Are you an entrepreneur?
Then, you must be aware of these statistics.

• With nearly 80% of U.S. Web users shopping from e-stores, some forecasters have stated that their number will go up to over 150 million by 2015.
  
• Approximately 71% of the British population buys online, while around 14.9% of major businesses and 14.3% of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are on e-commerce.
  
• An estimated 54% of consumers have bought groceries on the Internet, cutting 4% (in average) off their grocery budget.
  
• All over the world, virtual buying and selling has increased by 13% since the past 5 years.

Given these big figures, you can see that transacting business on the Web does pay off.

So, if you want to boost your visibility, build brand image, cater to a global market, and increase your revenue, the best means is ecommerce.

The Key Ingredient of Selling Online

But before you start marketing and advertising your products or services, you have to know that it is not enough to simply set up a website and fill it with information about your company. You also need to consider a fundamental aspect, and that is search engine optimisation (SEO).

If you are wondering why, the main reason is that SEO is essential for your success. Through it, you can tweak your site to make it appear in search engine result pages (SERPs). Additionally, you can work around specific elements, wherein the most important are the following:

1. Links
   
2. Content
   
3. Keywords
   

Among the three, the third component is the most crucial, especially when it comes to appearing in SERPs for relevant queries and driving quality traffic to your website. Without it, you might as well be non-existent on the World Wide Web.

Therefore, you need to pick suitable words or phrases for your content to help it rank high in search results. The following ideas will show you how to do this.

Keyword Search and Selection Tips

1. Use various search tools
This is one of the best ways to begin the entire process given that you cannot just use any word. With that said, here are some of the most valuable solutions for your use.

• Google products (some of it) – One of the biggest technology corporations offer a handful of free and cost-effective applications such as Adwords Keyword Tool, Trends, Insights for Search, and Webmaster Tools.
  
• Alexa Search Analytics – The daughter company of Amazon.com provides a service that allows you to learn keywords, which your niche competitors are incorporating in their content.
  
• Yahoo! Answers – The major Internet corporation presents its community-driven site, which helps you identify how-to and question-based searches that are frequently in reference to particular problems.

You can more tools other than these three examples. But if you wish to start with reliable applications, they are ideal.

2. Refer to social media sites
You may not have heard of this tip before, but with the huge popularity of online networking and sharing these days, it certainly is worth a try.

So, if you do not have a Facebook and Google+ business page or a Twitter and LinkedIn profile, you need to start creating one. Then, use these to stay updated on the latest trends in various fields; be it fashion, real estate, food, tourism, etc.

Even if you cannot obtain the exact keywords your target customers are using, you will know the topics they are currently interested in or the issues stirring the biggest buzz. These insights will help you formulate possible key phrases for your status updates and website content.

3. Learn the search terms your competitors are using
Simply by determining the keywords, which the other entrepreneurs (in your industry) are placing on their webpages, allow you to come up with your own targets.

4. Come up with secondary keywords or key phrases
Looking up the search terms of other e-commerce traders does not mean that you have to copy what they are using. On the contrary, you can use your findings to know the words they are ranking for in SERPs.

You can tone down the high competition for general words by using modifiers, which generally consist of adjectives added to the main keyword (e.g. cheap + laptop, chocolate + cupcake, or London + hotels).

5. Consider your target audience
Never forget to take into account the search terms your prospective customers are using to look for goods or services in your niche. The question is, “How do you obtain this data?”.

Well, you can apply these ideas.

• Roll out a survey, which asks questions that relate to their purchasing decisions
• Use Google Analytics, which helps you gather in-depth data on your website’s visitors
• Include possible activities, which relate to your offers (e.g. remodelling + home furnishings or holiday travel + accommodation)

Always think about the keywords your potential clients may use in their queries since your business is all about them.

Conclusion
Knowing which words or phrases help your ecommerce site appear in SERPs is a great means of jump-starting your search engine marketing campaign. Then again, you must not stop at this. You need to keep track of your targeted words’ performance using analytics tools. Afterwards, you have to improve the list based on the data you have gathered, which includes search results. Then, you can apply your new set of keywords.

As a final note, you have to know that running a commercial website is an endless process of strategy application, analysis, and development. If you stop in between these stages, there is a high possibility of losing potential customers to your competitors. Therefore, always put your best foot forward when managing your online business.

About the Author:

Emma Tomlinson is the Head of Retail at Smart Traffic, an SEO company Bristol listed at the Top 10 of the Microsoft Tech Track 100 for 2011.