Savvier Keyword Research for Google

The late Ken Giddens, who was a first-rate web marketing
genius in his own right, said 'If Content is King on the Internet,
then Keywords are Queen.'

That's exactly right. Discovering just one new pocket
of keywords that you hadn't thought of before
can double your traffic in 10 minutes.

One of the most valuable things you can do is get
a 'competition level' of various keywords. How many
people search? How many bidders? How many pages
are there on the Internet about this topic?

Before I start a Google campaign, I take a look to
find out how many bidders are bidding on my keyword.
If there's less than 10, it's going to be a day at the
beach. More than 30, we'd better sharpen our pencils.
More than 60: Only experienced web marketers should play.

Every conceivable combination of keywords represents
a market.

There's an infinite number of keyword phrases.

So there's an infinite number of markets out there
for you to tap into.

Search Engine marketing is all about niches. It's not
about being all things to all people, it's about being
a few specific things to a few specific people. The
profit is in areas where there's a lot of need and not
very many bidders.

Example:

There are 103 Google bidders on the phrase 'used car.'

But there are only 13 bidders on the phrase 'used japanese car.'

And there are only 24 bidders on 'san diego used car.'

It's always better to be a big fish in a little pond,
*especially* if you're just getting started. The narrower
the niche, the more valuable the click usually is, and also
the less that click normally costs you.


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How to Build a Keyword List

Perhaps the most important task in any search engine marketing campaign – whether it is for organic search engine optimisation (SEO) or pay per click (PPC) advertising, is building a list of relevant and searched keywords.

Unfortunately, most people do not know what keywords are actually being used to find what they are offering.

Developing a list of keywords takes time and patience.

In order to develop a comprehensive set of keywords, plan on spending at least 8 hours of work if not much more. It could actually take days to develop your first list and from there on it is an ongoing process.

Here are the basic steps to conducting keyword research for either organic search engine optimisation (SEO) or pay per click (PPC) advertising:

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Importance of Keyword Selection in a PPC Campaign

Excellent advice from Bruce Clay.

To a large extent, search engine marketing is about choosing keywords for your Web site that will be most effective, and keywords in a PPC campaign are just as important as in an SEO campaign.

What is a keyword?

A keyword is a word or phrase that people (consumers or businesses) would employ to locate information on the products or services or topic that they are interested learning more about or purchasing.

For example: A professional bull rider is interested in purchasing new boots. He turns on his computer and visits his favorite search engine.

In the search box he enters the keyword cowboy boots. In addition, he may also enter men’s cowboy boots, western cowboy boots, or authentic cowboy boots.

Of course, since he is a cowboy, certain brands of boots are important so he might also enter designer cowboy boots, Justin cowboy boots, or Tony Lama cowboy boots.

Finally there are different styles of cowboy boots: round toe cowboy boots, crepe sole cowboy bots, and narrow or point toe cowboy boots.

The core idea behind keyword selection is identifying the words or phrases that are important to your target audience and therefore will be the most effective to use on your Web site.

When search engine visitors click in your PPC ad, they are sent to a page on your Web site. As an advertiser, you are only charged when a visitor clicks on your advertisement to visit your Web site.

Making sure you are bidding on keywords that people will be searching for is critical to the success of a pay advertising campaign.

Up front, it is all about visibility. The more eyeballs that see your ad – if it is relevant to what they want – the better chance you have of making a sale or getting a lead.

Bidding on the wrong keywords will only frustrate you and waste your hard earned money.

Bidding on the right keywords can bring you rich rewards but be warned, you will need to research the cost of bids for keywords because some good keywords can also break you.

Incorporate some niche keywords into your campaign that might not cost you as much. You will also want to balance the keywords that will bring you visitors at the short end of the tail or buying cycle as well as the long end of the buying cycle.

Learn more about how to perform proper PPC keyword research to identify what words are being used in searches today.

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Writing Effective PPC Ads (Creatives) for Your Pay Per Click Campaigns

Excellent advice from Bruce Clay.

For ad copy to convert readers to visitors, it must grab the reader’s attention.

Whether it's a print ad in a magazine, a pay per click ad on a Web page, or a sponsored listing on a search engine results page (SERP), your message must call out to the person reading it.

You may be advertising in the right place at the right time, however, without the right message, you will have a problem.

If you’re not appealing directly to the person who is reading your ad, you risk them seeing it without realising how it relates to them.

If the ad is a pay per click (PPC) ad, your potential customer has executed a search and is looking for something specific. If you write your PPC creatives to speak directly to them, there's a better chance they will click on it and visit your Web site.

So what characteristics do you look to include when writing ad copy?

First, be sure to use your keywords in your title and even in the description when you can.

If possible, start your title with the keyword or keyword phrase.

For the description, understand that people want to accomplish or learn something, be entertained or take advantage of an offer.

People are motivated by fear, money, hope, lust, despair, health, safety, education, appearance, status etc. (Although maybe not all at the same time!)

You will want to include a reason for someone to choose to respond to your ad and take action.

Care about their problem and create an emotional statement using action oriented language. Remember W.I.I.F.M. What’s in it for me?

For example, perhaps you are offering a health resort holiday package. You might appeal to potential customers about the opportunity to get in shape and improve their appearances. Or maybe they just need a holiday from the daily stress of home and work.

Appeal to their wants and needs and they'll be enticed to click-through.

Your PPC ads might look something like this:

Health Resort Special
Relax, Rejuvenate & Meditate.
Join us for a wellness stay.

Holiday Get-away
Pamper Yourself & Relax.
Join us for a stress-free stay.

