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Keywords don’t lie

Friday, 25 January 2008

Keywords don’t lie

If you take anything away from this week’s installment… remember the above headline.

Many years ago I completed a small business course. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life, as it gave me the basics around financials, tax, marketing and a raft of other necessary business skills. At the end of the course I came away armed with a business plan. It was a very empowering moment!

Sadly, I witnessed other people in the course who put their head in the sand during the process. They were very passionate about their business ideas; it’s easy to fudge projected financials, cut corners with market research, just to will their idea to work. I often wonder, where are they now?

Like you, I’m still learning; making a few mistakes here and there, but also having a few wins along the way too.

When I did my course it was early 2000. The internet was experiencing its first serious growing pains, but I knew there were real opportunities online. As I became more heavily involved with online marketing I discovered tools that have become an invaluable part of our SEO business. Arguably, the most indispensible tools are those that help with keyword research.

Keyword research is the bread and butter of search engine optimisation. We’re looking at, and analyzing keywords and key phrases every day. One of the most important measurements is “keyword popularity”. We’re always looking at (and sometimes astounded by) how often people type in certain key phrases.

When I look back to the time I was preparing my business plan, I didn’t have access to keyword research. It’s a shame really, because it provides powerful market research from the consumers’ perspective.

Want to know if your business idea has legs? Keyword research will tell you instantly just how many consumers are actively looking for the goods or services you’re thinking of offering. It could save you a whole lot of time and it’s a very useful market research tool, even if your business is principally offline.

It may also help if you’re thinking of buying a business, or expanding your existing business into new areas.

Use an accurate keyword tool if you’re serious. Try www.keyworddiscovery.com – it will set you back around $US70 for a month’s access, but I think it’s a small price to pay in the long run.

And good luck with your new venture.

Chris Thomas heads Reseo a search engine optimisation company which specialises in setting up and maintaining Google AdWords campaigns, Affiliate Programs and Search Engine Optimisation campaigns for a range of corporate clients.

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Comments

Jodie Benveniste writes: Chris, What is the difference between these paid keyword tools and the free ones? I haven't found the free ones to be that useful. So I'm wondering, what do you get if you pay for it?

Chris Thomas replies: Personally I'm a big fan of keyword discovery. As you point out, it is paid, but you really get what you pay for. So I'm going to give it a plug. If you're serious about your website optimisation I highly recommend you at least try this tool! Beware. You might just find yourself hooked.

As I see it, the major benefits are:

1. Keyword analysis globally across 200 search engines.
2. Keyword analysis by individual country.
3. The ability to create "projects" where you can save your keyword research into individual "folders" (and export targeted lists into excel).
4. The ability to see weekly keyword trends over time (something overture's, now defunct, tool never really accomplished).
5. Charts showing which search engines receive the most volume keyword by keyword (ie Google vs Yahoo, vs MSN).
6. It has a keyword density tool for a selected keyword, on your own website, or your competitors.
7. There's a "top industry terms" tool that shows you which are the most popular overall key phrases typed in by category.
8. It will search on misspells.
9. It will search on "related terms".
10. It's got a neat "fuzzy" search that provides reverse misspells.

The major cons...? Price!