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Good Internet Keywords...
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| Costs usually increase as your page position improves Maximum traffic comes from the first 3 pages First 3 page rank is basically determined by amount paid |
Pay Per Click Can Get Expensive:
If you decide to use pay per click advertising, you will need to learn how to use keywords. Keywords are used by search engines to find various web pages on the Internet. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? When a web page is created, most developers will create a list of keywords that describe their subject, or explains what is covered in the contents of the page. It appears, that if you don't mind spending, you can buy good rankings for your keywords and website.
The search engines use these keywords and meta tags as a part of their method of indexing pages you see, when you perform a search. The various search engines use their own specific secret formula for determining position within their listing. I'm pretty confident, that it starts with a specific keyword and in some cases meta tags. I will address keywords and leave meta tags for later discussion as I haven't actually determined there value..
A good use of keywords can help get you a good listing on the search engines; or they can hurt you. On this page I will probably enter 2 keywords, against some of the old rules of some SEO (search engine optimization) experts. The 2 that I will enter will be keyword, and Internet keyword. Some times I will enter the plural of these words as well. I really don't think that is as critical today, I'm pretty sure most search engines take care of this today. I received a reprimand from one of the larger search engines for not being specific enough in the use of my keywords. Since that time, I don't list many of the keywords in my HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) tags.
In order to be listed in the first few pages of any search engine listing you really have to find some unique keywords, or you have to pay dearly for them. Most search engines charge suppliers by the number of hits they receive based upon a bidding system for the keyword used in any PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns. I can tell you now, if you haven't tested and determined conversion rates of specific campaigns; this will get expensive in a hurry. I think this is where most of their (search engines) money comes from.
I'm not privileged to the information specific to the high cost keywords; I have heard that some suppliers pay up in the double digit dollars for some keywords and this is on a per hit basis. When you're paying that type money, you had better have all your ducks in a row. This means testing and proving out your conversion rates and sales to the maximum; or you're going to lose some money.
It is more difficult in the case of newbies, because you haven't got anything to use for comparing your results. In these cases you will want to start slow and work your way into good conversion rates before jumping in with both feet. Most search engines will allow you to set limits on how much you spend. Some will even give you an estimate of the number of hits expected based upon your keywords. Take advantage of these limits and test. If you find a particular campaign that has a good conversion rate; take a chance and go for it.
Some marketers create a general list of keywords, and then look for unique ways to create very targeted list of keywords. This reduces the hits; that have no bearing on the content of the site. When you pay by the hit, you only want hits that are relevant and are most likely to subscribe or purchase a product. It depends upon what you're trying to accomplish and how much money you're willing to spend. There has been a lot of money made using different techniques for reducing expenses of PPC advertising.
There are lots of software and other means to accomplish finding and maximizing your efforts. Be careful about anything that might be interpreted by search engines as cheating; they catch on pretty quick. I imagine they search and determine what is being sold to work around their formula. Take advantage of any ethical means you can afford to maximize your marketing efforts; if you plan on using PPC. I'm not big on PPC myself, but I have been studying it. I even purchased a few pieces of software that I'm looking at evaluating at the present time; but that's another subject.
You can see the importance of creating a good keyword strategy if you want high placement or rankings in search engines, or plan on using PPC. Remember, you are not looking for maximum hits, just the ones that have a good conversion rate. This means you need to know your customer, and focus your effort on targeting just them.
Part II
Some Hints
The importance of keywords in any pay per click (PPC) advertising can't be overstated, and the same is true for search engine optimization (SEO). This can be a very costly method of reaching your actual customers; if you do it wrong. Remember, that most people use the Internet as a means of finding information of some form. It will usually be to familiarize themselves, price checking, or purchasing of some product. You need to determine the most often used keywords these searchers are using and it should lead more traffic to your website.
If you were going to look for your product; what search terms would you use to find the product? Your customer will probably do the same thing and start by searching for what they are looking for on the search engines. Have you ever looked for something in the "Yellow Pages" in a phone book and couldn't find what you were looking for? It's the same way with keywords, you may not be thinking of all the keywords to search by. Take the time to develop your keyword list with good keywords and it should pay off. It might not hurt to ask your friends what terms they would use to search for whatever your trying to accomplish.
