Keyword Research

Probably the most important thing you can do to make sure your website is successful is to thoroughly research the keywords for your niche. Knowing what key phrases your niche uses to ask questions and solve problems will create a direct path to your site from the search engines… if you know how to use them.

Because the Search Engines will probably account for 90% of your traffic (maybe more) pleasing them is job #1 if you want free traffic. But Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can’t begin until you know what keywords to optimize for. You’ll want to build your pages around “in demand” and “low competition” keywords and phrases.

Why Keywords Are Important

Google SERP

The words that someone uses to search in Google, Yahoo, or Bing (MSN) have an implied intention. It’s as if your prospect is raising their hands and telling you exactly what problems they have and what they need. For a marketer this is a dream come true… if you understand the implication.

If you know your niche well then you can begin to guess what phrases someone would use to find your solution. Usually these words revolve around the problem they have. If you can connect those “problem” keywords to your “solution” web page then you have a good chance of making a sale. They way to do that is with good keyword research.

Of course sometimes a searcher is just looking for general information.

If someone types in “golf” then perhaps they are just looking for general information about a hobby and aren’t looking to buy anything. If however they type in “best golf driver” then they may be looking to solve a “driving problem” they may have. And if they type in “best deal on TaylorMade R9″ you can probably be sure they are looking to buy that golf club and the problem they have is “finding the best deal.” If your website page can connect with that exact phrase then you can be the one who helps solve their problem.

Find the Sweet Spot

The ideal keywords to build your pages around are phrases that have enough demand to bring adequate traffic but not too much competition from other websites. A lot of competition will make it hard to win those keywords and show up on page one on Google. This is what I call the “sweet spot” in the niche. If you can find that sweet spot you’ll have a real chance of showing up on the first page in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page).

Don’t forget about profitability…

The other thing you want to target in your research is the profitability of the keywords. If the key phrase doesn’t imply some “buying intention” then you could end up with lots of traffic but no sales. I call this type of visitor “tire clickers.” They are only looking for free information and have no intention of buying anything… yet. If you want to make sales quickly on your site you should start by focusing on keywords with “buying intention” as well as win-ability.

How To Do Keyword Research

There are many tools you can use to do your keyword research. Just using Google and putting in your suspected keywords can begin to give you a sense of the landscape for that keywords. If you see many pages that come up for “phrase match” on that keyword then more than likely there’s lots of sites already focusing on that keyword.

If you see a lot of paid ads for that keyword that may indicate that there is money to be made with that keyword. People don’t pay for a keyword if it isn’t profitable… at least not for long.

Google Keyword Tool

Google has a great free research tool that it makes available to all. The Google Keyword Tool let’s you choose a “seed word” and Google will come back with other suggestions for phrases that contain that keyword. It will also show the traffic and competition for that keyword phrase as well as the going bid price to get a top position in the paid listings. Click here to take a look at the Google Keyword Tool.

Wordtracker

The long-time favorite of Webmasters for keyword research is Wordtracker. This “granddaddy” of keyword tools will give you up-to-date information on potential keywords. Again all you do is put in your seed phrase and Wordtracker will return more words and the search volume for each phrase. Click here to learn more at Wordtracker. Click here to learn more about the Wordtracker tool.

Brainstormer from Site Build It!

Site Build It! has a keyword research tool built into its system. The tool is called Brainstormer and it uses Wordtracker’s data as a starting point and then takes it to another level with additional data and management tools. Click here to learn more about the Site Build It! process.

Market Samurai

The new kid on the block is Market Samurai from Noble Samurai. This tool is keyword research on steroids. Not only does it provide the usual traffic estimates for a keyword but it will also shows Google bid prices, SEO competion, back links for competing sites, and much more.

It also provides modules for finding content for that keyword and will eventually help research your monetization for that keyword. This is a keyword research power tool. You can learn more about Market Samurai in this post.

In future articles we’ll be delving into the details of how to use these keyword research tools.