Keyword Research: Here’s A Basic Understanding

Keyword research is a procedure by which you determine if your assumptions about which search terms your target market uses to find your products and services are true while uncovering new keywords along the way that can increase your website traffic.

 If you do your keyword research correctly, be ready, you will be successful at marketing your products and services. You can conduct keyword research after you’ve found a niche or to help you locate one. Doing keyword research will ensure the most targeted visitors find your site who wants to purchase what you are offering.

 Keyword Research terms you will need to learn:  

 Keyword Research Tools – There are many tools that you can use both online and offline to assist you in your keyword research like Google Keyword Tool, Microniche Finder, SECockpit and others.

 Just do a Google Search on “Keyword Research Tools” or “Keyword Research Software” and you’ll be surprised what you will find. Do your due diligence to ensure that what you purchase works the way it says. Take advantage of free trials offerings and follow all the directions offered.

Different Types of Keywords

One Word Keywords – This is obvious, they are one word; a word that a potential customer might type into a search engine to find your products and services. However, consider only using one-word keywords to start your keyword research and not actually on your site.

Starting with one word like “gloves” will work great to find other keywords to use, but using the keyword “gloves” alone would be extremely competitive and very difficult to rank for.

Keyword Phrases – This is two or more words.   While two words phrases makes  good keywords, three word phrases often referred to as long tailed keywords are much better as they more closely match how people actually search when looking for something online.

Keyword Supply & Demand – This refers to a couple of different issues: One – Are many people looking for a specific keyword with very few products showing up to fulfill the searches for those keywords?  Two – Is the niche already saturated and owned by a specific party, too much supply, and too little demand?

Keyword Competitiveness – Does the keyword or keyword phrase have a high bidding price or is there very little competition for a specific keyword or keyword phrase, yet many people still looking for it?

Understanding what these terms mean, and the various tools available to help you during your keyword research will go far in helping you become successful marketing on the Internet. In fact you’ll speed up the process exponentially and ensure your success with proper and thorough keyword research.

Related posts:

1. Keyword Research – Why Keyword Research and Keywords are Important?
2. What Are Good Keywords And How To Find Them

What Are Good Keywords?

Good keywords are words or phrases that have low competition and high search volume.  These are the words and phrases people use when searching online for something specific.  They could be looking for information or they could be looking to purchase something.  If you are selling something not only do you want your keywords to have low competition and high search volume; you also want them to be profitable. 

Therefore finding good keywords to drive traffic to your sales page, website, blog or article is an important aspect of marketing on the Internet.

 Without relevant keywords for your target market, it is unlikely they will find your site. This could be a reason why your site is not getting any traffic or generating any sales. Ideally, you want a good mix of profitable keywords that are frequently searched with low competition.  This is one of many steps to laying a solid foundation for your site.  So you may be asking how to find good keywords.

How To Find Good Keywords?

The first thing you must do is identify your target market.  Then you must understand what their needs are.  If you have the answers to those questions then you will be in a better position to start your keyword research.  Understanding your target market will help you to find good keywords that they are likely to use when searching online.  

Additionally, you will be able to provide better information for your target market as well as recommend products that are better suited to their needs.  Understanding your target market and finding good keywords is very important to getting your site ranked, increasing your traffic and getting sales.

As you are conducting your keyword research you will want to keep a list of all the keywords that you think may be a good match for your target market.  You will need to do some keyword analysis to find good keywords that meet your criteria of highly searched with low competition.  The keywords that you select will be the ones that you will focus your site’s content or article on.

If you understand your target market and their needs you should have no problem coming up with words to start your keyword research for good keywords.  Initially, start your search by walking in the shoes of your target market.  For example if they had a problem to solve what words would they use to find a solution. 

Another way to find words and phrases to start your keyword research is to spy on your competitors.  The way this is done is to use the Google Keyword Tool.  Once inside the keyword tool simply perform a search on the competitor’s URL.  The Keyword tool will return a list of keywords that this site is focusing on.    

Creating A Good Keyword List To Work With.

This list of keywords is important to you because as a competitor to the site you just spied on, you will find good keywords within that list that is searched often but are not very competitive.   You will also want to add these to your list for further analysis and use.  You also want these words to have a certain volume of searches as part of your criteria to qualify as good keywords.

As you are conducting your keyword research to find good keywords you will find keywords that consist of one word or many words.  While is it possible to rank for one word keywords I don’t advise that you use them especially if you are just starting out.  The reason is ranking for one word keywords can be difficult, highly competitive and discouraging. 

