What is…Keyword Research
Keyword Research the Heart of Affiliate Marketing
In the most basic of explanations, keyword research is that activity which finds words and phrases used to search the Internet for some tangible pieces of knowledge or information. These searches are to satisfy a need. Most searches are done on some form of "search engine." Google, Yahoo, MSN, Teoma, Dogpile are examples of search engines. As affiliate marketers, we use these key words to find market niches to exploit for possible sales.
For the searcher, he/she is usually looking for information to satisfy some personal need; it may be an answer for home work, a recipe, an address to a car dealership, etc. For the researcher, the affiliate marketer, keyword research is used to find that keyword (more likely keywords(s), as most searchers express a question when they search…these compound keywords are known as long tail keywords) which represents a repeated need by a searcher for a tangible product that the affiliate marketer can sell.
Finding the right keywords has a significant result for the marketer:
1. It identifies a consistent, repeated need that is largely unfulfilled.
2. It identifies what the industry calls a market niche that can be exploited.
3. It provides the basic meta data that you populate your site with.
4. It fuels the search engines to send targeted traffic to your website.
5. Eventually it brings you paying customers to your website.
So, in essence, keyword research is that activity that identifies a need (as expressed in a series of words), is translated into a niche by an affiliate marketer, and then that niche is connected to a sales site (usually a web page or full fledged website) where tangible products are sold to those searchers who originally began the process.
Below you will find several examples of excellent tools to research and isolate keywords/long tail keywords:
Market Samurai
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