Lesson 4: Keyword Research (Part 5)

Step 7: Compile more data

Now it's time to start compiling the rest of the details so we can get a better understanding of the competition and profitability of our keyword.

In general, we are after low hanging fruits and keywords with relatively easy competition.

We don't want to battle in highly contested niches swarming with SEO optimized pages (I'm looking at those starting yet another tech blog).

So, let's go ahead and evaluate the SEO competition. If our term is being targeted by too many other websites, we may want to look elsewhere.

Before we start, let me say we will continue to use our example keyword: 'baby cot'.

I wouldn't go into a niche like this because the volume is 1000 searches per month in Nigeria and the average CPC is just 0.27. The SEO value is 2.7 dollars.

The SEO value of 2.7 dollars means that this niche only has the potential to bring in this amount per month. Not good enough.

A way around this is to have this niche in a portfolio of other smaller sites pulling in similar amounts. In aggregate they can pull in a significant cash.

Say, 20 sites making 30 dollars a month. That would be 600 dollars a month. Though, this takes considerable work and organization but very doable. I do something like this.

Now let's get on it...

To evaluate the SEO competition, type in your keyword into google with quotes around it.

Like this:

'baby cot'

Using this example, there are 20,300,000 other sites with this term (check under the search bar. Google gives a you how many page searches it finds with the keyword) Not good.

You want to see something with less than 1,500,000 results. You shouldn't weigh this too heavily. I have ranked sites with 10,000,000 results in 'SEO Competition'. But it's something you have to keep in mind.

Enter this information in your spreadsheet (hope you have this handy) under the right column.

Step 8: Analyze the advertisers competition

This is something you shouldn't weigh too heavily too. What you do here is type into google your keyword in quotes again.

Can you see any ads running. Just one is enough.

If you see an ad running that means someone is bidding for those keywords. If they are paying google (God knows how much?), money for those keywords you can bet they are making money too from those keywords.

Money is flowing in that space! This is what you want. The more ads you can see running the better.

If you don't see any running, don't fret. It's ok. This doesn't mean your keyword won't be profitable but it's something to keep in mind.

The more Adwords competition there is within the niche we are pursuing the better.

Another metric to determine Adwords completion is through the Adwords keyword planner.

Type in your keywords and check the column which says competition. They are designated as 'low' or 'high'.

You want to see 'high'. This means there is a fair amount of Adwords competition in this niche, and for you, that means there are likely lots of advertisers on Adsense (which is how we are going to make money).

But it's fine if you don't. Like I said don't fret.

What you also want to see is a figure for 'suggested bids'. That would be the average CPC.

If you don't see any, that means on the average, there is little to no one bidding for those keywords. Simply, that keyword has no commercial value.

Enter the number of ads you see running in your spreadsheet.


This concludes the lesson for today.

The lessons are shorter per day for some of you but I'm doing it this way to keep you from getting overwhelmed.

Easy does it.

See you again tomorrow.

Cheers.

KinzyeWriter:


I Grab Bro, Thanks A Bunch

Go back to post on choosing a topic.

Read it again.

KinzyeWriter:


What I really want to do is to motivate people towards their music career, like offering them some things they can do to raise funds for their career, am i making sense, i want to help them with whatever i know to make them achieve their goals.

Do you grab?


I really want to do it.

Yes, I grab.

I know you really want to.



What I'm saying is, the best way to do that is to be specific.

You figured one out. Raise funds for their career. That's good.

Now go create a site.

Name it: fundedafrobeat.ng

Make the tag line: raising funds for your first afrobeat hit through nairaland.

Now go write actionable valuable contents on how to raise funds from a forum for aspiring music stars to kickstart their careers.

This is tongue in cheek and just an example.

You dig my point?

cupidkef:
I have been inspired .....am still troubled on a niche site to go for.........I have a building construction niche in mind....I am not a professional in the field ,jut a student ,but I have noticed that students in my faculty find it hard to see some assignment topic on google .......
Your opinions will help a brother.....
Thanks.

Hello Cupid,

You don't need to be a professional in your field to provide value. I'm far from a professional or expert in Niche sites and SEO.

I'm a nobody.

It's fine you are just a student. You just need to know more about your field than the average guy on your street.

I love the fact that you are already snooping out problems your peers have. Way to go.

That's all there is.

Now you found the problem, go find a solution.

It's that easy.

KinzyeWriter:
Thanks, My targeted audience would be people who are willing to become a music star, but are hindered by lack of motivation or sponsor or don't know how to work it out.

And my Solution would solve their problems, very sure of it.

You are not articulating the problem well. It's too vague.

