IM101 Step 6: Tuning Your Affiliate Product Keywords

Finding the best keywords for your affiliate site is not too difficult but essential to learn how to make money online. The key is finding the right terms that will have the highest density on your page with hopefully the additional benefit of a low competition in the search engines. This also works for your own product or informational sites as well.

Since I had picked a dieting product this is not as easy as something with a smaller niche such as a hobby or an aspect of a professional skill. The basic strategy for a high competition keyword subject area is to narrow it down to smaller segments by using longer keyword phrases. From my last article using the keyword tools provided can give me a very good indication of what keyword phrase is going to a) have less competition, b) ranked faster and c) visible in the first ten results of a Google search. It is important to try and analyze this before you kick into gear building your sites.

For example, the word 'diet' alone has a Google page return of 163 millions results - that is, 163 million references to external web sites. Getting to the top ten results in Google for just the word 'diet' would be a very, very tough task.

You may have noticed that I waited some time before continuing this article to work on my own articles and my ebook. But, I was also waiting for my affiliate sample site to start gaining rank in Google. Part of this plan was to focus on my core keyword phrases within the affiliate site's content.

For my example I knew that a couple of key phrases had to be part of my solution. Since I was focusing on a diet guide I had to use both the guide's title and author as keyword phrases. This is an important step for the future since I knew the guide was going to gain in popularity over time. In this case - 'The Diet Solution Program' and 'Isabel De Los Rios'. It is key to use these for future keyword phrase searches as the product gains popularity.

But, I also wanted to find a keyword phrase that has a more general health and diet search with a smaller Google result. After a couple of hours on the tools using the words 'diet', 'dieting', 'health', 'nutrition', 'diet plan', 'healthy diet' I finally hit the phrase I wanted - 'healthy diet plan' which I found to have a decent set of results in search but low enough to get ranked quickly. (Remember, to use these tools just type in the core one or two word phrases and see what results come back. Then, go to Google and see how many results come back from your phrases. The lower the number of results the easier it is for you to get ranked in the top ten.)

I typically look for keyword phrase results in Google with near one million results. Here's an example that is close:







If you focus on key phrases with results under 100,000 but greater than about 25,000 then you can get ranked very quickly in Google. The downside is that the daily search volume for your phrase may be too low so this would only generate 10-20 hits a day.

I was able to get a keyword site ranked in the top ten of Google for a result of over 25 million in the search return. However this took about six months and a lot of work. Be sure you pick one keyword phrase that has about one million results - but, don't focus on it first. Let it become a natural part of your site as you build it.

So, now I'm ready to start building a site. I'm now armed with my keyword phrases 'The Diet Solution Program', 'Isabel De Los Rios', 'healthy diet plan' and 'natural weight loss'. Enter these into Google as full search phrase enclosed in both quotes and not enclosed and you'll be able to see for yourself how many results are returned for each.

Next up, using Blogger as a simple, free way to build your site.

Your Best Weapon to Make Money Online During These Times

Writing. Ah, that word that makes me cringe in an avoidance panic! Yet, I know I have to get back to it again and again. Writing is something that I just can't seem to do naturally yet it is such an integral part of my online work.

If you're new or haven't noticed, I haven't posted my next marketing steps in quite a while. Why? Well, there are many reasons but the main one was all about writing - my ebook, articles and other older material that needed refreshing.

You see, this is NaNoWriMo month (if you haven't heard of it - National Novel Writing Month). NaNoWriMo was started as an online community event to get budding writers to write more and think less (that's my addition - but, mainly true. Writers worry too much about structure and plot.) The goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November - which, is a pretty daunting - 1666 words a day. Translate that into internet marketing work; that's three 560 word articles a day!

But, when you think about it - if you just keep writing and start to ignore the wandering mind a bit your productivity soars. Can this be translated from novel writing to content writing? Probably not at 50,000 words. Nevertheless, the concept is still the same - just doing it!

Back to my story - I've been using the NaNoWriMo concept to write my next ebook which has left much of my other work shelved for a bit. This is something I think any budding online marketer should do. It helps you get past the block and into a flow. Try it - you may see a big payoff!

This has been beneficial for another reason as well - my test affiliate marketing site that I'm using right now in the Marketing 101 steps has seen a great upswing in traffic as well as a rise in Google rankings due mainly to articles I wrote just before the end of October. If you're going to learn how to make money online - this is it.

If you go back a couple of posts you'll see that I had picked the affiliate product called 'The Diet Solution Program' to use as that educational example. Well, now my example site is ranked well in Google and rising fast. The real key to this is simple - writing original content and submitting it to article directories, forums, blogs - you name it.