Additionally, most people use more than one word to search for what they are looking for online.  Therefore, word combinations of 2 or more words also known as long tail keywords are best to use as good keywords.

Finding good keywords is not hard if you have a good understanding of the process.  There are several keyword research tools available such as Micro Niche Finder.  I use Micro Niche Finder to leverage my time as well as assist me in finding good keywords for my marketing efforts. 

However, using a keyword research tool will only complicate and confuse you if you don’t understand the process for keyword.  To fully understand the process of keyword research and uncover good keywords pick up this eBook Keyword Research Mastery over at Best Keyword Generator.

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1. Keyword Research – Why Keyword Research and Keywords are Important?

Keyword research and keywords  are the foundation of good SEO practices for your articles and blogs.  In order to have your site, articles and content found,  it is imperative that you are knowledgeable about keywords and their role in your overall SEO strategies and how to properly conduct keyword research.

Every one looking for information on the Internet has their own method as to how they find what they are looking for.  They may utilize social media, the search engines or link referrals from friends.  With any of these methods the first step is giving some kind of criteria about what you are looking for that will help to get you closer to finding it. 

This criteria is what we will refer to as a keyword or search terms.   They can be as little as one or two words and even many words in some cases.  As a marketer you will be looking at and analyzing the way people search the Internet for the information they are looking for.  In a nutshell, you are looking to see what they are searching for and how you can best position your information or product so it can be found by them.  keyword research is the first part of this process.

Your Goal In Keyword Research

The ultimate goal of keyword research is finding words or phrases that people are using to find what they are looking for.  You want to find keywords that are highly searched but have low competition.  You also want to identify the words and phrases that correspond with your products or services that meet that and other criteria.  Proper keyword research and placement of these words can help you to get listed in the top search results on Google and other search engines. Doing proper keyword research will increase your success online exponentially.

In addition, researching keywords for your product, potential clients and niche will give you ideas to write about in your articles and blog post. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of keywords and keyword phrases that your target market uses to try to find your content. If you’re not using these words you’re not going to attract your ideal client to purchase your products and services.

It’s really that simple, do the research, and you will reap the rewards. Good keyword research will get you great keywords that will help you rank on the top listings on the search engines. People will find your blog or website because you’re writing about what they want to read.

Sure, there may be several other marketers in your market or niche, but if you research your keywords and practice proper keyword usage, your site will rank very high appearing on the first page of search results. People typically don’t look further than the first page for what they are looking for.   Having your site or content on the first page of search results usually translate into traffic and lots of sales.

Do not make the mistake and skip keyword research.

You can only find out what keywords in your niche are being used to find products and services by doing the research. If you don’t do the research you will not have the same results as someone who did.  Fortunately, it is not hard to do and the time spent will net you a tremendous return on investment sometimes immediately as well as over time. 

You can do the research yourself using various tools like Google’s Keyword Tool, Micro-niche Finder and others. The best place to start if on a budget is with Google’s free Keyword Tool.  However, I will caution that the key to having success with any keyword research tool is to have a good understanding of keyword research and keywords importance.  Having a good understanding and the keyword research skills will help you to interpret the data these various tools return. 

A good place to learn about and understand keyword research is over at Best Keyword Generator where you can pick up a very detailed eBook on how to find keywords that get ranked, traffic and sales. Ultimately, that is the end result you are looking for and the underlying reason why keyword research and keywords are important.

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The list is the names of people they have collected by offering them something in return for them to opt-in to their list.  The practice by most marketers is to offer the reader something they determine is valuable enough to them that they will exchange their name and email address for.

It may seem obvious to those who have been involved in Internet Marketing for a while but there are many websites that do not have a way of capturing visitors email addresses on their website.  This could potentially be costing them hundreds of dollars in loss income.  The best way to build your email list is to have an auto-responder.

Not only is it important that you build a list but more so that you strive for a warm list.  You may have heard the terms “cold list” and “warm list”.  A cold list is a list of subscribers who haven’t been contacted in a long time, so their response to emails you send would be low.  However, a warm list is when the list owner has been regularly contacting their list, interacting with them and offering them a reason to stay subscribed to that list.

Having a warm list is very important, not only does it mean that any offer or call to action you send out will be given a better response, but it also means that your conversion rates will be higher.  Your conversion rate is the number who actually buys or takes action, divided by the total number of subscribers you send the email to.

After you’ve had your list for a while you should know what your conversion rate is for different mailings.  Knowing this information will help you to determine how profitable each new subscriber will be as well as your existing subscribers.

