There’s plenty of SEO tactic propaganda out there, but the following are surefire SEO tactics that will drive traffic to your site:

Put Together a Comprehensive List of Keywords and Keyword Phrases

Don’t do this off the top of your head. Instead, use a keyword generating tool that will do the following:

• List the most common keywords and keywords phrases searched for your topic
• Rank the keywords according to how many searches each keyword or phrase generates

You’ll also want to use a tool that will evaluate your site’s rankings for keywords. Use a tool that will do the following:

• Tell you want place and page you rank for each keyword or phrase for Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
• Tell you how much competition there is to rank for that keyword phrase

Use these tools to come up with a list of keywords and phrases. Then rank the keywords and phrases so you’ll know which ones to focus on.

Cover All Your Bases

You need to have enough content on your site that you can cover all the necessary keywords and keyword phrases. However, you want to preserve the readability of your site. This means you’re going to need a lot of web copy, and you’ll need to plan your content strategically. To cover all the keywords and keyword phrases appropriately, you’ll want to have:

• Several landing pages, all of which are chock full of content
• An on-going blog roll so you can update your site with fresh copy (packed with keywords) on a regular basis
• Extra pages – the ones most visitors won’t read – for the purpose of SEO only (these are ones you list in the footer of your home page, such as your Terms of Service page)

Dominate the Obscure Keyword Phrases Space

You’ll find there’s a lot of competition for the most common keywords, but you’ll also find obscure keywords and phrases you probably wouldn’t have thought of on your own. Because it’s easier to rank well for the obscure keywords, it can be financially advantageous to focus on ranking for those keywords. Why is this true?

Let’s say you have a weight loss site, and you pour all your SEO time, money, and effort into the keyword phrase: weight loss strategies. You’re competing with a gazillion other weight loss sites, right? Many of them have deeper pockets than you, and most of them have been at this longer than you, so much as you try, you probably aren’t ever going to show up on the first page of Google for that popular keyword phrase, right? And since about 90% of people never look past the first page of Google search results, you aren’t going to get any clicks off your third (or sixth, or fifteenth) page ranking, right?

Bottom line: It doesn’t matter if ten million searches are done for that keyword if you aren’t ranking on the first or second page for the search.

However, let’s say you target the more obscure keyword phrase (let’s try a longtail phrase) like: “women weight loss colon cleanse”. Maybe only 500,000 people search for that keyword phrase each day, but if you can rank on the first page of Google results, you’ll get a lot more views of your listing (and click-throughs to your site) for a lot less effort.

Balance Your Efforts

As you can see, it’s important to balance your SEO efforts. Cover the traditional bases, but put a good effort into some obscure keywords so you have a chance at your share of web traffic.

About The Author: Erinn Stam is the Managing Editor for nursing scholarships. She attends Wake Technical Community College and is learning about nursing grants. She lives in Durham, NC with her lovely 4-year-old daughter and exuberant husband.