Don't say people need help with web design.

Say people need beautiful Wordpress headers.

Don't say people need good SEO optimized articles for their blogs.

Say people need 2000-word SEO optimized articles for their blogs.

You dig.

Your solution should be specific too.

I can't see any here.

blessednnakude:



Thank you very much I already did a lot of indexing and even paid for one. Getting a domain name. Will my old URL still be working?
Secondly. Where can I get cheap domain name that can be cheap enough for my yearly payment. I had one before for $5 but the renewal is $35 dollar so I abandoned it because I was not aware of blogging so much like I am now.

Hi blessed,

Sorry I didn't get to see this.

First, never ever pay anyone for indexing! There are free materials out there how to get indexed by google.

Get the 'all in one seo' plugin and 'google site map' plugin for Wordpress. I don't know the equivalents of these two for the blogger CMS. You can ask around.

Second, don't skimp on hosting fees. Go with a good host that can guarantee you a steady uptime and speed. Don't forget customer support too.

If you are strapped for cash I hear domainking.ng is ok. I don't know much about them to be honest but their pacakages seem to be competitive.

I use godaddy, namecheap and blue host.

Hope that was helpful.

Keemie:


I am interested in tech, DIY, writing, reading etc.
Although, I think you should choose a topic.

Hi Keemie,

Noted.

What problem are you looking to solve in the space you are interested in and from what fresh angle are you looking to solve them?

KinzyeWriter:
Hi Bro, Please I need to do something in line with music... more like forum where we can discuss about music sha

Hi Kinzye,

What problem are you looking to solve with this and what will be your fresh angle (solution)?

Compliant:


Have being following this thread with kin interest and I understand very well all the messages you have being passing across, got a note book to put down the key point. Thanks very much for this thread

Would be grateful if i can have it and would be happy if the niche is on BABY HEALTH OR WOMEN HEALTH

thanks

Howdy

Glad you are getting some Value from the thread. We have barely scratched the surface. More to come. My joy is for you to fill up that notebook!

Women's health and baby's health are very interesting niches!

Noted!

Thank you for the kind words.

Hey guys,

A little something before I go to bed. Really tired.

I'm planing on ranking a site in google and once it gets to the first page for its primary keywords I will give it out for free to one of my thread readers.

Is anyone going to be interested in this?

If you are, please tell me what niche you will like the site to be on.

djbasket:

Nope, its just a nick name
pls i'm having trouble subcribing for the newsletter @ your signature, i just can't pass reCAPTHA, don't know why
can you pls help me subscribe
enilolobopromise@gmail dot com
thanks

Done.

Just a nick name

I have a family event coming up and I was looking for a dj.

Lesson 3: Keyword Research (part 4)

Continuing from yesterday's lesson...

Step 4: Searching for your first keywords

So, what's an industry with products that people shop for, especially women?

How about something to do with babies? Cribs?

Sounds fine.

So, we type 'cribs' into the Adwords Keyword tool, and hit search.

There about 700 keywords associated with 'cribs' that are returned.

Examples are:

'baby cot' 1000

baby bed' 720

'crib' 480

'baby bassinet' (what's that?) 90

'baby cot bed' 50

'wooden baby cot' 50

'baby cradle' 40

baby furniture' 40

'baby bedding' 30

'baby cots for sale' 30

'baby bed price' 20

'nursery furniture' 20

'baby wooden bed' 20

'crib colors' 10

'baby cache cribs' 10

'used baby cribs' 10

'baby bed with drawers' 10

'round baby cot' 10

'infant baby bed' 10

'crib baby' 10

'baby cradle crib' 10

'new crib' 10

'simple baby cribs' 10

The figures are local (Nigeria) avg. monthly searches.

A screenshot should suffice here but I don't know how to format it in here. So forgive me.

It's going to be difficult going through all the keywords returned. Looking through the list, there are over 700 keywords returned.

I ranked them from highest avg. monthly searches to lowest.

At the top is 'baby cot'.

Let's start with that.

What we want to do now is check how viable this niche will be using our trusty SEO value (Still remember this?).

Step 5: Calculating SEO Value

(Exact Local Searches X CPC) X 0.01 = SEO Value

For 'baby cot' that will be:

(CPC for baby cot is 0.27 dollars)

(1,000 x 0.27) x 0.01 = 2.7 dollars.

What does this mean?

This means, a niche site optimized just around the keyword 'baby cots' that ranks on the first page of google (position 1-3 that is) is likely going to earn 2.7 dollars per month in Adsense income.

I'm not saying you should go and create a niche site around baby cots.

