Part 4 - Niche Finder Series: Most Relevant and Targeted Keywords

Before you go on to check competition related items, you’ll want to clean up your list and eliminate all the keywords and phrases that don't make sense for what your ultimate goal is.

THREE: From that list you have to choose the keywords that are most relevant and make the most sense to build a site or web page around.. to target.  Volume isn't everything.  These keywords need to turn into dollars!  If what you have is too competitive or untargeted, go back to step one.

Remember that research you did initially in Step 1? You started with the product or service and that’s where you pulled your keywords from initially.  And chances are those are pretty targeted.  But when you run your ‘seed’ keywords through a keyword tool part of what makes them such great tools is that they bring back other related keywords using thesaurus type functionality that you may not have thought of, but are being searched online.  

The results these tools give you doesn’t automatically mean you'll use all of them.  In fact, you could keep a handful to none.  But you never know what you might uncover and that’s one of the reasons I run it through my favorite keyword research tool before going further.

As you look over your list, ask yourself, "if someone punches that into a search engines search box, are they looking for what I’m offering them on the other end?  Are they buyers or likely to take action?"

You do not, at least for your primary keywords, want to go too broad.   

Here’s an example.

Your Product is: Disney Kermit the Frog Plush Toy

Your search might include:

custom plush toys
kermit the frog hat
cartoon kermit the frog
Kermit the frog toy

I wouldn’t keep any of those.  In fact, I’m not sure I’d keep anything that didn’t have Disney in it.  How many other companies create Kermit the Frog plush toys?  If the answer is none because of trademark, then you can go a little broader and leave out Disney; there will be less options.  But if there are many different brands, then you should only focus on phrases with it included and focus on just those interested in Disney's version.

Custom Plush Toys – obviously too broad.  You don’t even know if the person searching on that is really looking for a Kermit the Frog toy.

Kermit the Frog Hat – That’s warmer, but you aren’t selling a hat. You are selling the whole frog.  You want to feel confident you are finding individuals that are looking for a  Kermit the Frog plush toy.

Cartoon Kermit the Frog – are they looking for DVDs?  Or?

Kermit the Frog Toy – What kind of toy? An action figure?

Do you see what I’m getting at?  If you don’t want to waste money, make sure you know exactly what that searcher is looking for.  The keyword phrase should provide you an instant visual of that type of toy; not a broad, vague visual.

It’s the same with other types of searches.  If someone is searching for information on a topic, make sure the landing page they land on answers that question precisely.  So pinpoint keywords that would bring those individuals.

This doesn’t mean down the road you can’t test some broader phrases.  With free search you might even just pick them up naturally as your website ages and gains more strength in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).  With PPC that’s a more important decision because you pay for that traffic - for each click.

Keep in mind why we do this.  You don’t want to create Niche Websites for your health.  I would hope your #1 goal is to make money.. profiting from the endeavor.

If you want to increase your chances of success, you do more up front work before tackling it AND you make sure those keywords you are targeting actually are looking for what you are offering.

Everything we target is in a phase of the Consumer Buying Cycle.  Some are just curious, looking or just heard about the product and are seeing what it is… some are comparing… some are ready to buy.  Your job at this stage of the process is to choose those keywords you think are ready to act on what you are providing immediately or in the near future.  

It's never an exact science and you won't actually know anything until you start testing these phrases live, but you should be able to provide a well informed, educated guess up front. 

-Matt Levenhagen

P.S. If during this series you don't know what an acronym or word means, don't hesitate to post below and I can provide the definition and/or explanation.

GO TO PART FIVE: Keyword Competition Analysis

Niche Marketing - Niche Research