Keyword Research is an art form and not something that should be taken lightly if you want to see financial reward online. It is the basis of everything you do on the internet, whether it be building a mailing list, promoting a brand, building an authority site, niche site marketing – the list is endless. So let’s look at why it’s so important and then later we will go through some of the processes you can use to find the most profitable ones.
Why you need to Learn how to research keywords effectively
In the world of Sales, understanding your customer is of utmost importance and in the Global Sales Schools offered in the corporate world this is harped upon like it’s going out of fashion. And this makes sense too, because if you can understand your customer then you can anticipate their needs and even use this knowledge to find gaps in the market. Now that we are online, the customer looks a little different.
Customers and Keywords
Understanding how to do effective keyword research is of utmost importance because it allows you to anticipate the needs of those buying in a specific niche, it helps you uncover hidden niches and low competition goods and services that can be offered within these niche markets, and it allows you to find gaps in the market that you never would have known existed.
“ It is critical that you understand the processes your potential customers go through to find what they are looking for.”
Now that you are online, knowing effective keyword research strategies is the only way you can get an insight into the buying mind of the consumer so it’s imperative that you master the art of effective keyword research as early on as possible in your sales campaign.
Blogging for Keywords and how quick and easy it is to optimize
Let’s just say for the sake of an example that you are blogging away with the intention of using this platform to eventually launch a product, create a mailing list/following and/or proliferate your brand online. Now let’s say you are writing about ‘how to blog’ ,which is a good generic example, and so you start publishing posts about blogging. As you do this over time you start to get indexed by Google and you are of course generating traffic and community in your own way too which is all lending itself to building your blog and your message. Now if you were to post about ‘how to blog’ 50 times over in slightly different ways then soon you would have pages and pages of niche relevant content that can help get you ranked higher and in turn get you more traffic.
But what if you have spent 2 minutes optimizing and researching before you had posted all 50 of these articles on your blog? Remember this is not niche site keyword research so we are not interested in competition. It’s all about numbers here because the more we have the better we’ll do – end of story. My last post on Effective Blog Commenting proved this point beyond a shadow of a doubt as I managed to get a single page ranked first out of 49 million with hardly any off page optimization – I simply chose the right keywords to begin with.
Do you want 100 visitors or 10,000?
I know that seems like a stupid question but that’s the difference the right keywords can make over time. Blogging is all about consistency after all so why not consistently provide the best possible chance for you to be found in the SERPS by as many people as possible as well?
For example: I just searched the Google Keyword Tool for ‘blogging’ and these are the results (I use exact matching because broad takes into account all the words individually so is not a true reflection of how many searches where done for that exact phrase):
So what have we learned from this quick bit of Keyword Research and how can we apply it to our posts?
OK so I’m about to post about ‘how to start a blog’, good stuff. This is a great keyword phrase with over 27,000 EXACT searches a month- awesome. But what if we could add a few extra phrases in there, optimize the title to include another keyword AND peak their curiosity at the same time?
So we started with say ‘7 tips on how to start a blog’ which includes the key phrase. But what if we were to change this up to include another keyphrase and maybe even a subheading with yet another. So we look at our list of keywords above and we draft another title to include the potential for thousands more hits.
“Tips on How to start a blog and 9 blog templates to avoid like the plague!”
This new title includes the keyphrase ‘blog templates’ which as you can see has over 40,000 exact searches a month! Add to this the fact that our new title is clever, promises the reader something really helpful and is still ambiguous enough for them to want to click. You have to think about the Google visitor now. He or she will type in blog templates and see that title. How can they not click!?! Sure it won’t make that much of a difference directly, but doing this for each and every post that you publish on your blog can only result in 1000’s more visitors direct from Google over time, and it only takes a minute! But wait – there’s more…
Want better conversions?
The other incredible advantage of optimizing for Google is, not only are your visitors targeted and therefore more likely to engage, they are also more ignorant to the world of blogging and therefore you have more chance of impressing them with your knowledge. Generally speaking, those who you engage through the social media sphere or other traffic avenues have a basic understanding of blogs and the knowledge that the information on your site is available elsewhere too. This results in less conversions over time.
I hope you are beginning to see the power of Keyword Research and how a simple check can mean the difference between profits and loss. Sure the art of Keyword Research is something that takes time to understand and fully utilize but for the blogger out there just starting out, it really is this simple. Now go and optimize your next post before you publish, you may get a pleasant surprise when you search for it in Google.
