Good keyword research and good search engine optimization (SEO) afford a better position in search engine results for the keyword or keyword phrase specified. Relevant traffic, the kind of traffic that came to your site expecting what you have to offer, is more likely to convert to a sale or list subscriber than non-relevant traffic. The combination of search engine position and conversion are two important factors leading to profit.

Keyword Research and Site Optimization Overview

Keyword research is not something that I can do in an hour or two.

It generally takes me four to five hours to get my arms around the keywords I want to use and the keywords I should use within the pages of a site. Typically, after a half-day’s worth of keyword mining, I’m spent. So, don’t get the impression that this is a quick process. It’s not and I’ll sleep on every one of those keywords before I begin optimizing a page.

Add Google Analytics

The first step I take when developing a new site is creating a Google Analytics account for that site. Then, I make sure my Google Analytics tag is embedded on each page of the site.

Embed Your Keywords and Keyword Phrases

Next, I’ll do a “first pass” SEO on my pages, knowing this first attempt will not remain the same for long. This first pass means making sure the three keywords or phrases I have selected are used in the body of my page. It means my primary keyword is in my title, in my description meta-tag, in my keywords meta-tag and within an H1 tag. And it means I have relevant phrases related to my keywords throughout the body of the page.

Next, I’ll configure my Google Adsense ads and embed them within the pages.

With this, I’m ready to launch. Remember, I know my page will not stay the same; I am expecting it to change but as it is right now, I can begin to gather data on the effectiveness of my keyword strategy.

Keword Research In-Depth

There are a myriad of measures that drive changes to a site’s current optimization and outlining the gestalt of it all is worthy of an eBook or video presentation. I’ll save that for another day. For now, I’d like to explain a bit about the Keyword Research Tools I use.

In this order, I use, Google’s Keyword Tool, PPC Web Spy and SEO Elite.

Google’s keyword research tool is free and easy to use. You can get a quick picture of the average monthly number of search queries matching your keywords that were performed on Google along with the number of advertisers bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. You will also be able to mine related keywords or phrases.

SEO Elite, from Bryxen Software is one of the best Search Engine results tools I use. This is not a free tool but I wouldn’t be without it; it lets me know quickly where my pages are ranked for a given keyword or set of keyword phrases. It’s sister product, Keyword Elite, is equally good.

But there is a free product that you can use to research keywords on Google – and to know what keywords Adwords advertisers are bidding on. That is where PPC Web Spy comes in. This free software runs in the Firefox browser and lets you know the Cost per Day for that keyword, the Cost per Click (CPC) and much more.

Why is this important? If you are developing a site where you display ads, particularly Google Adsense ads, what would it be worth to you to know the clicks per day a particular ad receives and the keywords that drive those clicks? PPC Web Spy gives you that priceless information and… it’s FREE.

Follow Up Keyword Mining with Google Analytics

After you’ve done your research, put up your pages and waited, it’s time for some feedback and action.

With Google Analytics, I can find out how folks found my pages (you’d think I would use Analytics to tell me how many visitors I actually have… No). When I see a fair few number of folks finding a site or a page based on a keyword or keyword phrase I had never even considered, I pay attention. Then, I push that keyword or keyword phrase through “my process” to determine if it is worth optimizing for.

A Good Google Adwords Response is Worth Optimizing For

Imagine you found a keyword or keyword phrase with a high or decent CPC (Cost per Click) with lots of Google Ad Campaigns. You might think, “Great! I’ll optimize for that keyword!” But you could be making a HUGE mistake.

There has to be a connection between that keyword and your particular site in order for you to benefit from that high CPC.

If there is a disconnect – if you offer mints with your logo (shameless plug, I know) but you optimize for pens, instead, folks may get your page, but how will they convert? They won’t.

Why? Because there’s a huge disconnect between how they got there and what you are offering. (Now, this brings up an arbitrage issue, but I am banking that the level of trust generated is so low, that any attempt at arbitrage will not work).

So, how do you know whether a keyword has any conversion potential?

Why, you fork over some dough and run an Adwords campaign to measure the Adwords Response, of course! Essentially, you do a test run with Google Adwords. Now, you only do this if your shopping cart is in place; in other words, if your product can be purchased. It doesn’t matter if your ad copy is not perfect, or if your sales page is a mess. The only thing that matters is whether or not your visitors can convert to Customers – and the only way that will happen online is if your shopping cart is in place and they can buy.

Now, at this point, before I even place an ad, I want to know what keywords other advertisers are bidding on.

Again PPC Web Spy is the free Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool I use.

This beauty of a browser add-on will let me see what keywords and keyword phrases other Adwords advertisers have bid on. In other words, those ads that appear on Google’s pages – you know, the ones on the right and at the very top – each one of those advertisers is paying to appear for a certain set of keywords or keyword phrases. So, before you launch you own campaign or even begin optimizing your pages – especially pages where you will have Google ads appear (hint, hint) – don’t you want to know the keywords that drive the appearance of those ads? Of course you do. And the tool you will use is called PPC Web Spy.

Why they didn’t name it PPC Ad Spy is beyond me, but there it is. Go get your free version while it’s still free.

Now, I’ll qualify the limits of the tool right here: You must use Firefox. If you don’t, it won’t work. The good news is, the Firefox browser is readily available, easily downloaded and frankly, an awesome browser that, as of this writing, according to w3schools.com, 45% of internet users employ.

Also, this is applicable to Google searches only. It isn’t meant to be a stand-alone tool; it’s meant to complement your keyword research and quickly. That’s why it runs in the browser. You don’t have to launch a separate program.

Finally, the free version limits the keywords to ten. Yes, there is another version, very reasonably priced that provides a much longer list. But the free version works very well and will suit many website owner’s needs. So, get your free copy of PPC Web Spy here – and do a bit of due diligence before launching your Adwords campaign or optimizing your site.

Questions? Comments? I’d like to know how you are doing your keyword research, so feel free to let me know.

When Matt and Brad Callen opened their site, they temporarily capped the number of accounts at 1,000. We were able to grab an account and play around with their new tool before they closed the site for new sign-ups.

First and foremost, this site builder was made for people who don’t know how to build a website.

That means that you do not have to know anything about HTML, FTP, PHP or any of the other techy stuff web geeks spend their waking hours learning. And BlinkWeb absolutely delivers on this claim.

If you can point your mouse, click and drag, you can build a website – not just a web page but a website with BlinkWeb.

In addition the simple and clean interface, I liked that BlinkWeb will let you upload your Flickr photos and your videos. It was also pretty cool that you can add your own blog to your BlinkWeb site. But the icing on the cake is that you can even add your own Google AdSense ads to your site.

BlinkWeb was produced by Bryxen Software. Their previous products (SEOelite and KeywordElite) were released with video tutorials. When I created my new BlinkWeb account, a video tutorial was not available. But I was able to easily create a one page site without any help whatsoever.

Today, I noticed that the first BlinkWeb video tutorial had been added to the site. And it provides an excellent overview of the power of BlinkWeb.

I should also mention that while the website was created for people who have no technical knowledge, there are several options available that take advantage of a person’s technical ability. What I am saying is, a seasoned web developer will use this tool as well. For example, I would use BlinkWeb to build a website for a Client who does not want to create their own site but wants to update her text, photos and blog.

As of now, a BlinkWeb account is free. I have read rumors that BlinkWeb will have a “basic” free account and a paid account. I expect their blog will have an update on this soon.

I give BlinkWeb the Big High-Five and recommend you hop on over and get started building your own website.

BlinkWeb is the Website Builder Tool that is easy to use and free!