Seven Tips for Successful Keyword Research

Before
you
set out to march your way to the top of search rankings you'll need to
take a
good survey of the terrain ahead. You need to do a good amount of
keyword
research. Surprisingly, many webmasters seem to have stepped past this
important starting point, and doing so has most definitely set
obstacles, some
impassable, in their path. Keyword research is the only way to approach
SEO
with informed expectations. How competitive are the keywords you are
optimizing
for? What keywords are you including in your link building efforts?
What will
it take to succeed? Answering these questions ahead of time makes all
the
difference.

Here
are
seven key tips for successful keyword research.

1.
Use a
proper tool.

Sure,
there's a lot of free stuff available out there, but when it comes to
keyword
research free tools are few and far from powerful. If you're
considering
investing either money or time into SEO for your web site look at a
solid
keyword research tool as a necessity.

Some
of the
better keyword research tools:

a.
SEOmoz's
Keyword Difficulty Tool - this tool from one of the great SEO
innovators gives
you a good general idea of how competitive your keyword/phrase is.

b.
Trellian's Keyword Discovery Tool - user-friendly, simple, and
feature-rich.
One of the best keyword research tools available.

c.
WordTracker Keywords - second to none, WordTracker has been a leader in
keyword
research for years. A great value.

2.
Identify
*viable* targets.

We'd
all
love to rank well for the most general and all-encompassing search
phrase
related to our topic, but only a handful ever will. Targeting some
ultra-competitive keywords is as good as shooting yourself in the foot
unless
you've got massive amounts of time and resources to throw at the
problem.

Finding
long-tail (three words and more) and targeted search phrases that are
actually
getting traffic can mean the difference between SEO success and
failure. Be
reasonable in your expectations, and fight the big guys by researching
long-tail search phrases that have slipped beneath the radar. You might
also
find that long-tail search phrases bring better conversion rates for
your
topic.

3.
Keep it
relevant.

You
may find
keywords and phrases that offer inroads to high search rankings, but
it's
important to remember that the ultimate end is traffic and how you
utilize it.
In other words, you need to be sure your keywords relate to your web
site. If
you get a page to rank well enough to bring in some search traffic, but
when
users actually view that page they either can't make sense of the
content or
find the page unrelated to your topic (or worse - spammy) that search
traffic
will do you no good. Not only will off-topic or spammy content affect
your
brand and drive users from your site, but there's a chance Google could
catch
on to your irrelevant content or spammy techniques and penalize your
domain for
it.

4.
Don't be
too wordy.

No,
really.
A common mistake is to choose your keywords based on your own
perspective
rather than that of your target users. Sure, you know your topic inside
and
out. You know the buzz words, the technical details and a whole lot
more, but
do your users? What if the user isn't sure what they're looking for?
Maybe they
know the function but not the name. Keep this in mind when researching
keywords, and make sure you consider your choices from the perspective
of
someone very new to your topic.

5.
Consider
local search.

One
area
small to mid-sized web sites can really find a competitive edge is in
locally-specific search phrases. These are inherently less competitive
and
therefore are easier to rank well for. However, go back to #3 and think
it
through - if your web site is locally specific or if users will want to
know
your location this is a good strategy, but optimizing pages for local
keywords
that will look out of place to users can be a mistake.

6.
Monitor
your web analytics.

One
of the
great benefits of web analytics is that it allows you to monitor
keyword
referrals. In other words, you can find out what visitors are searching
for
when they land at your site. For brand new sites there won't be too
much data,
but if your site has been around at all and is getting some organic
search
traffic you will find that your analytics reports are a great source of
keyword
information. Referring search phrases can be surprising - sometimes
including
misspellings and other abnormalities. Keep an eye on your analytics,
and you
might find a keyword worth optimizing for.

7.
Constantly reevaluate your position.

While
keyword research is definitely the first step in developing your site
content
from an SEO standpoint it should also be a recurring one. Internet
trends shift
quickly. While a lot of your core keywords will remain unchanged for
the
foreseeable future some buzz words will get attention while others fall
from
the spotlight. Stay on top of your keyword research and you can make
the most
of new opportunities while recognizing the less-than-ideal keywords
that are
either too competitive or don't bring in enough traffic.

