Keywords: Break it down for me Pj ?

The other day I had a private message from a member that was going through our training and still just couldn't wrap his head around keywords. He asked me a very brief question....

"Pj., I just don't get it. What are these keywords?"

Well, of course, that wee question was huge to me and I did my best to convey it in a manner I feel he needed to hear as I know so many new members struggle with this concept......heck, in the beginning, so did I.

Well, he was quite happy with my blurb of an explanation so I thought I would share for other new folks that might be in this same state of frustration in their training......Some people just need to hear explanations in a different way.

While this isn't perfect and all-encompassing by any means, it might help get the general idea down for you.

My Response:

"Hi <his name removed>,

First of all, I want you to think of a department store on the day after Thanksgiving.....
It's 5 minutes before the store opens and there are a ton of folks impatiently waiting outside the front door to scamper in there and grab the limited quantity items that are on huge sale.
These are customers likely after something specific and at least found the store selling what they're after.
But, it is a department store...., so, it's separated into separate departments with related items on sale in each department.
When the doors fly open, people will flood in and head to the department where they think their item is located.
So, I want you to think of a website as the department store. And, think of the departments in the store as your pages. They could also be your "categories".
People come to your website, look around, find the category (or pages) related to the item they're looking for.
But, then, once I'm in the Men's Department, looking for that certain pair of shorts, i'm going to narrow it down a bit more. Now, I'm looking for those cool Calvin Klein shorts (insert specific model name). And, so I go over to the Calvin area and start looking through the shorts until I find them and then boom, a sale is made.
This is how keywords work. Your website is going to use a somewhat broad term. the pages will narrow it down a bit further for the visitor (or the categories can do it also). But, your posts are the very specific stuff. Within the post, you're going to tell me everything you know about these Calvin Klien shorts that I saw in a magazine and now want to buy. You're going to tell me how durable they are, how comfortable they fit and that they are on a huge sale.
So, your main keywords are the website, your secondary keywords are either pages or categories. And, the posts are specifics.
An example, if I was planning on selling skateboard parts and accessories, my website name might be something like SkateboardNirvana.com (I totally just made that up just now). Then, my pages OR my categories might be decks (the flat board part), the trucks (between the wheels) and wheels. Then, I might talk about the new Bones Brigade deck with the carbon fiber overlay in a post. Or, I might do a review of the new titanium trucks just released by California Trucks. And, so on.
These longer post items are your low-hanging fruit. Sure, you want your website keywords and secondary keywords to be high traffic and low competition, but that can be really tough. But, if your posts can achieve this status, you're okay.
So, when I'm doing keyword research, I think about what I want to sell and work it backwards. First, I'll check the WA keyword tool for a four, five or six word phrase (still referred to as a keyword) for article power and competition. If I can come up with a handful of those, I'll think about how I can either categorize them or use pages to get the same result. Then, lastly, I'll think about a title for the site and a domain name.
Once i have this list compiled using the WA keyword tool, I go over to the Google Keyword Planner and import the list there and see if they match up. Is the Google keyword planner ALSO telling me that these long-tail keywords have decent traffic via monthly searches AND low competition (fewer websites using that same keyword).
Also, I just Google a few of the terms and see who owns slot number 1 and then check out their website. Does it suck? Good, then I can beat them. At the very least, I'll do what they're doing, except better!
I know this is a very long answer, but you asked a huge question. I'm not complaining. You're being smart. Keyword research is truly the key to any successful website. If you don't get this part right, you're spinning your wheels and going in circles. So, I respect the question and thereby, gave you the best answer".

Again, this isn't the end-all answer, but just another way of looking at it. I hope it helps.

pj