Keyword research

[sandy47]

Hi everyone,

As a newbie I feel like some of my questions might be dumb but here goes any way.

The first thing i'd like to know is how many searches a month for a keyword would the preferred minimum be. I'm considering going with BANS for my first endeavour. I've looked at a couple of products on offer at ebay and done some basic keyword research. While the competition on my products is not tooo serious i think i need to dig deeper and find less used ones but not sure what i'm looking for as far as numbers go.

Second, with a site of this type what do you need to do to maintain them. In other words how do you keep traffic coming. Most BANS sites that I have looked at seem to be seriously falling in traffic ranking within less than 12months.

Love to hear your views.

Have a great day.
Sandy

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Sandy,

You can ask ANYthing in this getting started section, so no worries

You asked about searches/month, which keyword tool are you using? WordTracker for example, gives the approximate number of searches per day.

You are actually going to optimize each page of your website for a different keyword phrase, that specifically matches the content on that particular page - so you'll combine all of the search volume across the site of course.

This may help a bit in your calculation:
http://www.clicknewz.com/260/niche-potential/

-

[sandy47]

Thanks Lynn

That helps - I think. I've been using the free Word tracker and the Google adwords tool. Do you think I should try something else?

As a matter of interest how much importance do you place on those numbers for demand and supply. Since whatever tool you use gives different results I guess the idea is to just get an overall picture of the general interest in whatever you're promoting.

Is that right?

Sandy

[alexc]

To answer your question, I do not have a ton of faith in Google adwords and WordTracker. Very recently they have been unavailable for most word usages searches, and some things, which should be very common, have shown up ranking far to low (like video games ranking 137!). When the tools appear to be working properly they are a very good indicator of usage, but lately, not so much.

[sandy47]

Thanks for the response,

Hmm. I've noticed that too. What do you use instead?

Sandy

[JonathanB]

[sandy47]

Thanks Jonathan,

I'll have a look at the Keyword Discovery tool. Anyone else use it?

Sandy

[Lynn Terry]

I havent had any problems with WordTracker myself - which version are you guys using? I use the free tool at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

The paid version is obviously great too.

That said, I have some new tools I'm going to test out, but dont have the links handy (they are in my notes from the StomperNet event). I'll be sure to post a review once I've had opportunity to test them for myself.

But yes - you use the tools to get a general idea. Two things you want to look at: the approximate number of searches (demand) and the variety in related keyword phrases. One keyword phrase for a niche is simply not enough. So seeing 100 related keyword phrases (or longtail phrases for that keyword) is good. It gives you more points for contact with the target market.

[Baggs]