I know a lot of people who have an idea for an internet business. They just need to know where to begin. When we talk, I encourage them to learn how to find and use keywords in their niche. Keywords are crucial because they are the basic building blocks when you start an internet business. You use keywords in your articles. Google finds your keywords in your titles and in the body of your article and ranks your page higher. People find your page because you are closer to the top, and you get more traffic. With more traffic comes more sales. It is that simple.

So it makes no sense to just pull keywords out of thin air. People will not find your articles that way. Once article can include up to five or six keywords, so I let the keywords dictate what I write about. All that matters is what people want to know. If you keep that in mind, you will get very rich on the internet.

You also want to use your top keyword in the title of your article near the beginning. For example, if you do a search on “webinar strategy,” you might find this article, “Webinar Strategy – Four Ways To Promote Your Business.” Someone looking for information on webinar strategy will find this article and read it because it is exactly what they are looking for.

Keep in mind that your title should help you rank higher in the search engines, but it should also peak your reader’s curiosity. If it is interesting, people are more likely to read it. Remember that you want them to see you as an expert in your niche. You also want to generate some backward links and have them sign up to be on your list.

One more use for keywords is to include them in various places throughout your article. You can even use your less competitive keywords, and Google will rank your article higher for those. Think of it as getting the most bang for your buck.

So begin by doing your research. Figure out exactly what people are typing into the search engines for your niche. Then use those keywords as much as possible. You will see a difference in the amount of traffic AND your sales!

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Copyright Stephen Beck, 2010

You have permission to reprint this article as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.

Stephen Beck can help you learn what it takes to start an internet business and how to make your first $1000 online. Pick up a FREE link to his webinar replay, where he lists out everything what you should do: http://www.YourOnlineBasics.com.

Here is what you may not realize. You can beat many websites in search engine rankings because there are a number of keywords and phrases these websites are not even trying to get ranked for. We offer a book for sale called “Thomas Jefferson Education.” There is only one other website on the first page for this keyword that sells this book as well. As a result, at the time of this writing, we are listed on the first page of Google for this keyword and phrase.

Do you realize the significance of this? It means most of the people searching for the book buy from us. Sometimes we have even received a higher ranking than the publisher of the book. Amazon ranks as well, but they only have used copies of the book, while we sell new copies.

One of the most common questions that I receive is “How do I know what Google looks for to determine my ranking?” The fact of the matter is Google keeps this information secret so that people cannot manipulate the search engines.

Because of this, it is very healthy to be skeptical to those who claim that they can teach you “all the secrets to getting high listings in the search engines.” The reason why is because they do not know all of the secrets unless they work on the algorithm team at Google.

Does that mean they do not know what they are talking about? No, you can always experiment and discover different things. However, it is always going to be speculation because Google guards their secret algorithm very closely.

So what is the key to getting high listings in the search engines? The key is to increase the amount of backward links you have to your website. A backward link is when another website links to your website. Google uses that to determine if your site is important.

The way Google uses back links is it looks at the incoming links to your website and the keywords used. If you have a link that says “From Caterpillar to Butterfly” and your web site has content about butterflies, Google will be able to determine that your website should be ranked for the keyword “butterfly.”

Here is the question “how do you get backward links to your website?”

1. Linkback exchanges: With a linkback exchange you offer to link to someone else’s website if they agree to link to your website.

2. Press release: With a press release, you write about newsworthy announcements regarding your business. You submit it to a press release website and it gets published all over the internet. When it gets published, as long as you have a link to your website, it will create a back link each time your press release is used by a different website. One press release submission service is http://www.free-press-release.com/.

3. Writing articles: Another excellent way to get back links is to write articles about the topic your website covers. When you write the article, you should submit it to what are called article directories. These are websites where ezine publishers and website owners looking for content go to. You get a back link from the article directory, which is usually a highly valued website in the eyes of Google. You also get a back link from any websites that use your article. One of the largest directories is located at http://ezinearticles.com/.  

I believe the easiest and fastest ways to get backward links is to go with the article option. A single article can create hundreds, even thousands of back links for your web site rather quickly. This will result in search engine traffic for your real online business as well as traffic from visitors that come across those articles as well.

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Copyright Stephen Beck, 2009

You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.

Stephen Beck shows families how to start an internet marketing business. Go grab his three free videos at http://www.8weekstoprofits.com so you can start today.