Keywords (or keyword phrases) are fundamental to your internet marketing business. You need to know the keywords that are related to the products you are promoting or the niche you are targetting as they play an important role in determine whether you are targeting the right target market and whether the content you created (in the case of content publishing) is relevant to your online visitor.
What Is Keyword Research?
“Keyword Research Is The Study Of Actual Search Terms Online Visitors Use At Various Search Engines, To Search For Information, Products Or Services”
Keyword ‘Life Cycle’
A keyword can be classified into 3 main groups:
Browsing Keywords
Comparison Keywords
Buying Keywords
Keyword ‘Life Cycle’ – Example
To better understand the importance of the "Keyword Life Cycle" and how it impacts an online marketer, consider the following scenario – John wants to purchase a digital camera online, but does not know anything about digital cameras. What steps would John need to take to research about digital cameras?
Well, during John’s initial research process, he is likely to use broad search terms (i.e. browsing keywords) to find out more about digital cameras. He may search on terms like ‘digital camera’ or ‘digital SLR’ for example.
Once John gains a better understanding about digital cameras, he will probably discover that many top global brands produce good digital cameras. With so many brands and models of digital cameras to choose from, he will have to narrow his choice of digital camera by comparing different brands and even different models within the same brand.
He will also be on the lookout for digital camera reviews. So at this stage, he will search using comparision keywords like ‘digital camera review’ or ‘canon digital camera review’.
In the end, John decides he likes either the Canon IXUS 800 or the Canon Powershot digital camera, so he searches the web using search terms like ‘canon ixus 800’ or ‘cheap canon powershot’. This phase is called the ‘buying phase’ and keywords that are specific to a product or service are called ‘buying keywords’.
(Note: A typical search process from initial research to buying phase can take hours or weeks)
As online marketers, how can we use our knowledge of the "Keyword Life Cycle" to make more money and sales online?
Well, if you are into affiliate marketing where you are only paid when a sale is made (i.e. pay per sale), then you will only want to target a buyer, not a researcher who is not ready to buy.
Make sense?
In this case, your target keyword list should only contain ‘buying keywords’.
At the minimum, a ‘buying keyword’ should comprise:
brand + model number
For example:
canon tx1
canon ixus 800
Got it?
Good, then move on and learn about the 3 Steps To Keyword Research…
If not, read this page carefully one more time!