It's hard and takes time - but believe me - if you do it you will see the real payback in no time which is the most exciting . So, do it! Create your own NaNoWriMo month in December and keep writing.

What is the Best Method to Make Some Money Online?

Recently, I was scanning around Yahoo Answers and found this particular question. Since I spent the time answering it for that person I thought it might be useful for any of the Agile Marketer readers. Enjoy!

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This is a difficult question to answer because most of your answers are going to be pitches for products or services that claim to make you money.

I'll say right up front that even though I have made some good money online most of the money making systems are really a bad mix of techniques and promises that typically burn people out right away because of one of the following:

1. You have to pay too much money to learn or get into this business

2. You don't have the computer skills to work online

3. You are trying to make money on something you know nothing about or care about (this is my pet peave!)

4. You don't have the diligence to do the day to day work

5. You are not thinking like a small business

6. You are desperate for money and will do anything

These statements are what typically splits those who make little or nothing to those who make millions online.

I started out like you wondering what to do and how to do it and was left with a lot of frustrated mistakes. But, if there is anything I've learned online in the last 5 years is that if you don't pursue something you love (your interest, hobbies, life dreams, etc) you probably won't make much.

My advice to you is to:

1. Start with a business mindset first - what is your plan? what will you sell? do you have knowledge that is marketable? (Don't worry - many things are marketable - I've seen successful online businesses just on simple home ice dam removal because the person doing it loved construction - and saw another make a mint on care of pet fish - yes, pet fish!!!).

2. Be sure to really start your business - as a sole propietor or LLC. You get huge tax breaks for anything you buy for your business - books, computers, software, desks, phones, etc. Don't buy anything until you do this!!!! It will save you a ton of money.

3. List every thing that you love to do or know about and write them down. Then, pick what you think you could market online as a product, service or knowledge (such as a blog)- stick to it!! Don't go online trying to sell diet plans if you know nothing about nutrition or dieting. If you know something about specific pets, legal forms, cameras, - the sky is the limit! Use that knowledge to your advantage and build on it.

4. Not give into desperation - let things work out over time. You can't build a business in a day. Making big money online takes time - you have to prove yourself and have the motivation to work on it every day.

5. Invest in your education. Learn as much as you can on how to do this - buy a few online business guides. I'm constantly amazed that people are not willing to spend a couple hundred dollars to learn how to make money online when they are willing to pay thousands for a MBA or even an online college degree.

6. Don't get distracted - probably the #1 killer of online hopes and dreams. Once you start learning this business you will definitely see more opportunities - hold off!! You will spread yourself too thin. Be focused.

I hope this helps you. I've lived it and think that anyone can do this.

IM101 Step 5: Focusing on Keywords

One of the very first mistakes I made when building my first marketing site was not paying attention to the main keyword search terms I was trying to focus on. At that time I didn't understand how keyword density worked nor did I get the benefits of keyword rich backlinks to my site.

So, to help you with this I'm going to take a very specific example from Clickbank and build out a low cost, ebook marketing site for you. You're welcome to follow along with the same Clickbank product, or, just find one you're really interested in. My focus for this article is validating the product and getting the keyword search terms in place.

After spending a couple of hours scanning through both Clickbank.com and CBEngine.com I found the product I wanted to market - it's called The Diet Solutio Program by Isabel De Los Rios.

My key criteria were a) the product is relatively new on the market, b) it is starting to see some gravity, c) the payout per sale is reasonable (see my last article), and d) it is something I have some knowledge and passion for (my grandmother and mother were both wellness and nutrition fanatics).

One additional thing that I typically do is search Google for product reviews to make sure that the response is positive - I don't want to market something people think is a waste of money. If all looks good I go ahead and purchase the product for my last validation - making sure the final product is something I truly want to promote. From everything I could see, Isabel's Diet Solution Program looks like a great candidate.

Finding Good Affiliate Product Keywords

Next, I spent a couple of hours determining my core keyword phrases that will be the main driver to this site and get it ranked in Google. My favorite free keyword tools are Google Adwords Keyword Tool and Trellian's Keyword Discovery. At a high level these tools give me enough information to build my phrases. (I suggest that you download the Free Ebook SEO Made Easy to learn more).

Generally I like to focus on three to four key terms that give me search exposure on Google in a way that will be in the top ten results for each. Typically, one is the main term and the other two are lower volume search returns.

The first thing you want to do is identify the key terms associate with the product you're promoting - in my example it is The Diet Solution Program which was definitely a keyword challenge due to the shear number of diet and nutrition products on the market today. I had to dig down the keyword list to find just the magic phrase.

Coming next - how I identified the right keywords for my affiliate product.