After years of running websites and earning a full-time
online income, I am constantly reminded that it all comes
down to keywords. Actually, it all comes down to obtaining
top rankings for your profitable keywords in the search
engines, mainly Google.
And that statement has to be refined even further, it's
all about obtaining top keyword rankings and keeping them at
the top. You must consistently keep your keywords in the top
spots on that all important first page of SERPs since your
keyword rankings can make or break your online marketing.
If you're targeting extremely competitive and profitable
keywords you will have your work cut out for you; unless
you have tons of money to buy your way (links) into the
top spots, expect to spend months if not years, getting
to those top listings. Google has frowned upon link buying
and has taken steps to fight it, but this practice is
still widespread throughout the web.
Most beginning and honest webmasters want to take the
proper route and earn those top rankings by providing
good quality content that web users will actually find
helpful and useful. They build those links the natural
way by offering viral link bait in the form of videos,
ebooks, articles, reports... all branded with backlinks
to their sites.
Gradually over time, these links will build up and your
keyword rankings will go up in the search engines.
People will find your content and bookmark it in all
the social bookmark sites like Digg, Facebook, MySpace...
and your rankings will climb even faster.
However, since keyword marketing has become extremely
competitive, you do need a little help with achieving
those top rankings. Over the years I have tested and
used many keyword tools and I have listed some of the
best ones below.
Internet Success Spider
One of the first keyword tools I ever used was The
Internet Success Spider by Neil Shearing which is
now free. The Spider is a very simple, yet powerful
keyword tool because it shows you the major players
in your keyword niche. It slowly works in the background
to give you valuable information on your keywords.
I realized very quickly, with online marketing (like
most things in life) information is what separates
the losers from the winners.
http://www.grabthespider.com/
Keyword Elite
Later, I tried and am still using Keyword Elite by
Brad Callen, it remains one of the best keyword
research tools on the market. I can directly link
many of my keyword successes to my early use of this
tool.
Brad Callen simply creates some of the best marketing
tools for online webmasters and marketers. KE is no
exception. It will do some very comprehensive keyword
research for you and let you easily arrange that
information. Keyword Elite has earned a well deserved
reputation as a very useful marketing tool.
http://www.keywordelite.com
Brainstorm It - Site Build It
Another, perhaps even more powerful keyword tool is
Brainstorm It! which is offered through the Site Build
It marketing/hosting system run by Ken Evoy. This is
a powerful keyword analyzer and finder, which is now in
its third version.
SBI run by Ken Evoy creates many tools for webmasters
and Brainstorm It, Version 3 is simply one of the best.
This keyword tool will do both Vertical and Lateral keyword
research to give the most comprehensive array of information
for your online marketing. Only negative, you only get
so many Wordtracker credits and you have to pay extra when
those run out. Actually, Wordtracker should be at the
top of any keyword tool list, but I have mainly used it
in conjunction with other programs like Brainstorm It.
http://tools.sitesell.com/
Google Keyword Tool
Then again there is the Google own keyword system run
through it's Adwords program. Like everything Google
does, this keyword tool can be very helpful especially
for the novice online marketer.
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
MSN Commercial Intention Of Keywords
Not to be outdone, another helpful tool is Microsoft's
Online Commercial Intention tool, which tells the probability
your chosen keyword has a commercial value to it:
http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx
SeoBook Online Keyword Tool
For very quick keyword references, I like using
Aaron Wall's keyword tool on his Seobook site.
It's quick and gives very good stats for your
chosen keywords.
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
SeoQuake
Still yet another SEO (sort of related to keywords)
is the SeoQuake Toolbar which you can run on Firefox.
It will slow down your browser but it will cough
up valuable information about your own site and
more importantly, it will give you valuable information
on your competitors' sites. One feature that I find
very helpful is the SEM Rank and SEM Price, which
tells you how much your Search Engine keyword traffic
is worth.
http://www.seoquake.com
Plus, you must not ignore your website stats and traffic logs
for they can supply you with your most valuable keyword
information regarding your site. Closely examine which
keyword phrases are bringing in the traffic and/or sales.
Develop these keywords with your online marketing, especially
any "long tail" keyword phrases visitors are using to
find your site or products. These longer keyword phrases
have proven to be the most profitable because many times
consumers using these phrases already have their minds made
up on what they're going to buy.
Why am I using all these keyword tools?
Simply because obtaining and keeping top rankings
for my chosen keywords is my livelihood. Unless I can
keep that targeted traffic coming from these keywords
via the search engines; it's game over. Therefore, I use
all the tools and information I can gather in order to
keep those keywords at the top.
Google is always changing, you really have to stay on your
game if you want to keep your keywords at the top.
It all boils down to producing quality content web
surfers need and want. The SEO pretty much takes care
of itself as long as you keep promoting your keywords
with good viral branded content like videos, articles,
ebooks, PDF reports... and you must mix up your online
link building to include links from such places as Facebook,
Digg, Google Bookmarks, MySpace... I have always used
the free "Addthis" button to all my important content
and this has resulted in 100's of free links that your
visitors will build for you!
I also believe you have to be careful when using viral
articles to vary your anchor text (clickable part of a
link) so that you don't have the same keyword phrase repeated
100's of times across the web. Just use different versions
of your keyword phrase and if you can, get those keyword
links in the body of the article, as near to the top of
the page as you can. This will make your link building look
much more natural in the eyes of the search engines, especially
Google.
Overall, you must have hundreds, if not thousands of keywords
that you're targeting with your online marketing. You
must constantly keep building links for those keywords from
related sites on the web. Sometimes it is helpful to truly
view your keywords as organic, something that keeps growing
naturally on its own. But you must first build a solid
foundation with good quality content and then keep nurturing
those keywords with good quality link bait so that others
will bookmark, recommend and link to your keyword content.
Over the years, if there is anything I have learned about
keywords which always holds true, it is this: you must
be persistent. You must keep at it: building links, building
content... it will usually take months, if not years, to
get those top rankings for very competitive keywords and
it will take some further work to consistently keep those
keywords in the top positions. But you will quickly learn
keywords are well worth it since they can easily make or break
your online marketing.
...
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
websites. For the latest web marketing tools try:
Internet Marketing Tools
If you liked the article above, why not try this Free 7 Day
Marketing Course here:
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Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.
