Though you may think that choosing a killer domain, a great web host, and getting your Internet marketing site up and running is step number one. But here's the thing... choosing the right keywords might even trump that. Of course, you can always go back and change your page later on, but you really need to be thinking about keywords in the copy of your page as well as in the META tags. The better your keyword usage, the easier it will be for search engines to find you and the more traffic your Internet marketing business will get over time.

We used to run to Overture's keyword suggestion tool when trying to decide on keywords. It was just convenient and simple. But sad to say, it's heyday has passed. We heard it was closing and the evidence is in that the site hasn't updated since January 2007. It's just not doing the job anymore. We need a new go-to site for keyword discovery.

What would you say, if I told you here's another site that works just as well, if not better? SEOBook.com's keyword suggestion tool is very comprehensive. It not only comes back with search results from Google, Yahoo, and MSN, it includes information on traffic estimation, trends, and it will even link you into Word Tracker, the paid professional search tool, providing you're a member. The drawback with SEOBook is that it's become very popular, and like Overture used to seize up when it was overused, SEOBook's tool does the same thing. If you put in a general term and you get 0 results, it probably means that the tool is just too busy.

Begin by using a very general term, though, for whatever niche you're in. Let's say it's birds. You sell bird cages, exotic birds, and special bird foods. So, you go over to SEOBook and plug in "birds." The top word comes back "bird" with 829,227 searches for the month. That's competitive! So, you probably want to go for a less competitive term, especially if you're just starting out and your page has no page rank from Google. If you move down the list a bit, you'll find "bird supply," with a search volume of 23,611. That's a term you can compete for. Keep moving down the list and find words that apply to your niche with a search volume of 10,000 or more and you'll probably have some pretty good keywords for your Internet marketing business. Use them in everything you do.

Keywords are extremely important in Internet marketing, and if you want free search engine traffic, you should choose them wisely. Find keywords that are relevant to your niche and the products you're selling and stick with the lower search volumes, until your Internet marketing business has some search engine traction. Though search engine optimization isn't something that works right away, over time, you'll see the free traffic pick up and make a huge difference in how your Internet marketing business performs.