In the last post in the ‘how to make a blog‘ series we covered the subject of finding your niche. That is a crucial step and so is this one…keyword research.
The vast majority of people who go onto the internet, go for one reason.
To find information.
They perform a Google or MSN or BING search to see what information is available for free or to buy.
What individuals enter in the search criteria is called the ‘keyword phrase’.
For instance, if you performed a Google search for “how to get fit books”, then you have just used the keyword phrase “how to get fit books”. After you did your first search you may not like or find what you are looking for, you may perform another search. For instance, “how to get fit from home books”. That would be another keyword phrase.
Google records all the keyword phrases people have entered every day for the past few years and we can tap into that information to find out what the best keywords we should be using for our chosen niche.
Why is Keyword Research important?
Because if we use the correct keyword phrases then we have a much better chance of our site being displayed on the first page of Google.
Once we find the best keyword phrases to use for our chosen niche, we shall try and use the phrase in our domain name…but more of that in a later article in our ‘how to make a blog’ series.
How To Make A Blog: What Makes A Great Keyword Phrase?
There are 3 key rules:
Keyword Research Rule #1
90% of keyword phrases get no traffic. When creating your blog you MUST ONLY target keyword phrases that have significant traffic to make it worth the time and effort.
Keyword Research Rule #2
90% of keyword phrases have very POOR profit potential. You MUST ONLY target keyword phrases that will bring you in CASH, NOT just traffic.
Keyword Research Rule #3
Unfortunately, for most bloggers, 90% of most keyword phrases are simply TOO COMPETITIVE to appear on the first page of Google. How many other websites are using the same keyword phrase as you? We want it to be as low as possible.
Taking those 3 key rules into consideration, we have to do some research to find the best keyword phrases for our blog.
We are looking for 6–8 keyword phrases associated with our niche.
Finding Great Useable Keyword Phrases
What are the best ‘how to make a blog’ guidelines for finding great useable keyword phrases?
You want a keyword phrase that:
1.   Is attracting more than 100 searches per day
2.   Sells
3.   Less than 500,000 other blogs / websites are using
For each keyword phrase you are aiming for:
1.   As high number of searches as possible
2.   As high number of sales as possible
3.   As low number of other blogs / websites using the same keyword phrase as possible
Get that combination right and you’ve got a great keyword phrase to target.
Remember, your aim is to have 6 – 8.
How to find great useable keyword phrases
The easiest and quickest way is with a tool called Market Samurai. The Market Samurai tool is made up of many functions but the Keyword Analysis part is free.
Click on this link to download a free trial version: Market Samurai
It’s an awesome tool.
Please note: Market Samurai also works on MAC
Follow this video to show you how to find the keyword phrases for your blog using Market Samurai. Click on this link to watch me pick my 6 – 8 keyword phrases and my primary keyword for a new niche:
Use Keyword Research To Get On The First Page Of Google
In the next post on the series, “How to make a Blog” we shall cover the topic of monetizing with Affiliate Products.
The previous blog posts in the ‘how to make a blog’ series:
How To Make A Blog Part One: Getting Your Niche Right Is Crucial
image by Kai Hendry
Hi Andrew,
Yes, you have taught me how important those key words are and I thank you. I am lokking forward to your next post of monetizing with Affiliate Products.
Thanks again you always keep me on track.
Blessing to you,
Debbie
Debbie,
You are welcome!
Keyword research is important. It’s also worth doing every 6 months or so.
Andrew
Can you explain for a key word phrase, must i use it exactly and by itself in the title or can i use it in combo with others
http://www.danpetrosini.com
Dan,
Use the keyword as a ‘combo’.
Just like I have used ‘how to make a blog’ in this blog post title.
Andrew
forgot to also ask how you determine the number of other blogs etc using that keyword/phrase
thx dan
http://danpetrosini.com
Dan,
When using Market Samurai – it is one of the columns of details you get back from the research.
Andrew
Thanks, Corinne for the ‘shares’.
Andrew
Thanks! Andrew Rondeau you given points are incredible. I’m using market samurai
Abhiz
How are you getting on with market samurai ?
Andrew
Great information on keyword research.
Unfortunately, there are just too many blogs out there for yours to succeed without some good marketing. Posts like these help bridge the gap!
Jon
I agree…it is getting harder and harder.
Content has to be better and better.
‘Good enough’ is no longer good enough!
Andrew
I wouldn’t be blogging without Market Samurai, Andrew. It is very important that bloggers pay attention to keyword research right from the beginning of starting a blog. It helps them to categorize and structure their blog in a good standing!
Totally agree, Jane.
It’s a shame so many don’t!
Andrew
Until lately, a month in time to be specific.i had no much idea about SEO and keywords etc., I kind of thought the web designer or client build their web according to their wish and as it gets popular search engines make note of it,then produce them back in the research pages.How ignorant can i be.
Thanks for these tips! That’s funny how almost no one finds my website for the keywords I am targeting. But I get found a lot for the most weird keyword combinations, that I never used and it would never occur to anyone to use these words on a wbesite. Some of them with bad mistakes/types, one comes to mind “shiepest otels that have a kitshen and will let me lieve with a dog” . Of course they are related to my content and I am amazed at how smart Google is in figuring out what users want!
Svetlana
No one finds your site for your targetted keywords…most probably because they are too competitive?
Andrew
When I started out, I chose the wrong keywords to market to. I chose ones that received the most views in my niche, but at the same time they were the most competitive keywords. I have been doing SEO constantly for a year and still haven’t gotten to page 1. Don’t make that mistake.
Katie
Picking the wrong keywords can make or break your site.
I think many of us, when we start out are tempted to go for the most competitive ones…thinking it will be easy to get to page one.
Unfortunately, we learn it’s not that easy!
Andrew
For my first project, I chose something I knew about, and was passionate about. Yes, I am monetizing the site, but I do not expect to make any real money from it (low profit niche).
I will be doing much more diligent keyword research for my next project. But Market Samurai has had some issues lately, any other tools that are worthwhile?
Eric,
I only use Market Samurai.
Andrew
I love the brainstormer tool from SBI – it’s helped me to build around 250 words that are being ranked and visited by google.
Oops, I meant 250 pages! I have built 250 pages of relevant keywords that travelers to Paris are looking for…
That’s sounds great. How does the SBI tool work?
Andrew
My mistake was to find keywords that looked perfect but the PBR thing tricked me. The three keywords I have chosen could be permuted in such a way that in a certain order they would target a specific set of customers and, in the order I’ve chosen, another different group. Thus I am not getting much visits, even though I have many impressions. Either that or people don’t have a sense of humor (since my site is satirical/humorous in nature) and don’t get the fact that my site description is a joke. LOL Hard to tell.
One of the videos in the Noble Samurai Dojo explains a cool method to test keywords before starting the work. Sadly it involves a cost since it’s all about using Google AdWords to test the waters. With hindsight, I think it could be worth it going that route.
Arthur
On-line success comes down to a lot of testing.
Short vs. long content.
Text vs. video.
Satirical/humorous vs. not.
Plus many other things!
Try other things to see if it increases your visits.
And, yes, perhaps testing with Adwords is ANOTHER test to take forward!
Andrew