So for the sake of this guide let's just roll with this. Note that, you will be conducting this exercise for more than one keyword at a time.

Step 6: Further Analysis

Now, it's time to open your spreadsheet and start entering some data.

>Enter your keyword under the 'keyword' column exactly as it is. Be careful not to make errors when you put data in your spreadsheet.

>Come up with a domain name for the keyword. Have your keyword in your domain name and preferably at the start.

example: babycotforyou.com is better than myamazingbabycot.com.

This is a ranking factor by google. A minor factor but one nonetheless.

Of course, it is not a must for your keywords to appear in your domain name. The most important thing here is to have a brandable and memorable domain name.

Baby-cot4u.com is terrible. No one is going to remember that.

Peacebaby.com is good even though it doesn't have the keyword in it. It's brandable and memorable.

Now go check if the domain name is available then go ahead and enter the domain name if it is in the 'domain avalaible' column.

>Put the avg. monthly search volume and Average CPC also in their respective column.

>Then input your calculated SEO Value in its column.



This concludes the lesson for today.

Tomorrow we do further analysis.

djbasket:
Sorry I came late, hope a front row seat is still available

Always DJbasket.

Are you are a dj?

Omagzee:

Attributions? How do I do that?

By attribution, I mean give credit.

But don't worry too much about this. It's really not an issue.

It's just ethical to give credit to images you source somewhere else.

Omagzee:


No, thanks to you rather. I modified your mention, I really do need your clarification on that Wikipedia copy right stuff. Please check it.

Hi Oma,

Regarding getting images from Wikipedia, I think that's fine. Just give attributions.

You are good.

Omagzee:


Men you are right and you really opened my eyes to an entirely new dimension. Blogging is all about solving problems, I own a photo blog and I just realised things will just fall in place when you help people solve little little problems here and there. Thanks bro for all your enlightenment.

Hi Oma,

Exactly, it's all about problem solving. Way to go.

Just checked your blog.

Amazing work you are doing.

You deserve a pat.

Thank you for the kind words.

Hey guys,

Today's post might come a bit late. Sorry about that.

For the mean time, here are some free ebooks for starting an online business (today only):

https://launchteam.lpages.co/book-giveaway/#Taylor

I thought I do share with you guys.

[quote author=KinzyeWriter post=59046185][/quote]

Hello to you too Kinzye.

Your moniker, is it a play on Kanye's name? Sounds like it in my head.

What's good bro? How's the writing coming along?

blessednnakude:
Thanks for those info. I recently started a blog.
Http://gcnstories..com.ng just about two months ago. The blog is all about inspirational articles and stories. Due to my project work as a final year student I have not had much time to write stories of my own though writing inspirational articles. So I decided to copy some one story online to keep the blog busy so that I will go into my own writing when am done with my project defense and school.
What's your advise about that. Waiting your immediate reply so that I will not waste time if what am doing is wrong

Hello blessed,

First, the .com extension will limit your sites SEO. It doesn't have as much add-ons (like plugins) and support as a custom domain name. Do get a custom domain name as soon as you can.

Second, don't copy and paste someone's content on your site. Google doesn't like this and they certainly won't rank you.

If you are strapped for cash you can use the blogger platform as practice until you get done from school.

Wish you all the best.

Let me know how it goes.

Spongia1:
Hello, nice job here. You have been very helpful. Anyways I have a football blog where we have posted over 60 original articles in like 2 weeks and hoping to do 100-120 overall in a month. There is an about us, contact us, privacy policy stuff there on it. However, I have been hearing people say that we can only apply after six months..... What do you say about this. please do check out the site.... www.footballprowess.com
hoping to hear from you.

NB: football sites generally don't adhere to the 700 words, 1000 words per post format. We do 350 because a football site is not meant to dilly dally for long, just straight to the point

Hello Spongia,

I love your site's design. Awesome stuff.

You can apply for Google Adsense anytime, there is no sandbox for that.

obitwice06:
How do I subscribe for the course?

Hello Obi

Check my signature.

Like just below this very post or in my profile.

Cheers.

Essentials1:

hello can a blog that has the word "sexy" in its domain name get adsense?

Hey Essentials,

Just checked.

You will be fighting an uphill battle if you do have the word 'sexy' in your URL.

It's not explicitly stated in their TOS but it's best to just avoid all the headache this can bring and leave the 'sexy' in your bedroom.

Essentials1:

hello can a blog that has the word "sexy" in its domain name get adsense?

Hey Essentials,

That's a tough one.

I really don't know.

I will read the Adsense TOS and get back to you on that.

Hi guys,

I'm getting a lot of SEO related messages that are way above the scope of this niche site lessons.

