Part 1: How to do Keyword Research Correctly Using Traffic Travis

Selecting the right keywords to get visitors to your website is one of the key aspects of Internet marketing.

If not done correctly, you will waste time, resources and money ranking for search terms that are either too difficult or do not provide enough quality traffic to generate revenue.

There are a few basic steps you need to go through when hunting out the keywords you are going to use on your website.

Today we are going to cover:

• Using Traffic Travis to hunt out good keywords and avoid the bad ones.
• Selecting the right parameters when picking keywords (including language and location).
• How to pick a good domain name (if you don't have one already) based on the keywords you find.

Picking Good Keywords and Avoiding the Bad Ones

What makes a good keyword good, and what makes a bad keyword bad?

There are a few criteria that we can use to find good keywords. These include:

• Low competition

What defines too much competition? There are no hard and fast rules. But using the Competition Checker in Traffic Travis will give you a good idea of whether a keyword has significant competition.

Traffic Travis uses multiple factors to calculate competition, and provides a difficulty rating on a scale from "very easy" to "very difficult."

In this example, (found using the Traffic Travis Competition Checker, under the SEO tab) you can see that "dog training" is going to be very difficult to rank for, while 'problems with training dog' will be much easier.

• High search volume.

There is no point ranking highly for a keyword if nobody is searching for it. Generally, the higher the search volume the better.

However, this needs to be balanced with the level of competition. A good minimum to aim for is 200 global "exact" searches per month (we will cover what "exact" keywords are in a moment).

• Relevant to the Website Topic

Most websites are based on a theme or niche. You want the keywords you are building your site around to be relevant to the topic.

For example, if your website is about dog training, then keywords about training your hamster are going to be of little use.

• Likely to Convert

There is a big difference between browsers and buyers. You want keywords that attract buyers (for higher conversion rates) rather than those who are simply browsing for free information — even though the search volume for buyer keywords is usually much lower.

An example of a browsing keyword would be "free dog training tips," compared with the buyer keyword "best dog training book."

• Competitive Costs Per Click (CPC)

If you are going to be marketing your website using pay-per-click advertising like Google AdWords, then you want keywords that won't cost you a fortune to build an ad campaign on. If your site sells a $30 product, then it's going to be hard to make money if you are paying $5 a click.

On the other hand, if you plan on monetizing your site with pay-per-click advertising like Google AdSense, then you want keywords that command a decent price, since you will get a portion of that cash.

Using the Right Search Method for Your Keywords

Traffic Travis features a powerful keyword research tool that offers different ways of searching for keywords.

From the dashboard, click on "Research" then "Keywords" to open up the Keyword Analysis. You can then search for keywords using a "broad," "exact," or "phrase" search.

Access this Keyword Match Type' menu by clicking Advanced Settings from within the Traffic Travis Keyword Tool (see image below).

"Broad" keywords are not very specific. If you use this option, Traffic Travis will display keywords that are loosely related to your initial phrase or word. Searches for these deliver the widest possible range of results. However, broad keyword searching can also deliver less-relevant keyword ideas.

"Phrase" searches contain your initial phrase, but with other possible words included. This brings more specific and more-targeted results than a broad search.
For example, a search about "dog training" could bring back results on "dog obedience training" or "dog training for obedience."

"Exact" keyword searches contain your initial phrase in its exact order, and are the best for finding closely related keywords that you might also rank for. Use the Traffic Travis keyword tool set to "Exact" (like in the picture above) for the most accurate search volume results and best potential keywords.

Below is an example of "Exact" keywords found by Traffic Travis for the phrase "dog training." Notice how they are all highly relevant to the original phrase. Also notice that "dog training collars" is one of those potential buyer keywords you should look out for; it has 8,100 global searches per month (well over our 200 count minimum) and mentions a specific product type.

Read the Google AdWords' guide to keyword matching options to learn more about broad, phrase, and exact matches and how they relate to keyword research.

