How much Keyword Research is Too Much?

Do you get overwhelmed by keyword research?  All the gurus say it's critical for online marketers and entrepreneurs to make more money online, but how do you know when to stop ? 

Members of my Click Millionaires coaching forum have been asking me for advice on keyword research because it causes many of them to suffer from "analysis paralysis".

So, here's a critical question I'll answer for the success of your e-business: How much keyword research is too much?

Yes, keyword research can be confusing, with the search engine optimization (SEO) goals often conflicting with good copywriting. 

But here's the real deal:

Most keyword research advice is written by and for people who are running a pay-per-click-driven marketing campaigns for a third party product/service.

In other words, these online marketers are selling products in which they may have little interest in personally and no personal expertise or connections in that industry.

Most of these folks use keyword research to find niches where they can spend $1 on PPC ads to create $1+ in revenues. It's a very quantitative approach to business which has made a lot of people a lot of money.

BUT, this strategy does not account well for your own expertise, enthusiasm, connections in your industry, for free social media marketing techniques, that some industries and products offer much smaller/larger markets or much lower/higher profit margins, AND your resulting ability to differentiate your e-business web site through all of these tactics instead of primarily by clever keyword selection.

Put another way, these folks are counting on keyword research as their primary (if not their only) differentiation strategy. I think you can do better!

When Keyword Research Matters Most
If you are planning on PPC as your primary marketing vehicle, then the details and results of your keyword research are critical. This is because that approach (if used by itself) relies on very small differentials and arbitrages to uncover profitable keywords. (ie., those keywords you can buy ads for cheaply and with limited competition to attract profitable customers).

However, if you are going to build a business based on good content, your own passion, sharing your enthusiasm through email, social networking, blogging, Twitter, podcasts, video, or article marketing, etc. (all the techniques detailed in my book e-Riches 2.0), then the keyword research is only a starting point for you.

So, I recommend that you use keyword research to:

a) validate that whatever your niche interest is really is shared by other people online,

b) determine what the keyword variations, phrases, and synonyms are that best apply to your niche product/service/market to attract the most fr.ee traffic via SEO, and,

c) optimize your site to reflect those keyword phrases.

Then, move on.

Don't let endless keyword research be the obstacle to you starting your new e-business.

Get to work with "real" marketing by engaging your potential customers through all the marketing techniques mentioned above. Building your customer base by providing value to your audience is how you will differentiate your e-business, not just by differences in keyword search demand or SEO.

What do you think?  Has keyword research bogged down your business?  What's your advice?

Comments

[Paul Taylor]

Hi Scott,

I have looked in to key words and the more i look the more time it takes, so this has been a bit of a put off. I totally agree with your steps above, but the problems i face are competition and KEI. I do not want to compete for the main key words as this will be a long battle. Do you have any formula on how to select good key words using relevance, competition and KEI? I am OK on where to place the key phrases on my pages, it's just getting started.

Thanks,

Paul.

[Scott Fox, Author of Internet Riches and e-Riches 2.0]

Hi Paul,
Yes, keyword analysis can be a never-ending process.

It sounds like you have already done enough investigation to have a good understanding of the importance of keywords and which are priorities for you that also offer opportunity.

I would get started with those and then focus on differentiating your site through value-added content and services.

As I suggest above, SEO is only part of the differentiation equation.

Get on with it!
Best,
Scott