In the last lesson we covered:

• Domain Names• Hosting• How websites are made• Content Management Systems• Why WordPress is the Best• How Search Engines Work

In this Lesson you will Learn

• How to measure (with accuracy) the online demand for your product / service

• How people Search online – and which keywords are important for your business

• How to view the past history and performance of your market

• How to get an in-depth insight into how strong your competitors are

Keyword Research

• You can see which search phrases your customers are searching for. This means you can optimize your website to rank well for these phrases

• You can see which search phrases have stiff competition and which do not. This means you can set achievable goals for your website and avoid creating a website that has very little hope of ever making it to the top of the Google organic search results

• You get a incredibly helpful insight into how your customers (and competitors) behave online.

How to do Keyword Research

• Visit the Google Keyword Research Tool• Enter the search phrase(s) you want to research• Only search for exact matches• Specify which countries you wish to get data for

by opening the advanced options tab and highlighting the relevant countries

• Download the report and highlight the search phrases that you wish to investigate further

Niche (Long Tail) Keywords

• The more specific the keywords the less competition• Think about your product/service in a way that differentiates

it from competition• E.g. A long tail keyword is something like ‘Small Business Web

Design’ while a short tail keyword is something like ‘Web Design’.

• Benefits: less competition, higher rankings, higher conversions– E.g. ‘Buy digital camera’ will have higher conversion than “digital

cameras”– Also, ‘canon eos rebel t2i’ will convert better than ‘cheap digital

cameras’

The Keyword Research Cycle

Brainstorm Keywords

Keyword Research

CompetitionResearch

Search EngineOptimization

Google Analytics

A Handy Tool for Brainstorming

The Google Wonder Wheel

Measuring the Competition

• The Google Keyword Research Tool provides a vague indicator of competition

• Run a Google Search for the keywords and take note of any paid ads

• Run a Search for allintitle:”your keyword” to see how many webpages are optimised for your keywords in the title

Identify Your Competitors

• Run a search on Google (.com and .ie) for your primary keywords – note the organic results

• You can use the Web Directory feature on Alexa.com to find out who the big competitors are in a particular market

Find Your Niche with Alexa

Evaluate Bigger Competitors Using Alexa

Market Research with Alexa

• Competitor Keyword Research: Clicking on the Search Analytics tab throws up even more information on how pickyourshoes.com relies upon the search engines to get traffic. You can see which search phrases drive traffic to their website.

• The Clickstream: Alexa.com also gives you important information as to where visitors were before visiting the website of your competitor.

• Demographics: By clicking on the audience tab in Alexa you can see detailed demographical data about your competitors visitors – including their age, sex, location and much more.

Evaluate Competitors SEO Strategy

• Small, local business sites won’t appear on Alexa• See what local competitors are doing in terms of SEO

“On Page” Optimization: Check out your competitors sites and pay attention to which keywords are used in:

• the page title of the homepage• the headline (and sub-headings)

Check their Links:You can also use the Backlink Watch tool to see how many backlinks they have – and which keywords feature in those backlinks.

Evaluate Competitors eBusiness Strategy

Take a few minutes to explore the various websites looking forkey features which may include:

• A Newsletter – If they do you should sign up to see how that works.

• Are they on Facebook or Twitter? If so take note of how many followers they have.

• Do they have a Blog? – What are they blogging about?

*If they sell a product it may even be worth buying one just tosee how their sales funnel, customer service and after-salesservice works.

Measure Past Market Performance

Using Google Insights• You can measure the market demand for specific

keywords in specific locations• You can see which related keywords are popular

amongst customers and which search phrases are getting more popular.

• You can also easily click on any one particular region to drill down further into the data and get specific information for that region. This data can also be used to supplement offline marketing strategies

See Demand by Region

Homework

• Take this lesson (Setting up your eBusiness)• Register a domain• Setup a Hosting Account• Install WordPress• Setup a PayPal A/C (if you wish to accept

payments)

How to Get Help With Problems

• For domain / hosting problems then contact your domain/hosting company

• For theme problems contact the theme designer

• For WordPress problem try the WordPress Forum

• For problems WordPress Plugins ask the Plugin Developer

• General Problems use the eBusinessMatters Support Forum

How to use the Support Forum

• Step 1. Click on Support• Step 2. Click ‘Add New topic’ to ask a question

Posting a Question