If you want your article marketing efforts to help drive traffic to your website, you are going to need to conduct some keyword research.

Why?

Because you need to know the actual key words and phrases that members of your target market are using to search for products and services like yours … not just what words and phrases you think they are using.

Here are some tips for conducting keyword research for your article marketing efforts:

Using SEO Book
My favorite keyword research tool is SEO Book (www.seobook.com), which I learned about from Daniel Hall. If you’ve never used them before, you’ll need to register for an account. Don’t worry, it’s free and I’ve never received an email from them.

Their keyword research tool is located here:
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

Enter your key word in the box and click on the “Submit” button. Your results will look something like this:
 

 
Now don’t be daunted by this big spread sheet … you’re only concerned with one column: “Google daily est.”

You want to find key word phrases that have a Google daily estimate of 50 or more. When the search frequency is in this range, you’ll be more likely to gain decent traffic if you optimize for those keywords.

Using Google’s Keyword Tool
What’s nice about Google’s keyword research tool, which can be found here:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal,

is that you can have it generate a list of keywords based on either descriptive words or phrase you choose, or on the content of your website.

Figure 1: Descriptive Words or Phrases
 

 
Figure 2: Website Content
 

 
Select which option you want, fill in the box on the right and click “Get keyword ideas.”

Your results will be organized by dominate keywords. Find the grouping you want to write your articles on and select those with an Advertiser Competition of around 50% (the bar should be about half-full) or a Local Search Volume of at least 4 figures.
 

---

Would you like some help with your article marketing? An Article Marketing Marathon may be just what you’re looking for! I’ll hold your hand — virtually, of course — and assist you with key word research, writing headlines and writing guidance. To see when the next Article Marketing Marathon will be held, visit www.dragonwyze.com/ammarathon.