Ask Mr. D - Search Engine Keywords

Dear Mr. D,

My partner and I have a website that puts
together all kinds of tours of Mexico for
people. I think we have great products
at great prices. We have a great website
that cost us a lot of money to have designed.
There's just one problem, we are getting
very little traffic. So, I'm sure you can guess
that we aren't making any money.

It is our understanding that search engines
can bring a lot of traffic to a site, but that
hasn't been our experience. We have listed
our site with several of the pay-per-click
engines and we have a top listing with all
of them with the key phrase "Mexico Vacation
Tours." But we are only getting a few hits
a week. We don't know what's wrong.

Signed,

Defeated

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Dear Defeated,

I am surprised you are getting any hits at
all. Your key phrase is too narrow for most
surfers to find.

You need to list your site under the keywords:
travel, tours, vacations, Mexico, Mexico
vacations, Mexico City, Mexico City vacations
and several other keywords and phrases along
those lines. I wager you can come up with forty
or fifty good listings for your site, if you put your
mind to it. Just be sure each keyword or phrase
is relevant to your site.

When you list a site with any search engine,
the key (no pun intended) is to come up with
as many words and phrases that a searcher
would possible use to find a product or service
like yours. The more keywords you are listed
under, the more traffic you will draw.

Now, go back to those pay-per-clicks and add
as many new keywords and phrases as you
and your partner can come up with and I can
assure you that your hit counter will jump
overnight.

Best wishes,

Mr. D