This is part two of the series: Getting Started with Keyword Research.

There’s a lot of talk about conducting keyword research, but what is the purpose of keyword research, anyway? There are three primary reasons for conducting keyword research: more website traffic, better sales, higher search engine results page positioning. So, whether you’re an Internet Marketer hoping to peddle a product or a blogger who wants to spread her message across the globe, learning how to conduct effective keyword research is essential to the success of your blog.

Whether you’re developing your list of keywords to increase organic search results or to conduct an ad campaign, thinking like a detective will help you in the process. The first four questions a keyword research detective should ask are:

Continue reading →

Today we’re starting a new SEO Saturday series on conducting keyword research. The goal of this series is not to train about monetizing your blog using keywords, as that will be covered in depth in The Ultimate Guide to Blogging Well. On this blog, we’ll focus on how using the proper keywords can boost your blog’s rankings in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), and therefore increase organic traffic to your blog.

Even though Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns are more competitive than in years past, which makes many beginners balk at the idea, keywords are still a vital part of developing your blog. Those words and phrases are, after all, the actual search strings potential readers use when looking for information on the Internet.

You may have heard about the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Some keyword researchers make the mistake of using only the basic functions of that site. This series will teach you not only how to maximize your usage of this amazing free tool, but how to partner your Google Adwords research with top consumer sites that many keyword researchers overlook. We’ll start with Amazon.com.

Continue reading →