Keyword Localization

If you are building a site based on a local business or service, or specific to a particular area (city, region, or country) then you want to be searching for keywords that are localized.

From the "Keyword Match Type" menu under Advanced Settings in the Keyword Research Tool, you can pick keywords by country and language too (see image below).

For example, if you have a website called "Dog Training in California" it would make sense to search for keywords related to dog training coming only from American search engine users. Traffic Travis allows you to select keywords based on location and language.

For those of you building a website in a language other than English, make sure you tell Traffic Travis what language you want keywords for.

Picking A Domain Name Based On Your Keywords

Now that you know how to pick keywords, it is important to build those keywords into your site. Picking a domain name (e.g., www.example.com ) with your main keyword phrase is one way to increase your chance of ranking well in the search engines.

There are two schools of thought about domain names and keywords:

• Exact Match Domain: If you are using this method, ideally you want to pick a domain name that is an exact match for the keyword you are targeting.

Example: If your keyword is "dog training collar," then you would want to purchase the domain "www.dogtrainingcollar.com."

The problem with this method is that in 2012 Google made its "Exact Match Domain," aka EMD, update to the ranking algorithms. It was in response to low-quality sites ranking at the top of the search results just because they had acquired the domain that matched their keyword exactly.

Later, Google slowly dialed back this penalty and many quality EMD sites regained their rankings. So, this method still works but just know going in that this is something on Google's radar.

• Branded Domain: With this method, you want to pick a domain name that reflects the name of your site/business. You can still include keywords, but they shouldn't be exactly the same.

Example: If your keyword was "dog training collar," you would look for a domain along the lines of "www.fidosdogtraining.com" or "www.thedogtrainingcollarguy.com."

You still get exposure to the keywords, but you avoid over optimization, which can lead to a Google penalty (we'll explain more later).

• Things to Avoid: When picking a domain name, do your best to avoid dashes between the words. Tacking on meaningless numbers or letters before and after the keyword is another thing you shouldn't attempt.

Traffic Travis Domain Finder

Traffic Travis has a domain finder tool that enables you to look up domain names based on your keywords. You can instantly see whether the .com, .net, or .org domain name extensions are available to buy.

To do this, access the Domains tool from the Research panel of Traffic Travis, and then add keywords you want to consider domain names for.

You can access the Domains tool from the Research panel of Traffic Travis. You can even shortlist and purchase domains from within Traffic Travis — this is a very useful time-saving feature.

You may also notice that Traffic Travis only offers to show .com, .net, or .org domain names. These top-level domains (TLDs) are the best for getting high search engine rankings, especially if your site is aimed at a global or US-based market.

Traffic Travis Keyword Research FAQs

Here are the answers to the most common questions or problems that people experience when researching keywords with Traffic Travis:

• "I can't find any data when searching for keywords.": Make sure you are connected to the Internet, and that you have logged in with a Google account when prompted by the keyword tool. To return results for the keyword tool, you also need to have Internet Explorer 7 (or above) installed on your computer (and not have the plugin "Google Frame" for IE7 installed).
• "Google keeps blocking me. What can I do?": If you are being blocked by Google you will probably need to wait an hour or so before searching again from within Traffic Travis. You should also set up some proxies if possible. Another thing that might help is increasing the Timer Delay from (File > Program Options > Internet). This will slow down your searches a bit and reduce your chance of being blocked.

Recap

To recap, today we have covered:

• The difference between buyer and browsing keywords.
• Using Traffic Travis to find keyword ideas.
• The difference between "broad," "exact," and "phrase" match keywords.
• Localizing keywords to a particular language or location.
• How to pick a domain name based on your keywords.

In the next newsletter, we'll take a look at optimizing your website content for high search engine rankings.

In the meantime, have a go with the Traffic Travis keyword research tool and find some great keyword ideas for your website!

Wishing you every success, till next time,
Traffic Travis

Did you know?

