After years of running websites and earning a full-time
online income, I am constantly reminded that it all comes
down to keywords. Actually, it all comes down to obtaining
top rankings for your profitable keywords in the search
engines, mainly Google.

And that statement has to be refined even further, it’s
all about obtaining top keyword rankings and keeping them at
the top. You must consistently keep your keywords in the top
spots on that all-important first page of SERPs since your
keyword rankings will make or break your online marketing.

If you’re targeting extremely competitive and profitable
keywords you will have your work cut out for you. Unless
you have tons of money to buy your way (links) into the
top spots – expect to spend months if not years getting
to those top listings. Google has frowned upon link buying
and has taken steps to fight it, but this practice is
still widespread throughout the web.

Most beginning and honest webmasters want to take the
proper route and earn those top rankings by providing
good quality content that web users will actually find
helpful and use. They build those links the natural
way – by offering viral link bait in the form of videos,
ebooks, articles, reports… all branded with backlinks
to their site.

Gradually over time, these links will build up and your
keyword rankings will go up in the search engines.
People will find your content and bookmark it in all
the social bookmark sites like Digg, Facebook, MySpace…
and your rankings will climb even faster.

However, since keyword marketing has become extremely
competitive, you do need a little help with achieving
those top rankings. Over the years I have tested and
used many keyword tools – one of the first being
The Internet Success Spider by Neil Shearing which
is now free.

Later, I tried and am still using Keyword Elite by
Brad Callens, it remains one of the best keyword
research tools on the market. I can directly link
many of my keyword successes to my early use of this
tool.

http://www.bizwaremagic.com/keyword_elite_review.htm

Another, perhaps more powerful keyword tool is the
Brainstorm It which is offered through the Site Build
It marketing/hosting system run by Ken Evoy. Powerful
keyword analyzer and finder, which is now in its
third version.

http://www.bizwaremagic.com/brainstorm_it.htm

Then again there is the Google own keyword system run
through its Adwords program. Like everything Google
does, this keyword tool can be very helpful especially
for the novice online marketer.

Google Keyword Tool External

For very quick keyword references, I like using
Aaron Wall’s keyword tool on his Seobook site.
It’s quick and gives very simple stats for your
chosen keyword.

http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook

Another helpful tool is Microsoft’s online commercial
intention which tells the probability your chosen
keyword has a commercial value to it:

http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx

Still yet another SEO (sort of related to keywords)
is the SeoQuake toolbar which you can run on Firefox,
it will slow down your browser but it will cough
up valuable information about your own site and
more importantly, it will give you valuable information
on your competitor’s sites. One feature that I find
very helpful is the SEM Rank and SEM Price, which
tells you how much the Search Engine Marketing value
of your keyword traffic is worth.

Why am I using all these keyword tools?

Simply because obtaining and keeping top rankings
for my chosen keywords is my livelihood. Unless I can
keep that targeted traffic coming from these keywords
via the search engines; it’s game over. Therefore, I use
all the tools and information I can gather in order to
keep those keywords at the top.

Google is always changing, you really have to stay on your
toes if you want to keep your keywords at the top.
It all boils down to producing quality content web
surfers need and want. The SEO pretty much takes care
of itself as long as you keep promoting your keywords
with good viral branded content like videos, articles,
ebooks, PDF reports… and as I learned last week sometimes
one or more of your keywords can take a steep dive,
even if you have had it at the top for years.

Last week I told you about one of my most important
keywords which was bouncing in and out of the first page
results – it has now gone back to the number 5 position
in Google. Thanks to a subscriber who gave me valuable
feedback on the importance of the different social
bookmarking sites for link building.

You must mix up your online link building to include
links from such places as Facebook, Digg, Google Bookmarks,
MySpace… I have always used the free “Addthis” button
to all my important content and this has resulted in
100’s of free links that your visitors will build for you!

I also believe you have to be careful when using viral
articles to vary your anchor text (clickable part of a
link) so that you don’t have the same keyword phrase repeated
100’s of times across the web. Just use different versions
of your keyword phrase and if you can, get those keyword
links in the body of the article, as near to the top of
the page as you can. This will make your link building look
much more natural in the eyes of the search engines, especially
Google.

Overall, you must have hundreds, if not thousands of keywords
that you’re targeting with your online marketing. You
must constantly keep building links for those keywords from
related sites on the web. Sometimes it is helpful to truly
view your keywords as organic, something that keeps growing
naturally on its own. But you must first build a solid
foundation with good quality content and then keep nurturing
those keywords with good quality link bait so that others
will bookmark, recommend and link to your keyword content.

Over the years, if there is anything I have learned about
keywords which always holds true, it is this: you must
be persistent. You must keep at it- building links, building
content… it will usually take months, if not years, to
get those top rankings for very competitive keywords and
it will take some further work to consistently keep those
keywords in the top positions. But keywords are worth it
since they can easily make or break your online marketing.

Kind Regards,
Titus

https://www.bizwaremagic.com