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Alex Whalley is the author of Alex Whalley.com where he writes about blogging, niche site marketing, and keyword research techniques. Alex recently quit his fulltime job to tackle niche marketing fulltime and uses his blog to catalogue and document his experiences with making money with niche sites and search engine marketing. If you’d like to see how easy it is to build, market and monetize niche sites check out his blog. You can also Follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his RSS Feed.
Hey alex..
Glad to see you here buddy
. Really super awesome post man.
Last week i wrote a post a post “10 best marketing tips” and it got for 1 and 2 page for keywords “Top marketing tips” and best marketing tips..
and then i decided to learn more about keywords…!
Thanks for sharing this great Post. Keep up the good work Alex.
~Dev
Dev | Technshare´s last [type] ..OnlineProfits Re opens and now its FREE – Do Not Miss This One
Hey Dev thanks mate, it’s truly a pleasure to be here!
That’s some great results from your last post, and it was a really well thought out one too so well done on both fronts.
Glad you enjoyed it mate, thanks for commenting.
-Alex
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Hey Alex,
Nice to see your guest post, your an awesome guy I love to read your blog posts, you are always so clear and concise with your writing, it’s really simple to understand and follow along.
Loved the transformation from boring blog post title to the super attention grabbing one, Sally
Sally´s last [type] ..David Walker, Sally’s First Skype Interview…
Hey Sally, Thanks so much for your feedback and that you found it easy to understand, I think examples are the only way I ever learnt! Glad you liked the transformation, but..boring blog post??! LOL just kidding. Thanks again Sally for commenting on my first guest post here at TIP
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Hi Alex,
Great info on keyword research.
I agree, keyword research can sometimes make all the difference.
Keyword research is vital. What amazes me is that this information is free. Can anyone imagine 10 years ago, that such powerful information would be provided for free?
Keyword searches are really powerful information for those who know its importance.
Nabeel
P.S. I think there is a typo in the post:
“Generally speaking, those who you (those of you who?) engage through the social media sphere…”
Hey Nabeel, Yeah it is quite amazing what is freely available now, but even more amazing is how many people do not utilise it.
Thanks for your comments Nabeel.
PS: No, grammatically it is fine, your correction is also grammatically correct but it actually changes the meaning.
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Oh Ok Alex,
Sorry about that. Now that I read it closely, I get the sentence.
I was changing the meaning, as you meant that ‘those who we engage to’ and I read it as ‘those of us who engage through’.
Nabeel
Hi Alex,
Wonderful start, clear and easy to follow. You write on an important subject that should be part of every Bloggers daily concern. So important if fact that I started a Blog to incorporate into “The Bloggers Market Group”. The site is titled SEO Traffic Extreme.com. I ran into a ferocious database problem that I am afraid will take more time to fix then I have to spare right now. I wrote the pillar content for the site and now it hangs by a thread.
I’m afraid that SEO is not a really glamorous issue to write on, but you have done an great job here on this most important of subjects. I look forward to your continued weekend articles.
Jeffrey Morgan´s last [type] ..CreaWriter
Hey Jeffrey, thanks so much for your words of support, both here, on my site AND over at the bloggers market. I actually worry that I have set my own standards too high! gulp …. wish me luck for next week LOL.
Sorry to hear about the SQL issues, don’t even get me started on them, I lost 8 sites to that and had to start from scratch!
Yeah I am realising that SEO sucks as a topic but I’ll find a way to make it tasty.
Thanks again for your comments Jeffrey, and glad you enjoyed the post
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Hi Alex,
It’s not easy having to admit your short-comings when it comes to our work. The problem with denying your short-comings to others is that you end-up denying your short-comings to yourself ……… that’s when the trouble starts.
It’s 6.00 A.M. now. It makes all the difference in the world to me as I start my day, to hear that I am not the only tortured soul struggling with such issues. I appreciate your candor and support.
Lead-on Alex!!!
Jeffrey Morgan´s last [type] ..CreaWriter
Alex, thanks for the detailed analysis of Keywords. Earlier this week you did Adsense on your own blog, and now this: Impressive!
I’ve found that having important keywords in your domain name helps a lot with SERPs.
John Soares´s last [type] ..Selling Information Products Weekend Reading 2010-06-11
Hey John, thanks man! Yeah I’m starting to run out of ideas already. You are right on the domain name, in fact I think it’s the first on the list of ‘what google is looking for in SEO values’
Oooh, there’s an idea for a post- thanks again for your comments John, Awesome!
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Man, alex, there is a world of different topics out there…shoot me an email as a reminder and I’ll rattle some off the top of my head.
B
Hi Alex,
Welcome to the TIP Team and having such a wonderful (and incredibly useful) first post!
