10 Commandments of Keyword Research

The 10 Commandments to Successful Keyword Research…

“How to Conduct Keyword Research that Will Demolish Your Competitionin a Biblical Manner. End of story.”

1NicheBOT – “Finds exactly what people search for!”

Demolish your competition with …

Jim Morris

Copyright 2008 – Jim Morris and Full Throttle Enterprises, Inc. – All Rights Reserved

What we’ll cover…• Your Ultimate Online Objective• The 4 Key Roles that Keywords Play in the Existence to Your Online Presence

(Sorta Like Oxygen to Humans)• Market Research is Not Keyword Research• What is “keyword research” and is it at all accurate?• The Many Reasons for Keyword Research• Different reasons require different tools (one tool does not fit all)• A look into the databases, the differences and how to pick the right one for your

specific research project• The Essential Elements to Entering Your Targeted Web Surfer’s Mind (it’s all

about them – not about you)• The 10 Commandments to Successful Keyword Research Unveiled• The Two Things You Must Start Doing Today to Improve Your Keyword

Positioning Immediately• Some quick website promotions you can easily incorporate into your daily

activity that costs absolutely nothing.


Jim Morris


Demolish your competition with the 10 Commandments to Successful Keyword Research…

Who Am I to Talk? About Me…Founder of NicheBOT keyword research tool in May 2004 with over20,000 registered users in over 100 countries worldwide.• Recognized Keyword Expert… Interviewed by the likes of:• Derek Gehl of the Prestigious Internet Marketing Center• Michael Campbell, Author, Revenge of the Mininet & Clickin It

Rich• James Martell, Author of Affiliate Marketers Handbook• Michelle MacPhearson of SocialMediaDaily.com• Generated over 20 million visitors over the past 3 years (80% of

which went uncaptured – will explain later)• Responsible for generating mailing lists of over 50,000 individuals• Total personal online revenues for past few years just under 3

million


Jim Morris



Your Ultimate Online Goal• Let me see if I can read your mind. Ah-oooooooooom• Could it have something to do with …


Jim Morris



Your Ultimate Online Goal• A top #1 listing in Google for ALL of your major keyword terms

much like this (and why not own the whole entire page of results?)…


Jim Morris



Your Ultimate Online Goal• We all want top search engine listings and free traffic without paying for

it.• We all want heaps and heaps of traffic that will make our server shake,

creating so much business that it stuffs loads of money in the bank• Most importantly, we all want it now!• NOTE: No current brain chips on the market that allow us to gain instant

knowledge.Take a chill pill real quick…• Woah horsey – slow the pace down and take a breath first!• Take it slow, watch yourself grow and the results will come.• You would never practice medicine or adjust someone’s spine without

going to school and getting the training. Online should be no different!• Get the proper education from the right people and take the time to

learn it, daily and practice. Atheletes, violinists and actors practice everyday, why shouldn’t you?


Jim Morris



Number 1 Role – Your Future Customers Use Keywords to Find You• Comscore.com reported in 2004 that 83% of people who made an online

purchase began with a keyword search.• That number is probably quite higher now that online consumer buying

confidence is much higher. (NicheBOT story about continuing business.)Number 2 Role – Search Engines Love Content• Therefore They Consume Keywords on your Page. The more pages of web

content with keyword phrases on them, the more keyword listings you can obtain, the more traffic you’ll receive in return.

Number 3 Role – Search Engines Read the keyword phrases in hyperlinks when they jump from one link to the next to the next when they are crawling the web. They also give higher rank to a web page that has a link pointing to it with that specific keyword phrase in that hyperlink.

Number 4 Role – Each Keyword Phrase becomes a unique opportunity to get more traffic.

• Unlike the yellow pages that gives one or two listings, can have thousands of listings under various keyword phrases


Jim Morris



4 Key Roles that Keywords Play in Your Continuing Online Presence

• Yes, you can have 41,834 separate keyword listings or you can have 1,000,000 – your choice!

• Example of how many keyword phrase listings you can have• Screenshot of only NicheBOT’s keyword traffic


Jim Morris



4 Key Roles that Keywords Play in Your Continuing Online Presence

• Up to this point, I assume that you have done your market research and are in a proven market

• If not, please go to Google.com and type in “5 free powerful ways” and please read that article on market research.

• Everything beyond this point assumes you have a product, service or affiliate product to represent and do keyword research for.


