The internet is transforming the way we do business. With the depressed global economy, high unemployment and financial collapse; internet marketing has become a viable option for most.

Marketing any type of site on the internet involves more than building a website and hoping for the best. It involves strategy centered around SEO and SEM.

Any expert in internet marketing knows that picking keywords can make or break your online business. One of the rookie mistakes is to attack hyper competitive keywords like mortgage, insurance or MLM. The problem with this approach is that your content may never be seen. You want to rank on the first page so picking long tail keywords is best. You will want to pick a keyword phrase that has under one hundred thousand competing pages with a traffic value of at least three thousand visitors a month.

If you are trying to avoid spending a Fortune 500 advertising budget on a hyper competitive keyword; then the proper use of long tail keywords is essential. The leverage of the internet is powerful if you can create content that has good traffic potential without the fierce competition. I usually look for a competing page range of under 100,000 with at least 3,000 monthly visitors for the keyword phrase.

If you have some resources to outsource creating content or expertise in the skill of syndication, then you could consider a higher traffic keyword. Using a shorter tail keyword does work if you are prepared to back it up with resources. Those resources can be both dollar or time valued. Realistically though, if you are new to online lead generation you would be better off to keep the competing pages down under 30,000 in my experience.

There is a plethora of tools that can help you to conduct keyword research. One of the leading search engines has a free tool, simply do a search for free keyword tool. Many providers also have trial versions of their tools so you can shop around and find one that you like. My favorite research tool is Market Samurai, but most of the tools are fairly similar in what they can do for you.

Some of the tools out there like Market Samurai allow you to research content. This can be of value as it will give you a good feel for what is already out there in your field. Understanding what people are writing about in your industry will help you to do the same. In particular, Market Samurai allows you to assess statistics like PR, backlinks and SEO values. This type of data can help you to assess your overall competition in the marketplace.

An important fact to keep in mind when you pick keywords is relevancy. Don’t be tempted to pick high traffic keywords that have nothing to do with your site as this might get you a bad quality score with the search engines. You need to keep your audience in mind at all times and focus on delivering high value relevant content first. The other strategies of internet marketing like SEO need to be secondary.

So what’s the magic pill for creating a high volume of leads to your site? I would say that effective keyword research is paramount to your online efforts. You need to be conscious of your audience in this exercise. Always keep your target audience in mind when conducting your keyword research. It’s one thing to create traffic, conversion is a completely different conversation. So if you want great traffic that converts then ensure that you write useful content.

I don’t believe that Rome was built in a day. So why should your online lead generation be any different. I would recommend that you pursue a few relevant keywords at a time. This will allow you to become familiar with the process of submitting, building backlinks and the process as a whole. In the end, creating content for the organic side of search is a smart move for your online future.

A final secret; I like to listen to rock music when I do my keyword research. Try to have fun with your online business!

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