Beach Holiday Rentals
Stressed, tired, need to escape?
Feel your cares melt away...

Health Resort Holiday
Get in shape today at our
private paradise holiday getaway.

However, effective ads are only a part of the campaign.

Once your PPC creatives persuades a searcher to click, your landing page must now convert them.

It should look professional and above all offer them what they were looking for in the first place. They will be more likely to convert into a customer or a lead if the page they go to gives them exactly what they were looking for.

Appeal directly to your target audience with both your ad and your landing pages and you will experience greater quality visitors and better conversions.


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6 Ways to get your Blog Ranked High on Google

Getting your blog ranked high on Google is a fantastic way to attract potential clients. Here’s how it’s done.

1. Select Your Keywords and Keyword Phrases
Choose the keywords and keyword phrases you want your blog post to rank high for on the Google search engine results page. For example, I want my blog post to rank high for the term, “blog ranked high on Google.” Currently there are approximately 286,000 pages using this term so I’ll have to do everything in my power to compete with these web pages to get my blog post on the first page of the Google results page for that term.

My keyword phrase also includes other keyword phrases like, “ranked high on Google” with about 310,000 competing pages and “high on Google” with over 71 million competing pages. Getting to the first page for these terms would be a bonus.

2. Use Your Keywords in Your Blog Title
Google pays very close attention to the words and phrases you use in your blog title. Notice how I used the term, “blog ranked high on Google” in the title of this article. It’s important to use your keyword phrase in your blog title if you want to rank high for that phrase on the Google results page.

Another reason you want to use your keyword phrase in your blog title is to give your reader an immediate understanding as to what your blog post is about. If your blog is listed at the top of the search engine results page for your keyword phrase but no one reads it, it’s of no value. Use a title that will cause people to click through to your blog post.

The New York Times creates two different titles for their articles. They use a catchy, creative or humorous title for their newspaper, and a keyword specific title for the articles and blogs they post to the Internet. They do this because people looking for jokes about the eating habits of nuns generally go to a search engine and type, “jokes about the eating habits of nuns,” not “Nuns, Buns and Puns.”

3. Use Your Keywords in Your Blog Text
Notice how the keyword phrase, “blog ranked high on Google,” is used throughout this blog post. Google pays attention to the text on a blog in order to understand what the blog post is about. Once Google comprehends the content of the blog post, it will categorize the blog based on that information. By using your keyword phrase in your text, both Google and your readers can quickly understand what your blog post is about, allowing Google to accurately categorize your blog making it easy for your clients to find.

In the past, search engine consultants encouraged writers to use their keyword phrase in the first 25 words of their text and again in the last sentence. Today, the search engines don’t seem to pay as much attention to word placement, but reader’s do.

If your article is about your keyword phrase, it’s a good idea to use it in the first and last sentence because it helps your reader quickly know what your blog post is about. It’s also a good idea to use your keyword phrase in the first sentence because that is the text that is most likely to show in the description text on the search results page.

4. Link To Your Blog With Keyword Rich Anchor Text
Get as many one-way links leading back to your blog post as possible from as many quality blogs and websites as you can. Do your best to insure that the text people click on to get back to your site includes your keywords and keyword phrases. This is known in Internet marketing circles as anchor text.

In this example I want the anchor text leading back to my blog post to have the keyword phrase, “blog ranked high on Google,” as the clickable text. The clickable text is the means by which all of those other web sites and blogs tell Google what your blog post is about.

Google provides far more weight to the theme of your blog post based on the quality and size of the sites linking back to your blog than the text on your blog. For example, if you do a Google search for the term, “click here,” you will be taken to the Adobe Reader download web page. It’s interesting to note the term “click here” doesn’t appear anywhere on that page. The reason the Adobe Reader download page comes up first for this term is because there are millions of other sites that use the anchor text, “click here,” to direct people to the Adobe Reader download page.

There are two wonderful ways to get keyword rich anchor text directing people back to your blog post. The first is to write and submit an article about your blog post to other web site and blog owners who will upload your article to their site. In return those web site and blog owners will provide you with a keyword rich anchor text link from your article back to your blog. They get great content for their web site and you get a valuable one-way link back to your blog post.

The second way is to encourage other blog owners to write about your blog post. In doing so, they are very likely to use your blog title as the anchor text leading readers back to your post. This is another reason why it’s so important to use your keyword phrase in your blog title.

5. Ask Your Readers To Digg Your Blog Post
Ask your readers to tell the rest of the world about your blog post by submitting it to one of the social bookmarking sites. They include DIGG, Stumble, Blink and many others. If the title of your blog post includes your keyword phrase, it is likely that this is how your readers will describe your blog post to the social bookmarking sites. This helps Google decide where to rank your site on the search results page.

6. Blog On A Community Site
Recognized Expert, Active Rain, and Christian Blog are all examples of niche community blog sites. Recognized Expert is a site for marketing experts, Active Rain is for real estate professionals and the Christian blog is for, you guessed it, Christians. These niche sites have tons of traffic along with the undivided attention of Google and the other search engines.

If you’re a marketing expert for example, blogging on a site like Recognized Expert will push your blog post to the top of the search results page in a matter of hours. That’s a huge reason to blog on a community site. If you wrote the same content on your own blog, it may take months to be seen by Google, and you may never get close to the first page for your keyword phrase.

Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and the other search engines explore busy community sites for new content every few minutes. On the other hand, they visit newer and smaller sites every few months. If you’re serious about generating business from blogging, consider blogging on a topic specific community site.


Good article from EarlySpinBlog.com


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