Keyword Research is the difference between being successful online and failing online. The sad thing is, it takes just as long to build a successful website as it does a failing website. So it makes sense to invest in keyword research. It will MAKE or BREAK your online venture.
To understand what business you’re really in you need to determine your MARKET, your NICHE and your KEYWORDS.
Your market is a community of people who have a shared mindset and interests and speak a very specific language.
Your niche is a group within this community that have specific needs.
Your keywords are the language that the niche within your market uses to find YOU!
Work all this out and you’re 90% ahead of most of your competition who jump onto the internet blindly flailing their keyboard in whatever direction the wind carries them and hope for the best.
Those that take a more professional approach follow these steps:
- They research their markets
- They uncover niches within that market
- They identify untapped profitable areas, and
- They follow a plan.
Keyword Research
When it comes to keyword research there are 4 secrets to conquering online obscurity
1. Relevance
Many keywords will attract a lot of traffic.
But if those keywords aren’t relevant, then the traffic you’ve worked so hard to attract will leave as soon as they arrive.
Your keyword research needs to identify phrases that are most relevant to the content on your site. It’s not enough to get traffic. You need targeted traffic. In other words, when people land on your site, you’re giving them relevant content that relates directly to them and solves whatever problem had them searching for your site in the first place.
2. Searches vs Traffic
You might find it shocking to learn that 90% of all keywords have insignificant amounts of traffic and are not worth the time of day.
In the beginning many people target insignificant keywords and are disappointed when they don’t get results.
There are only 10 spots on Page 1 of Google. If you’re not making it to Page 1 then you’re wasting your time, energy and resources.
And here’s why.
According to Market Samurai the following data shows the spread of clicks on Page 1 of Google.
1st ranking – 42%
2nd ranking – 12%
3rd ranking – 8%
4th ranking – 6%
5th ranking – 5%
6th ranking – 4%
7th ranking – 3%
The remaining 20% of clicks go to all remaining pages found on Google. That’s a pretty thin spread if you’re not ranking on Page 1.
If this illustrates nothing else, it illustrates the overwhelming necessity to conduct keyword research to find laser targeted keywords. If you don’t you’ll perish online in a barren wasteland of zero traffic.
3. Competition
Now we’re getting down to the nuts and bolts of your online presence.
Your keyword research must reveal how much competition there is for a keyword plus the strength of that competition.
When you do a Google search on a strong competition keyword, the top 10 websites that rank are professional, well established, highly optimized, have thousands of backlinks and have hundreds of pages of content.
When it comes to the low competition rankings you’ll find websites that are simple, not fully optimized and may be quite new with only one or two backlinks.
Now you need to evaluate the strength of this competition and this is where you may be able to unlock new opportunities in competitive markets.
You should only ever target keywords that you believe you have a good chance of ranking for. If the competition is too fierce you’ll get slaughtered even before you’ve hit ‘publish’.
4. Commercial Viability
In other words, your keyword research needs to determine if you can make any money. The whole point of having an online business is to make money. So if your keywords are not converting to cash you’re wasting your time.
The measure of the potential profitability of a keyword or phrase is:
SEO Value = SEO Traffic x AdWords Cost Per Click
If you don’t understand the commercial viability of your keyword or phrase you’ll miss out on the most profitable words in your niche.
Strategic keyword research is critical for the success of your online business.
If the above equation is as clear as mud then a tool I would highly recommend you invest in is Market Samurai. Google has it’s own free keyword tool but Market Samurai will give you the leading edge when it comes to keyword research.
It will let you know how much competition you’ll be up against and if there is any potential commercial viability with your keyword selection. Without it you’re going into a fierce battle with very little chance of winning.
For a real beginners guide to SEO read “How To Get Your Website On Google – Secret SEO Tips revealed”.
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