Copyright (c) 2009 Elizabeth Ross

There are a lot of ways to promote a home based business. With so many marketing tools to use, you can never go wrong. One great way to advertise your business is by writing articles.

You will need a lot of creativity and time to come up with an interesting article that would help you gain more readers or followers. Aside from being a great read, an effective article must also contain the right keywords.

Why is it important to choose the right target keywords? What can it do for your marketing plan? What are the factors to consider when choosing the right target keywords? Let us talk about the answers to these questions in this article.

Article Writing and Keyword Optimization

Importance of using target keywords. Keyword optimization plays a very important role in using articles to promote a business However, you have to come up with the right target keywords. Why?

You should always remember that there would be lots of online marketers that compete in the same category or business industry. For instance, you finished writing an article regarding a particular topic. A hundred other online marketers may have written articles on the same topic as well. By choosing the right target keywords, you can expect an increase in your website traffic and improvement with regards to your ranking in search engines.

A quality article is easily picked by search engines and they automatically add them to their listings. When a reader looks for an article and uses the same target keywords you use, your article will be included in the search results.

If more people can easily find your website, you will not only gain more readers, but more prospective customers as well. Hence, more customers mean more sales.

Tips on How to Choose the Right Keywords

Use Specific Key Phrases. It is better to choose specific key phrases according to search engine specialists. Since you have thousands of competitors that might have used the general terms, the chances of getting read are higher when you use phrases that people are more likely to enter in their search.

Remember, if you chose the wrong and most used keywords, you may end up on the last page of the search engine listings.

Use Free Keyword Suggestion Tools. Google has come up with a new tool called Keyword Tool that can help you look for the right target keywords. They have listings of popular words that internet searchers use when looking for certain topics or sites. If you are looking for a more detailed list of keywords, you can use paid keyword suggestions tools from Overture or Wordtracker.

What is keyword stuffing? It is the use of the same keyword so many times. Since search engines have certain rules regarding SEO, you should always keep in mind that excessive repetition of keywords would do no good because it is regarded as a violation.

Proper Placing of Keywords. SEO specialists recommend that target keywords must placed on the first or last paragraph of your article. There is really no particular rule on where to place target keywords as long as they are used discreetly and on the right context.