So you've got a website (or you're thinking about building one), but now what? How do you get traffic to that website? Well, there are multiple ways. Some easier than others. A few of them are:

  • Paid traffic (google Adwords)
  • Building an email list to send new content to subscribers
  • Getting your website links to show on other websites (backlinks)
  • Social Media
  • Keywords

Now before you go spending money on paid traffic and getting your website out there, start small and test the waters first. The cheapest and by far the most credible way to get traffic to your website is through KEYWORDS.

A keyword is simply a common phrase, sentence, question, or single word that people used to search for information on the internet. Examples include:

  • How to lose weight fast
  • What is the best auto insurance company?
  • Top 10 books on Money & Finance

Each of those listed above are basic examples of what someone might enter in a search engine to find information. When someone searches a subject on the internet containing all or part of your targeted keyword, Google (or Bing & Yahoo) will list the most relevant content based on the search.

Now how google chooses what websites show on the first page is a whole new conversation. But for sake of this post we are going to focus on how to find keywords for a website the proper way. I will explain how to research keywords, and show you the best free keyword research tool that will help your website get TONS of traffic.

How to research keywords for your website the proper way

First and foremost, if we want our website article, post or page to be found in popular search engines, wouldn't it be helpful to know some common phrases that people search on a regular basis? OF COURSE!

Here are a few starting points:

1. Alphabet Soup Keyword Research

This is when you go to a major search engine (we will use google.com to explain how to do this, but this can be done on any search engine) and begin typing the first words, word, or even letter of a topic on your website. For example, you have a health and fitness website, and you want to direct traffic looking for “how to build muscle” to your website.

Begin typing “how to build…” into google.com, and watch for the google suggested searches or common searches appear in a drop-down list. These are phrases google says are common that may relate to your search. Write these phrases down, and do the same thing for each of the suggested phrases from google.

This will give you a good list to start with when determining a keyword for which you want search engines to direct traffic to your website.

2. More Google Keyword Suggestions

Another way to brainstorm keywords is through typing in the whole phrase you have in mind at google.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the first page of results and you will see another list of related and common searches.

3. Free Keyword Research Tools

Last but not least, there are websites that focus just on helping online entrepreneurs like you and me determine the best keywords to target.

These companies have data and statistics of the major search engines showing you how many times a keyword will be searched, how many competitors you may have for that keyword, and how much traffic you can expect to get by targeting that keyword.

There are both paid and free versions of these keyword research tools. Most paid versions give you added access to monitor certain keywords over a period of time, or give you more updated data. My advice is to start out with the free tools first until your to the point that the added cost is worth the added benefits of a paid tool.

Be careful though, there are a lot of companies out there that claim to be a keyword research tool. But the many of them use search statistics data that is old and out dated, which will do you no good in the first place. You want a tool that gives you up to date information with accurate and trending information.

This will help aid in targeting keywords that are real time, and not something our grandparents searched 20 years ago.

My suggestion is Jaaxy.com. They specialize in keywords and site rankings with the major search engines. They have years of experience, and are run by experts in the industry. Their data is accurate and current, which ensures you will get just what you're looking for. They also have an integrated “Alphabet Soup” tool to help you brainstorm when researching keywords.

You can start your free Jaaxy.com account here.

Want to give the tool a try? Type in a keyword you have in mind in the integrated Jaaxy.com search bar below:

What to look for when searching for targeted keywords

There are a few major points of information to keep in mind when determining if a keyword is worth targeting on your website or not. In this article, I'm going to point out the 3 most important.

  1. The number of monthly searches for that keyword
  2. The amount of traffic you could expect for that keyword
  3. How much competition do you have to be ranked on the first few pages of a search

The number of monthly searches for that keyword are pretty self explanatory as to why that metric is important. The more that keyword is searched, the more traffic you will get, resulting in more $$$$ for your website!

The amount of traffic to expect for that keyword varies based on how many competitors you have. If there are 0 competitors, chances are you will get a large amount of that traffic directed to your website for that keyword (assuming the content is relevant to the targeted keyword). Again, the more traffic, the more $$$$! (Let's be honest, most of us are in this to make a little cash right?)

How many competitors you have is VITAL. If you are a beginning website owner, you probably want to target a keyword that has under 100 competitors. Chances are if you are just starting, and you target a keyword with 1000+ competitors, you will get outranked.

However, if you have a very well-established website with many high ranking pages on major search engines, the decision is yours as to whether you think you can outrank the competition. However, when all is said and done, the less competition the better.

When starting out, focus on the following:

  • High search results
  • High traffic
  • The lowest competition possible (under 100, maybe up to 200)

If you can find keywords with competition under 100 or 200, that have a large amount of searches and a lot of traffic, you've found yourself a winner!

Next step….wait for that extra paycheck from your new visitors to your website!

Learn more about the internet's top keyword research tool, Jaaxy.com here.

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