Three Free Websites that all Internet Marketers Should Use
I can't stress strongly enough how important it is for an
Internet Marketer to know what marketing keywords they should
use for their products, and how much their competition is
willing to pay for those same keywords. This may seem like a
complicated process, but it really isn't. In this article we'll
discuss three free websites that all internet Marketers can use
to find this information.
Let's first talk about keywords... When I say 'keywords', I'm
referring to marketing keywords. These are the words that your
potential customers would use to describe your product. These
are the same words that somebody would type in an online search
engine to find your products.
If you have a business website and you don't know which
marketing keywords your website is geared to, then you're
website is certainly at a huge disadvantage. Why? Because you
will be losing business. And you can bet that your main
competition WILL know their marketing keywords, and they WILL be
strategically using these keywords in their website and
advertisements.
You see, when search engine spiders crawl your website, they're
looking for text in your website that can be indexed and used to
describe the content of your website. If your website doesn't
contain the proper keywords that people use to find your
product, then your website will likely not show up in their
searches. So your website really needs to be optimized with the
relevant marketing keywords that the majority of people are
using to search for your product.
Another example where it is vital to know your marketing
keywords is when using Pay-Per Click (PPC) advertising. Pay-Per
Click advertising is typically done through search engines where
you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement (link).
Your advertisement will appear after a user goes to the search
engine and runs a keyword search (which is just a regular
search). The search engine looks at their submitted keyword(s)
and then cross references those with the keywords associated
with the PPC advertisements. If they match, the PPC ads are then
returned with the users search results... Go ahead and go to
Google and run a search. The ads you see on the right-hand side
of the screen are the PPC ads.
(Note: The order in which the PPC ads are returned are dependant
on a few factors: the price you're willing to pay for each
click, the search engine used, the ad Click-Through Rate (CTR),
etc.)
Let's now go through a quick and free process for finding good
keywords for your website.
1) Go to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool
(https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox)
Enter some key words into the textbox that you think people
would use to conduct a search for your product. When you're
done, click the submit button. You will then be shown specific
and similar keywords. Write down the ones that you think would
apply to your product.
2) Go to the Overture Keyword Selector Tool
(http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/)
Enter each keyword that you have written down from step 1, then
click the right-arrow button. This will allow you to see which
keywords are the most popular in Overture. Note: the most
popular keywords aren't always the most appropriate. For
example, if your website sells guides on how to rebuild a 57
Chevy, then you will probably want to specifically target '57
Chevy' keywords, instead of the less specific 'Chevy' keyword.
Why? Because you want to get your ad/website in front of the
people that are most likely to buy your product.
The above 2 websites should give you a great keyword list that
you can now use to optimize your website. But if you want to
advertise using PPC, you really need to know what your
competition is paying for your keywords. This is an easy task as
well.
3) Go to the Overture Bid Tool
(http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/search/tools/bidtool/)
Enter your keywords into the textbox, and then click the search
button. This will return the Overture bids for that keyword. The
highest bids likely get the highest placements - meaning the ads
are closer to the top position on the first page of the user's
search results. The goal is to get as high as your budget will
allow to the top position to ensure maximum exposure of your ad.
There you have it... three great websites that can help your
Internet marketing campaigns - and best of all, they are all
free to use!
Sincerely,
Michael Ellis