Keyword Analysis Part III: Finding Sweet Spot Keywords

by Damon G. Zahariades

Last time, we talked about how you should go for low-hanging keywords. These little dumplings are the golden nuggets that you want to rank well for in the search engines.

First, they're often ignored by the folks who are chasing your tail in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Second, the ladies and gents who are searching for these nuggets are usually more targeted and easier to convert than the masses.

Today, let's talk about how to find "sweet spot" keywords.

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Your Prospects Are Looking For You

Believe it. I know it sometimes SEEMS like you're running a business in a virtual ghost town. But, your prospects are out there.

Even better, they're actively trying to find you. And here's the icing on the cake... they want to give you their money. They want to buy what you're selling. If you rank well in the engines and your site is converting well, you can't HELP but gain more business.

Here's an example...

Years ago, when I slaved away in Corporate America, I worked closely with a man named Mark. One day, I noticed Mark trolling Google, looking for a paintball gun to buy.

I watched over his shoulder.

First, he typed in "paintball."

That didn't do much good. Way too much general crap in the SERPs.

Next, he tried "paintball gun." Better. He found lots of promising sites trying to sell him the latest stuff. After clicking like a madman (and growing weary at the number of sites), he began to refine his search in Google.

He started using model numbers that he knew. Along with other qualifiers. And as Mark refined, his desire to buy grew.

Here's where it got interesting.

Why?

Because a friend of mine owned four of the top ten slots in the Google SERPs for one of Mark's refined search phrases!

It was a "sweet spot" keyword. Only the folks who were serious about buying used this keyword in their search. And it was largely ignored by most businesses.

My friend knew that and focused his SEO magic on it.

Different domains. Different pages. Different content. All focused on ranking for (well, dominating actually) that "sweet spot" keyword.

Mark clicked on through to one of my friend's sites, clicked on an affiliate link and was cookied by the merchant site.

I never asked my friend how long that merchant's cookie lasted, but I DO know Mark went on to order a brand-spanking new paintball gun from that merchant a few weeks later.

Brainstorm Keywords Your Prospects Are Using

You already know they're looking for you. Now, you've gotta figure out HOW they're looking for you.

What keywords are they using?

If your prospect is looking for information (i.e. he wants to read stuff), he's using words like "tips," "tutorial," "instruction" and so on in his search.

If he's hot to pony up and buy something, he's gonna use words like "review," "buy," "bargain," "deal," etc. in his search.

So, what does that mean to you?

If you have a paintball site filled with content and you're trying to bring home the bacon with Adsense, you need to point your SEO efforts toward keywords with the first set of qualifiers ("tips," "tutorial," etc.).

If you have a site that promotes products without a lot of fluff (for example, a datafeed site), point your SEO mojo towards keywords with the second set ("review," "buy," etc.).

Figure out who your prospects are, what they want and adjust your SEO efforts to give it to them.

Outsmarting Your Competition With Better Keywords

Sweet spot keywords can be great (I'm defining "great" as "very profitable"). After all, they bring targeted people who either click on ads or buy stuff. And there are tons of these sweet spots in every market.

But, competitive markets hate a vacuum. Your competitors WILL find you. Eventually. (They're like a virus, those rascals!)

When they do, you have two choices...

Compete against them.
Find better keywords that your competitors haven't discovered.

I do both. And if you have the time (and discipline), you should, too. The point of this article is to get you to dig deeper than your competitors. Figure out the psychology of your prospects. Then, figure out how they're looking for you.

This isn't as hard as it sounds. In fact, it can be as easy as walking into a store and striking up a conversation with someone. Ask them what they search for.

I'll show you how to do competitive SEO in an upcoming "Web Business Today!" mini-series, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Last Thoughts

There are people out there searching for you and your products (or reviews and articles). They want what you have and they're searching Google, Yahoo and MSN for you right now.

Will they find you?

That depends. Are you ranking well for the sweet spot keywords that your prospects are actually USING?

If not, you have some work to do.

You now know how to use low-hanging and sweet spot keywords to...

outsmart your competitors
easily find targeted prospects

It's easier than you think. The key is to get started. I've just given you some great strategies that you can use to find sweet spot keywords that you can rank well for.

Now, you simply need to get to work!

That's it for now.

This short mini-series isn't over yet. Next time: How To Uncover Your REAL Keyword Competition In The Search Engines.

That's it for now. See you next time!

Damon G. Zahariades

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