Please, if you really want to up your SEO game and consistently rank (if you put in the work) on the first pages of google for your keywords, sign up for my newsletter in my signature.

The SEO newsletter is a free SEO email course which I'm almost done completing.

This particular thread is mostly about creating a niche site that can make you $500 a month. SEO is just a small part of that.

I'm going to be covering keyword research, market analysis, SEO, product creation, copywriting, time management, staffing, outsourcing, etc. on the thread. So I can't really go in depth on any one area.

The SEO course isn't just for niche sites. It's for any online business looking to rank on google's first page and beating competitors to a pulp.

It's not going to be your regular SEO nonsense I see so called SEO expert bark like mad dogs. Infact I will go as far as saying 95% of SEO tips and strategies out there are pure rubbish.

They look nice in theory but utter nonsense in practice. And they don't work. It's unfortunately what most are doing. I should know because I have tried all of them.

The course is what I wish someone had put together when I was starting. If I sound salesy, remember I'm not selling it. It's going to be absolutely free. Free but immensely valuable.

Not thin too. From what I can see on my google docs as I flesh it out, it could cover almost 6 months. But I will look to chop some fluff.

All white hat SEO if I may add. No black juju stuff here that can get you banned by google.

It's also mostly going to be what you haven't ever heard. Unique is the word.

'Na lie. Na wetin all of them they talk,' I can hear you whispering. It's not a lie (sorry for the dbanj referencing).

So how unique?

Many 'SEO expert' tell you to always write regularly and keep your site fresh and updated. No wonder I see people on here always looking for content and blog writers.

This is absolute nonsense and unnecessary.

I will show you how to write 4 articles per year and beat the pants off your competitors. Can you manage just writing 4 articles? I know I can.

So stop wasting your valuable time writing mostly rubbish because some SEO guy told you that you should write 5 articles per week.

Write valuable contents primarily for your readers is another rubbish I hear preached on the SEO altar.

Absolute wash!

If you do this I can guarantee your failure.

So much to say, man. That's why I'm putting the course together.

It's going to be really stressful for me putting it together as I barely have enough time these days but I feel a lot of people need this.

I'm going to gauge the interest in this. If not enough people sign up, I will just scrap it.

So if you want this, vote by subscribing to the course then I know the interest is there.

Let me end the rant here but I'm so vexed so many people are led astray by these rubbish advice and even worse charged for them.

So please bear with me if I don't answer your SEO questions in detail here. Just go for the course.

Happy blogging.

Cheers.

Lesson 2: Keyword Research (part 2)

Lesson 2 is about the steps to take to start keyword research.

Let's dive in and fill ya boots!

Step 1: Use a spreadsheet to track and choose the right keywords

I have researched over 100,000 keywords in the last 7 years. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating but it's a lot!

You can't write this on a napkin and expect it to get organized.

I have a custom spreadsheet that I use to collect data on keywords I'm researching and I suggest you do this too.

It makes selecting and choosing keywords easier.

I'm sorry I won't be giving out or selling the spreadsheet but I will show you how you can create yours. Trust me, it's easy.

You don't need to be an excel spreadsheet guru to do this. It's basic stuff.

Mine is a bit more advanced now but it's just mostly fancy stuff. You don't need any of that to be honest.

So this is how you setup your spreadsheet:

> Create 9 columns.

Here are the names of each column:

Keywords.

Search Volume.

SEO competition

Adwords CPC

SEO Value

Domain Available

Adwords Competition

Country

Chance to Rank

Don't worry if you don't undertand all the categories within the spreadsheet yet.

Save your excel sheet and go on to step 2.

Step 2: Google Adword Keywords Tool

The google Adwords keyword tool is the tool you will be using to collect data on potential keywords.

Sign up for an account if you don't have one yet. It's free.

Step 3: Brainstorm an industry

I have already mentioned how you need to evaluate a niche.

For this lesson, what you need to do is to choose keywords and domains around products and services of some kind.

Try to focus on things that could sell.

Starting a site on Mercedes Benz cars for example. Mercedes Benz is a product people buy. Starting a celebrity gossip niche site, however, is a no no for me. There is just no inherent thing to sell here.

Don't get me wrong, people do start and make money here but it's the hard way. Entertainment actually sells. But competition is rife and you live and die on Google Adsense income which is chump change.

Services are fine too. A niche site focusing on a topic like 'car repair' could be viable.

I'm particularly interested in women's niches (shoes, bags, hair extensions, perfumes) and household equipments.

Stay away from technology related niches as many of the people in this niche are ad blind. They are used to avoiding clicking on Adsense ads and banner ads).

