Bazinga! Day 8
Trying to cram, feel like it's finals in two days! Keyword research is my nemesis, so I am trying to focus and practice doing it right so I can score an "A+" and make it a habit instead of a struggle. Love keyword tools. Have to try NOT to play in there - but try to stay focused.
Been re-working my first WA blog (thanks for all the suggestions guys, I am liking it so much better now!), writing some more, but mainly trying to learn as much as I can before time's up.
A funny thought I had while reading comments on my efforts so far - everyone was so apologetic for their critique! You are so sweet to worry about my feelings - truth is you do NOT need to apologize for helping me to be a success! It is I who humbly ask for your help and so greatly appreciate your honesty...you all are the greatest tools in the WA arsenal, in my opinion!
I have to go back to work now :(
Recent Comments
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Hey Rhonda! Keyword research is one of those things that becomes easier with practice so you're off on the right foot by working on familiarizing yourself with it. Most people who come to WA feel that a KEYWORD is going to make the difference of whether you succeed in making money or not. It's partially true because you need to find keywords that connect you with relevant audiences. However, there are no such things as "PERFECT" keywords. It all comes down to offering relevant content to people who find your publications through that keyword.
For example:
Some people will think that a great keyword must have 1000's of clicks a month with very little competition. This is completely false.. A GREAT keyword is one that connects you with a relevant audience who knows what they are looking for.
You are much better off getting ranked for a keyword where your audience knows what they are looking for vs. a keyword where the user will nearly ALWAYS go off to do more searches.
Take the keyword "best headphones".. It gets about 33,000 searches a month but what audience does this connect you with? What could you possibly offer these people? Based on this broad search they do not yet know what they are looking for. There are 100's of different kinds of headphones out there.
Compare this to the keyword "noise isolating headphones" that gets searched about 1100 times a month. This will connect you with an audience who is looking specifically for something. You could then fine-tune your entire website around noise isolating headphones, offer reviews, comparisons etc..
A very common mistake is to feel that a keyword is only good if it gets 1000's of clicks a month. Choose a keyword based on the audience that it will connect you with.
An even better keyword would be: "noise cancelling earbud headphones". This gets searched 128 times a month but it puts you in contact with people who know exactly what they are after. Sales will come from this kind of keyword!!
Hope this helps and I look forward to working with you here at WA!
Thanks, Carson - so good to hear that at least I'm THINKING along the right lines! What I need to find is that proverbial "Starving Crowd" that Travis is so fond of talking about. It all makes so much sense, the fine-tuning of the research to find the people that are actually going to BUY as opposed to the 'tire kickers' that don't really know what they want. That is the traffic I am looking for. I would much rather have 100 searches and 2 sales than 10,000 searches and no sale!
Like I said, niche research is just not coming as naturally to me as article writing or creating pages. Practice and patience with myself are my keys. It sure helps to know that people like you are so willing to help, Karma will take care of you - and I hope someday to do for others as well!
Don't get too caught up with the "STARVING CROWD" thing.. what you are looking for are keywords that put you in contact with people who KNOW what they are looking for. Are people who are looking for "noise isolating earbud headphones" a starving crowd? No, but they do know what they are looking for and when you offer them some valuable information they will have no problem with clicking through to affiliate links from your helpful website. Finding HOT, or STARVING CROWDS is effective as these do exist...but every single niche has someone looking for something specific and this is where the money lies.
Do not spend tens of hours (or weeks) of your time trying to find that million dollar niche.. when you have learned how to offer value and connect with people who know what they are looking for you will be able to be highly profitable in ANY niche or industry that you choose.
Thanks again, Carson. You have eased my mind a little about who I am looking for. You are saying that EVERY niche has potential, that there are people looking for just about everything - I just have to narrow it down and show them value and help them to "choose" to click and buy from the information I help them with. Value and Connection should be the rule of the day...now I am going to refocus a little on my efforts. Keyword research is important, but I was getting stuck in the quagmire and stressing over it. Back to work - and I love your information!