This lesson often comes as a surprise to many readers.
Mistake Number Two: Not taking advantage of correctly targeted keywords.
You Simply Must Have Massive Lists of Well-Targeted Keywords!
Question: In the headline above, which word is more important to your online success, massive or targeted (Answer later in the article).
Theres an old axiom that every offline sales professional has probably heard more than once. It goes something like:
If you throw enough pasta against the refrigerator door, some of its going to stick.
Thats the way to begin the quest for your keyword lists. Get enough of them, learn to use them effectively and youll find some that work. Youll find that others do not work so well for you.
And then youll occasionally stumble across what seems to be the next Holy Grail; a keyword that is both relatively inexpensive (if youre paying for that keyword through Google AdWords or another pay per click marketing campaign (PPC) - more about this in the 5th article in this series) and extremely effective in its ability to draw massive amounts of traffic that result in tons of sales.
Yessir, the thought of that type of keyword makes me smile. Heck, it makes me drool. I love finding those diamond-in-the-rough keywords that my competitors dont even have a clue about, much less use!
However, before you run off to your favorite keyword tool(s) (and I believe that you need to use more than one. Actually I use 7 tools for my really extensive keyword research - but thats coming up in the next article), stop for a minute and take a few moments to digest the next paragraph.
Massive keyword lists are your goal but you what you really want is the traffic that these keyword lists will ultimately generate.
You want these keywords and the corresponding traffic to be:
1) Well targeted - you dont just want traffic no matter what anyone has told you in the past. You want traffic thatsinterested in what youre offering. You want the real potential customers to visit your website with their checkbook or credit card, ready to make that purchase. Youre not after the tire thumpers.
2) Passionate enough about whatever youre offering (and affluent enough to be able to purchase it) to the point that price is not the deciding factor in consummating the sales process.
In order to accomplish those goals, you need to generate massive keyword lists. Then you need to learn how to manage these lists even further, depending on exactly the type of online sales youre doing.
If you are attempting to optimize your website, be it a brand-new website or 10 years old, youll be performing whats called search engine optimization (SEO) on your site. Youll learn more about this on Day 6 of this series of articles.
But if youre just salivating to get started using keyword research with your SEO activities, I can think of no better place to start than with a subscription to PlanetOcean.com. (Please see the active link for Planet Ocean in the Resources Box at the end of this article).
The folks at PlanetOcean are among the best SEO strategists around. Their eBook called The Unfair Advantage to Winning the Search Engine Wars (which comes with your subscription) takes you from complete SEO newbie all the way to the level of the pros.
The book and the website are updated monthly to assure you that their highly respected advice on optimizing your site (for the dozen or so top and second tier search engines, no less) is current and up-to-date.
If youre trying to find great SEO advice believe me, you will like and benefit from these folks. And they have a great, 365 day, even if the dog ate it guarantee. You simply cannot go wrong by checking them out.
Now if you are doing PPC campaigns with Google AdWords (or Yahoo which used to be Overture) thats a horse of a different color. You need to generate massive keyword lists as well. However, you will want to employ and manage your keyword lists in a much different manner than the folks looking to employ SEO to achieve great organic search results will.
Heck, youre paying for your keywords and the traffic they generate. You need to learn the basics from an expert in order to make money with the keywords that you are going to generate.
The man who is simply THE AdWords Guru, IMNSHO (In My Not So Humble Opinion), is my associate Perry Marshall. Perry is the author of
The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords. If youre an AdWords wannabe, you absolutely, positively want Perrys eBook (HINT: Your competitors probably already have their copies!).
And if youre an intermediate AdWords user (a semi-pro, so to speak) and you havent read Perrys book, you need to. And if you have read it, you want to read it again with the version thats just been updated (for Autumn 2005) to bring yourself up to speed. Click the link in the Resources Box at the end of the article for more information or to order this Great AdWords eBook.
OK, thats enough for today.
Oops, I almost forgot the answer to the question I posed at the beginning of the article.
ANSWER: IMHO, both words are important but if I had to choose only one of them as THE most important, Ill take targeted over massive when it comes to traffic any day of the week, especially if its in a PPC campaign where Im directly paying for that traffic. But in reality, I want them both! (Im a firm believer in the quote Be happy with what you have, so make sure you get enough!)
Again, though, thats just IMNSHO. ;-)
John Mann, The KeyWord Mann is President of MannMade Software, LLC. Hesbeen doing online sales & marketing for over 10 years now, starting backbefore Windows 95 was around.
MannMadeSoftware.com and YourKeyWordAssistant.com are the websites for his online sales & marketing software applications.
Curious about these tracking urls that Im using To see the first truly complete ad tracking & A/B split testing program around today visit:
For more information about PlanetOcean.com or their eBook The Unfair Advantage to Winning the Search Engine Wars visit:
Using Google AdWords If youre doing any kind of AdWords campaigns, youll want Perry Marshalls
The Definitive Guide to Google AdWords
It is simply amazing. Googles value recently passed the 100 billion dollar mark. If you arent in awe of the companys growth, then you are missing out on something that is nothing less than spectacular. So, what does all this mean Are we all going to be Googled or something We cant be sure, but changes in the world and in the way you live will at least, in some part, have something to do with what Google has planned.
In September 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Stanford University PhD candidates launched Google just a few years after meeting each other in a Stanford dorm. Together, they began to work on a new search engine they initially called BackRub which listed search results according to the popularity of that page. Soon thereafter, the name was changed to Google and with the backing of family, friends, and investors to the tune of one million dollars; Google was launched on September 7, 1998, in a friends garage.
Lets just say that from launch day forward growth has been nothing less than absolutely phenomenal.
It is nearly impossible to track all the changes that have taken place with the company since its inception. However, in 2004, the company went public and stocks were sold at what many considered to be a hyped up price of $85 per share. Today, shares have quadrupled in value and are set to pass the $350 mark. This fresh infusion of cash has allowed Google to expand, develop, or purchase other products including GMail, Blogger, GoogleEarth, Google Toolbar, Google Groups, Google Talk, and more.
There are other products in various stages of development and the usual rumors that suggest Google will create a completely different product line or purchase another companys business. For the sake of fun, here are some of the areas that Google just may be interested in exploring:
Some have wondered if Googles rapid growth can be sustained. After all, 66 year old technology darling Hewlett Packard has gone through its share of bumps and scrapes over the years. By the way, HP is only valued at 80 billion dollars. Regardless, no one can predict the future, but if Google has its way the company will play an important part in your future.
Copyright 2005 -- Matthew Keegan is the owner of a successful article writing, web design, and marketing business based in North Carolina, USA. He manages several sites including the Corporate Flight Attendant Community and the Aviation Employment Board. Please visit The Article Writer to review selections from his portfolio.