Keyword tools are something every marketer needs to utilize but there are problems that come with using just any of them. When you’re a niche marketer, you rely on keyword tools to help you find the perfect words and phrases that will catapult your online campaign ahead of your competitors.

There are three tiers of keyword tools – free, affordable, and expensive. Which ones are worth your investment of both time and money (if applicable)? Well with free keyword tools, you’re going to run into some problems – primarily that they tend to be short-lived.

People will create free keyword tools as part of a viral marketing campaign, release it to the masses who get used to utilizing it, and then quit supporting it, allowing it to become outdated and useless. Now some free keyword tools, like those provided by major search engines such as Google, may have more staying power.

Then there are other keyword tools that are affordable to the niche marketer just getting started online. These usually come in packages where a later upgrade to a more expensive model or tier is available.

Take WordTracker, for example. This particular keyword tool has been around for years and has become a staple for many online marketers. The company permits a free trial, but then you’re given the choice of several tiers for paid access.

For WordTracker, access is marked by a timeline. You can buy a monthly subscription for the keyword database, or pay less by investing in an annual subscription. Other keyword tools simply give better information with a top tier package.

Spyfu is another popular top keyword tool used by Internet marketers. It gives a sneak peek into the system using a free trial subscription, but then with a paid subscription you’re given advanced analytics information.

In addition to just getting more data (free trials get you a top 10 result while paid gets you unlimited results), you also tack on additional perks. For example, with a paid subscription of Spyfu, you could find out the cost per click of a keyword, the number of ads and search results, and more.

Many marketers are jumping ship to get onboard the Keyword Discovery train. They do the traditional free versus paid subscriptions and give you access to basic keyword research, spelling mistake data, seasonal search trends, KEI and density analysis, and more. They have three tiers – free, standard and professional, with each one increasing the number of benefits and results that you get when you sign up.

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Keyword Tools

A keyword list can grow to mammoth proportions before you know it and then you’re left staring at a bunch of words, wondering which ones will provide the biggest return for you if and when you use them in an online marketing campaign.

Some marketers use what’s called KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) to figure this out. It was originally created by Sumantra Roy and it’s fairly easy to use for your own online marketing campaigns.

First, you have to brainstorm all of the words and phrases that are relevant to your website’s products or services. KEI generally takes long-tail keywords into effect since the competition for broad keywords is too great.

KEI examines the number of searches for a keyword phrase against the number of search results. The tools that find your KEI for you will spit out a ranking for that keyword phrase and the higher the KEI, the better your chances of ranking higher in the search engines for it.

Some people rely heavily on KEI but you have to use some human common sense, too. This is because KEI doesn’t take into consideration what type of quality those competitor sites have in regards to content. There may be many competitors with low SEO strategies in place, or only a handful of competitors but those who happen to have massive pulling potential in the SERPs.

The common sense comes into play when you start evaluating the keywords and phrases on your list against the motivation of your reader. For instance, a keyword phrase with the word “free” in it might return high KEI statistical data, but you know that because it’s someone searching for a freebie, the likelihood of them whipping out their wallets and paying for your products or services is diminished.

You’ll want to use keywords with qualifiers in them. For example, instead of using the keyword phrase, “Internet marketing guide,” you might get a more targeted buyer if you add certain words in it, such as “buy Internet marketing guide,” or “best Internet marketing guide.”

Typically, long-tail keywords with modifiers added to the mix will help you rank higher and make more money with the content than if you try to dominate early on using broad keywords that don’t tell you much about why your visitor is using the phrase.

You can also take the tedious route and do various campaigns by cloaking your links using different keyword phrases and seeing which ones get the best results in clickthroughs and sales. Just make sure you don’t start randomly using keyword phrases because you want to focus your efforts on those that will help you profit.

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Finding Profitable Keywords

Keywords are vital to your online success. Your goal is to organically (naturally) rank high in Google in and other search engines, so you need to implement certain SEO (search engine optimization) strategies and keywords will play an important role in those.

When you conduct keyword research, you’re doing it to learn how your prospective customer is utilizing search engines to find the information or products that they want. You then take the words (and phrases) and use them on your site, to ensure it’s relevant for your target audience.

In the old days, keywords could be stuffed and hidden all over a website to trick search engines into helping a site rank high. Now that they’ve caught on, you have to use them with a more whitehat approach or risk getting de-indexed in Google and other search giants.

Where do your keywords generally need to be? Don’t discount Meta tags in your HTML code. These are still important, but they may not be the most important tactic to use anymore.

Keyword placement depends on what type of page you’re building. If it’s a web 2.0 property such as a Squidoo lens, Hub Page or Google Knol, then you want a keyword in the URL that you register, in the titles, subtitles and content that you write, and also in any tagging space they give you the opportunity to fill in.

If you’re making a blog post on your blog, then the keyword should be in the URL, too. But you may have to check to ensure that your blog template is using this strategy. Under settings and then permalinks, you’ll be able to set your preferences.

For instance, many blogs default to give your post a number like this: http://www.yourblogname.com/?p=123. You’ll need to choose custom structure and enter this code: /%postname%.html – this will make your blog post URL appear with the title of the post, where your keywords will be, like this: http://www.yourblogname.com/title-of-blog-post

Use keywords within all of your content, especially the first paragraph and preferably in the first sentence, so that the initial snippet Google shows has your keyword included (it will appear bold if the person searching uses this exact keyword in their search).

Experts disagree about what density you have in regards to keywords. Some say 2% and others go as high as 10%. What you really need to do is write both human visitors and search engine spiders alike. That means enough keywords so that the searchbots see your content’s relevancy and not so many that it turns off your reader because it reads awkwardly.