You can consider technology related niches if you are planning on selling your own product or service along the line on your site.

So go ahead and do your brainstorm. In the next keyword lessons I will show you how to search for your first keywords, compiling your database for the spreadsheet, analyze the competition, determine your success of ranking, buying your domain.

Cheers.

netoc65:
How do I get my blog indexed fast it takes like a day for my new posts to appear on Google.

And please can anybody here tutor me on keywords.... I don't want to mess anything up.

This is my blog here

www.techsoft.com.ng

Hello Neto

I will say nothing wrong with a day.

To get indexed faster you could add a site map to your homepage (google how to do this).

You could also manually submit your site map to google through search console every time you write a new post.

Cheers

suleman12401:
Please somebody help me about keywords, how to find good keywords and then write on them? My website is study related, you can check out my website at http://www.accaglobalwall.com. Somebody please suggest me how to rank my website fast, and in keywords selection.

Just keep solving problems. That's it.

If you solve problems, everything will fall into place.

That you want to rank fast shows you have a 'me first' attitude.

I like what I see on your site so I will say just keep at it.

Also, have a long term view. This takes away the pressure of having to get results now and feeling frustrated when you don't.

mrsage:
Basically I'm an entrepreneur. I'm into transportation and I also organise tours within Nigeria.

I decided to change my business model recently so I plan to work from home.

My writing talent is very little but I can try my best. So I will like to embrace blogging.

I can focus on transport, tourism, small scale businesses or any other aspect.

Basically I need someone to teach me:
how to blog, how to monetize a blog, SEO, adsense and basically all I need to know.

I'm in Lagos and can learn one on one or online.

I will be glad if I can get some help.

My number : 08028052100

I usually don't stay in one location for long these days so I don't know how one on one mentoring is possible but do follow my thread on here.

It's targeted at beginners like you.

I'm sure you can gain a lot from it.

I'm also willing to prepare a very short primer for you and send to you as a PDF to give you a kickstart. I don't have the time yet but I will try my best to cook up something for you.

But my thread should do. It's going to be absolutely detailed. I'm planning on writing over 100,000 words on the topic over 9 months.

It's all for free. Nothing to sell.

You can always shoot me an email at fredster389 at gmail dot com. I always try to reply within 24 hours.

I must warn you though, it's not easy. You have to be ready to put in the work. But it's simple and straightforward.

Have a good day, sage.

Cheers.

Jinf:

INTERESTING!

It's my first time of researching about keywords. Looking forward to the post on how to use it properly.

Do have a nice day too!

You are welcome. Thank you.

Jinf:

Oh great!

You can add the newsletter link to your signature.

I have a question concerning the keyword/niche thing.

I just did some search on a keyword for the niche i'm considering using the keyword tool and it turns out it get just 10 - 100 monthly search!

I did another search on another niche and the result = 1k - 10k monthly search.

What is the lest amount of monthly search one should go for?

Hey Jinf,

I will also write about a tidy trick to show exact search volume for a keyword on the google adwords keyword planner.

Normally, you will see estimated search volume in ranges (1k-10k). But there is a nifty way to see the exact search volume. We will get to that.

You should also know that you aren't going to be targeting a single keyword on your niche site.

You could be ranking for multiple keywords that might have sub optimal volume but in aggregate will add up to sizeable traffic volume.
Have a nice day.

Jinf:

Oh great!

You can add the newsletter link to your signature.

I have a question concerning the keyword/niche thing.

I just did some search on the keyword for the niche i'm considering using the keyword tool and it turns out it get just 10 - 100 monthly search!

I did another search on another niche and the result = 1k - 10k monthly search.

Now before someone would go and niche down to a niche without traffic, what is the lest amount of monthly search one should go for?

Sup Jinf

That's what Monday-Friday will be about

I know you rearing to go.

But to answer your question briefly I will say going for 1k-10k (depending on the actual exact search number) might not be the optimal strategy.

Why?

Competition will be too massive and it might take you years to conquer that space (appearing on the first page).

Also you don't want the 100 number too. Volume is too low.

We will get to how to go about this, this week.

I mentioned the SEO Value as a guide to choose viable keywords and this will answer your question. I will be fleshing this out this week.

Watch this space.

Cheers.

suk22:


You are doing a very good job here, thank you.
Please you may share the link to register for the SEO course for all intrested to benefit.

Hello Suk,

Thank you for the kind words.

Well, I'm not entirely sure it's ok to post the link here for the newsletter.

I just got unbanned after the anti-spam thingy banned me for my last post.

Wheeeeeew!

Rule 6 & 22 scare me crazy.