Granted reading one article will not you an expert make. But I can at least begin to bring you up to speed when it comes to finding visitor laden top search terms. To do so I will reveal four of my sacred keyword research rules of thumb.

My first rule of thumb is simple. Do not settle for the obvious keyword phrases. I know. Sounds obvious. But apparently isn’t.

For example the term “easter baskets” gets 120 searches/day. While going up against 420,00 other pages.

Not insurmountable. But I like less of a challenge. Especially when “personalized easter baskets” gets 109 searches/day and only has 615 competitors.

See the difference one word makes? Similar to the difference between lightning and a lightning bug, no? Since you get nearly the same number of searches with no where near the same number of competing pages.

The next secret rule of thumb is to compare the plural verses singular forms to see which is better. Since when it comes to this most webmasters tend to pile onto the wrong choice.

Take the term “gold earrings” It gets 168 daily searches in all engines, and has 1,540,000 competing pages in Google. While “gold earring” gets 84 daily searches and faces 440,000 competitors. In other words it has less than a third of the competition for half the searches. So we’re on the right track. Best of all “italian gold earrings” is used by 52 searchers daily. And only has to fend off 514 pesky competitors. Or what you might call a slam dunk.

Your third keyword research tactic involves grabbing the low hanging fruit. Or what I call “orphan keywords”.

Ideally you’re looking search terms with less than 1000 competing pages in Google when searching for the EXACT phrase. 500 or less is better still.

Of course the closer to 10 competing pages you get for a search term, the more likely it is your page will be to stumble into the top 10. These are true “orphan keywords”. So named due to neglect by your competitors.

Then don’t forget to think outside the box. Just like your potential customers do.

Say you had a law practice in California. One term you might consider is “criminal defense attorney”. That gets 131 searches but faces 1,450,000 competing pages. I’m not wild about those odds. Plus the term really isn’t very targeted.

Digging deeper I found that “criminal defense attorney LA” gets 85 daily searches. And only has 11,1100 pages to beat out. Not bad.

Digging deeper still “criminal defense attorney la county” gets 84 daily searches. But only has 575 competing pages. Paydirt!

Once again I turned up a search term with total searches at least in the same ball park as the generic term I started with. Yet with just a handful of competing pages to deal with. Rarely do I fail to do this. In fact you’ll discover dozens of such gems by thoroughly researching your keyword universe.

Never forget that keyword marketing research is THE factor that determines the success or failure of your niche site. Applying rules of thumb like these can help you do smarter optimised keyword marketing. Which in turn will help you attract more traffic from search engines more easily. And traffic is something we could all use more of, right?

The importance of keyword research
The effective use of keyword research can mean the difference between a website that climbs the search engine listings, has thousands of visitors each day and generates an excellent revenue and a website that goes unnoticed. Using niche keywords can improve your sales and boost your profits. Keywords or keyword phrases are the terms that a searcher types into a search engine to find whatever theyíre looking for on the internet. Keyword research is the process of selecting the most appropriate keywords on order to optimize your search engine rankings and help lead visitors to your site.

How to research keywords
You donít have to be a marketing expert to do your own keyword expert; there are already tools out there to help you. Two good examples are Instant Keyword Research and Keyword Elite. Both are simple tool to use and will save you a lot of time and leg work. The advantages of such a tool are obvious:

You can find more specifically targeted keywords
You can improve your search engine ranking
You can save time
You can increase your profits
You can generate large keyword lists
You can uncover negative keywords to avoid

Keyword analysis
Another advantage of using a keyword research tool is that it will give you an estimate on daily clicks per keyword and pay-per-click bid values. Why is this important? If you want to optimize your profits you need a heads up on the competition. These figures will allow you to analyze how many pages are competing for the top rankings and to focus your keywords.

How to use your keywords
Once you have completed your research and generated a list of targeted keywords you need to know where to place them on your website. Strategic placement will greatly improve your search engine ranking. Itís important not to fall into the trap of overusing them otherwise the search engines may interpret them as spam.

Optimal use of keywords is 3-7 times on each page
The title tag should contain your most important keywords, usually 5-6
Headings tags should contain your most important keywords or keyword phrases
Use keywords in hypertext links
Keyword content should be placed in the upper third portion of the text

Most Internet marketing experts will tell you that keyword research and proper usage means more to your website’s success than almost any other aspect. So take your time, do the research and create your content the right way.

If you skip this stage, you could wind up doing a lot of work following dead ends. There are some markets that just are not worth pursuing. You don’t want to end up chasing a market that isn’t profitable.

You need to decide what the market is looking for and bring yourself to the market. Many small business owners do just the opposite. They come up with a product or service they think the market needs and then try to go after and convince the market of their product value.

There are plenty of markets available that will suit your tastes. Once you find the market that you want to reach, then you will build your keyword or key phrase lists.

