Internet marketing expert Derek Gehl lays out 5 simple steps for finding the keywords that can make or break an online business

Vancouver, British Columbia (IPRWIRE) Wed, Feb. 28th, 2007 -- Keyword research is fundamental to starting and growing an online business according to Derek Gehl, CEO of the Internet Marketing Center (www.marketingtips.com).

"Keyword application goes way beyond search engine optimization," Gehl says. "It’s also critical to finding viable niche markets and researching new products. Yet it’s an area that many of my customers have questions about."

To address these questions, Gehl has released a report that breaks the process down into five easy-to-follow steps:

Step 1: Create a list of 200 to 300 keywords. "It’s essential to think like a customer in this step," Gehl says. "What words would you plug into the search engine to find something you don’t know a lot about?"

Step 2: Perform a "competition search" in Wordtracker. Wordtracker is an Internet marketing research tool that shows you exactly how many people are searching for a keyword compared to how many sites are already ranking under it.

Step 3: Size up the competition in the search engines. "Find out whether the sites ranking under these keywords really are competition," says Gehl. "Are they selling competing products? Do they look professional?"

Step 4: Use pay-per-click ads to test the best keywords. Pay-per-click advertising gives online marketers a quick method for testing which keywords attract the most traffic and which convert best into sales.

Step 5: Include the top-performing keywords in website "hotspots." Gehl recommends that his clients put their top-performing keywords in key areas on their website, including "title" tags, headlines, and in the first and last paragraphs of text. "The keywords in these areas are given more weight by the search engines when deciding how to rank a site," Gehl says.

The full report on how to use Internet marketing research tools to find viable keywords is available at http://www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters.

About Derek Gehl and The Internet Marketing Center:
The Internet Marketing Center provides clients with all the tools they need to successfully start, build, and grow their own profitable online businesses on small budgets -- using the same tools, resources, and strategies that IMC has used to generate over $60 million in online sales.

Since 1996, the birth of online commerce, the company has created best-selling marketing software, courses, and other information products, including the Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet (www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html).

CEO Derek Gehl has carved a reputation as one of the Internet's foremost marketing experts.

For more information, visit www.marketingtips.com.

( An http://IPRWire.com Press Release )

Contact:

Mitch Tarr
The Internet Marketing Center
Phone: 604-730-2833
Fax: 604-730-2480
Website: www.marketingtips.com
Business Blog: http://blog.marketingtips.com

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