So you finally have a website up and running. You've added all your bells and whistles, you've made sure your links work, you've added some keywords to your keyword meta tag, and you finally got that pesky contact us form to work. You go to Google. You hold your breath. You enter your search term into Google and don't find your website listed in the top 10, top 20, or even the top 100 of the search results! What happened?

At first glance, does each page on your website have keywords that are pertinent to that page's product, service, or focus? Did you solidly identify how and why people would visit your website? What will make a searching visitor buy that pair of wool socks from your products page? The keyword is KEYWORDS! Have you made a list of words or phrases that concisely and succinctly summarize the services, products, information you offer via your website? Keywords are the foundation for a solid website that can be easily spidered and ranked by search engines.

If you have a product page devoted to wool socks for men, then your keywords would be "wool socks," "men's wool socks," "argyle men's wool socks," etc. Start with broader terms and then begin to hone your keywords to very specific descriptions. Try to come up with about 100 words or phrases that best describe your website offerings. It will be hard to rank well for "socks" or even "wool socks" when doing a search, but "men's wool socks" and "argyle men's wool socks" will be far more specific for a Googler or Yahooligan.

You also need to think about what the focus is for each page. Is it a page of men's socks? Men's apparel? Men's and women's socks? Deciding these focuses may also lead to a redesign of your website. Is your site arranged logically for a visitor to find what they need as quickly as possible? If a visitor who searched on "wool socks" came from Google and landed on your wool socks page, would they find exactly what they were looking for?

Answering these keyword queries will help you optimize your website for search engines and ultimately improve your rankings within them. Search engines rank by web page, not website, so keep your content focused, full of good keywords that describe what items are important on that one page. Once you've added these relevant keywords to your web page copy, you will be a lot closer to being fully optimized and search-friendly for your future customers.

- Chris Felax