Finding Profitable Keyword Phrases
|
|
So you have a site concept developed that you are ready to start writing great content for.
So what's the next step?
It's time to develop your " master keyword list " which you will use to craft your WebPages. These are the words or phrases you would like to get ranked high in the search engine's for and get the free targeted traffic that this will bring to your website.
It is not enough to simply "pluck" words from the air and start writing your web pages. You need to carefully select which words and phrases to target.
Food for thought:
--------------------------------------------------------
What if there are already 10 billion web pages about your chosen keyword(s)?
--------------------------------------------------------
Do you think a small business owner can compete with large companies who invest millions of dollars into their SEO strategies for highly competitive, high traffic keywords?
Obviously the answer is no but there is a bright side to the equation if you are willing to invest time into researching your keyword phrases carefully. You will want to choose "niche" keywords that offer a combination of high traffic and low competition.
This of course is easier said than done but it can be accomplished as long as you use some of the help that is available on the internet.
Here are a couple of first steps, tips and tools you can use to put together a list of niche keywords for the website topic that you have developed.
1. Keyword Brainstorming and Research
Think of throwing out a "wide net" here and try to write down as many keywords and phrases (consisting of 2-4 words) that are related to your Website Concept as you can.
Take each one of these words/phrases and visit: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Type the first keyword phrase into the " Get suggestions for :" box and hit the search button.
This will return you a list of words and phrases that are similiar to your keyword phrase and also provide you with the number of searches for each of these results on the Yahoo-Overture network for the month.
Copy all of the keyword phrases that you think best suit your site concept along with the search data into a text file or spreadsheet. Save this file as your " master keyword list ".
Note: Some of the results will be totally unrelated to your site concept you do not need to copy these into your "master keyword list".
Repeat this process for all of the keyword phrases that you initially brainstormed. By the end of this process you should have a "master keyword list" of several hundred or thousand words and phrases.
Google provides a free keyword research tool as well but does not provide the search statistics that Yahoo-Overture does. Augment your keyword list with any results that you find relevant using this tool. http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox
2. Refine Your Keyword List Part 1
You need to shorten your keyword list to a tightly targeted and highly profitable subset of your master keyword list. These are going to be the words you use when crafting your web pages for the search engines.
Start by performing searches for each keyword phrase in your master keyword list at: http://www.google.com
Google will tell you the total number of sites it has indexed for the keyword phrase that you are searching for. Copy this number into your master keyword list for each keyword phrase.
You will now have the data for the number of searches on the Yahoo-Overture network for the month and the number of competing websites for each keyword phrase in your list.
Think of these numbers as supply(websites) and demand(# of searches) . Finding the supply/demand number for each keyword phrase will help you decide which one's you want to target.
You will have to use your own judgement here depending on your goals and the amount of traffic you would like to generate. Make sure you have a nice mix high traffic and niche keyword phrases in your master keyword list.
It's not that useful to be ranked #1 for a keyword that only gets 5 searches a month. Similiarly, it is very hard to achieve high rankings for high traffic keyphrases because there is going to be a lot of competition.
Trim your keyword phrase list down to 50-100 entries and get ready for step 3.
3. Analyze the Competitor's Backlinks
There are 3 purposes to this analysis: analyzing whether a chosen keyword space is too competitive, identifying potential link partners (to be used in a later lesson), and to trim your "master keyword list" down to 15-20 keywords that have a reasonable level of competition.
To get started take the first term in your master keyword list and perform a search for it at: http://www.google.com
--------------------------------------------------------
Note: we are only going to be interested in the "top 10" results for each keyword phrase since our goal is to get listed on the first page of results for our target keywords.
--------------------------------------------------------
Our goal from this analysis is to find out how "established" your competition is in your chosen keyword marketplace. An analysis of the number of sites that link to your competitor should give you an initial indicator of how important their website is to the world. If a lot of websites are linking to your competitor they must be providing valuable content or a useful tool/service.
To find out who is linking to your competitor visit: http://www.uptimebot.com and enter the first domain from the Google Search results into uptimebot's search bar.
Uptimebot will then query all of the major search engine's and return a report showing the number of links the domain has pointing to it. A site with a lot of backlinks to it must be an information hub and therefore very important.
Perform this uptimebot search for all of the "top 10" competitors from your initial Google search results.
If you are finding that the sites in the search results have several 1000 backlinks to them you will know right away that you are going to have a hard time getting a high ranking for that keyword since a large number of links suggests that the site is already a well established information hub in that keyword marketplace.
Uptimebot also provides you with a link to the search results showing you the actual websites that are linking back to your competitor. Visit as many of these sites as you can and try to identify which ones have complimentary content to your site. You may want to consider contacting the owner's of those domains to request a link to your site.
4. Refine Your Keyword List Part 2
After performing this analysis for each keyword phrase in your master keyword list eliminate the keywords that you identify as having too much competition (i.e. too many well established "hubs"). We will use this list in the next lesson to start writing your first web page
Using these tips you should now be able to tell which market's you will be able to compete in and which one's already have too many established information hubs to make it worth your while. You will also have a list of "complimentary" websites that you may want to consider requesting links from in the future to help boost your website's "link popularity".
About the Author:
Michael Lawrence is the webmaster for Cobrasurf.com - Free Website Promotion and Free Website Traffic.
