By John Z Birch

The keyword research you do is the bedrock of all your website promotion activities.

It is from the keywords that we build a solid SEO platform that first tells the search engines what your site is about and then allows your potential customers to find you.

If this part of your on-line marketing is not done properly you can spend a lot of time and resources on promoting phrases that will not help you gain more sales.

The biggest mistake made by businesses when they start out with keyword research is that the assume they know what people are looking for. Most of the time this is a misconception.

Learning some simple techniques and putting aside your preconceptions will help you get the most from your research.

Why all keywords are not created equal: Types of Keyword

Broad terms - These are mainly single words that broadly describe a category, activity or item such as "trainer" or "shoe".

Long tail Keywords - These are longer phrases that describe in more detail what the product is, for example "Nike training shoe size 9"

Research and buying phrases - There are two categories of people searching the Internet for products and services. Those looking for information and conducting research and those who are planning to buy the product.

The two groups use different search terms when conducting their searches, someone looking for information may use terms like "Nike" "Nike trainer" "price of Nike trainer" "Nike running shoe". These are broader more generic terms that sometimes contain research words such as "Price" or "Cost". When someone is planning a purchase the terms change to things such as "Nike Air Effect" or "Nike Air Effect size 9".

Those looking to buy tend to include specific product names combined with buying phrases such as size, colour, geographical location etc.

The number of people looking for "Nike Air Effect size 9" will be fewer than those looking for "Nike trainer" but the sales conversation rates will be much higher and the competition far fewer in many cases.

Misspellings

People often misspell words when looking for things on the internet, but you can take advantage of this by ranking for those misspellings, your keyword research should look for common misspellings and they should be incorporated into your on-line marketing plan.

I hope this has got you thinking about the various possibilities that are open to you when you start with your keyword research, this is part 1 of a series of articles that will take you through the process I use step by step.

As a professional SEO consultant I am always looking for ways to help my clients, you can learn more at the following sites.

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