Profitability is the main reason building a mailing list is important and once you know what your conversion rate is you can almost guarantee how much money you will make each time you send out a sales email recommending something to your list.

 How to keep your mailing lists growing and profitable.

• First and foremost offer something of value to make your readers want to opt-in.
• Build a relationship with your readers; let them know you are a real person.
• Provide free resources, useful information and only recommend a well thought out offering of products that you trust for sale.
• Never send useless offers just to make a buck, think long term profits as quick useless offers could ruin your long term earning potential from your list as well as affect your response rate.

Unfortunately, after hearing that the money is in the list some internet marketers start to spam their lists with offer after offer hoping for that big pay day.  It is very easy for your subscribers to unsubscribe and chances are they will never re-subscribe either and it’s your reputation on the line.

There are numerous ways to build your mailing list and it is important to note that by testing and measuring which methods bring the most opt-ins, you can create a highly effective list building strategy from which you will profit from for years to come.

Free:  Latest mailing lists Tips:

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Everywhere online as well as offline everyone is talking about affiliate marketing. It is true that one can make a nice living or even record breaking income selling other peoples products and services from the comfort of their home.  However, the myth that you don’t need to know anything and that you can retire by next week is not only a myth but untrue.

Before I go any further I want to caution that if you are looking for a quick easy ride then affiliate marketing is not for you. While the income earned can replace your job, just like your job it requires work. Yes, it is true that there are people working in their pajamas from a spare room in their house making cold hard cash but those people will tell you that it did not happen for them overnight.  For some it took months or even years to get to the point that they are at now.

There are many of you who would love to escape the nagging boss, set your own schedules and take a day off without being pressured. There are also some of you that an extra 4-500 dollars per month will make things a bit easier.   So you have turned to the internet to investigate this thing called affiliate marketing.  The thing is not everyone understands what it is and how it is done.  Lets’ take a realistic look at how many people just like you have tapped into this tried and true method of making money online as an affiliate marketer.

Simply put affiliate marketing is where you become a rep or sales person to sell the product and services of companies or individuals in exchange for a commission.  One of the most important things to remember as an affiliate is to sell what the market demands and not necessarily what you think will sell.  We will address this more in depth in a subsequent post.  If you are just starting out online and are interested in becoming an affiliate marketer there are some terms you will need to learn and become familiar with.

Affiliate Networks:  This is where you will go to find several vendors of goods and services you can promote as an affiliate.  A small sampling is listed below.

Commission Junction: http://www.commissionjunction.com

Shareasale: http://www.shareasale.com

LinkShare: http://www.linkshare.com

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com

Google Affiliate Network: http://www.connectcommerce.com

Clickbank:  http://www.clickbank.com another popular portal for finding products and services.  This particular portal only provides digital delivery of the goods sold mainly e-books.

Those are just two of the many options available.  However joining affiliate networks will give you access to some of the biggest names in retail some of which you will recognize immediately.  How many people can you send or have been sending to Walmart, Target ect.  Well, now as an affiliate marketer when you send them over via the internet with your id if they purchase you will be paid a commission.

Now let’s take a look at your affiliate commissions.  Now that you have an understanding of what affiliate marketing is you are probably wondering how you would be paid.  As an affiliate marketer you are considered to be an independent contractor and most will require that you provide your social security number upon signing up or they will with hold payment until you do.  Your commission can vary from 2% all the way up to 75% depending on the vendor and the products.  These commissions can add up very quickly with you earning several times a day for your efforts.  It can be quite exciting and rewarding and this is where your cold hard cash will come from.

Most affiliate programs are free to join and many of the vendors you will be representing will provide tools such as banners, graphics, emails series and free reports to assist you in the sale of their products for free.  There are some who even provide training via webinars, blog post and email.  There are many things to learn about affiliate marketing but it is important to find the right mentors, tools and affiliate training.

I would like to introduce you to one of my mentors Mark Ling, a super affiliate who is earning seven figures a year.  Inside of his 12 week step by step Affilo Blueprint you will have access to 55 videos that lets you look over his shoulder as he takes a site from inception to earning.  This has got to be one of the simplest and most effective methods for creating income through affiliate marketing.  Visit the Affilo Blueprint Website here or click the banner below.

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1. What Affiliate Marketing Is? Can I Do It?

In these videos you will learn how to add hyperlinks and images to your blog and how to maintain control while leading your readers experience on your blog.