The other thing you must remember is that you will have to pay for every hit, or click, you receive from pay per click campaigns depending upon your bid. Know your customer, check out places where they may be located, learn their language, and use limiting terms in any ads used for PPC campaigns. Otherwise, you will have problems being successful. The idea is to make sales, or get subscribers, not just get random hits; conversion rate is what's important. Finding smaller areas that have a few hits may be the way you need to start; until you have figured out the best set of keywords.
How to avoid paying for hits
that don't pay off?
If the competitor is successful and the product is similar enough to your own; use his keywords to begin your search. These keywords will probably be expensive, so they are not what you are looking to use in your campaign. The reason for starting here is because the customer base will probably be the similar and it should give you a good starting point. Try using synonyms of the competitors site, or maybe a phrase that would capture some traffic.
One way to accomplish this is to use your browser; go to "View" and then down to sub menu to "Source" this will give you the HTML code for the site in most cases. Look for "content=" and check out what is listed in the meta tag as well. This is a kind of cheat and some webmasters have found ways to avoid this method of obtaining keywords.
Go get your dictionary, thesaurus, or the Internets, and look for other words that are synonyms of your competitors keywords. The idea is to find words that some of the searchers might use to find your product; but aren't going to cost as much as the popular keywords. Sometimes this can be accomplished by adding a word before or after the main keyword. Phrases are being talked about a lot at present and seem to reduce the cost of keywords.
Write down all the words you can come up with that might be used to search for your product. This list should be extensive, many of the words will probably be worthless; but there could be a winner in the list that's the one your looking for and want to use. There is no quick way of doing this step, it just takes time and effort to accomplish. I had problems with this when I started, but it works much quicker now.
The good thing about finding keywords is that the more you do it; the easier it gets. Some products and customers are more difficult to describe using keywords than others. I think, I always find the difficult ones, so maybe your keywords will be easier to find. Well, maybe not. It just takes some determination and time to find what keywords work best at a reasonable cost.
I have read many ebooks and participated in discussions related to the various methods of doing this very thing. I haven't used the mis-spelling technique, but I know several marketers that are using the less used keywords with some success. The advantage is that the keywords are less expensive and it is easier to get higher page rank or position; although the search numbers go down. You may be able to find some keywords that only get a few hits because of certain niches. These may be exactly the keywords you are looking for to still get traffic at small cost.
That reminds me, I just read that Google has grayed out the page rank feature on their toolbar. I believe it also said they might start using "Trust" as they were suppose to have purchased the patent. I just read that this morning on a blog feed I received; it may, or may not be factual.http://www.pixelfast.com/overture/
Overture Keywords Searches:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Google Keyword Suggest:
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
I was contacted by Runel Pequiro (Trellian - Sales) to add his link to my website. I checked his site out and he does offer a free trial and a public forum; so I decided why not, you can form your own opinions of the value. Here is the link: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/
I have also been contacted by Rob of KeywordSpy about putting a link to his site. He also has a free trial.
Here is the link: http://www.keywordspy.com/ It just checked on cost and it's almost $90 a month; I have also checked with some friends and they feel they can research for less as do I.
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Start adding prefixes and suffixes to the words; or another word in front, or in back of the original word. Create groups of words that relate to your product. Using some good tools to evaluate the list of keywords such as WordTracker, or Overture to begin finding the best possible fit for your customer. Learning the specific language of a niche can also help you get good keyword results. |
These cost, but in the long run you will be ahead by checking and finding the best keywords available at the best price. The benefits will outweigh the cost. I have probably spent more money in this area than anywhere else; I have several pieces of software that find keywords and I'm still learning. Learning and improving is an important aspect of marketing and continues to be a profitable niche for Internet marketers.
Keywords and ranking in search engines are very important for anyone relying on traffic from searching for a particular niche; or targeted traffic. You must determine if your keywords are working for you and keep tweaking until you have reached your target audience. This will usually result in more profit than expense related to your selected keywords. Clicks aren't what your looking for; sales is what you need. It is important that you are converting clicks to sales if you use PPC methods.
Targeted traffic that has and spends money to buy your product is the key to using PPC as your means of obtaining traffic to your website. If your spending more than your making STOP; your doing something wrong and need to re-evaluate your position. Pay Per Click can be great, or destroy your business and capital and it will boil down to your use of keywords and the targeted traffic they bring to you.
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