say I want to focus on 3 of my keywords. What/how do I do this? I want to rank #1 for these 3 keywords, or at least try. What are some steps one must take to do this?
Use those keywords a lot in the content of the site. Build backlinks to your site with the anchor text being the keywords you want to rank well for. This will help you out a great deal.
so when I do link exchanges, instead of having the text say my sites name, make it say a keyword? Is this correct?
Target 2 or 3 keyword phrases in your "Title Tags" For example le'ts say you wanted to target "Seo Content Writer" You might want to put the following (or something similar) in your "Title Tags" "Expert SEO Content Writer Hire Search Optimiser" Then you follow on with text content that is relevant on the page and write it naturally so that it is readable from a surfers point of view whilst also constraucting the sentences to include "Keyword Pharses" that are most relevant and likely to be searched for for the subject matter in question. The more authoritve and relevant your content is the better it will get ranked.
When anchoring, never combined your three keywords in one anchor,. Its more advisable for you to separate optimization for each of your target keyword,.
so when I do link exchanges... and at ishtar Its a no.. dont link exchange.. google isnt that stupid.. try to make unique content and do your best to allow natural link growth, because if you link exchange you run the risks, dont take stupid risks in life.
As dreads pointed out, dont do link exchanges or keep it to a minimum, if you need backlinks go for one way backlinks, submit to directories, try and get backlinks to your internal pages too with your relevant keywords, not just links to the homepage.