Jim Morris



Market Research isnot Keyword Research

• Keyword Research defined:• The act of using a database of keywords to locate and uncover all relevant

keyword phrases in your market that real people search for• Keyword Research on Steroids:• The act of using a database of keywords to locate relevant keyword phrases

that are close to the buying cycle of a web surfer’s experience. (example: multiple keyword database research tool vs. keyword research)

• Even though it’s “research” -- it’s not science and it’s not exact at all!• Keyword databases show a very slight sliver of the total action• Google external tool numbers aren’t even close to what logs show.• WordTracker’s data is less than 1% of all data in the world (so is Keyword

Discovery).• So we are seeing just a sliver of the entire pie -- with 98% of the data held by

the big 5 engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask and AOL.com


Jim Morris



What is “keyword research”and is it at all accurate?

• The only thing that is accurate about the traffic a keyword phrases produces are your web logs or Google Analytics account that shows how many visitors are coming from a top search engine position.

• The only way to tell if one keyword gets more traffic than the other is to prove it yourself. No keyword database can tell you otherwise. There is NO crystal ball and NO magic tool.

• There are way too many factors on the Search Engine Results Page for someone to predict how much traffic you’ll get for a specific term.

• There is also NO tool out there that can predict profitability of a keyword. Anyone telling you so is trying to really sell you swampland in Florida. NO tool can understand HOW you will market a product, affiliate opportunity or whatever under that keyword phrase.

• So to recap, only way to get an accurate gauge and understand how much traffic you’ll get for a keyword phrase is to do what? That’s right – you’ve gotta test it for yourself! ;o)


Jim Morris



What is “keyword research”and is it at all accurate? (cont’d)

• Sometimes I may have just a specific purpose for doing keyword research. So…• Before I ever think up a domain name, I search keyword data.• Before I ever write a title for my blog post, or even the body, I refer to some

keyword data and use the keyword phrases in the names of the categories and also in the tags of each of my blog post entries.

• Before I ever change the reciprocal link text on NicheBOT, I consult the tools. (Reciprocal link text is the cut and paste text webmasters use during a link exchange.)

• Before I ever write a title tag...• Before I ever write a meta description tag...• Before I ever write a title for an article...• Before I ever figure out if there is enough demand for the topic of a site I am

thinking of launching...• In fact, before I even go mining for ideas to get inside the prospect's head of

what exact words and related words they are using by doing keyword research…


Jim Morris



The Many Reasons for Keyword Research

• May sound funny as the found of a tool, but not every tool fits all types of keyword research.

• 4 types of keyword research users/keyword sectors:

• Search Engine Optimizers (trying to get top rankings)• Niche Miners (looking for new niches to uncover)• PPC Advertisers (those looking to pay less for traffic)• Adsense Publishers (those who want visitors to click on high paying

Google Ads)

• Each of these types of people will approach and conduct their research in a different manner due to their objectives.


Jim Morris



Different Reasons Require Different Tools

• What is a keyword database?• A sample of data that is arranged from some search engine or way to

acquire what people are searching for.• Five major databases are currently available to the public

• WordTracker (< 1% of data)• Google• Keyword Discovery (< 1% of data)• Yahoo (not public – must have YPN account)• MSN (not public – must have an Ad Center account)

• Other smaller insignificant ones:• Wordze (< .5% of data)


Jim Morris



A Look into the Keyword Databases

• The Coca Cola of the industry and considered the most accurate• Data goes back 100 days into the past• Great for trendier (newer terms)• 330 Million keywords in database• Data comes from searches done at MetaCrawler.com and

DogPile.com (both have a .63% marketshare amongst all search engines)

• Keyword count results represent searches done across the entire globe


Jim Morris



A Look into the WordTracker’s data

• Primarily a Pay-Per-Click tool for their advertisers• Shows exactly what is searched for on Google.com and the approximate

volume• Data reflects search count over the past month and the past year• Google is the mother of all databases (but has its caveats)• The numbers exclusively at their Google External Keyword Tool are way and

should not be relied upon. Merely for order of popularity.• Global keyword research done in 41 languages across 243 different

countries/territories.• Google limits terms shown above a certain volume (low volume will not

show)• Limits results to 200 terms per search (Google limit on NicheBOT 15,000)• Censored due to privacy concerns• Search count can be inflated from Google partners as well as webmasters

checking rank on Google with automated rank checkers


Jim Morris



A Look into Google’s data

• Appeared in 2005 to try and knock off The Coca Cola of the industry by claiming a large and enormous database

• Data goes back 365 days into the past• Good for seasonal terms• 5 billion keywords in Premium database, 35 billion keywords in Historical

database (this used to be the only primary database)• Primary search data comes from people who downloaded a toolbar• Search conducted on toolbar get reported back to Keyword Discovery

and put into database• Unknown as to who this group of toolbar searchers are and what the

demographics (probably more technically inclined individuals)• Due to constant changes in databases, their service and changes in

contract as well as the inconvenience to NicheBOT users, this data has been highly discounted and disregarded for some time.


