For many of you keyword research veterans, this may be nothing new. And if you’ve signed up to get the free gifts, you also have my free Lucrative keyword research Guide. However, I find this to be the best mini-guide to Keyword Research that I’ve seen in a while. It covers quite a few things that even experts forget.

Here’s a quote from Gobala Krishnan’s article Keyword Research 101 : Fundamental Keyword Strategy that talks about the limits of keyword research:

There are some severe limitations to keyword research. The main one is that it tells you what the user typed into the search engine, not what the user is really looking for or the state of mind the user is in.For example, the user typed in “cheap gibson electric guitar” into the search engine and found your site. But, what is the user thinking when he is reading you page? Is he:

* Looking to buy a product – if yes, then your site should be primarily monetized by affiliate programs that pay you per sale. You can find a lot of physical products and digital products that you can sell from your website just by typing in “your keyword affiliate program” in search engines
* Looking for more information – if yes, then your site should be monetized by an advertising program like Google Adsense or Chitika, since the user is more likely to click away for more information rather than buy something
* Looking for bargains – if yes, your site should be monetized by Ebay or Auction Ads, which is based on Ebay but works like Adsense
* Looking for freebies – if yes, your site should be monetized with CPA (Cost Per Action) programs that you can find on networks like www.shareasale.com or www.linkshare.com

Awesome approach to a concept that is often a little tricky to relay.

If you use Yahoo’s Overture (now, technically Yahoo Search marketing), you’ve probably already seen this option. It’s a screencast video from their Resource Center on How to Find More Keywords.

I normally would have del.icio.used this and left it at that, but what’s neat about this prsentation is that it explains some of the “whys” behind getting more keyword exposure that applied to organic search as well.

Okay, fire up those keyword research“>keyword research Tools and let’s get your site some more traffic!

The first site we’re going to is Spannerworks.com. We’re going to use their Keyword Density Analyzer (Analyser for those in the UK ). This will determine what keywords your site is currently optimized for.

Click that link to load it up and enter your link.

Look at the second list of links, the two-word phrases. That, in all likelihood, is what Google or Yahoo THINKS your site is about.

If your site is about that, great. You can move on to the next step.

If not, you need to pick a better keyword. To illustrate why, grab your API key and let’s go to GoRank.com.

Create an account, enter your Google API key (don’t panic if you see some database errors at the top of the page. That’s because your key hasn’t been entered.)

Now use their Keyword Density Analyzer, which allows you to pick a keyword that you believe your site is related to. Pick one and put it in.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Your site, as we saw in the last exercise, is not related to those keyword terms, as far as a search engine is concerned.

So what do you do now? We pick a better keyword for your site. You have a lot more work to do than the people in group one do.

Let’s all, both groups, go to step two. Remember which group you’re in.

Okay, here’s an overview.

(Make sure you’ve got your Google API Key. You’ll need it for two of these steps. It should have been emailed to you instantly when you applied.)

In Step One, we’re going to see what theme your site gives the impression that it’s about. Then we’re going to compare it to what keyword you want.

In Step Two, we’ll pick a better keyword for your site.

In Step Three, you’ll find out what you have to do to make your site better address the kinds of keywords you want.

Okay, before I get into the Whys and Hows, let’s load up the proper tools in our browsers.

You probably want to do this in several windows, though not until around 9:30 a.m. because it may take me a minute to make these posts.

First, go to Google.com/api and get your free API key.

Next, go to Search Guild’s Keyword Difficulty Checker.

Then open up either Nichebot, Digital Point’s Keyword suggestion tool, or Wordtracker’s free trial.

If you’re really serious about getting ranked for an easy to intermediate keyword, I strongly suggest you use Wordtracker. A day there will cost you $8 – Wordtracker.com if you have something against affiliate links (I’d only make a buck if you bought a day. But you know me, I’m not just about the dollars.)

It’s a serious tool for serious Do-It-Yourself SEO, so whether you use it through my link or not, if you really want good traffic, get Wordtracker. I learned about 20% of what I know about keywords just being on their site.

Also, we may use Go Rank today, or we may not get that far. Also, if you don’t know what keywords to start with, look up the tool I put up on Google Tuesdays, and type in a phrase you think your site is about.

Back in an hour, maybe less.