Finding profitable keywords is the key to the success of your SEO and internet marketing campaigns.  Successful search engine optimisation relies in identifying what your customers are typing in the search engines. In order to attract buyers and potential customers to your site you’ll need to find your most profitable keywords.

In my previous article I discussed the difference between browsing vs buying keywords. I will now give you practical tips and techniques on how to conduct keyword research to find your best keywords.

Keyword Research Tip #1

You need not start your keyword research from scratch. Here’s a dirty little trick that you can do to find good keywords – spy on your competition. Identify your top competition and visit their website. Look at the keywords they are using in their content, categories and meta tags. This not only gives you an idea of what keywords they are utilising in their SEO campaign, it also gives you a chance to see lapses in their optimisation, giving you an opportunity to fortify your own website optimisation.

Keyword Research Tip #2

In order to find the best keywords for your business you need to think like your customer. Put yourself in the shoes of your target market.  Understand what it is they want and how they can get it.

Aside from using specific search terms, buyers generally use the word “buy”. People who use “price” and “cost” are also deeper into the buying process. When they are looking for keywords with “cost” and “price” there is a big probability that they have already chosen the product that they want to buy but they want to be sure that they are getting the best deal online.

Keyword Research Tip #3

Now that you have an idea of what keywords you want to use, utilize free keyword research tools to find how many people are searching for those keywords. Choose keywords with high search volume but with low competition. This can be a little tricky but getting the right combination can mean massive traffic, an increase in sales and ultimately a successful internet business.

I would highly recommend using the Google Keyword Suggestion tool, for three reasons – because it’s free (you really can’t beat that for value for your money), it’s easy to use, and other keyword research tools use the Google Keyword tool. In the keyword research video above, Dave gives you a tutorial on using the free Google keyword tool.

Keyword Research Tip #4

Once you have your keyword list, trim it. This is an essential step in the keyword research process. Choose only the most relevant keywords that would attract customers to your website. When doing keyword research you don’t need to have thousands of keywords in your list. It is a waste of time because it would be impossible to use all of these keywords in your campaign. It’s nice to have a long list of keywords – it gives you a feeling that you have accomplished something but in reality you would only need 20-50 of those keywords (maybe a hundred if you have a big site).  With keyword research, quality beats quantity anytime.

To be able to effectively bring targeted traffic to your website, it is of utmost importance to find the most profitable keywords to use for your SEO and website promotion. It may take some time and effort to find keywords that your customers are searching for but this is what would make or break your SEO campaign. Target the right keywords and see your traffic and conversion soar.

For advanced keyword research tips and techniques check out our SEO workshop on MelbourneSEOservices.com.