Finding Keywords That Profit

A few years back, I listened in on a webinar recording about "Finding Profitable Keywords". This webinar was sponsored by InfusionSoft, an email marketing program, and their keynote speaker was the creator of Local Niche Spy.

The mystery of finding, marketing and profiting from good keywords is what has allowed most SEOs to make a small fortune off the backs of the small and unsuspecting small business owner. Though a large chunk of time has passed since this webinar happened, I still find everything they discussed extremely relevant. (Funny how that works, isn't it?)

By doing some of your own footwork in this area of SEO a new or small website can benefit greatly, effectively target the audience you want to reach, and become more cost effective to start generating leads.

This post is part of Your Ultimate Guide to Lead Generation blog series.

Most Memorable Takeaways

Determine likely keywords

The first step is to trust your instincts and create a list of words you think people would search to find your site. You should know what your site is about; if not, then you have a few steps of business development and planning to do before you even head this direction.

Validate the assumption

There are many free SEO tools out there to help you validate whether the keywords on your initial list are going to work or if they need to be altered. Also, these tools can help you discover other relevant keywords to add to your list or to replace low quality keywords you may have chosen.

• Google Tools such as Adwords 
• Google Trends
• Competitor Meta Data - You can visit your competitors’ sites and pull keywords that they have chosen to help you develop and validate your keywords.

Generating leads is a marketer's most important objective. So, we've compiled our 30 greatest lead generation lessons in this free guide.

Allow for change 

As you search, you may find that what you thought might be a home run keyword may not be what your target population actually uses to search. Be able to adjust and change your keyword list as needed.

High Value - Low Competition (VLC)

Target keywords that have value either with the search volume it accrues monthly or the cost per click (CPC) value it would have if it was a paid keyword. Then make sure that word has a low amount of competition. 

• Find the best of both
  • Higher CPC value
  • Lower competition
• Target first for near immediate result

Competition Factors

Here are some other variables that can contribute to why your competition may be out ranking you in lead generation:

• Page rank - They have achieved a higher page rank due to more back links than you
• Back links - Their back links may be more or higher quality than yours
• Domain age - Their domain has more age and authority
• Domain name - they selected a domain name with target keywords in it
• Content volume - They hold more keyword rich content than you
• Content frequency - They add content more often than you
• Other SEO keyword research tools 
  • www.localnichespy.com
  • www.kwfinder.com
  • www.keywordspy.com
  • www.semrush.com
  • www.seoquake.com

For more information on effective ways to use keywords and generate leads for website marketing, download our guide The 30 Greatest Lead Generation Tips, Tricks, & Ideas.