Key Words ~ Secret (?) Code and PPC

Traffic Building Techniques that need pro input

[Lazy_Cat]

Hi Everyone - this is my first post

I have two types of keywords on my site. General keywords like: <specifics removed>

All these keywords get tens of thousands of seraches and pertain directly to my site.

Then I have keywords which I call site specific meaning they have low searches but if someone enters one of these keywords, it's essential the keyword points to my url, or I lose a potential sale.

These site specific keywords are: <specifics removed>

Now first, I know these are more than the recommended #25 keywords. However, I see many sites with top rankings with more than these. I was taught 25 maybe 30 but the indexing will drop if you put many more than that in.

So: Is that true?

Second question, If I change the title of my site and have the robot meta tag in place <META name='robots' content='index,follow'> will I lose placement? Do the engines automatically revise the new title?

Third, there is this new site: They are #1. I can't figure out why because their description and keywords contain the name of their url only. Someone told me that they have a javascript in place so that when someone hits their site, it registers 100 or more hits thereby raising their rank.

Truth or myth?

If true...I want that code!

And lastly I just enrolled in the Overture ppc program. I put together a very modest program based on 4 keyword terms; three are big time search terms the other is limited but very pertinent to my site. So my question is: what's better keyword terms that are highly searched for or moderate ones?

Also, the overture contextual program. Is it good? (On a 1-10, ten being I can retire in 5 years.)

Thank you very much in advance for giving this post your consideration.

Lazy_Cat

[edited by: tedster at 5:56 pm (utc) on Feb. 6, 2004]
[edit reason] remove specifics [/edit]

[buckworks]

Welcome to Webmaster World, but please read the Terms of Service and edit your post accordingly. The goal around here is to focus our questions on underlying principles rather than site-specific details. It takes some thought, but it's more useful to everyone in the long run. (That's why we talk a lot about "widgets" around here!)

So my question is: what's better keyword terms that are highly searched for or moderate ones?

Both! As long as the terms you're bidding on are well targeted for your business, the more the merrier. Spending some time in keyword research will be well worth your while. You might find dozens, even hundreds of terms that would send well-targeted traffic. Some would be busier than others, of course, but it all adds up.

Think carefully about how much you can afford to bid. Paying too much for PPC traffic can empty your wallet in a hurry; you want to find the level that returns a steady profit for your business. You need to know your average profit per visitor to decide what you can afford to pay for new traffic. Consider things like what percentage of your visitors actually buy something, the average profit on the average order, what the possibility might be to cultivate repeat business, etc. etc., and work from there.

Re targeting: Try to write your description in a way that will appeal to good prospects but won't attract "curiosity clicks." Even if the person used a strongly relevant search term, you want shoppers, not lookers, and the description you write can make a big difference in the quality of visitor that clicks through to your site. Test several versions and let the results guide your fine-tuning.

Someone else can tackle some of your other questions ...

[eWhisper]

To understand Overture and other PPC marketing, I'd suggest reading the Overture, Google AdWords, and PPC forums.

Start with the libraries, [webmasterworld.com...] . There is no quick & easy magical formula with any PPC - or there would be a lot of us laying around watching tv instead of reading more forums and tweaking our accounts.

Google Adwords is the most active, although there is a lot of info thrown around there that can be quite useful for targeting other ppc campaigns as well.

[thehittmann]

Most larger search engines do not use the keyword meta tag these days. The site specific keywords you mention, if your pages rank high enough normally in the SERPS you will begin to get hits on your page for random words that appear on your pages without having these in your keywords meta tag. <remove specifics> is probably #1 becuase it has more incomming links to it than your site does. or has much more relivant content pertaining to <remove specifics>.

You seem to be targeting a very wide spread of "industries" instead of targeting one at a time. Normally the best thing to do is to really target 1 or 2 keywords for each page that directly relate to the content on that page, saying that I don't mean just place 1 keyword in your meta tag either. I'm talking about the content of your actual pages themself.

I have almost 30 pages targeting a different specific keyword for my site in the #1 spot on google. So I think that this works.....but thats my opinion.

[edited by: tedster at 6:04 pm (utc) on Feb. 6, 2004]

[Lazy_Cat]

Thank you all very much. I hope I get a few more opinions/insights to these questions.

I read the charter and page about submitting code. I will convert to "widget" mode as I am not looking to promote my site here. Boy you sure3 wouldn't know that from my first post!

I am goind to follow the links recommended.

I am so thankfull that a forum like this exists.