The Keen Marketer

Niche keyword research has always been something that I haven’t been very diligent in doing.  That may be because I did not really know how to do it until I learned how from superb internet marketing training.

The whole keyword thing can be broken down into 8 steps. Once your learn how, then it’s wash and repeat.

So here goes:

Step 1: Think of something that moves you and find one word that would describe it.

If gerbils or skateboarding are of interest to you, then pick one single word that can describe this interest or passion you have. 

See how easy step one was?

But I must caution you at this point.  If you don’t take this first step seriously, then all the others will not produce the results you want in the end.  So I must qualify this simple process by advising you to choose something that you already know lots about and want to learn more about in the future.

Learning more about your topic will keep you interested over the long haul. That way you are less likely to get discouraged or even quit.

Step 2: Come up with a problem statement using your word combined with “how”.

What does this mean?

Very simply put, ask yourself, “Are people trying to solve a problem related to your area of interest?  Will they pay for a solution?” Hopefully you will have one they will want to pay you for. After all, that’s the idea with developing a niche marketing strategy.

There are many keyword research tools and one free tool that is quite adequate is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Start by typing in the word that you chose but add to that the word “how”. An example of that  using the above words would look like this: “how gerbil” or “how skateboarding”.

The reason you use “how” is because  people with problems look for a solution on line and usually use “how” as a way of asking the search engines in order to find a solution.

Once you click “send”, the Adwords keyword tool searches and finds what other searches were done using those 2 words and may contain results such as “how feed gerbils” or “how make a skateboard”.

Adwords keyword tool spits out what are called “problem statements” which leads us into the next step.

Step 3: Look for the “action words” found in the problem statements.

There actually may be many action words like “how clean gerbil”, “how groom gerbil”, “how build skateboard”, “how make a skateboard.  You get the idea.

Your action words in this case would be clean, groom, build  and make.

These words are the ones people are using to try to solve their problems with.

Step 4: From your list of problem statements, choose the ones you could solve because you know something about it, or can learn more as discussed before.

So if you could help people build a skateboard from scratch you’d choose statements such as ‘how to make a skateboard”, “how to make skateboard deck”, etc.

Just list all the statements that you know you can solve.

Step 5: List all the words you can find with your problem that people could use to search for.

So you’re going to help people build a skateboard but remember that “how to make a skateboard” may not be the only words that apply to this problem.

There are different parts to the skateboard such as the “deck” and “wheels’ which all play an important part in the making of a skateboard.  Just make sure you identify as many words as possible.  If you can help with all the parts of the skateboard, you will inevitably reach a wider audience.

Don’t be shy. Whip out your thesaurus for synonyms  and make a list for both your interest word and your action words.

Step 6: Narrow your search to the actual keywords people are typing in their search.

You will be fine tuning your keywords for better targeting your niche of choice. If you have  a paid keyword tool, you can further narrow your search.  It should produce more phrases people use to search with.

Step 7: It’s now time to put your keywords into groups.

Use the “intention” of the search term to make your list of words that fit under each “intention”.

What this will allow you to do is to specify what problems people are actually searching for.

Step 8: Now which list has the largest groups of keywords?

If one list has lots of keywords that express the same problem, then that list means that there are a lot of people trying to solve the same problem which could translate to lots of people visiting your site looking for a solution.

Now was that so hard?  Finding the right niche will take some effort on your part and some practice as you refine your keyword research skills. Then it’s on to create a profitable website providing value and problem solving solutions for you to profit by.  It’s all in the training!