I know that this is one area that I can really use some work. I must admit that I am kind of lazy when it comes to keyword searches and just try to think up clever or straightforward titles. You’ve given me a lot to think about because I do want the 100 000 visitors
Thanks,
Karen
Karen´s last [type] ..Friday’s Links
Hey Karen, Thanks for the welcome!. Although you have all made me feel like part of the team from day dot, but it’s good to make it official (go to the comments on the TIP team and see what I wrote all those months ago lol)
All you need to do is put ‘Tony Robbins’ or ‘Personal Power’ in a few posts and that should bring in a few million more visitors.
Seriously!
Thanks again for the welcome and support Karen.
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Karen,
Thanks for welcoming Alex. He’s got a great giver’s heart, and is a great addition to the team.
Hey Alex,
Nice first post here! Plus, this is one that I can use – I am afraid that I tend to just use any old title (sometimes we all do things that we just know are wrong, right?).
Thanks for the straight-forward example too.
Have a great day!
mark´s last [type] ..Innovation’s Last Stand
Hey Mark! Glad you liked my first post and that it’s one you can use (are you saying all my old posts are useless?!
) Thanks again for the comments and for stopping by.
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
Hi Alex,
I really like the idea of adding to those keywords – that really gives it so much more depth – I might give it a try. Although, I’m one of those stubborn people who will abandon an optimized title if I feel like it doesn’t fit with what I want to say.
What can I say – I still have a desire to create the keywords people will search for and that bloggers will try to optimize their blogs for – I know… I’m a hopeless dreamer.
Kiesha @ We Blog Better´s last [type] ..Surviving the Dip: What Seth Godin can Teach us…
Kiesha, firstly Thank you for the welcome to the team via Twitter – awesome!
Glad you found value in the post and I hope to keep the standard up to par with you guys!
I don’t think you need to worry, you have amazing post titles and I aspire to reach your levels one day LOL!
(that’s a hint, don’t add more keywords, I need all the advantages I can get!)
Kiesha is an awesome team player. glad she sent you a “Twopper” Welcome.
Thanks, guys! You are consistently working on making me blush! But really, it’s my pleasure. It brings me joy to help others.
Alex, you really don’t have anything to worry about – just keep producing quality content, and the rest will fall into place. I don’t believe in levels of blogging – just quality content – anyone can do it really.
Kiesha @ We Blog Better´s last [type] ..10 Blogger Must Reads – Weekly Link List
Hey Alex,
Just to follow up on this – I just tried “get with it” in that Google tool and found that there are 91 Global Monthly Searches on “how to kill my husband and get away with it”.
Jeez – I hope that is not just from my wife’s computer…
mark´s last [type] ..Define Your Life Balance
LOL! Seriously I’m hurting now!…heehehehe that’s classic man. Don’t worry about how many belong to your wife, do a PPC campaign with a greeting from you each time that search is queried. LOL. I wonder if you would get in trouble for that?
I have never done actual keyword research, I’ve always just gone with titles that I suspect will include good keywords, so actually doing Keyword Research is something I’m going to move forward with!
Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last [type] ..John Smith and the Blue Mackintosh
You would be shocked to see some of the keywords that are searched, that I would have thought something else would be more popular, etc. crazy.
Are all you other people out there nuts?
Oh yeah, I’m the one who was searching oddly for different keywords. Dolt!
Alex, awesome first post my friend. Well done.
I’ve understood more about SEO from your peice than I have from anything else I’ve seen.
Really appreciate these insights. Thanks, Matthew
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How to create your dream chart
I’ve just been checking this out as I’m about to relaunch my ebook next week and I’ve been experimenting with titles of the blog posts.
My ebook’s about setting and achieving goals.
What I hadn’t realised is that setting goals would generate me c74,000 searches whereas goal setting would be an awesome c301,000 ie 4 times more!
I’d not appreciated this. Thanks (again!)
Matthew Needham´s last [type] ..How to create your dream chart
Best feedback ever! So good to see the value turning into action straight away. That’s what it’s all about I guess. Thanks again for the feedback man, really stoked. And good luck with the relaunch, I know I’m definitely getting myself a copy. (I need all the planning help I can get)
Alex´s last [type] ..Do You Believe in Blog?
That’s good stuff Alex. Do you use the Google keywords tool exclusively or do you have access to other online tools you would recommend?
Michael Pedzotti´s last [type] ..Try on your visitor’s shoes
I think we should have in-depth analysis of keywords for single posts and we will get parasitic effect
Tinh´s last [type] ..7 “MUST” Steps To Start A New Blog