1.3% (6) |
| wichita kansas | - | - | - | 5.9% (1) | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 1.5% (5) | 1.3% (6) |
| sale wichita | 16.7% (1) | - | 9.8% (2) | 5.9% (1) | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 0.6% (2) | 1.3% (6) |
| know real | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 1.5% (5) | 1.1% (5) |
| homes wichita | 16.7% (1) | 9.1% (1) | 4.9% (1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 0.3% (1) | 1.1% (5) |
| kansas real | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2% (4) | 0.9% (4) |
| payment tools | - | - | 4.9% (1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 0.9% (3) | 0.9% (4) |
| new homes | 16.7% (1) | 9.1% (1) | 4.9% (1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 0.3% (1) | 0.9% (4) |
| realtyworldwichita wichita | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.6% (4) | - | - | 0.9% (4) |
| buyer seller | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.8% (2) | 1.0% (1) | 0.6% (2) | 0.9% (4) |
| new home | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 1.2% (4) | 0.9% (4) |
| home search | - | - | 4.9% (1) | - | - | - | - | 1.0% (1) | 0.9% (3) | 0.9% (4) |
I chose the 2 word chart, shorter, but my report looks at my page the way search engines do, and generates reports (as seen on the above test page). My job is to "Get the Red out". I start with my page title. My meta description has to have EVERY WORD in my title, plus more. My meta keywords have EVERY WORD my meta description has plus more. I should have Headings reflecting the Title, Keywords, Descriptions. My body has to have words from the Title, Keywords, Descriptions, and Headings in the first 200 words, plus more in the supporting words, and so on. I run this report once to get this page: http://whyrealtyworld.com/SEO_toolset.htm, and then I change things, from the top down for the report. I start with Title, then Description, then Keywords, then the 1 word phrase, then 2 words, then 3 words, and so on. And I did this for each page (well, some pages just don't work for copy, so I have to do best I can with the title tags).
Trying to make this simpler (yeah, the chart confused me too - I had to call for help), lets say your site is
http://www.bestsite.com/ Ideally, enough of the words you want to target are in your site name. Next you want a Meta Title, and the most important keywords would be there: "Best Site ever made". This title tag would build on your URL if you had "All in Title". Now comes the Meta Discription. This should be a readable sentence or two, with ALL the words in the title, +: "Best Site ever made in the Usa, You can use it today". Now you put in your Meta Keywords, and it must contain ALL the words in the description: "Best Site ever made, Made in the Usa, You can use it today, Best Site, Best internet site, World Wide internet, Hosting in the USA, etc." Now comes the trickest part (and what the chart above shows), you need to work all these phrases in to your text, with sentences that make sense, with enough quantity to make impressions - but not so much that you spam. This is SEO from the top down.
My point here, Choose your words carefully, and work down. Many tools will show you what your keywords are based on your copy, but I think you should make your copy based on what you want your search phrases to be.
Seo Toolset does lots of other things, and I can enter as many different pages I want to see how the lay out. I've checked my competition, I've checked my other sites, etc. I get a lot for my $90, then I can quit, or keep using it to update my copy. Included in the price are people who will walk you thru the tools, understand them, and help you "Get the Red out" (when you have items not right in your charts).
Bottom line - I spend more per month on tons of things (Homegain, IDX, Site hosting, Paper) then this tool, and it put together a complete package for me to get my words and copy right (or write as the case may be). They have keyword tools, etc, but this was the single most important - and hardest - thing they supply. How to write your copy.
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