The professional edition of Traffic Travis can find keywords 10 times faster than the free version.

With the free version, you are limited to five keywords per search using the keyword tool (and 200 results per search). Professional lets you enter up to 200 "seed" keywords at a time, and gives you up to 2,000 results per search.

Click here to upgrade to Traffic Travis Pro Today.

Upgrade Now

THE INTERNET AND INFORMATION!

Think for a moment about why people use the Internet. Why do you go online?

You may have a number of reasons. For instance, You want to stay in touch with family and friends through e-mail. You check the news sites for breaking headlines, weather, traffic and stock-market reports. You might even order Christmas gifts online so you can cut down on the hassle associated shopping at the mall, and get better prices.

However, underlying all of that, the truth is that… You use the Internet to gather information.

The factual reason for this is because the Internet has a wealth of information on virtually every topic imaginable. In some cases, it is not even necessary to go to the library anymore. You can find articles and even entire books online that contain the information you required.

People look for all sorts of information online. For instance they look for information on their hobbies and special interests, their health concerns, advice, recipes…the list is really endless.

Also, and this is very important… People use the Internet as a research tool prior to making a purchase.

You've probably done this before. Maybe you're looking for the best price on a new stereo System or computer system as the case may be. It could also be that you want to look at the pros and cons of a particular model of product you plan to later purchase offline.

Either way, it’s easy to use the Internet for your research before you resort to leave your house or picking up the phone.

Remember now though that… This hunger for information is going to be your key to making real money online.

Become an Information Provider

What you'll learn in this post and my subsequent posts is how to profit from people's universal need

for information.

You're going to learn how to position yourself in the marketplace as an information provider.

Why? Because information is the number one product for the Internet. The demand for information far exceeds any other “item” you could sell on the internet.

Further, you aren't limited by “availability”. Information doesn't have to be manufactured or shipped. It’s something you can produce using your own knowledge and experience.

By now, you might be wondering what type of information you can provide. Think again about all of the things you tend to search for online. You're usually looking for a solution or answer to a problem, question or concern, right?

It might be something like:

• How to get started in Internet marketing?

• Home decorating tips?

• How to fix a car?

• Fastest way to lose weight?

• Learning some new magic tricks?

All of the above represent the kinds of “how to” information people search for, and for which information products offer the solution!

As a matter of fact, the examples I just gave you are all from existing information products.

What you're reading right now is an information product - and if you were interested in any of the other topics mentioned, you could find some answers here:

Home Decorating

Car Repair

Lose Weight

Magic Tricks

These URLs all point to information products people just like you have created. They've taken

on the role of 'information provider' for a targeted market.

Notice that none of this information is being given away for free…

Despite what you may have heard, people will pay you for quality information. It makes their

lives easier.

Your goal is to provide people with information that is truly valuable.

Value is the yardstick against which all your information should be measured. If you focus on truly helping people and providing real value, you can't fail.

Why?

First and foremost, people can see through inferior products, no matter how good the sales hype. Even if you get someone to buy a 'shoddy' product, you'll pay for it later.

I am sure that a reputation for poor quality is not what you want!

Having a reputation for quality, on the other hand, means brisk sales and lots of repeat customers.

In fact, the more value you provide the more people are willing to pay you for it.

When people see that they get back more in value from you than they paid in price, they  actually become willing to pay you more over time.

So, please remember these facts in everything you do. Use it to guide your product selection, your advertising and in all of the information you share with prospective customers, A focus on value is always the best approach.

What The Internet Business Is About

Wait a minute, Have you ever wondered Why do people do business on the Internet, what can owning an Internet business do for you in life?

The joy that I derive about internet business is all about the freedom it gives to you. An Internet business gives you more freedom of choice in:

✔ How you have decided to spend your time

✔ How you express your unique talents and interests

✔ How much you are able to earn

This is because, in the Internet business, you are your own boss.

