Keywords.  They’re the bread and butter of online marketing.  Get them right and you can make a fortune.  Get them wrong and your web page won’t churn a profit no matter what.

It’s no wonder a huge number of the questions I get are about keyword research.  So I thought I’d open up my SEO Copywriter bag of tricks and let you in on a few keyword research secrets.

First off…you don’t have to spend money on fancy keyword research software.  There are 2 free tools out there that are all you need and here are the links:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ and https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

The first is the Wordtracker free tool.  I’ve used the paid version and to tell you the truth, I didn’t find that much more value in it.  Google is a great tool as well.

But you have to know that neither tool is 100% correct 100% of the time.  The Wordtracker tool tracks daily searches and Google tracks monthly searches.  So I always compare the two.

Simply multiply the Wordtracker results by 30 and you’ll get a number that should be close the Google number.  If the two are somewhat equal then I trust the results.  If there’s a huge difference, I try to go by my gut.  Do I think the keyword has a large search potential?

Another area I look at is whether the keyword is being used by people who are buying. For example, if I was researching cameras, I might type in digital cameras.  This keyword phrase would probably bring in a lot of people who are in the researching stage…they aren’t in the buying mode yet.

But if I were to type in Kodak Easyshare M380, then I’m probably looking to buy that camera.  The odds of a sale are a lot higher but the traffic will be less.

But that’s okay because the quality of the traffic improves.

So how about your niche?  If it’s dog training, then someone searching for a dog training book would be more likely to be looking to buy than someone looking for dog training tips.  Are you starting to see the light?

Now the big exception here is if you’re building your list and not selling right away.  In that case, a keyword like dog training tips would work great.

Oh and by the way…Google’s keyword tool can really help you here.  Just put in your main keyword and scroll to see all of their keyword suggestions.  I’ll bet you’ll start to be able to pick out the keywords that will make you money!

Evy Schwartz
Internet Marketing, SEO Expert
San Antonio, Texas

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