Author: Mike Tekula

How to maximize your Google AdSense profits

How to maximize your Google AdSense
profits

AdSense
is
Google's program for placing AdWords ads on non-Google websites.

4 key facts
about
AdSense

You
make
automatic money with AdSense.Small as well as large websites can get
AdSense
ads on them. Whenever someone clicks on an ad on your site, you get
paid.
Google collects the money from the advertiser, keeps some of it, and
passes the
rest on to you via a check in the post. Some clicks can earn you more
than $5
dollars a time.

Content-targeting
technology means AdSense ads are relevant to your site's traffic.Google
uses
automatic content-targeting technology to select what ads will appear
on your
site. This system is quite sophisticated (but not 100% reliable) and
generally
the ads on your site will be relevant to your traffic. This means the
ads are
likely to get clicked by your traffic and make you money.

Google
sells
your advertising space for you.Google has a massive network of over
200,000
advertisers using its AdWords advertising system and when AdWords ads
appear on
your site they are called AdSense. This means that when you sign up for
AdSense, Google offers your site to all its advertisers - at a price
that is
determined by supply and demand through the AdWords real time automatic
auction
process. (This auction process is complex - I explain the details in my
free
course below.)

You
can
maximize your AdSense profits if you understand how the program works
in
detail.AdSense is underpinned by Google's AdWords system and in short,
if you
know how to get high paying AdWords ads on your site, you will get ads
on your
site that pay you a lot per click. You don't want ads that pay a few
cents a
time, you want dollars!

How do you make
money from the Google Adsense Program?

How
do you make money from the Google Adsense Program?

What
AdSense
Tips can you share with us?

I
have been
asked this question so many times in the past few weeks that I thought
I should
write something on the topic. It seems increasingly bloggers want to
try to
cover their hosting and ISP costs with some revenue from their blog -
and
increasingly they’re doing it and are able to make a few (or
quite a lot)
dollars on the side. Many are turning to Google’s Adsense
program.

Covering
costs of my Digital Photography Blog is why I originally signed up with
Google
Adsense - blogging can get expensive when you have high levels of
traffic and a
lot of pages.

Whilst
the
agreement you sign with Google stresses that you are not allowed to
give
specific information about your earnings from the program I can say
that I’m
glad I’ve signed up because its well and truly covered my
costs - and then
some. In fact I think its quite feasible to expect that Adsense coupled
with
other strategies for making money from Blogging could quite easily
generate a
decent living. It takes time and hard work, but I think its very
doable.
(Update: Since writing this series I’ve revealed that I am
now looking at
making over a six figure income this year in 2005 from blogging).

So
how do I
make money from Google Adsense? Let me share some AdSense Tips that
heve helped
me.

This
will be
the first in a series of posts on this topic. Let me say up front
I’m no expert
- there are a lot of people out there making a lot more money than I am
using
Adsense - however most of them are not telling their secrets - well not
for
free anyway. I’ve got no secrets to hide and am willing to
share what I’ve
learnt since I signed up for the program 8 months ago. If you want a
REAL
expert’s opinion on Adsense I’d recommend buying
Joel Comm’s What Google Never
Told You About Making Money with Adsense E-Book. Joel earns $15,000 per
month
from Adsense and has some good things to share.

I
know some
bloggers are put off or offended by the idea of making money from
blogging so
I’ll try not to let these posts dominate my blog - however if
you are not
interested in the topic, simply skip over these posts.

AdSense Referrals

AdSense Referrals




I’m writing this on the run as I’m in the middle of
a session - however it
looks like an interesting development based on publishers being in
control of
what ads will be shown on their blogs through choosing keywords and
making them
look like other AdSense ads on your site. You can choose the same ad
unit sizes
and designs.



The payment is CPA (ie you don’t get paid until your readers
do something -
specified by the advertiser). Below is a pic of how they’re
promoting it (click
to enlarge).







