Keywords (and keyword research) is a central component of building a successful online
business. It is one of those things that a webmaster should know how to do himself while it may seem easy to outsource keyword research (as you would outsource search engine
optimization, content writing and link building), the reality is that it (keyword research) affectsevery other step in marketing a website.
In other words, if you target the wrong keywords, you will be wasting your time and, more
importantly, your money.
3 big reasons why keywords are so important
- Useful for search engines (Chapter 4: Keywords and Search Engines).
This involves not only how search engines accept search queries and rank
pages, but also search engine optimization and link building.
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is based on keywords (Chapter 5:
Keywords and PPC Advertising).
- Advertising networks (such as AdSense) use contextual targeting for
their ads and a key factor in this process (of matching ads with specific
pages) are keywords found on a particular page (Chapter 6: Keywords and
AdSense).
Each of these areas will be covered in detail in their respective chapters.
Also, keyword research can be invaluable in evaluating the worth of a niche topic (Chapter 2:Keyword research and niche topics). I always have a dozen or so niche topics floating around in my head or jotted down in a text file somewhere. The only cheap way to figure out if further investment in those ideas is worth my time is to do a quick check on the demand and profitability of the topic using Keyword Elite, which I’ll show you later in the guide.
