Most of us know by now that companies are making big bucks by getting their Websites positioned so that users will find them in the top 10 listings when they search on certain phrases (or keywords).

What most of us don't know is, that's not all it takes. You might think up a phrase that just fits your product or service to a tee. You do all that's required to get your Website listed for those search words and WHALLAH - you're in the top 10. After awhile you realize that you're not actually conducting business. WHY! Well, to start with, chances are, not many people are actually searching on the keywords you decided on. You have to do research to make sure a significant number of people are actually searching on those words. Guessing is not an option.

So you find a set of keywords that's really hot. Thousands of people are searching on them. BUT - to save your life you can't get your site to place in the top 10. You can't just find a hot set of keywords. You have to find a 'niche'. The ratio between the number of searches conducted and the number of Websites that qualify to be in position for the keywords is important. You want keywords where the number of searches is high but the number of Websites that meet those keywords is low. That's not easy to do. In fact, often when you do find them it's not months before half a million sites (whose owners found them too) suddenly appear, filling the search results.

Even if you find a 'hot' set of keywords where the ratio of searches to the number of qualifying Websites is good, you still may very well not conduct much business. In fact, of all the searches that are conducted on the Internet, far less than 10% directly result in a sale. But - the operative word here is 'directly'. Consumer analysts are learning that even though searches may not 'directly' result in a sale, often, they do end up helping consumers decide what to buy, for how much and where.

Yahoo and comScore recently conducted a study of searches involving the automotive industry. In the three month span of the study, 716 million Website visits involved some query for information about automobiles. The study found that out of those, 'only 6% engaged in actual shopping behavior'*. Out of that 6% only 32% actually requested a price quote on a car. The study concluded that even though only a small percentage of searches 'directly' involved the purchase of a car, most of them apparently involved a purchase indirectly. The users were searching for information on available cars and options as well as pricing and information about dealerships.

To actually make money from searches, your site must be positioned so that YOUR TARGET audience will find it when performing a search. From there, to get them to actually make a purchase, your site has to be the one they go to AFTER they've done their research and are ready to buy. That means your keywords must match those of a searcher who is done with kicking tires, done with research and is ready to buy. Another solution to the problem might be to just get the prospect to your site and then design your site to SELL the prospect into buying even though they had not yet made a decision to buy.

To summarize, to get your search engine marketing efforts to actually conduct business you must: find keywords that match your target, are actually being searched on and where not too many Websites exist that qualify to match the search. As if that's not enough of a challenge, your keywords must also match the searches of your prospects who are at least reasonably ready to buy your services and/or products.

• (source: 'New Research Shows How Search Drives Auto Buyers' By Chris Sherman, Executive Editor of SearchEngineWatch, July 27, 2006)