| One of the most important elements in how to start an | | | | that over 55 million monthly searches are conducted |
| internet business is keyword research. That's right, | | | | on average worldwide. To see the amount of |
| even before you select your niche or your domain | | | | competition enter "recipes" into Google search and |
| name, you should conduct this task to increase your | | | | note the results number in the upper right, over 98 |
| chances of online success. One word in your domain | | | | million. That means you would be going up against |
| name can mean the difference between success and | | | | roughly 98 million other website pages if you were to |
| failure. What are keywords? Keywords are the term | | | | center your campaign around this keyword. That |
| used for the words that are typed into search engines | | | | would not be a good move. |
| to locate web sites or information. For example if you | | | | Going back to the Keyword Tool, you will also be |
| are hungry and are looking online for something to | | | | given a whole list of keyword phrases that will have |
| cook, you may type into a search engine "recipes". | | | | the word "recipe" in them. This is where you can strike |
| "Recipes" in this example is the keyword. | | | | gold. Scanning the list I find a 4 word phrase that gets |
| Keywords can also be phrases. For example if you | | | | nearly 50,000 searches per month "taste of home |
| are looking for a spaghetti recipe you would most likely | | | | recipes", and better yet when I enter the phrase into |
| type into the search engine "spaghetti recipe". The | | | | the search engine there are only 52 competing sites! |
| more defined your keyword is, the more defined the | | | | This is a very good keyword to use to center a |
| search result will be. This is an obvious but important | | | | marketing campaign around. One thing to point out |
| fact about establishing your marketing campaign. | | | | here about using the search engine to get the number |
| Continuing with the recipe niche, if you centered your | | | | of competing pages is to look at the last page of |
| whole campaign around the keyword "recipes" you | | | | results listed in the page counter located at the bottom |
| are going to face extremely tough competition. What | | | | of the first page. In this example the last page is 6, and |
| you need to do is to seek out some keyword phrases | | | | by going to page 6 you will see that there are just 52 |
| where the competition is much less while still being | | | | results, not 2 million as listed on page 1. |
| searched for by people in the search engines. | | | | The next step is to look at domain name availability for |
| How do you do this? There are several tools available | | | | the exact same keyword phrase. Ideally you want |
| to assist you, some are even free. You simply start | | | | .com, but, .net and .org will work just as well. If none are |
| off by entering a root keyword into the tool and | | | | available then consider adding a word to the end of |
| analyze the results. The tools will give you the number | | | | the phrase such as "tasteofhomerecipesonline" |
| of times the words are searched for and the amount | | | | followed by By understanding these simple tasks you |
| of competition you will encounter. Ideally you are | | | | will know one of the key processes used in how to |
| looking for a somewhat modest search count with a | | | | start an online business the smart way. It is all about |
| low competition count. Using free tools from Google, | | | | having your website be listed on the first page of |
| the Keyword Tool, and Google Search, you can come | | | | results of a search. The less the competition, the |
| up with some solid research. For example when | | | | easier. |
| entering "recipes" into the Keyword Tool, it will report | | | | |