You can view his blog filled with articles related to website promotion, SEOand internet marketing at: Cobrasurf.blogspot.com
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterBeyond Search Engines
Some webmasters report that search engines account for 75% or more of their total website traffic. However, it's important not to become too dependent on search engines for new business. Achieving a top listing from a major search engine is becoming more and more difficult over time. The competition for top spots is intense and it's getting harder every day to get listed at all. Also more and more search engines are moving to a pay-per-click m...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Creating A Search Engine Copywriting Plan
Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of the overall search engine optimization process. However, in addition, search engine copywriting has developed into a misunderstood craft.Shoving keywords in anywhere they can possibly go is not considered search...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step 2: Content Creation
Welcome to part two in this search engine optimization series. In part one we covered the importance and tactics for choosing the keywords and keyword phrases that will provide the highest ROI for your optimization efforts. In part two we will discuss how to properly write content for high search engine positioning.Content is the key to search engine rankings. While there are numerous factors involved with the search engine algorithms, content remains a constant in stable rankings for a number of important reasons.Over this series we will cover the ten key aspects to a solid search engine positioning campaign.The Ten Steps We Will Go Through Are:Keyword Selection (10 Minutes To Your Google Sitemap
Google's calling your name...Hi, Google here. We want to index your website...Is anyone there?This article has a free corresponding online video tutorial that shows you how to summons the ...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Picking Keywords For Seo ? A Different View
The first step to developing any search engine optimization effort is picking keywords. The general consensus is pick keywords with solid amounts of traffic and a minimum of competition. At the risk of being laughed off the Internet, here's a different view.Going Big?Going VERY BigShould you do research to identify keywords receiving lots of traffic? Absolutely. Of this group, should you identify the keywords with the lowest amount of competition? Again, yes. After all, who would be foolish enough to try to attack keywords with a few million competing sites? Well, me for one.People that go for a keyword phrase like "for sale by owner" [2 million plus searches a month and KEI of 0.000000000?] are often dismissed as amateurs with unrealistic expectations. For those of us that have been in th...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Five And A Half Ways To Amp Up Your Search Engine Optimization
Statistics show that 85% of pages visited on the Internet come from people who have gotten there from a search engine. Statistically, people look first at the top of the first page of the regular search results, then the bottom, and then they go to the sponsored listings.There is an art and science to being ranked highly on the search engines. The science is formatting the pages with the right meta tags and submitting them in the right way to the search engines. The art is to make the site look and read normal in spite of filling it with key words.Here are five and a half ways to get a higher ranking and more visitors:1. Pick the...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Keyword Popularity Check
Before using keywords for your site, it is always better to check for the popularity of these sub theme keywords. Some or all of the tools mentioned in the keywords tools section could be utilized to measure the popularity of these keywords.Based on the popularity count of these tools we should come up with a desce...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engine Optimization For Dummies
Lets face it. Search Engines rule the World Wide Web today. Anytime you want to look up some information or a product you want to buy, you put the relevant keyword in the search field of a major SE like Google. And Violá! The efficient little engine throws up pages and pages of website URLs which carry your keyword.SEO has become the most popular and the most effective strategy for increasing website traffic today. It gives you more exposure, pulls in more qualified visitors and helps you substantially increase your income. So, if you are a home based business owner with a serious web presence you would know the importance of attracting quality traffic to your website. Among all the strategies and tactics you can employ to attract focused web traffic to your site, optimising your website to get in top SE ra...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Effective Keyword Optimization And Analysis Techniques
Keyword optimization involves vital keyword selection and placement strategy depends on successfully identifying your industry related important keywords and then where you can place those keyword for maximum effectiveness.Effective use of keywords optimization and Phrases on your websiteKey to successful web optimi...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Whats All This Hype About Links?
What's all the talk about links we hear about? Reciprocal links? Non-reciprocal links? Targeted links? Link Popularity? I need links. You should have links. What about the dead links? I don't have enough links! Ever since I joined the link farm, I dropped out of the search engines! Well, you musn't fret; we're going to shed the light on all theses different links. You'll learn the different types, how to get them, how to keep them and how to keep them current.Over the next few issues, we will investigate the ABCs of linking, look into some helpful software and a take a close look at how Technet has solved this time consuming, but necessary issue for several top sites.Let's start with some definitions.Reciprocal Link (Two-way link): When you link to a web site and that web si...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
The Long And Short Of It Is That These Two Sales Techniques Are The Same
With the Internet beginning to stand up and be counted as an online business medium, many are beginning to realize that selling online is not only possible, but very profitable. People are seeking ways to improve their sales technique online and close on more of their website visitors. It was bound to happen. The problem now is that there are thousands of different companies telling you that their way is the best way and that you should follow their advice. I don't subscribe to all the thousands of new and fangled ideas to sell anything. This article describes two methods described by many as 'new' online sales techniques, which many people call the long copy versus the short copy debate. It's actually simply a mix of the ways we've all been selling s...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Stop Writing For Search Engines
Back when I was starting out with my first internet venture, I did a crazy thing. I subscribed to a Search Engine Optimization newsletter. These guys send a weekl...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
Google Adsense Optimization Tips
There are plenty of tips to help you enhance your adsense revenue in the net, and I'm always seeking for new points. Today, I come back to the Help section of my google adsense account and find treasure there...optimization tipshttps://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/static.py?page=tips.htmlwebmaster guidelineshttp://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/guidelines.htmlI strongly advise everyone to study the full content yourself. But I will point out some of my findings.optimization tips1. ads that performs best: 336x280 large rectangle , 300x250 inline rectangle, and the 160x600 wide skyscraper.2. ads should position around the main content.3. Ads tha...(related: Search Engine Optimization)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Search Engine Optimization