Webmaster Papers




Google
 
Web webhostingpapers.com




/pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">

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, SEO and internet marketing at: Cobrasurf.blogspot.com

RELATED ARTICLES


Search Engine Optimization - Free Tips and Help - Part One - The Title Tag
Search Engine Optimization is a widely misunderstood industry. Many webmasters, including myself, have been mislead by industry forums, and Internet "chatter". Having tried many different approaches, starting in 1996: It is ironic that the methods I used back then, still hold true today, to a great extent.
Building Link Popularity As Easy As 123
The most difficult area of SEO is building link popularity. You may be thinking why? Because there are no easy ways to build link popularity. In this article I will tell you how to get links and how to find them.
How to Develop a Successful ROI for Your Website
Are You Really Measuring for Return on Investment (ROI) with Search Engine Optimization?
The Simple Formula To Search Engines
Search engines are one of the best tools to bring targeted traffic to your business. Millions of people are always using them every day to search for information that's suitable to them. Understand that this gives you an advantage to give your prospects whatever they are looking for.
Search Engine Optimization: Get the Low-down
Been hearing the words Search Engine Optimization lately? I know I have. But what is it, you wonder? Well, that's what I'm here to talk to you about.
Article Marketing: Fox in the Competitor Hen House or Chicken Little?
I recently was asked by an author to remove a free content article from a client web site where we had posted it (with several others from different authors) to increase topical relevancy at a site that fit the article perfectly.
Finding The True PR Of A Page?
I had an email "conversation" this last week which I feel others may benefit from "listening in" on. Here it is in summary:
Your Top Search Rankings at Yahoo & MSN Search are Worthless
It seems I now do this rant every single year when traffic statistics are discussed in web industry news. Last week I posted to my Reality SEO blog that referred traffic numbers are the only statistic that webmasters should be concerned about when looking at their search engine rank. I wrote about this last year after ComScore Media Metrics statistics were relased discussing Search Engine Queries generated by each search property. http://searchengineoptimism.com/Google_refers_70_percent.html
Importance of Keywords in Links to Your Website
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a very complex process. It is a long-term process that will usually never produce results that you can see in days or weeks. By now you probably heard about the importance of getting other websites to link to yours so that you can get a higher ranking in search engines. You listed your websites in some directories and also received a few other links to your website.
Dealing With Search Engine Stress In A Home-Based Business
As a member of several search engine optimization forums, I have recently noticed (especially since Yahoo recently decided to try their hand at competing with Google) that the stress level of many webmasters has gone way up. This applies not only to webmasters involved in Internet-based home businesses, but to webmasters in general.
Search Engine Optimization Strategies Guaranteed to Skyrocket your Rankings
The point of optimizing your website is so that you will get ranked higher in the search engines and receive more visitors to your site. As a result, you will increase sales and revenue. Consider the following tips so that you will be able to optimize your site and be returned as a higher result in the search engines.
What is Search Engine Optimization?
It is no secret that search engines are the number one traffic generating method for driving visitors to the different web sites. Search engines are very useful in helping people find the relevant information they seek on the Internet. The major search engines develop and maintain their own gigantic database of web sites that can be searched by a user typing in a keyword or keyword phrase in the search box.
The Unethical SEO Myth
"The use of black hat SEO techniques are completely unethical." Really? I completely disagree.
Recommended Tools When You Put On The SEO Cap For Your Web Site
The name of the game is search engine optimization and there are 20 winners and a million losers. It is a massive game that is conducted each and every minute by the top search engines. The fun is the referee of the game tries to modify the format each minute, to make the game useful for the spectators, in this case the folks who search. This is a high stakes game with billions of dollars at stake and the rules change daily. The playing field changes daily and the folks who compete constantly change. Wow what a fun filled game this is. This game has consistently shown that the folks with the right tools win consistently and the ones' who don't but with good ideas win at random and like shooting stars fade out real quick.
Reality Check: A Straightforward Guide to Keywords and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Web site owners need to have realistic expectations when it comes to the world of keyword selection.
Google Page Rank Is Dead - Part III
HELP! My PR page rank is grey, call the development doctor. As the world of Google is turning a mile a minute these days, some really big changes are happening. This weekend, marketers all around the world don't believe what they are seeing... Google's Page Ranking system is dead.
SEO Basics - 8 Key Strategies For Online Business Success
The world of search engine optimization (SEO) can be a big scary place for newbies. Most SEO professional companies charge astronomical prices that may or may not guarantee success.
Search Engine Strategies for Affiliate Websites
The major search engines are always on the lookout to improve their search results and to weed out websites with duplicate content. They are also weeding out websites that mainly contain affiliate links. This is going to affect quite a few businesses on the Internet that depend on affiliate links to generate revenue.
The Great Search Engine War, Where Content is King
When search engines first appeared, they were simple affairs consisting of a relatively basic database containing small amounts of information about websites. The search engine database allowed web-surfers to search for specific words or phrases. The search engine would then provide a list of hyperlinks to websites containing those words or phrases in several Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS). The basic concepts of a search engine are still the same, but much has changed since those innocent days.
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 Viol�! The efficient little engine throws up pages and pages of website URLs which carry your keyword.