It's common knowledge that keywords are what make you visible on search engines. This in turn brings traffic to your website. It stands to reason then that keyword research is hands down the most important part of this process. Unfortunately, many people don't do it, or simply don't know how to do it.
The reason keyword research is so vital to your search engine optimization is that the slightest variation in your keyword terms can significantly change how much you get in the way of traffic. Synonyms can be disastrous this way. If you put in one word a certain way, you can get thousands of visits. If you do it another, you might get one visitor. Such is the nature of keywords.
Since keyword research is so important, let's examine the ways you can do it. The first method is what is called "organic keyword research." The way you do it is to start with a keyword that defines your niche. You then enter it into a search engine. If you observe the appearance of the results page, you can learn a lot about what your niche looks like.
To start with, the total number of pages that your search has found can tell you much about the competition level for your niche. This is an important part of your keyword research. If you see too many pages with your keyword, you may want to reconsider your keyword string. Let's not jump the gun on that yet.
Now you can take a look at the number of sponsored ads that you see on the results page. If there are a lot of them, it means that there is a lot of money to make in your niche. This part of your keyword research involves weighing the number of the sponsored ads versus the number of total pages. Ultimately, it's a matter of your comfort level.
The next part of your keyword research is narrowing down your niche. Perhaps this one keyword niche is too competitive, but you want to stay in the market. Add a keyword to elaborate on your main keyword. As an example, if your niche is magnetic therapy, you can add "back," "shoulder," or "knee" to advantageously explain your main keyword. Perform a search on this key phrase.
Now you would again evaluate the sponsored ads versus the total number of pages. Has the margin narrowed any? If it has narrowed enough that you feel comfortable competing in this niche, your keyword research is over. If it hasn't quite yet, you can add another keyword or start over from the beginning.
If organic keyword research doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you can use automated tools to help you with your research. You're less likely to get relevant results from doing this, but it speeds the process along. Wordtracker and Google's Adwords Keyword Tool are two popular programs. There is a trick to using these tools, though. You don't go for the most popular searches. Those are the most competitive niches, and you could lose a lot of business that way. Go for the mid range.
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