Here’s how AdSense are talking about this:



“In just a few minutes you can hand-pick and display ads that
will appeal
directly to your users’ tastes and interests. After choosing
relevant ads or
keywords, you will be able to customize referrals units that complement
the
look and feel of your site. Then you can start directing visitors to
the
products or services you’ve selected.



With referrals, you’ll be paid when your visitors click
through to an
advertiser’s site and complete an action defined by your
advertisers, such as a
sale or sign up. Because these actions are often more involved than a
simple
click or impression, advertisers pay more for these referrals, which
can
translate into higher earnings for your site. Further, you’ll
see the expected
earnings and advertiser performance ahead of time, so you can make the
best
decisions about what to refer. You can also choose to target the
keywords that
will ensure you get the highest-paying referrals for your ad
space.”



I’ve applied to be on the beta program and it’ll be
something to watch. It’s an
interesting move and one that is definately moving towards the
Commission
Junction model.



How do you set up ads (if accepted into the program)?

Step 1: Select the keywords, products or services you want to refer

Choose from our extensive list of advertisers in a variety of different
categories.



Step 2: Customize your ad unit

Select the size and color scheme that best matches the look and feel of
your
site.



Step 3: Copy and paste the code to your pages

Paste the code into your webpages using your HTML editor and publish
them to
the web.



So you can use this via choosing specific products or on a keyword
basis.

The
Basics On How to Start Making Money With Adsense

Adsense
is considered as one of the most powerful tool
in a
website publisher’s arsenal.

It
enables a person to monetize their sites easily. If
used properly, it can generate a very large and healthy income for
them.
However if you are not using them rightly and just maximizing the
income you
squeeze from it, you are actually leaving a lot of money on the table.
Something all people hate doing.

How
you can start earning money with Adsense can be
done easily and quickly. You will be amazed at the results you will be
getting
in such a short period of time.

Start
by writing some quality content articles which
are also keyword incorporated. There are a lot of people given the gift
of
being good with words. Writing comes easy for them. Why not make it
work in
such a way that you will be earning some extra cash in the process.

There
are actually three steps to put into mind before
you begin writing your ads and having an effective Adsense.

Keyword
search. Find some popular subjects, keywords
or phrase. Select the ones which you think has more people clicking
through.
This is actually a keyword selector and suggestion tool that some sites
are
offering to those who are just their Adsense business.

Writing
articles. Start writing original content with
keywords from the topics that you have achieved in your search. Take
note that
search engines are taking pride in the quality of their articles and
what you
will be writing should keep up with their demands.

Quality
content site. Build a quality content site
incorporated with Adsense ads that is targeting the subject and
keywords of
your articles and websites. This is where all that you’ve
done initially will
go to and this is also where they will prove their worth to you.

The
proper positioning of your ads should be done with
care. Try to position your ads where surfers are most likely to click
on them.
According to research, the one place that surfers look first when they
visit a
certain site is the top left. The reason behind this is not known.
Maybe it is
because some of the most useful search engine results are at the top of
all
other rankings. So visitors tend to look in that same place when
browsing
through other sites.

Some
of those who are just starting at this business
may think they are doing pretty well already and thinking that their
clickthrough rates and CPM figures are quite healthy. However, there
are more
techniques and styles to generate more clicks to double your earnings.
By
knowing these techniques and working them to your advantage, you will
realize
that you will be getting three times more than other people who have
been
previously doing what they are doing.

Finally,
Adsense has some excellent tracking
statistics that allows webmasters and publishers to track their results
across
a number of site on a site by site, page by page, or any other basis
you
wanted. You should be aware oft his capability and make the most of it
because
it is one powerful tool that will help you find out which ads are
performing
best. This way, you can fine tune your Adsense ads and focus more on
the ones
being visited the most rather than those who are being ignored.

Another
thing you should know. Banners and skyscrapers
are dead. Ask the experts. So better forget about banners and
skyscrapers.
Surfers universally ignore these kinds of ad formats. The reason behind
this is
that they are recognized as an advert and advert are rarely of any
interest
that’s why people ignore them.

