As a business owner you may think you know which search terms customers are going to use to find your site. You are likely wrong unless you have already done a substantial amount of research. You already know what your site is about, and how you would go about finding it, but your potential customers don’t know all about your business already and will be looking for it in a different manner.
Your customers don’t live and breathe business the way you do. If they did, they wouldn’t need your services. When you are describing your business or product, don’t rely on industry terms. Your future customer isn’t searching those terms, and if you center your website and SEO on them he’ll never find you!
Another common mistake made by individuals who are new to internet marketing is trying to rank for popular terms that are unrelated to their business. Imagine a real estate agent trying to rank for the phrase “Paris Hilton”. Even if they manage to hit the #1 spot for that term, the traffic they will get from it means nothing, because those searchers aren’t looking for a real estate agent.