Even though you have tried to think of every possible keyword or phrase a customer might use to find your site or the products you offer, this is an impossible task.
Luckily, great tools exist – many for free – to help you discover new, profitable keywords to drive additional traffic to your online store.
There are two main types of keywords.
1. One type is called “head” keywords. Some examples may be “iPod”, “t-shirts”, and “gift baskets”. These are the keywords that generate a lot of traffic everyday. These are important to generate a significant volume of site visitors, but they might not always produce qualified customers ready to purchase.
On the positive side, they might give your online business some good quick exposure and reach.
On the negative side, your return-on-investment (ROI) might be low on these keywords and the customers might be just starting their shopping process – conducting research and comparison shopping instead of ready to make that purchase.
Don’t be afraid to remove or bid much lower on keywords that aren’t performing as well as you expected. It is okay to put your ego aside and not own the number one PPC spot for the “head” keywords in your niche.
2. The second type of keywords is called “tail” keywords. Often, these are multi-word keyword phrases such as “buy an iPod”, “men’s white t-shirts” and “thank you gift basket”. Other examples may include product names and local terms such as “Buy a dress NYC.” These keywords are typed into search engine less often than “head” keywords, but they usually have a higher conversion rate.
Both types of keywords should be in your keyword portfolio.
There are many uses for keywords, which is why they are key to your online store success. Here is a short list of uses of keywords:
- Paid Search – used to find qualified traffic in Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask and more. Also, can use keywords for negative terms.
- Search Engine Optimization (a.k.a. organic or natural search) – implement on homepage, department pages, product listing pages, product detail pages, article pages and more.
- Online Press Releases – produce keyword rich press releases
- Site Search – improve your store’s search results
- Social Bookmarking – sites like delicious.com, TechnoratiTM and digg.com “tag” content and pages. “Tags” are just a fancy word for keywords.
- Social Media – sites like YouTube.com and Flikr.com “tag” content and pages too.
- And many more reasons!
Recommended Keyword Research FREE Resources:
FREE – Google External Keyword Tool
Free Trial and Paid Version – Wordtracker
For instance, if you use Google External Keyword Tool, then you will find keyword suggestions that include search volume (overall monthly average as well as last month’s search volume), average CPC (cost-per-click), seasonality and overall competition for the keyword phrase and more. Powerful stuff!
QUICK KEYWORD RESEARCH TIP:
Each keyword research tool uses different data, so it is in your best interest to use multiple keyword resources to discover new opportunities.
Good luck,
David Wauters
OnlineStoreCoach.com
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