To
really start making money with Adsense, you should
have a definite focus on what you wanted to achieve and how you will go
about
achieving them. As with any other kind of business ventures, time is
needed
coupled with patience.

Do
not just ignore your site and your Adsense once you
have finished accomplishing them. Spare some time, even an hour, making
adjustments to the Adsense ads on your sites to quickly trigger your
Adsense
income.

Give
it a try and you would not regret having gotten
into Adsense in the first place.

Don't Get Caught With Google Adsense Click Fraud

Many
web site owners are getting their Google Adsense
account terminated when they have done nothing wrong to deserve the
punishment.
Considering the money that they are getting from Adsense, they would
certainly
want to get back into it.

Considering
the money to be made with Adsense, it is
no wonder that they would want to get back into it.

It
is that same consideration why the Google Adsense
click fraud is thought of and why many people are getting into it.

Click
fraud is the act of clicking on ads for the
purpose of costing the advertiser money. It is simply the same as
paying out
cash for false leads. Many people website owners are aware of this
fraud and
are sharing the same sentiment that this is the one big problem that
Adsense is
facing.

How do you prevent being involved in
this fraud?

Majority
of web hosts are offering access logs. Once
this is offered to you, it is necessary that you hand it over to Google
as
well. This allows them to look for any suspicious activity on your
site.
Problems like this are very serious and giving it to them is saying
that you
would want to help them in any way you can in solving the problem.

It
can also help if you have a click monitoring
software. If you do not have one yet, you should try and get one. There
is absolutely
no major factor preventing you from having one because most of this
software is
free.

As
usual, all the information you have received should
be turned over to Google. This is showing Google that you too are
fighting
against click frauds and is in no way a part of it.

Study
your server logs and watch for any activity that
seems suspicious. Report anything that you may find odd, may it big or
small
thing.

You
may want to consider disabling ads for your own IP
address and local geographic area. This will certainly prevent
accidents and
will not make Google mistake another user as you. You can do through a
htaccess
file. This will avoid Google mistaking as clicking on your own ads and
be
kicked out because of it.

Keep
your Adsense off on pop ups and pop unders. Your
ads should not be displayed on content sites that promote illegal
activity or
tampering of the legal rights of other people or business. Included in
this are
the content that is considered adult and gambling ones. If you think
that you may
be breaking this rule, immediately remove your content or Adsense from
the web
page.

Be
truthful and confess up to Google about times when
you might have clicked on your own as, whether accidentally or
intentionally.
Or the times when you have done something that is against the Terms of
Service
that they are implementing. Be honest about anything that you may have
done
that is wrong. Confessing is way better than Google learning about it
eventually. It would mean eventual termination and no getting back what
you
have worked so hard for.

Do
not tell your family or friends about Adsense on
your website. Chances are they may start clicking on them to help you
make
money without you knowing it. They may be doing more harm to you than
help by
trying it in the first place.

If
ever someone you know chanced upon your Adsense,
make sure they understand that they cannot click on your ads under any
circumstances. It would be wise to brief them on important things about
Adsense
and what not to do with them.

Most
pay per click networks have different measures in
hand to protect website owners against click frauds. Other search
engines can
track more than 50 data points, IP address, browser’s
information, user’s
session info and pattern recognition. They also have
“systems” available that
detects fraud. Not to mention the specialized teams monitoring how
things are
going and helping advertisers stop click frauds.

Google
offers suggestion on how to avoid click fraud.
Using “negative keywords” can be used to keep your
Adsense showing on products
and services that are in no way related to yours. Adding tracking URLs
to your
links so you can track the traffic coming from Google.

Do
not be caught in the Google click fraud. Be aware
and be wary.

Making
Money from Your Web Site with Google AdSense

Prerequisites
for Making Money with AdSense

Dealing
with Competitors

Google
Money Making Ad Options

Google
AdSense Payments

Other
Programs Besides AdSense

Creating
Quality Content for Your Adsense Site

Making
the Most of Google Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Keyword
Generating Tools Can Help Increase Earnings

The
Benefits of Google Adsense