Much has already been said about having a content rich website using your key words for search engines to find you then direct traffic to your site.

If you have your own web site, you will learn the importance of good key words to generate traffic to your website. Some are marketing their business without their own website so you may think knowledge of key words doesn't apply to you.

Good key word text is relevant to every internet marketer!

You want your site to be found by search engines to generate traffic, repeat visits and sales.

Search engines are always crawling web pages for information that will be indexed (sorted) into their database for web surfers to find through searches.

When it comes to marketing an online business, knowing the "how" or "why" of search engine workings doesn't add to your work at home plan. The what, where and which - of search engines will be enough to get you started building traffic and hopefully SALES to your web site.

Where do search engines go? Search engines all over the internet are continuously crawling over web pages.

Stop and think about this for a moment. Articles with your resource box

Text link exchanges

Blogs & Blog comments

Forum and message boards

Text advertising

Online Newsletters

Every time you have an article put up on another website, every link exchange, every blog entry, blog comment or forum message will have words associated with your link.

Search engines find your web site through the pages of your web site itself and through back links to your site. Back links are where you have placed your link out on other sites that direct back to your site. In a link exchange, you have your link and text placed on someone else's site (usually a links page) that links back to your front page.

Beyond simple link exchanges, your website link will appear on other sites through articles you have written, reviews you have published, your blog or your comments on other blogs, message boards and forums plus advertisements on other sites and in online newsletters.

It's time to start planning how you want your site description indexed when it appears on another website in the form of a back link.

Search engines crawl those websites, blogs and message boards so your careful attention to the key word content will boost your page rank and placement in the search engines. What search engines look for:

Text and Meta Tags.

If you are designing or maintaining your website then learn about meta tags. If you are marketing online beyond your website then it is key words that you need to understand and use to your benefit. The standard for publishing articles written by others in an ezine or on a website always include at the very least a resource box. This box at the bottom of your articles will introduce you and your business to the readers. This is the area where you will again use your key words.

As you design your online business and create an internet marketing plan, creating a set of your own key words to use in your signature, link exchanges and resource box is crucial.

Which Key Words will work for your online business?

Initially it would seem that a general statement of your site would be enough when exchanging links. You'll realize that search engines will read that page and put the words next to your signature into the engines index the way you wrote them.

Two tools for choosing keywords for your online marketing:

Good Keywords is a free downloaded Windows software tool that helps you find the ideal set of keywords for designing your text ads and targeting your web pages for search engines.

With Good Keywords, I use the Overture feature then study it further with Overture's Key Word Inventory Tool.

On paper, think through the key words that your potential customers, recruits or website visitors would use in a search box to find your product or business.

Let's pretend that you offer organic coffees and teas.

Selling organic coffees and teas would have a basic set of key words (healthy, health, organic, drinks, coffees, natural, teas, fitness) and phrases (healthy drinks, organic coffee, organic teas, natural fitness) that you would working into your resource box, your message board signatures, link exchanges and blog comments.

"Drink to your health ~ Healthy organic coffees and teas for your natural health!" next to your link would be a Good Key Word rich text you could use with your signature on message boards, link exchanges, blog entries and text ads on other sites.

By building the number of times that your text ad and link occur on other websites based on what internet surfers are looking for online, you are creating relevance for your product and your web site.

With paid advertising on another site, it is a better marketing strategy to use a text ad versus a button because it gives the search engines a reason to revisit your site and confirming that your site does indeed offer what the text describes!

Because a button or banner may have a better click through rate than plain text, when getting paid advertising always ask if text (rich in key words) can be added under your button or banner with paid advertising. Combining text and great graphics will give you the best of both worlds.

Limit your text ads to 1-2 versions and simply keep using them when you've chosen your key word text ad. Beyond search engines, using the same text in email signatures and message boards will give you and your business stronger branding.

Branding with people and search engines is what it's all about with internet marketing!

Tammy Ames is the owner of Wahm Work at Home Connections and publisher of Work at Home Connections Ezine, a weekly online newsletter offering work at home resources and tools for online advertising and marketing. http://www.wahmconnections.com