we'll be looking at a number of important concepts related to keyword research

Definition of a market

When you first start exploring the world of Internet marketing, you’ll often hear people talking about different online markets.
The best definition of a market is that it is a community of people who share a common interest in a particular subject or activity.
Often this community has its own language made up of terms and acronyms that only make sense to other members of the community.
The easiest way to understand this view of a market is to take a look at some examples:

Example #1

The ‘Brides to be market’ is made up of women who are currently planning a wedding.
Their area of interest is of course - weddings.
Some examples of the language that is used by members of this market include:
FH - which is an abbreviation for future husband
FMIL - which stands for future mother in law, and…
MOH - which stands for Maid or Matron of honor

Example #2

The next example we’ll look at is the online gaming market which is made up of people who enjoy playing computer games with others using the Internet.
For example their area of interest might be playing World of Warcraft which is a popular multiplayer game.
And some examples of the language that is specific to this market include: A Zerg Rush, AOE, and Squishy.

Example #3

Finally lets look at the Golfers market
Their area of interest is of course golf, and some examples of their community specific language include:
Texas Wedge, Mid-Marshie and Apron
Once you understand this concept of a market as a community with its own internal language, you’ll quickly realize that there are hundreds and thousands of different markets out there waiting to be explored.
Now let’s move on and take a look at the concept of niches.

Definition of a niche

Within every market you’ll find multiple niches.
A niche is a subset of a market that relates to a specific topic. The easiest way to understand the distinction between a market and a niche is to take a look at an example.

Example of niches

Members of the ‘Brides to be’ market will be interested in a wide range of topics that relate to weddings. These include:
(1) Wedding flowers
(2) Wedding rings
(3) Wedding photography
(4) Bombonieres
(5) Reception Venues
(6) Wedding dresses
Each of these topics can be thought of as a niche that will be of specific interest to members of the ‘Brides to be’ market.
Now lets take a look at keywords and how they relate to market niches.

Definition of keywords

Keyworsds: The words or phrases that members of a market type into a search engine in order to explore a particular niche.

Example

For example, Sarah and Karen are both members of the ‘Brides to be’ market.
When Sarah sits down at her computer to explore the wedding photography niche, she enters the keyword phrase ‘Wedding Photo Ideas’. Google then returns a list of sites that contain tips for getting great wedding photos.
When Karen uses Google to explore the wedding photography niche she enters the keyword phrase 'Cool Wedding Photos’. Naturally she receives a different set of results to Sarah because her keyword phrase has a different focus.
The first thing to notice here is that Sarah and Karen are both exploring the same market niche, however, they generate a very different view of that niche based on the keyword phrase they enter into Google.

The role of keywords

A great way to think of keyword phrases is that each phrase is literally a KEY that unlocks a specific door to provide access to a market niche.
Value of keywords
The second important thing to note is that the number of people using each keyword phrase to explore a niche varies greatly.
For example, when it comes to exploring the wedding photography niche, more people use the phrase 'wedding photo ideas' than the phrase 'cool wedding photos'.
This means that each keyword phrase has a value based on the number of people who are using it to access a particular niche.
The keyword phrase 'Wedding photo ideas' generates more traffic to the wedding photography niche than the phrase 'Cool Wedding photos'.
As a result, the phrase "Wedding photo ideas' is considered to be a more valuable keyword phrase than the phrase 'Cool Wedding photos'.

Success factors

In fact ‘It takes the same amount of time and effort to build an unsuccessful online business as it does to build a successful business’.
The biggest factors that determine whether you succeed or fail are:
(1) The market you select
(2) The keywords you target
If you get these two factors right your online business may produce an income stream that can completely transform your life.
However if you get one of these factors wrong, you’ll probably join the large number of people who make little or no income online.

The difference between success and failure

In this lesson we looked at what online markets are and defined them as communities of people who share an interest in a particular area and who often have their own internal language.
We then saw that within each market there are many niches which relate to specific topics of interest to members of a market.
Next we looked at the role of keywords and found that they are the keys to unlocking a niche. We also saw that different keyword phrases have different values depending on the amount of traffic they generate.
And finally we discussed the importance of keywords and found that choosing the right market and targeting the right keywords are two of the biggest factors in determining the success or failure of your online business.