Think of Meta Tags as little notes inserted into the code of the page, that aren't visible through the browser. They can indicate who made the page, what they page is about, copyright information, and more. They can be very important to you if you are trying to use your web site to promote your business because some of the search engines use them to index your site.
I personally use a very
simple freeware meta tag generator. It's easy to use and comes with
instructions, and you can download it here: 
When you use them to promote your site, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Be honest, don't try to over inflate your tags. If the tags you insert don't match the information on the page, most of the search engines will reject the page. This is another reason to break your pages down into narrowly defined areas.
2. In keyword and description tags, keep in mind word variations such as plurals and common spelling mistakes.
3. Tag each page appropriately. It takes time, but you will find that as your site is indexed, the tags will help you out. As an example, I would like my dragon page to show up when someone searches for dragons as well as woodwork, so the description and keyword tags look like this:
META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Scroll sawn dragons and fantasy
items."
META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="dragon, wizard, fantasy, gift, scroll sawn, wood, woodwork,
woodworking"
This may not be the best example, but you get the idea.
4. Your meta tags belong in the head of the html document.
You're ready to promote your site now!