Jim Morris



A Look into Keyword Discovery’s data

• Before you can write content that speaks to your visitor, you must know who your customer or perfect website visitor is first.

• There are traces of human footprints all over the web. Profile this person. Write down their age, sex, weight, wants, needs, desires.

• Visit forums that have to do with your topic and see what people are asking and discussing. People’s questions = concerns.

• Visit blogs to find what thought leaders are discussing and other small business owners (and view the comments people are leaving).

• Use blogsearch.google.com to find blogs related to your industry.• Look for reviews for your product or your type of service.• Become your prospect and ask yourself “what exactly would I be looking

for and what’s important to me.”• When you know those concerns, you can address them in the copy.


Jim Morris



The Essential Elements toEntering Your Prospects Mind

• What they don’t teach you about keyword research• This is a true discovery process• Uncover strengths and weaknesses of your site plan and locate golden

keywords• Like training and practice to an athlete, this is the fundamental essentials

and builds the foundation of success for a site• Just like extra credit in school when you get more points to make sure you

got an “A” – that’s what this is (insurance)• Only 1% will ever go through the steps – sad, but true. Complete 9 of the

10 steps and you could well be looking at a six figure a year business or more

• The first 5 Commandments have nothing to even do with keyword research or using a tool

• Completing 10 Commandments makes keyword research 20x easier


Jim Morris



The 10 Commandments to Keyword Research

Commandment 1 – Preparing Your State of Mind

a. Decide and write a mission statement

Example: I will commit to and get my site in the top 10 on Google for the top 50 most trafficked keyword phrases in the next 6 months.

• The U.S. Army always punches in the coordinates for a missile to hit a certain target – so should you when it comes to your business goals.

b. Commit your resources to following through no matter what!

• This might require finding out your real reason WHY you’re doing what you’re about to do.


Jim Morris




Commandment 2 – Prospect’s State of Mind

• This is about the prospect – not about what you think• Go find where your target audience hangs out – no matter how dark the

corner.• Join some forums – read the posts over the course of a day.• Read some popular blogs and see what people are commenting• Note and take notes of keywords people are using that you didn’t think

of• What name brands are people talking about and what are their

complaints?• During this discovery stage, you need to be continually asking yourself

what solution your product is solving for your prospect.


Jim Morris




Commandment 3 – Find and Bond with Your Competition

• Go to the MOST prestigious keyword phrase you would like to be listed under (no keyword tool required) and plan to look at the top 20 sites excluding places like Wikipedia and information sites. NOTE: Keyword must describe your industry exactly.

• Plan a whole day out to examine and thoroughly get into your competitor’s site to see what makes the site tick and what their ultimate offer is. Look at what makes the site unique.

• Look and make notes of all aspects of their site, forum, blog, community, membership site, bonuses they give away, newsletter, look at everything. (Buy a product just to experience your own competitor.)

• Ask in the back of your mind during this process, (1) does my site do this (2) will this enhance my site without too much effort, and (3) is this an essential component to compete?


Jim Morris




Commandment 4 – Percolate and Absorb

• Your mind now needs a day to relax and process all 2 days of research

• Just go about doing mundane routine or just play video games all day long if you can do so (depends upon day of week)

• Tomorrow we’ll get really busy!• No – really!!


Jim Morris




Commandment 5 – Celebrate Your Work Thus Far

• Too often, we’re not rewarded in the real world for our little accomplishments – you deserve it!

• Take yourself or take you and someone else to lunch in celebration of doing that keyword research.

• Just reflect back on the fact that you’ve accomplished what 99% of the small business owners will never do

• And time to get excited, dig in and create plan on the following day


Jim Morris




Commandment 6 – Self-Assessment

• Before any chef knows what he’s cooking and can prepare the ingredients for the dish, he must know exactly what dish he’s cooking and for how many people.

• You need to understand your initial need for the # of keywords• What are the parameters of your project: how many web pages are you

creating, will you build a blog for ongoing content development, get a feel for the entire scope of the project

• Whatever your project is – we’ll need at least 10x that many keywords for your entire project.

• Need just one web page? Then you’ll need 10 keywords• Plan for continuous growth of your website (search engines love content

and they love to see sites being updated and will visit them more often)


Jim Morris




Commandment 7 – Create the Plan

• Take what you got from your assessment and write down your inventory of what you’re going to create.

• How many pages will you create?• How many articles will you create on your site and then also

distribute?• Do you plan to create a blog?• Do you plan to blog comment (discussed at the end of this)?• This is the battle plan that will get your target mission done.


Jim Morris




Commandment 8 – Grab the Keywords

• This will be 20x easier having done all the other Commandments.• Using whatever tool you do, it’s time to grab those keywords.• NicheBOT users log into your account and start at Step One

• First object is to get organized and setup a keyword project folder• Use a date and the niche topic of your industry in your folder name.


