As promised, we’re back with the second part of our affiliate guide. Without further ado, let’s look at the fundamentals of SEO Keyword Research. The first thing you need to do is research the demand in your industry. Why? Because by doing so, you can know with significant accuracy, what people search for the most. This will help you understand your target audience’s needs further, and ultimately bring you closer to your goal, which is to provide users with your solution (the product).
First things first, get into your markets shoes – become your audience. Find out what the most relevant keywords are to your niche then literally open up google and start searching them. What comes up? One of the common pitfalls that many affiliates fall into is trying to mislead their audience in hopes of selling more product. The problem with this approach is that Google knows. If you want to dance with Google, you have to dance to their music. At the end of the day, it’s their index you’re trying to rank in so, just make sure the keywords you attribute to your webpage will give the user desired results. Otherwise, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.
Tools, tools, tools. Rest assured that SEO tools are out there, and they’re out there in bulk. Use them! I cannot stress this enough!
Many, if not all marketers, will tell you that you should focus on the most popular words because they’ll generate the most traffic. Sounds about right, yes?
Well, not exactly. The most searched for words only generate about 30% of SEO results as illustrated in the image (courtesy of moz.com)
However, secondary words that are more specific may have less traffic BUT may have a higher conversion rate. In a case like this, you are dealing with a potential client that knows exactly what he/she wants. For instance, instead of searching for ‘real estate’; they will search for ‘best real estate affiliate programs.’
This person knows what they want, and their search clearly shows that they’re ready to take the desired action. Depending on your niche, either sign up or buy the product.
Some Great Keyword Research Tools MOZ Recommends:
- Wordtracker’s Free Basic Keyword Demand
- Google Trends
- Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool
- Microsoft Bing Ads Intelligence
- Moz Keyword Explorer
Just always remember that > competitive markets may (and most likely will) take time, effort and consistency so that you can even come close to ranking and seeing desired results. At this point, I’d like to point out that patience is a virtue IF we’re talking about attracting organic traffic purely through SEO.
What Will Make My Webpage Rise To The Top? Must-Adopt Qualities As A Rookie
Where the true test begins is when we shift focus from the core of your webpage and move to the content. What makes top web pages the best is their perfection from top to bottom. Here are four basic things you can start working with.
- Design your webpage to be compatible with all types of browsers and devices – Mobile Friendly/Responsive
- Easy navigation, straightforward layout that makes sense – User-Friendly
- Directness and accuracy in the delivery of information – Relevance
- Quality content that satisfies and enhances user experience – Credibility
Our next talking point as promised is Link Building where, technically speaking, is where the money is after you’ve established your foundations.
Let’s look at some examples of how it works, why marketers do it and how you can incorporate it into your strategy. I invite you to imagine a bit now. To search engines that crawl, ‘links are the streets between web pages.’ It should be one of your top priorities to get your content shared. Think of links as votes, and clickers are the voters. The internet is a democracy, and the most voted sources get the most recognition and popularity.
The Nitty-Gritty Of Link Building
Natural: These are editorial links that occur not as an immediate result of an action, but as a result of consistent effort, ensuring quality content and decent reach. These types of links are the hardest to achieve and of course, have the greatest value. You can start tackling this by making sure your content is good and is reaching as many potential clients as possible. Why? Because they will be the ones to promote you and link back to you. A great way to start is by connecting with a few big bloggers.
Manual: These are the most common links. This is almost always how you get started from point zero. At this point, you will have to try and reach already established entities online. You can do so by contacting web pages relevant to your niche.
Self-created: These are non-editorial links which are not exactly compliant with online regulations and are probably not such a good idea. Why? I’m inviting you to imagine again. Think of this link as a vote. In essence, you’re trying to manipulate Google’s Index by voting for yourself multiple times. Now Google doesn’t like you when you do that and has begun devaluing and even penalizing these types of links.
There you have it, a brief overview of what it truly means to optimize your webpage for search engine traffic. I hope that many of you rookies out there have become inspired to go deeper. There are many more ways to use SEO to become a webmaster, but if you follow the above, then you’re well on your way to getting noticed.
Stay with us because there’s more where this came from. See you next time.
