conversions

Even if you have a beautifully designed website it won’t generate any sales or leads if you don’t market it. One of the most effective methods for driving traffic to your site is search engine marketing. You can use either paid advertising or search engine optimization. Both require you to generate a list of keywords.

What is pay per click advertising?

This refers to the list of ads displayed in the right side of the search engine results pages (SERPS) where advertisers pay each time someone clicks on their ad. If many advertisers are competing for the same keywords you’ll pay more than the less competitive keywords.

What is search engine optimization?

This refers to the results listed on the left side of the search engine results pages. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing use keywords embedded in your website to find and rank your web pages. Multiple factors determine how high your site will rank ie keywords, quality and quantity of backlinks, domain age, social media signals, etc.

Both methods above first begin with keyword research to determine how many search counts a keyword or keyword phrase receives each month.

Here are 5 things to consider before conducting keyword research

1. Not all keyword research tools are created equal

Each keyword tool gets it’s data from different sources. For example the Google AdWords Tool gets all its data from Google and not any other search engine so this means its results are skewed towards Google. It also includes automated searches generated from automated software programs.

On the other hand WordTracker is more accurate than the Google Tool because it filters out automated searches and gathers its data from all multiple search engines (metacrawlers) such as Dogpile.com and Metacrawler.com. It also doesn’t include duplicate results and filters out adult-oriented keywords.

2. Results only contain a representative sample of total database results

It’s impossible to obtain a totally accurate count from any keyword tool because it doesn’t show the results from its entire database. For instance WordTracker’s results are only a 2% sample of its database.

How does this affect you?

Even though you may only see a few searches displayed inside WordTracker for a specific keyword, your sites stats may show a much higher number because it’s receiving traffic from all over the Net. The keyword tool only provides a representative sample from its database.

3. Keyword research doesn’t guarantee conversions

Even if you’ve created an effective keyword list, optimized all your web pages for the search engines and got hundreds of links pointing to your website it won’t guarantee your visitors will convert into sales or leads. One of the main factors affecting conversion rates is web copy. Well written web copy will generate higher conversion rates than poorly written content. Other factors include web design, load times and usability.

Video: 5 Things To Consider Before Conducting Keyword Research

4. High competition

Selecting keywords that are highly competitive will only waste your precious time. For instance if you select a keyword phrase that receives 5000 searches per month (according to the Google Keyword Tool) and the top 10 websites have 1000s of backlinks pointing back to them plus their domains are over 10 years old, your chances of outranking them will be very slim, especially if you’ve built a new website (with a newly registered domain).

5. Avoid using single keywords

Single keywords will generate thousands of more searches than long tail keywords (keyword phrases containing 2 or more keywords) because they are so general. Even though the search counts will be less it will be easier to gain high rankings for them because there is less competition.

Click here to get a Free Trial of the WordTracker Tool

Related Articles

5 Keyword Research Tools To Help Webmasters Gain High Rankings
Top 10 Keyword Research Mistakes To Avoid
5 Disadvantages For Using The Google Keyword Research Tool
Keyword Research 101 â€“ Where to Begin?
How To Research The Market Value Of Any Keyword
How to Choose the Right Niche to Start an Online Business
How To Begin A Search Engine Optimization Campaign

The success of an AdWords campaign primarily depends on the keywords you are targeting. If you use general keywords you may get lots of impressions but very few clicks. If you get lots of clicks you may not receive any conversions. Your keywords must be tightly woven into your ads and landing pages.

7 tips to find laser targeted keywords

1. Find keywords that get lots of searches

A keyword that gets 1000 searches a month means 33 searches per day. Out of those 33 searches many will click on the web sites in the organic listings (listed on the left side of the page) plus you may have competing ads listed above or below yours that also include some of those searches. Therefore only use keywords in your AdWords campaign that receive lots of searches per month.

2. Use the exact match option

When using the Google AdWords tool for researching your keywords, use the exact match option. If you use the broad match option it will generate a higher number of searches(clicks) because the searches are not specific. For example if your keyword is “red shoes” you also receive clicks for “long red shoes”, red shoes for dancing” etc.

By using the exact match option the Google tool will only return monthly searches for that exact phrase. The numbers may not be as high as broad match but they will be more targeted.

3. Include misspelled words

Many people don’t enter the correct spelling of your keyword when searching the Net. You can capitalize on this by incorporating them in your campaign. For example “pitbull” may also be spelled “pit bull”, “pitt bull.” If you enter those terms in the search engines you’ll still find many listings. Make sure you check how many searches the misspellings your keyword receives. If it gets a good number of searches include it in your campaign.

4. Include negative keywords

If you just use broad match keywords in your campaigns, try to include negative keywords to weed out irrelevant searches that will only cost you clicks. For example by including the negative keyword “free” you eliminate people searching on free products.

5. Write laser targeted ads

Google rewards you for ads that are very specific therefore try to include the main keyword in the first line of your ad and if possible the other lines also. Tell your visitor exactly what to expect when they click on your ad ie type of ebook or product, etc. Your landing page should expand upon what was promised in the ad.

6. Use multiple research tools

Instead of just using the Google AdWords keyword research tool (which) everyone else uses), use other research tools such as WordTracker, Keyword Discovery and Search It. You’ll discover keywords that others are not using. These undiscovered keywords will cost less per click and have less advertisers (competing ads).

7. Focus on keywords with a high click through rate (CTR).

After running your campaign for several days you’ll notice the keywords that receive the most clicks and impressions. Remove or pause the keywords that receive a few or no clicks and concentrate on the high performers. You may even create a new ad group that just focuses on one high performing keyword. It will improve your CTR and quality score.

By finding and implementing these laser targeted keywords, you have a greater potential to create profitable AdWords campaigns.

*********************
Improve your search engine rankings and web traffic by selecting one of my search engine optimization packages

5 Things To Consider Before Conducting Keyword Research

Google AdWords Tips – How to Find Laser Targeted Keywords To Increase Conversions

Subscribe To My Channel

Categories

Archives