1. Why Do It
1.1. Over 80% of all online PURCHASES begin with a keyword search
1.2. Guessing is not good enough - Like Playing Family Feud
1.3. Your competitors most likely aren't doing it at all or correctly
2. What to look for
2.1. 2 - 5 word phrases
2.1.1. Vertical
2.1.1.1. variations of the main term: car, auto, vehicle, automobile and plurals
2.1.2. Lateral
2.1.2.1. Related to the term: car dealer, Car parts, Car Insurance,
2.1.3. Typos, Misspellings
2.2. Number of Searches
2.2.1. Ideally around 10,000 searches/month
2.2.2. Data often inaccurate/conflicting depending on the source
2.2.3. Look for patterns
2.2.3.1. consistently top ranked terms among various sources
2.2.3.2. relation of one word to another
2.2.3.3. Assume the real traffic count is significantly higher
2.3. Buying Cycle Modifiers
2.3.1. Research
2.3.1.1. Best SUV
2.3.1.2. Top Selling SUV
2.3.1.3. SUV Reviews
2.3.1.4. SUV Comparison
2.3.2. Compare
2.3.2.1. Nissan Pathfinder Review(s)
2.3.2.2. Toyota Highlander Review(s)
2.3.3. Purchase
2.3.3.1. 2007 Nissan Pathfinder LX Black Raleigh
2.3.3.2. Nissan Pathfinder Dealer Raleigh
2.3.3.3. Nissan Pathfinder Incentives
2.4. Lack of or un experienced Competition
2.4.1. KEI and R/S only marginally useful
2.4.2. Focus on Top 20 Pages and look for:
2.4.2.1. Optimization of On Page Factors
2.4.2.1.1. Title
2.4.2.1.2. Meta
2.4.2.1.3. <h1>-<h5>
2.4.2.1.4. URL
2.4.2.1.5. Keyword Density
2.4.2.1.6. Link Text
2.4.2.2. # of Incoming Links
2.4.2.2.1. Incoming Link Text
2.4.2.3. Page Rank
2.4.2.4. Alexa Rank
2.5. PPC Bid Prices - Indicates profitability of the niche
2.6. Semantic Relationships
3. Tools to help you do it
3.1. Keyword Generation
3.1.1. Wordtracker
3.1.2. Keyword Discovery
3.1.3. Overture Tool (obsolete)
3.1.4. Google Keyword Tool
3.1.5. kwbrowse.com
3.2. Competitive Analysis
3.2.1. Compete.com
3.2.2. SpyFu.com
3.2.3. KeyCompete
3.2.4. KeywordCountry.com
3.3. All in One Tools
3.3.1. Keyword Elite
3.3.2. Keywords Analyzer
3.3.3. NicheBot
3.4. Web Analytics software
3.5. Internal Site Search
4. When to Do it
4.1. BEFORE:
4.1.1. You do anything... Make sure there's enough demand
4.1.1.1. Adsense Pages
4.1.1.1.1. edit stuff
4.1.2. Choosing a Domain Name
4.1.2.1. 2 and 3 word hyphenated names
4.1.3. Creating Site Map/Category Structure
4.1.3.1. Silo the Content according to Keyword Groups/LSI
4.1.4. Creating ANY new Internet content: a web page, article, blog post etc...
4.1.4.1. Subject for the content
4.1.4.2. Title Tag
4.1.4.3. Meta Tags
4.1.4.4. Page URL
4.1.4.5. Headlines
4.1.5. Creating any links:
4.1.5.1. On the page itself
4.1.5.2. From Reciprocal links
4.1.5.3. From Signature links
4.1.5.4. For Tagging
4.1.6. Creating any PPC campaigns
4.1.6.1. Find low cost terms to bid on
4.1.6.2. Identify negative keywords to exclude
4.1.7. Choosing Sites to Advertise on
4.1.7.1. Find sites top ranked for terms you want
4.1.7.2. Improve LSI by getting links from related sites/topics