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SEO Keyword Strategies

Many newbie marketers (and even moderate to advanced marketers) have diligently learned to do their keyword research, proudly sharing their experiences of researching, compiling, cleaning and putting their massive lists into action.

But what many don’t know is how to use keywords and phrases that aren’t traditionally thought of in order to help you bring in more targeted traffic for your online marketing campaigns.

Whenever you’re creating your keyword list and before you clean and organize it it, don’t forget about these:

Plurals – if you’re targeting “Internet Marketing guide,” make sure you also include “Internet marketing guides” as the plural version. Many people either do one or the other, but not both.

Misspellings – This can be caused by typos or the fact that the person searching doesn’t know how to properly spell a word, but some keyword tools provide you with spelling errors that you can add to your list.

Here’s the bad news – you have to intentionally go use those spelling errors in your marketing campaigns. If you’re a stickler for proper spelling, this may annoy you, but try to keep your eye on the prize and realize that you’ll be ranking very high and capturing a segment of the population other marketers are ignoring.

Starting With – this is a way of gathering keywords where you’re in charge of what words are chosen and in what order (for example, used cars – making sure used comes first and is paired with the word cars).

For some newbies, they get very frustrated when their search results deliver a variety of words like new cars and used furniture because they didn’t know how to properly filter out these phrases.

Phrase Match – this includes all of the words you put in quotation marks, plus any words before or after the phrase, such as – buy used cars today – (if you put “used cars” in the keyword tool).

Negative Match – this method of searching includes some words and leaves out others. For example, if you type “cars” -“used” it would return keyword phrases with cars in it, but none that have the word used.

Keyword variables help you expand your list and casting a wider net means you capture a bigger percentage of the audience that could be buying your products and services, so it’s always a wise move.

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Important Keyword Variables

Keyword lists can get very messy – especially the larger they get. You’ll want to compile a massive list of keywords for your niche marketing needs, and then organize them so that you can access them and put them to good use whenever you’re working on tasks.

So there are two parts to your keyword maintenance. Well, three if you consider the compilation and gathering portion a part of its own. Once you have the keywords compiled, you want to first clean the list, and then organize it for future use.

Your keywords might be gathered from multiple sources – like your own analytical tool or several free and paid keyword tools. So first, you’ll want to use a keyword cleaning tool to remove duplicates.

Your keyword cleaner can also make your keyword list alphanumeric for you. It can take out numbers and remove bad keywords that aren’t proper for a marketing campaign (such as those that contain the word free). It can also extract any phrases that contain bad words in them.

Alphanumeric keyword lists will help you get rid of anything with a hyphen or other symbol in it. It takes out periods and commas as well. With some keyword search tools, the results will include the search volume. A keyword cleaner removes those for you. Some of the keyword list cleaning tools will remove capitalization, too.

You can organize your keyword lists with a tool, too. If you’re using Pay Per Click search engine marketing, you can use exact or broad match keywords. Let the tool take a single list and deliver the extra results fully formatted for you so you can just cut and paste it into action.

You may want to group your keywords with modifying words like “best” or “buy.” Some list cleaning tools will help clump those particular words that you specify into groups for specific niche marketing campaigns you plan to launch.

Depending on the niche, you may want to organize your keyword list into group according to age, gender or location. Depending on the list cleaning tool you use, it can do all of the work for you.

Some keyword list cleaning tools use a tree-like branch function to organize your keywords and phrases. For example, let’s say you had a pet website. It could group the keywords according to animals first (birds, cats, dogs) and then branch out within each keyword for more precise phrase (buy a bird bath, cat clawing toys, dog training guide).

You can even use multiple keyword list cleaning tools if you find certain aspects you like among many of them. Organization will help you dominate in a niche easier than if you randomly pick and choose a word or phrase to use in your online campaigns.

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Clean Up Your Keyword List

Keywords are not a one size fits all. You have two very different types of keywords – broad and longtail – and they can both help your site achieve authority in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Broad keywords are very generic in nature. They tend to get more overall searches but it’s harder to rank high for those keywords due to the larger base of competitors. A good example of a broad keyword would be “dog.”

Longtail keywords are more focused and narrow. They have more words attached to them. Because fewer websites are trying to rank for those longer keyword phrases, you have an easier time ranking higher than your competition. A good example of a long tail keyword phrase would be “best dog training guide.”

For the very best results, you’ll want to use both types in your content creation. Sometimes you’ll be forced to use one over another, and sometimes you’ll choose to on purpose.

For example, when registering a domain or a web 2.0 property, you may not be able to find a URL available with a broad keyword. You may be forced to go down your keyword list and find the first available URL, which could be grouped in the longtail category.

In some instances, you’re going to want to shoot to the top of the SERP rankings, so you’ll go after a longtail keyword on purpose, whether it’s for a web 2.0 property or your own domain.

Here’s how many marketers think about the value of longtail keywords: while the longtail versions may get fewer searches individually, if you rank high for a large volume of longtail keyword phrases, you could effectively dominate in a niche where your competitor has only worked on ranking well for a couple of broad keyword phrases.

Consumers tend to type in longtail keyword phrases whenever they’re in a buying mood. Using our previous example, someone who wants to spend money on a dog training guide would go with the longer version.

A person who just types in dog could be looking for a pet, facts about a dog, pictures of dogs, or even using random slang to describe an unsavory cad who mistreats his girlfriend. You just don’t know, so the volume of traffic may not even be from prospective buyers, making their visit virtually worthless.

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Broad Keywords and Longtail Keywords