I. INTRODUCTION

Selling a product or service online requires careful planning. All successful companies have one thing in common – planning is an integral part of their operations. An online business that knows where it is now, where it will be in the future and how it will get there will thrive in the market it operates.

The foundation of business planning rests on having a complete understanding of the important factors that will influence your business. In the online business arena, the most important element is traffic. Driving traffic to your website should be at the core of all your efforts in the business.

Getting the right set of keywords is a significant step towards generating traffic. How to get people to flock to your site rests greatly on how search engines treat your website. A well-designed site and a nifty name are good investments; but, having the right set of keywords will help your site gain greater visibility in search results.

This article will teach how to conduct proper keyword research by narrowing down the best keywords for your site. Through these eight steps, you will be able to know what words and phrases you need to target whether it’s for natural SEO or PPC.

II. TOOLS

1. Google.com/trends

Google Trends is a tool that can help you better understand Google searches; it shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages.

2. Google.com/insights/search

Google Insights for Search is an extension of Google Trends and allows you to track various words and phrases that are being searched via Google. This tool provides a more in-depth picture of the search results and can help you narrow down your keywords.

3. SearchStatus Tool Bar Extension

A third party plug in made for the Firefox and Mozilla that allows the user to see a site’s search-related information in one toolbar. The Tool Bar shows a site’s Google PageRank, Google Category, Alexa popularity ranking, Compete.com ranking, SEOmoz Linkscape mozRank, Alexa incoming links, Alexa related links and backward links from Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

III. NARROWING YOUR KEYWORDS

1. Use Google Trends to determine search trends on the keywords you are using for your site. Take a look at specific items related to these trends – times of the year that a keyword is searched heavily, countries where most searches emanate and the specific cities of these countries.

2. When choosing the keywords to your site, the general rule is that people tend to use singular terms when they are doing searches but use plural terms when they intend to buy. For example “digital cameras” vs. “digital camera.” There are exceptions though and these should be noted. For example “gourmet chocolate” registers more search volume compared to “gourmet chocolates.” To determine whether which is more advantageous to you (i.e., has greater search volume) go to Google Insights and do a comparison between the singular and plural forms of your keyword.

3. Narrow down searches by country, state, city. The more specific a keyword or phrase is to a particular group the better ranking results for a site.

Example: “Digital Cameras” vs. “Digital Cameras New York”

4. The more specific the product is marketed to a person or group that is looking for the product the more likely they would like to interact with you. Being specific in targeting your market is very important specially in pay per click advertising.

5. Look at similar words or related phrases you may want to use to crowd out your content. These related keywords are found when you use the Google Insights tool.

Examples for Digital Cameras:

camera
canon digital cameras
canon cameras
best digital cameras
sony cameras digital
Crowding out your content means using keywords that are related to your main keyword or phrase in your site’s pages.

6. Check what spelling users use the most (motor bike vs. motorbike) to optimize searches leading to your site. Again, use Google Insight to verify which keyword gives better results.

7. If Google searches show that competition for the keywords you selected is getting too competitive it is an indication you have to narrow your target market down a bit; find a niche for your product. Be niche specific.

8. When optimising your website look at other variations you may need to consider for your target market – this may include looking at what time of the year that the keyword is heavily searched. Optimizing your website, hence, should involve the following formula = keyword + specific area + specific time of the year.