Video Tutorial:  Adding Hyperlinks and Other Important Tips

Video Tutorial:  How to Add Images and How to Maintain Control on Your Blog

Additional Tips for Adding Hyperlinks and Images to Your Blog

Photos can help you to better convey your message to your readers especially now that we have become a more visual society.  They can be used in your blog post as fillers when you are short on words.  When tagged and labeled correctly, your images can also help with traffic as they can show up in Google images searches.  Also, by making them clickable you can direct your reader subliminally because they are very likeable to click the photo if it is hyperlinked.

Hyperlinks are a great way to help your readers find their way around your blog and in some cases work really well then they look natural in the flow of your text.  Use hyperlinks to lead to other areas of your blog creating deep linking as well as contributing to on page SEO or to your affiliate offerings.

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All In One SEO Pack is one of the most highly recommended plug-ins for your Word Press blog.  It should be amongst the first set of plug-ins installed on your blog after your initial installation of Word Press. It is one of the easiest ways to optimize your blog pages and post for better placement in the search engines.

As I mentioned in my video many have downloaded and installed the plug-in but have not configured it.  The All In One SEO Pack is not a plug and play plug-in.

In the video I showed you how to configure the plug-in for optimal performance.  I also showed you how to use the plug-in for your post and pages to make them search engine friendly helping readers to find your blog.

I really wanted to keep the video short but there are a couple of points I wanted to explain in more detail about the All In One SEO Pack so I will do that here.

Auto-Generate Descriptions:  When you turn on this feature All In One SEO Pack will automatically generate Meta descriptions for your post using the first 120 characters of your post.  If you always get your main keyword in your first sentence having this turned on will work great for you.  The plug-in will cross check to see if have a meta description before auto-generating one.  So if you are in a hurry or simple forgot to add your description this feature will help you out.

Capitalize Category Titles:  When this is turned on your page titles of category pages will have the first letter of each word capitalized.  This seems more cosmetic than anything else as Google tends to ignore lower vs. uppercase.  Your readers may respond to this differently.  However, the recommendation is to leave this turned off and enter your titles the way you would like.

Once you have gone through all the steps in the video and updated the All In One SEO Pack plug-in it is now ready for use with your post and pages.  Below are the two additional steps I mentioned in the video that pertains to pages.

Title Attribute:  Any text entered here will become the link title text for links to this page. (Link title appears when you hover over a link)   This enables you to provide more information about a link.

Menu Label:  This sets the text used in your site menus for this page.  Left blank it will be the same as the Word Press page title.

So you now have all the information you need to set up and use the All In One Seo Pack.  Oh, one other thing; every time there is a new update for this plug-in you would want to check your settings.  If you are already using this plug-in correctly please share with us your experience.  If you have found this tutorial helpful please leave a comment and share.

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Today I am going to talk about the acronym F.O.R.M. It is still a very powerful prospecting method that works.  A few days ago while facebooking a new friend asked this question of me.

FB Friend:  I see you are a coach. I am an aspiring one. What is your number 1 or most important rule when prospecting when you are running around going about your daily tasks?

Me:  That is a great question? I teach people to build relationships first, and then business becomes a viable option. While you are out and about utilize F.O.R.M. The info gathered from that will let you know if and how to proceed. Hope you found that helpful.

FB Friend:  I don’t recognize the acronym.

This response caught me by surprise so in this post I will discuss what F.O.R.M is and how to use it.

Most networkers will tell you that prospecting is by far one of the things they struggle with especially if they are new to the industry.  There are many methods and techniques that are taught, however, some require a certain skill set that may take time or a new person to develop.

The F.O.R.M method is one of the best and most effective methods you can teach your new team member.  It is a simple and duplicable power prospecting method that works. The basis of the F.O.R.M method is relationship building which has been the mainstay of this industry for decades and still is today.

F.O.R.M. stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation and Message – If you can remember these four things this can work for you as you are out an about doing your daily tasks.

Family: Do you live around her?  Do you have kids?  How old are they?  Boys or girls? Are you married? How long?  These questions get the person to talking about themselves and give you a chance to learn about them.  You can also share your answers for some of these same questions as you don’t want a linear conversation but at the same time you want to stay in control of the conversation.

Occupation: What do you do for a living?  When they tell you what they do, you have a great opportunity to ask them about their job – if it’s in an industry you are familiar with you can comment on some of the things you know about it. If it is unfamiliar to you this is your chance to learn about it. What you are doing is gauging income or net worth.

You have asked them about their occupation so expect that they will ask about yours.  This requires some fore thought so when they do have your ’30 second elevator speech” ready. This is a description of your business that you can say in just a couple of sentences that articulates what it is that you do.  Do not pitch your company.  Share some benefits that you have been able to help people with as a result of your company.

