Keywords – A Primer on one of the most important online revenue producing tools.

Copyright © Jerry D Rivera


It all begins with words typed into an online search box. A single word, or a set of specific words, that helps the user find relevant information on the subject that interests them. Type in the right words, the key words, and in a split second dozens of relevant links to information will be made available.
That simple process is why keywords are the most important first step in leading people to your product, service, website or Blog. Use the right keywords and you’ll create a flood of incoming web traffic to wherever your information is located. Like a billboard on the highway it will point the person searching in your direction, giving you the opportunity to engage them and convert their visit into a sale.
Keywords are vital to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Search Engines like the mighty Google use them to ‘rank’ your website, and the higher the ranking the better. Like having a company name that starts with ‘A’ in the phone book strong keywords will put your website at the top of the search engine, giving it high visibility and driving traffic towards your business.
One of the best things about keyword research is that you not only discover the best keywords and phrases to use but you inevitably discover a lot about your target customers and what they’re looking for when they search.  This info can be used to even further enhance and pinpoint the keywords that you use in the future.
Not only can you use keywords to drive traffic you can use them to predict demand shifts and respond quickly to changes in the marketplace.  That means you can use keywords to produce the products that people are actively searching for even if you aren’t producing them already, which is extremely useful information. The simple fact is that there has never been a tool that was as incredibly valuable as keywords to understand the motivation of consumers and use it to attract them to what you’re selling.
The difference between ‘short’ and ‘long-tail’ keywords.
In a nutshell, the difference between these 2 types of keywords is quite simple, but the results when using them can be dramatic.  A short keyword is usually one word, like ‘vacation’.  A long tail keyword would be ‘super cheap Caribbean vacation’. The long tail is much more specific, obviously, and many people don’t use these because they think that it will exclude more searchers than it includes.
Statistically, however, they would be wrong.  Short keywords are used less than 30% of the time when searching.  That leave 70% plus for the long tail keywords.  In fact, long tail keywords comprise the vast majority of the world’s internet search requests and contain innumerable unique searches that a single keyword might never be able to match.
Not only that but research into how keywords work has shown that long tail keywords have a much higher conversion rate than short. That means, simply, that long tails attract people ready to make a purchase.  For example, ‘perfume’ is used a lot by women browsing but not necessarily ready to buy, but ‘the best price for Chanel #5’ is the mark of someone looking to make a purchase right now.
That’s an obvious and powerful difference, and that’s way long tail keywords should be a focus of your keyword research.
Speaking of research, if you’re looking for resources here are some of the best that you can use to research your keywords. Good luck, and remember that keywords change constantly so you must research constantly.


    •    Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool
    •    Wordtracker’s Free Basic Keyword Demand
    •    Google Insights for Search
    •    Microsoft Advertising Intelligence
    •    Google Trends Keyword Demand Prediction