Regardless of whether you are marketing your own product or acting as an affiliate, niche keyword research is a must to learn, as it is the foundation of your online business. 

Obviously, you can hire someone to do it for you, but even so, it’s advisable to be knowledgeable so that you hire a competent person or firm.  Identifying keywords is essential in obtaining rankings in organic search results and for effective advertising such as Pay Per Click (PPC).

 

Niche Keyword Research — Creating Keyword Lists

Here are a few ideas that will help you create lists of keywords for your niche market.  These keywords should generate some traffic and be competitive. For example, there is so much competition for a word like “internet marketing” that it would take years of effort and you would still probably not get on to the first page of any search engine.

Also for words like this, you would go broke from the high cost of PPC advertising. So finding keywords that are competitive (able to get ranked on the first page) and generate some traffic is a realistic goal.

Start by doing some basic research into the needs, wants, desires, and frustrations of your niche market. This will lead you to the words and phrases of what people in your niche are looking for.

Sign up for Adwords and use the Google Keyword Planner which is free. You can also use The Keyword Tool on the top menu of this page which has a free and paid version.

Most free versions are not totally accurate as they are based on PPC data, but for getting started they will get the job done.  

As you come up with a lot of different keywords, create a keyword list on Excel or Word. The paid versions of keyword tools allow you to create keyword lists right on their software.

Now also check for synonyms as well. This will produce many more competitive words you can use. Your intention is to create a list of keywords and phrases used by people in your niche market.

 

Other Ways To Research…

What I mentioned above will be a good start. Since profitable keywords and phrases can make you a lot of money both short and long term, it pays to spend the time to do some in-depth research.

Here are a few ideas:

1) Forums in your target market – this is a great way to discover the pains and frustrations that people in your niche are experiencing. This is a place where people search for solutions to their problems.

2) Online Tools – There are tools out there that allow you to analyze competitor pages. This is a way to find out the keywords that your competitors are using to drive traffic. Check out Traffic Travis. You can input URLs and get traffic reports.

3) Social Media – You can come up with plenty of ideas by reviewing Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles, and other social media sites.

 

Different Kinds of Keywords…

By using the above ideas you will come up with all different types of keywords and phrases that are being input into search engines by your target audience. You can also focus on a few categories. 

Here are a few ideas:

Buy phrases – words like buy, purchase, order, or download followed by the product name will get you good keywords of people ready to take action.

Product names of competitors

Emergency words – words people use when they need to solve a problem immediately.   People are motivated when dealing with a crisis.

Product-related keywords – any words related to products in your niche market.

Long-tail keywords – if you are in the golf niche you can add “golf” or “golf swing” to the beginning of each keyword phrase to generate several phrases for each keyword you have.

 

Notice the keywords that people are using in your market niche to find stuff. Then analyze them as to traffic and competitiveness. Low competition keywords with at least some traffic will get you headed in the right direction. You will also find some jewels out there with low competition and high traffic.

This should be a good beginning in building your keyword lists.  Take your time and do a thorough job and you will be richly rewarded.

 

Here’s my Review of what I consider to be the Best Keyword Tool available on the market!

 

To your Success,

 

Joseph

 

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