Keywords Are Search Engine Magnets

There is one statement to which all who are successful in online business will nod their heads. Its not the old chestnut that ‘Content is King’, or that ‘The Money’s In The List’. Rather it is something that is so fundamental to the business (and yes, it is decidedly unsexy) that overlooking has spelled categoric failure to those who ignore it.

It is no secret either –  internet marketing leaders have tried to drum it into people for years. It is quite simply ‘Keyword Research’.

Why I Ask Clients To Provide Me With Keywords

I have set up a comprehensive questionnaire, funnily enough called ‘Comprehensive Questionnaire’ at Survey Monkey. This is designed to gather all of the information I need in order to commence a client’s project. It collects:

• Client and billing information
• Details of what type of SEO content they require
• And, most importantly, the keywords they wish to target

If you’d like to see the survey, visit:

Kerry’s Client Survey

Asking for keywords serves two purposes. Firstly, it tells me that my clients have actually done their keyword research, and secondly it ensures that I place exact keywords correctly within the content I’m writing.

Sometimes this is really tricky – because keywords may not actually make sense. “Why is this?” I (sort of) hear you ask.

What Are Keywords?

Put quite simply, keywords (which can, in fact, be comprised of several words) are the terms you target market is entering into the search box on Google, Yahoo! or Bing.

For instance, if your keyword research shows that your target market is using the search term ‘cheap hotel in Dublin’, then that should be your keyword – not for example ‘budget accommodation in Dublin’ (because it sounds more posh). It is not about how you want it to read, but more that you have included the search terms being used by your prospects.

Of course, there is nothing to stop us from including other terms as well throughout the content, but it is vital to have your primary keyword placed in the heading, first and last paragraphs and once elsewhere. If publishing an article where a resource box is allowed, then the keyword should be there as well.

How To Do Keyword Research

There are many ways that you can do keyword research, and in the past this has been a time consuming process that saw too many marketers short cut the process. Bad move.

What is great though is that the exceptionally talented (Australian) team at Noble Samurai has turned keyword and niche research into an automated and accurate art form with Market Samurai. Now the research tool of choice by the top internet marketers in the world, it is obvious which of my clients are using it: their keywords are targeted and finely tuned.

Try Market Samurai now for free! So much so that it can be tricky creating content around them. The keywords they present to me constantly amazes – but when I look at them, I can see how they would be what people are typing into the search bars (but that revelation doesn’t make my job any easier!).

If you don’t already use Market Samurai, then I recommend you download the the free trial version from the Noble Samurai site, and be prepared to be amazed. It will become an invaluable weapon for any internet marketer (it also has a niche research and competitor analysis function), or an SEO content writer who is providing keyword research as a service.

I was fortunate to recently meet some of the Market Samurai team – and I can vouch for the fact that they are genuinely helpful and ethical people who are at the cutting edge of internet marketing tools and technology.