In this article, I assume that you already have a target market in mind. Therefore, I will give you a high level overview on how to do proper keyword research. I’ll start with the benefits of keyword research.

The Benefits of Keyword Research

What are the benefits of doing proper keyword research? Listed are four benefits of the power of keyword research:

1. It drives traffic to your site; just by simply using the words your target audience uses in their searches.

2. It helps you write more effective copy (sales copy) for your website; knowing what terms to incorporate into your copy helps your target audiences identify with your side immediately.

3. It helps with content development; it helps you create content that your target audience needs and avoids wasting your time on irrelevant topics.

4. It helps you understand your target audience better: you will know how and what your target audience is searching for.

5. It helps you measure the size of your market: just by determining the number of searches, you can target huge pools of untapped potential and avoid many pits.

6. It helps you to develop and diversify revenue streams: by using keyword research that exposes and employs popular keywords, you can be inspired to innovate and create new product and service ideas.

7. The bottom line: the results of keyword research are that your website copy, business strategies, and online marketing will be successful a great majority of the time.

Keyword research is the foundation to proper linking. Why is this important? Sometimes we assume we know what our audience is searching for. This is a common mistake many professionals make. They assume that since they are an authority on a topic they should know what their audience is searching for.

The only correct way to know what your audience is searching for is to do proper keyword research. What you think your audience needs or is looking for may be completely incorrect. I can guarantee that you will be surprised by the keywords your audience searches on to find your topic.

95% of websites are caught in the trap of bad keyword selection. High correlations of the keywords you use on your website and the words your target audience uses in their searches actually moves the website toward the audience and attracts many more targeted visitors.

Keyword links + keyword content on your site + keyword searches = solid search engine traffic.

Building Your Keyword Lists

Step One: Understand Your Target Audience

To start an effective keyword list, consider your potential customers’ motivations and intentions.

What kind of questions will they ask? What are they trying to accomplish? What problems do they need solutions to?

Step Two. You Must Understand the Types of Buyers and Your Target Audience

There are two types of buyers. The first type of buyer is the logical buyer. They will normally ask “how” and “what” questions when considering purchases.

However, 70% of all buyers are emotional buyers. These types of buyers are normally more spontaneous and concerned with the user experience and end results when considering a purchase. They asked the typical question, what’s in it for me?

Step Three. Think Like Your Target Audience

Remember, most of your buyers are emotional buyers. So, use the emotional slant to convince this type of buyer. Use emotional keyword anchors in your text. For example, if you had a website about running shoes, an emotional buyer is interested in the ìbestî running shoe or the ìhealthiestî running regime. They wouldn’t necessarily want to know the benefits of running shoes. They want to know what’s in it for them.

Step Four. Think Broad and Wide for Your Target Audience

Start with a broad list of keywords around your topic. Make sure they are specific enough to fit your target audience. Include terms that match closely with your visitors’ intent in relation to what you sell.

Note: traffic costs money! Think about quality not quantity. Your conversion rate is the most important factor. You don’t just want traffic, you want converting traffic!

Step Five. Prioritize Your Keywords Based on Conversion

If you don’t have conversion data, you’ll have to make your best guess as to which search terms you think will convert the best.

Consider these points:

1. Make your product or services’ intention clear. Don’t hide what you’re trying to sell.

2. If your keyword phrase is ìblue high top basketball shoesî, make sure a visitor can buy ìblue high top basketball shoesî on your site. Better yet, make sure you link to a page about those shoes.

3. Consider your ability to present value. How does your product present value?

4. Consider the amount of traffic you will generate using your keywords. If you’re using a cheap hosting provider, you may want to switch to something that can handle higher traffic counts. It’s frustrating to have a website go down because you can’t handle the traffic. This is something that you have complete control over. Make sure you don’t ruin your first impression by having a website crashes more often than not.

5. Consider the probability of conversion. If you are highly niched and know precisely what keywords or keyword phrases your target audience searches for, then use your highly niched keywords.

If you don’t know what the probability of your conversions will be, then you need to track this metric. There are several analytical tools that you can use to track this information. Don’t skimp. Make sure you know this information.

Keyword Research is the Most Important Step

The most important step you can take in marketing your website is keyword research. You not only need to know the keywords you want to get ranked for but also which keywords are converting the best for your website.

It makes no sense to drive a large amount of traffic to your site and not be able to stay in business because the conversions just aren’t there.

So, focus on quality NOT quantity. Start with your best keyword/phrase and begin your linking campaigns. Move down your keyword list, each time promoting and linking with the next keyword phrase.

In time, your site will not only move up in search rankings but move up based on the keywords that YOU chose. Don’t fall for the myth that more traffic you get the better.

Take control of your traffic and get ranked well for the keywords and phrases that are most profitable your business.