In internet business, you get to decide where the focus is in terms of the products you're selling, how much time and effort you invest in selling them, and how you want to grow your business.

In thesame vein, you get to set your own hours and you won't be fired or laid off because you are the boss. You get to run your business for as long as you wish; and, if you find out that it just doesn't suit you, you can change the focus of your business, sell it off, even quit.

Now I will not go on without saying that Internet business is also about money. Potentially lots of money if you hit a lucrative niche and understand how to exploit it.

I challenge you to find any other home-based business that can pull in as much income as an Internet business!

We are in a unique point in history of mankind when almost anyone can have their own business on the internet. The reason is not far fetch

The reason for this is that the cost, or barriers, to entry in the Internet business are encouragingly amazingly low.

In traditional business, you might have to spend several thousand Naira just to get started.

This is out of reach for the average person.

In the Internet business, you can get started on a shoe-string budget. People have built fortunes on the Internet starting with nothing more than fifty-bucks and a winning idea.

It gets even better. Not only are start-up costs low, but overall operating costs in Internet businesses are lower compared to traditional businesses. You can spend, say, $10/month on web hosting and advertising, while making back 10 x's that amount.

I can hardly think of any other industry where profit margins exceed expenses on this level, except perhaps the oil and pharmaceutical industries.

In fact, the single-owner Internet based business still comes out ahead when you look at the scale of profit relative to the individual.

If all of this is not enough to convince you, then I don't know what will, butI urge you to take a serious look at how an Internet business might benefit you.

Maybe you're ready to find a way out of your current job. Maybe you want to save for retirement or put your children through college.

In either case, if you want extra time, extra money, or both, then an Internet business is one of the easiest and most effective paths to achieving those goals!

So How Do People Really Make Money On The Internet?

So, just how do people really make money on the Internet? I think you'll be surprised by the variety of money-making opportunities at your digital doorstep.

Currently, a lot of people still hold the stereotypical view of Internet income being almost entirely advertising based. There was a time when that was true.

During the tech boom of the late90's, thousands of websites sprung up that were based solely on monetizing content(e.g., articles and news) with advertising.

And, yes, many of those businesses failed because they tried to grow into Fortune 500 sized companies overnight, riding on the back of advertising profits and the 'virtual' equity of their stock options.

Of course with time, the market corrected itself, and these companies crashed and burned. The major lesson learned there is that profitable Internet businesses need to offer a mix of products and services.

In other words, you need to offer real value to visitors while charging a fair price.

The types of products and services offered really is beyond imagination. Nearly everything for sale offline is also for sale on the Internet.

Also, there some products and services which are exclusively Internet-based, and arise from the unique needs of Internet users (for example, e-books, Internet service providers, website graphics, e-mail providers, etc).

You may wonder just what types of products are offered online? The possibilities are endless and they can take a number of forms:

Physical Products Type

Again, anything you can sell offline can be sold online, too. This includes things like books, CD’s, clothing, jewelry, hotel ticket, houses, cars, kitchen appliances, plane tickets, toys, computers and etc.

Digital Products Type

People also sell 'digital' products and services on the Internet. For example, downloadable e-books, audio, video and software are considered 'digital' products.

Other types of digital products include membership-based services. For example, you can charge a monthly fee for access to a website, newsletter, consulting service and so on.

A really good example of this is the dating-related, “matchmaker” sites that charge members a fee for full-access to their match-making services.

'Intangibles' Type

What I'm calling “intangible” products are not really products  per se, but they are monetization models based on Internet traffic and advertising.

A good example of this is Google Adsense. In the Google Adsense program, website publishers can place Google ads on their websites and get paid each time a visitor clicks on one of the advertisements.

In thesame vein, publishers can set their own advertising rates and sell space for things like banner advertisements.

This is all very similar to the 'old' model Internet businesses relied on a few years back…

It’s just a matter of finding creative ways to extract advertising profit from the content that pulls traffic to your website.