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On April 27th, we shared with you our article entitled "Is Search EnginePositioning Dead?" (If you missed it, visit for the archive)In this article, we presented several compelling 3rd party statisticssuggesting that search engine placement remains by far the most powerfulmethod for driving large amounts of targeted traffic to your web site.As a result of this article, we received lots of great feedback, and manypertinent questions. But when the dust settled, one topic rose to thetop of the list and seemed to cause a great deal of confusion and mystery: "Why is keyword selection so important and how do I select the best keywords for my site?"Lets break this down into bite-sized pieces and clear up the mystery,by answering our most frequently asked questions regarding keywordselection: "Whats the difference between a keyword and a keyword phrase? And which should I use?"Put simply, a keyword is a single word such as "Maui." While a keywordphrase is a more descriptive string of two or more words such as "Mauivacations." Your specific approach to keyword selection will vary,depending on your industry. For certain niche markets, single words canbe a good strategy (as long as they are specific to your product or service).But regardless of your industry...Well-researched keyword phrases will attract quality, targeted visitorsto your website who *specifically* want what you are selling.Lets assume you sell Maui vacations, and your website is listed at thetop of the search results for the keywords "Maui" and "Maui vacations."Lets look at the characteristics of two groups of visitors youd attract.Those who perform a search on "Maui" are searching for a wide varietyof topics. Such as Mauis history and culture, snorkeling, botanicgardens, hiking trails, sailing, golfing, and yes - some will be looking forMaui vacations. But only a small percentage of the people who performa search on the keyword "Maui" are qualified prospect for your vacationpackages.Now think about the prospects who find you by searching for "Mauivacations." Every prospect who performs this search is a qualifiedprospect for you. And by getting a top ranking with this moredescriptive keyword phrase, you attract people who are more likelyto become paying customers!You see, someone who wants to take a vacation to Maui is not likelyto search for "Maui." Theyre not going to search for "Vacations." Andtheyre not going to search for "Hawaii" either. Theyre much morelikely to enter a keyword phrase like "Maui vacations."Today, more than ever, your ideal prospects are going to enter preciselywhat they want to find, rather than general, open-ended terms. Whichmeans your keyword selection must target your ideal customer withlaser-beam focus.At the same time, the search engines and directories themselves arealso becoming much more strict with the pages that theyll accept andindex. Theyll be watching your submissions like a hawk to make surethat theyre completely relevant to the topic reflected by your keywordphrase.In our last article, we weighed the pros and cons of doing your searchengine positioning yourself versus hiring a reputable company to handlethis time consuming task for you. Many of you have wisely realized thatit can be much more time-effective and cost-effective to leave yoursearch engine placement in the hands of experts, so you van focus onyour core business.So the most important question of all now becomes:"If I hire a company to do my search engine placement for me, shouldI be expected to provide my own keywords and keyword phrases, ordo they have a responsibility to advise me?"Frankly, any company that doesnt provide hands on consultation in thisarea is not helping you to maximize your search engine rankings.Keyword selection is the entire foundation on which your search enginecampaign is built. Can you imagine hiring a contractor to build yourhouse... only to have him say, "Okay, YOU lay all the bricks and pourthe concrete - then Ill do the rest?"If youre going to hire someone to achieve top ranking for your website,be sure that they take on the full responsibility - not just bits and pieces.Otherwise you run the risk of your entire promotion falling apart.I hope its now clear how vital it is to target the best possible keywordsand keyword phrases for your web site. And you now have the burdenof proper keyword selection lifted from your shoulders.Sure, your expertise of your business warrants your input. But at leastyoull have the peace of mind of knowing that the search enginespecialists are doing their job, and not leaving your keyword selectionto chance.After all, isnt that why you hire them in the first place?

About the Author

Michael Buck is a marketing consultant & Director of Marketing forSearchEngineWebPromotion.com. To find out more about top searchengine placement and how you can attract targeted traffic with multipleTop 20 rankings - visit http://www.SearchEngineWebPromotion.com.You may also call Mike at (310) 798-0467.