Powerful Keyword Research Tips

There’s no way around it – keyword research is the foundation of every good affiliate marketing business – or any online business. It doesn’t matter if you’re an organic search guru or a PPC baron, you’d better be able to pinpoint the keywords that matter and become competitive for them as fast as possible.

I’ll admit that when I got started, keyword research was always at the bottom of my to-do list. I almost never seemed to get to it on time. That’s obviously changed over the years, because to be a true super affiliate, you’d better have some fantastic keyword lists.

So, for all the marketers out there who don’t know where to start with their keyword research or who do but dread doing it, here are some tips that I’ve been using for some time now to great effect.

Basic Research

To get started, you need to do some basic research. You probably have a very rough idea of what people are searching for – the simple keywords that every good marketer pinpoints early on. But, that initial list is the same as brainstorming for a novel. Sure, you have a rough outline, but you still need to sit down and write the thing.

I like to get started in the Google Keyword Tool – it’s free, easy to use and has a decent amount of data to draw from. Like most free keyword tools it’s not 100% accurate and is based on PPC data, so if you’re working on an organic campaign, it’s not going to be exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s a good start.

To get started, visit http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and enter a basic term or phrase into the search tool. You can enter multiple terms, but for now, just one will do. I’ll use “lose weight” as an example. The top level of search results will be terms that use the basic term, and will include things like:

* How to lose weight * Lose weight fast * Lose belly weight

These terms are all directly related to the term and give you more options to build your list. Look for the Global Monthly Search Volume to get an idea of how many searches this term gets each month.

Unless you’re developing a PPC campaign, ignore any local search volume data that Google gives you. Also ignore the competition data as this relates to
advertising. You just want to know how many people are searching.

Next, scroll down a bit and see what “additional keywords to consider” Google has selected. These are syntax related terms and might include phrases like:

* How to burn fat * Weight loss tips * Get thin fast * Muscle building tips

Basically, terms that tend to show up with the phrase you searched for originally will appear here. These are not necessarily terms you will all use, but you can get a lot of ideas this way. Your goal should be to create a list of any terms you think someone would search for when they are trying to solve the weight loss problem. Later, we’ll narrow down to specific keywords that help you.

Forums and In-depth Research

Another great way to find keywords is to go to industry specific pages, like forums, and search for terms that relate to questions or problems that people have in this niche. Forums are good because they represent a hub of data where users will search for solutions to particular problems.

For example, if you were to visit a weight loss and dieting forum, you might find specific body locations and muscle groups that people are targeting, like:

* Pectoral fat burning * Get rid of fat on obliques * Build bigger quads

These terms may not have popped up immediately because they are a bit too specific. Another great way to create lists of more specific industry terms is to analyze competitor pages. Which keywords are your competitors using to boost their own pages?

Tools like Traffic Travis (available from www.traffictravis.com) allow you to input URLs and get keyword reports on how a site is optimized. You can also
search for sites or keywords in the ad analyzer to see which terms are being used with Google AdWords.

Best Kinds of Keywords

Okay, so now you have a good general idea of what keywords you’ll be using. What about the actual terms you should be targeting. I have a small listing of terms I like to use as often as possible. How you optimize will depend on your strategy, but if you’re doing PPC, you pretty much have to have lists for these particular terms:

* Author Names – If you’re promoting info products on weight loss products, you can find keywords related to the authors of those info products. Check your affiliate program’s rules to determine if you’re allowed to do this, but most vendors will be perfectly happy to let you. More commissions for you means more profits for them.

* Product Names - Along the same lines, product names are highly successful conversion tools. Most people, when searching for a specific product name, are looking for reviews, or final justification before a purchase. Volume is lower, but you’re getting leads that are much more
likely to convert.

* Buy Phrases – Find keywords with terms like “buy”, “order”, “purchase”, or “download”. If you have that, plus a product name or author name, you can almost guarantee the prospect is ready to make a purchase. These keywords
have far fewer searches, but are worth 10-100 times more than a standard product related keyword.

* Crisis Keywords – These are keywords related to a crisis that your searcher may be in. For example, many people search for gardening advice, but if they’re in a crisis, their search is much more urgent.

Keywords then might include “cure blight”, “kill pests on tomatoes”, or “tomatoes won’t grow”. These are specific, immediate problems that they’ll buy a product to solve.

* Product Related Keywords - General keywords related to a product niche are still valuable, but can be a little more dangerous. You need to be more careful here in general. Here you’ll find things like “how to”, “lessons”,
“online”, etc – terms that relate to getting advice, but with less urgency.

* Long Tails – Finally, if you’re doing PPC or creating an authority site, using long tail keywords can really boost your performance. For example, if you’re writing about dog training, you can add the dog breeds to beginning of each keyword – instantly creating 200 longtails for each base keyword you have.

For example, someone might search for “fix golden retriever aggression” and someone else might search for “fix poodle aggression”. Those are both specific longtails and can be extended as much as is needed to get your
traffic.

Keywords are the currency of any good affiliate marketer. You want traffic? You need to find the words people are searching for and become competitive for them.

So, before you ever start marketing any of your new niche products, spend some time researching, building lists, and analyzing the keywords.

Check with tools like Google and Traffic Travis, check to make sure there is volume, and always check your competitors to see what they’re optimized for. If you do it right, you should be able to create a huge list of potential gold keywords.

Don’t just find the right keywords – know exactly how to put them to use. E 2.0 will give you the edge when it comes to tapping robust streams of traffic
for free, using your massive new keyword lists.

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Plus, Keyword Elite gives you all of the information you need about other marketers and websites that are using the keywords you are looking at, the exact ads that they are using to draw traffic… and more.

There is simply now better keyword research and competition evaluation tool that we have found anywhere. We use Keyword Elite for all our websites, and affiliate marketing efforts. If you want to save hundreds of hours and get real-time information a the push of a button, nothing beats Keyword Elite 2.0.

Home Business Toolkit Fact:  Unlock the right keywords and enjoy endless traffic and profits from any website.

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