Effective Keyword Research — Where Should I Start?

Are you at the beginning of your adventure with affiliate marketing? If so, you have probably encountered the idea of a “niche market” and heard about “keyword research.” But when you attempt to understand how to do your own keyword research, you find yourself at a complete standstill. You have probably come across scores of videos and reports that promise to reveal the best and only method of finding a profitable niche, or a guaranteed way to find valuable keywords to target.

At this point it’s pretty common to feel totally overwhelmed, and you’re still no closer to a useful understanding of all that information. Maybe your brain is starting to absorb the whole notion of a niche market; the concept of a good keyword seems logical in theory, but how to identify the right keywords for a given niche is still a mystery. Perhaps you have tried half-a-dozen free keyword research tools, or bought six different pieces of software that were guaranteed to automate your keyword research? The promise is always the same, that you’re going to find an endless supply of keywords that work according to the “low competition-high search volume” model.

However, I have found out the hard way that “shortcuts” don’t work — the only way to get good at keyword research is by taking the time to learn and gain experience. How many late nights have you had, trying to pull out those coveted keyword phrases from hundreds of useless terms, hoping to find one or two that would help you hit the jackpot? There is also the danger that you find a marvelous set of keywords, but they bring you only a flood of information-seekers, visitors who read and move on because they aren’t in the buying phase of their search yet.

The fact is, we can get quite exhausted and overwhelmed with this entire cycle. For those who are trying to learn in their spare time, between work and family responsibilities, the hours of fruitless hunting for keywords don’t leave time for anything else. You also have to practice creating a WordPress site or Blogger blog, and get stuck into writing original content and articles, but there isn’t enough time — unless you stay up all night!

What you need is a SOLUTION to the problem of finding good quality keywords. What would happen if you woke up tomorrow and found a set of fifty or sixty targeted keywords in your email inbox — and you’re sure they come from a reliable source? By choosing low competition keywords on the list you can even skip building web pages; with a domain name for redirecting your affiliate links you can go full tilt into article writing (and places like ezine.com or articlesbase.com have a lot of free training available).

Keep writing an article per day for a couple of weeks and you’ve made a good start, with lots of keywords left on your list. Yeah, you’re right — that is a sweet plan!

Find out how to make the plan your own at instacashkeywords (no opt-in required!). Taking “time off” from keyword research could give you the freedom you need to succeed with affiliate marketing. This article, Effective Keyword Research — Where Should I Start? is available for free reprint.