Recreation: This one’s easy!  What do you do for fun?  Where do you vacation?  How do you spend your weekends?  Do you have a hobby or play sports? This is a check for disposable income.

Message: When you feel the conversation winding down, or you are ready to move on it is time to deliver your message.  Now is the time to use key things they have shared during your conversation.   Here is an example of what your message may sound like.

Listen, name, I really enjoyed meeting and speaking with you earlier while we were chatting I heard you said how much you hated your job, how much you dislike having your baby in day care and having to live in an apartment when you  would much rather have your own home.  Name, I don’t do this for everyone but I think I may have a way to help you.   I really need to be on my way as I have an appointment in 10 minutes but I am free this afternoon around 4 pm so let me have your number and I will call you at 4:15pm to share some information I have that may help you.

You now have an appointment with a potential business partner.  If you are new you make want to work with your upline to prepare or assist you for the call back.  You can cover the first three steps in any order but your message is key and must be last.  Master this powerful prospecting method and watch your business and customer base grow as a result.  Give the F.O.R.M method a try.

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Facebooking

As Facebook boast a membership of 400 million users with 50 percent of them logging on daily, I am sure you are accounted for somewhere in those numbers.  If you are a networker looking to move your business online I am going to talk to you about how you should be facebooking.

I am sure you are aware or may have heard that many marketers and networkers are successfully integrating Facebook as an integral part of their marketing strategies.  However, there are also many who are using it incorrectly.  Let’s look at how you can set up your Facebook page as a tool to help in your marketing efforts as well as have others join your business.

Effective Facebooking Strategies

Make A List:  I know you are probably saying oh no not the list.  Well, you have to start somewhere.  At any rate the list you will be making this time is not a friends and family list.  You will make a list of networking companies.

Join Groups:  Find groups in those networking companies and join them as well as other groups in your target market.  Join several.

Post: Now that you are a member of these groups you want to participate by contributing to them and if they allow you can also post your add

Add Friends: Find people that interest you and that are in your target market and connect with them.

Share:  Provide valuable information to your friends and the groups you joined

Those are very basic strategies but they are the core for effective facebooking.  Facebook once know as a place to gather and connect with friends is quickly becoming a large permission based marketing portal.  It is now a strategic component of using social networking to help identify opportunities as well as find qualified business partners.

Learn how to set up your Facebook page for business by enrolling to receive a free pre-recorded Facebooking Webinar.  This webinar will teach you step by step  how and what to do when you are on Facebook.  I highly recommend it.

Related posts:

1. Your Social Networking Plan: Do You Have One For Your MLM Business?
2. Using Social Networking To Build Your Brand: 5 Quick Tips

However, social networking usage should be managed as it can quickly use up a lot of valuable time if you are not careful.  A good rule of thumb is to focus on quality and not so much on quantity.  There are new social networking sites popping up every day.  You don’t have to join all of them.  Doing so will only further distract you from your main focus and dilute your efforts.

Using social networking can catapult you and your brand from obscurity to rock star status with a huge following of people who are interested in what you have to say or teach.  It can help you to build the coveted list and could potentially lead to multiple streams of income if done right.  Therefore, it is important to set up your social networking plan right from the start.

Here are 5 Quick tips for using social networking to build your brand.

Profile:  This is your opportunity to make the all important first impression.  Include your name, your interest, your passion, what is it that makes you, you.  Include your value proposition and don’t forget to include a picture of YOU

Message:  What value are you bringing to the space?  How can this value help others?  Is it one that others can and will readily embrace?

Hub:  Your blog or website or one specific place where you can be found.  A specific place where you pull everything together. An overall representation of your brand.

Value:  Anything to improve your reader or followers life.  Be motivational, entertaining, empowering and educational.

Stay Connected:  Choose your core social sites and contribute to the betterment of the community on a regular basis.  Work with the know, like and trust components of branding as a guide and stay consistent.

You can plan on spending about an hour a day using social networks to help build your brand. If done correctly it can help you to develop your brand rather quickly.  Once you get things set up it may be possible to automate some of your social networking activities.  In a future post I will examine some automation tools to consider.

If you are new to social networking I recommend the following social networking sites as part of your social networking approach to building your brand.

Facebook: Friend Me

Twitter:  Follow Me

Youtube: Subscribe To My Channel

I would like to give you access to an exclusive 27 minute video that will unveil my most guarded facebook marketing strategies that are extremely effective and simply to follow.  Click the banner below for immediate access.

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1. Your Social Networking Plan: Do You Have One For Your MLM Business?