Jim Morris




Commandment 8 – Grab the Keywords (cont’d)

Step Two:• Main objective is to first find words for SEED LIST.• SEED LIST is the primary keywords (one or two word combinations)

that you will dig deeper into later on.• Find ALL related keywords – brand names, model numbers, and any

pathways, words or ways that people would search for one word and then end up looking for what your site has to offer.

• You can use WordTracker free tool or use the WordTracker Keywords Tool at NicheBOT which is under the “Quick-Digging” tools at NicheBOT. Also use 1-Click LSI tool to get a bunch of related words.

• Do this until you’ve exhausted all possibilities.


Jim Morris





Step Three:• Dig into all SEED LIST keywords and create a massive list you will filter soon

enough to get rid of the rubbish.• This requires deep-digging tools at premium services or at NicheBOT so you can

find ALL the keywords under each.• For long tail keywords, use the Google Keyword Cruncher.• For trendy words, use the WordTracker 4-in-1 tool at NicheBOT. Do this until

you’ve exhausted all possibilities.• Once you’ve exhausted all possibilities, take your huge list and now it’s time to

filter out the rubbish.• Delete and filter all obvious words that are not related to your site and any that

may be teetering on the edge of relevancy.• Get competition date to calculate KEI and ratio if that’s your cup of tea.


Jim Morris





Step Four (optional):• Analyze your keywords bylooking at the competition andtheir inbound links and howdifficult it may be to achieve a toplisting. (Resources)• Look at keyword trends usingWordTrend Comparison tools• Pick the first priority batch of10 keywords to go out and promote.


Jim Morris





Step Five (after content creation and link promotion):• Monitor your rankings and improve optimization of current

pages.• This part where you get to actively monitor top positions comes

after Commandment 9 where you get into action! ;o)


Jim Morris




Commandment 9 – Get Into Action

• Building web pages with content• Write like you speak in your content (be human like)• Google: “write like you speak” and read my article on this topic.• Use keyword phrase in obvious places like Title Tag, top heading and in

the first sentence at close in the conversation as possible. Google: “Fifteen places you must put your keyword phrase” read this article)

• Acquire inbound links with keyword phrases you got from your keyword research

• Do content swaps with other webmasters to seed backlinks in content back to your site

• Create software to get backlinks (30-minute-backlinks.com)


Jim Morris




Commandment 10 – Tend the Garden

• Continue to build web pages (create content) on your site and continue to get other backlinks

• Build out other related theme sites to build up authority and then point at your own site (make sure on a different IP)

• Use articles to build authority and become an expert in your topic• Build relationships with other thought leaders and ask for doing newsletter

swaps or mailing swaps where you mail something interesting to your list about someone else and they do the same for you (obviously requires a mailing list – which you should have one any ways)

• The tail end of the last point is how I lost over 18 million visitors• I could have tried to have a portion those visitors optin to a mailing list at

least (not so with the last couple million). Won’t ever happen again.


Jim Morris




Some quick things you can easily incorporate into your daily activity that costs absolutely nothing.

• 1) Put as priority #1 on your list to start acquiring inbound links pointing back at your site.

• 2) Start using your “preferred” keyword phrases in your links that you obtain

Optional:• Make sure the menu navigation on your site is text based and uses

keyword phrases connecting to the interior pages.• Use hyperlinks within the body of your page (where applicable) to link

pages together and use the keyword phrase in the hyperlink


Jim Morris



Two Things to Start ImprovingYour Keyword Positions Today!

• Google: “66 ways to build links”• Read the entire article• Pick ONE method to acquire inbound links.• Go master it• Then find another method to incorporate into daily activity• Then another• And another• Once you have it in your budget, create Camtasia videos to give

outsource workers to build out your website portfolio in other niches besides the one you’re working on

• Always find a way to scale…• Scale your system, scale your profits.


Jim Morris



Quick Website Promotions ToUtilize Your New Found Knowledge

Four post-call assignments should you care to accept them:• (1) Google: “write like you speak,” read the article and leave a

comment. Extremely crucial for creating content• (2) Google: “Fifteen places you must put your keyword phrase,”

read the article and leave a comment below the 85 already there• (3) Ask for a copy of our NicheBOT Insider Resources Guide to

discovery how we run and scale up every one of our businesses• (4) Grab a NicheBOT account if you don’t have one so you have

access to multiple database points by clicking the link to your left• If you’re invited on this call by a partner and you were made a

special offer, you’ll want to jump on that before the special ends.


Jim Morris



What you should do now…

Documents

10 Commandments of Keyword Research