Is keyword research really THAT important for an online business?

Can’t I just skip that step and start making money right away?

Keyword research just seems like a waste of time…

I’ve worked with hundreds of clients over the last 4 years as a mentor at Prosper, Inc. and have heard variations of these EXACT statements over and over again.

The best response I have is this:

The clients who understand keyword research are 9 times out of 10 the SAME clients who make lots of money with their new online businesses.

No matter what type of online business you decide to start, keyword research will be an essential part of your marketing strategy.

To help you understand the step by steps, I’ve put together a short 5 minute video to share with you some of the basics of effective keyword research.

10 Steps to Effective Keyword Research

Step 1: Go to http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Step 2: Type in products that you would like to get access to and sell online (start generic)

Step 3: Look for Buyer Phrases – keywords that most likely mean the person is looking to BUY what you’re offering

Step 4: As you look at different keyword ideas, record the phrase and number of searches done per month (Global Monthly Search Volume) in the Google Docs Spreadsheet we’ve created

Step 5: The target number is above 1,000 – know that if the demand is REALLY HIGH, most likely the competition will be high too

Step 6: Once you’ve found phrases that meet the demand criteria, open up another window, go to Google, and type in allintitle:”the keyword phrase” and hit enter

Step 7: Note in the Google Docs spreadsheet what the number of sites is that shows up (ie. 1 in 10 of 48,000)

Step 8: The target number for competition is 30,000 or less (actually the lower the better)

Step 9: Record the numbers in the spreadsheet

Step 10: You’re well on your way to being an internet entrepreneur!

Keyword Research is the CORE of effective online marketing.

These articles may help too:

• How to Use Google Docs for Keyword Research
• Keyword Research 101

How do you use Facebook?

Is it just to stay in touch with High School friends?

Maybe a way to re-kindle old “flames” with your college sweetheart? (uh…honey? LOL)

Or maybe you like to follow celebrities to see what they’re up to…

For me, Facebook has been a HUGE part of my marketing success with one of my niche websites.

How I Use Facebook for Business

• It’s a great way to connect directly with your target audience, get to know the key players, and create business relationships that can turn in to profitable endeavors.
• I also use Facebook to stay up-to-date with what’s happening in the online marketing industry.
• If you follow the right people and become a Fan of the best Facebook Pages, you’ll be kept in tune with what’s happening (and then you can blog about it 🙂 ).

One thing that rolled out today on Facebook was a new Home Page Layout.

Here’s what Facebook had to say about it:

At Facebook, one of our main priorities is helping you stay on top of what is going on with the people and things you care about most. That’s why today we are beginning to roll out some changes to the home page that simplify your experience by offering two views of News Feed: a summary view of the most interesting activity that’s happened in the last day and a real-time view that shows you what is happening right now.

You will be able to catch up on what you may have missed while you were away from Facebook and then easily switch to the real-time stream when you want to see posts as soon as they’re shared. Here’s how it works:

News Feed
When you log into Facebook, you’ll see the most interesting things that happened in the last day in the “News Feed” view. News Feed picks stories that we think you’ll enjoy based on a variety of factors including how many friends have liked and commented on it and how likely you are to interact with that story.

Live Feed
Once you’ve caught up on what you missed, you can click through to “Live Feed” to see what’s happening right now. As long as you remain logged into Facebook, you’ll continue to see posts and activity from your friends in real-time. You can edit what appears in this view by clicking “Edit Options” at the bottom of the home page.

Here’s what it looks like on your Home Page:

One of my fellow online marketing friends, Jordan Brown (follow him on Twitter), had this to say about the Facebook change:

I love news feed is back now: I don’t have to sit on facebook and watch the live feed and hope I don’t lose out on something – they will bring it to me!

Why Did Facebook Make the Changes?

Facebook explains:

Some of you may ask why we are changing the home page again. Like you, we know it can be disruptive when things are moved around, but we hope that these changes make Facebook a more valuable experience for you. We put a lot of thought into all the changes we make to the site and do a lot of testing before releasing anything.

In the past, the “News Feeds” were what you used to see on the right side of the home page.  The new “News Feed” function makes it easier to engage with what’s happening via your favorite people, groups, and pages.

Other features that were added:

• when your friends have been tagged in photos
• when your friends have become fans of Pages
• when your friends RSVP for events
• when your friends join groups
• when your friends make new friends
• birthdays and events are now more visible in the right column of the home page

What do you think of the Facebook changes?

As most of my readers should know by now, I’m an avid New York Yankee fan!

I’d like to see what the Moller Marketing readers think about tonight’s game between the New York Yankees & Los Angeles of Anaheim (they should lose simply for the name confusion).

Are you meeting your potential with your new online business?

What are things you’ve done TODAY to make a sale on or off line?

Are you where you want to be with your start-up? Why or why not?

These are all questions I’ve considered many times, both for my own businesses and for the clients I’ve worked with over the last 4 years.

On a recent business trip I was reading a magazine and found some tips that I thought really applied to running a successful online business. The article I read talked about why people don’t reach their potential.

I’ve picked out 4 of the main reasons and added my thoughts in relation to building an online business.

What’s Holding You Back?

1. Choices:  “…the choice you make…makes you.” How many people do you know who have been blessed with so many talents and specialties, but they aren’t very successful? The choices we make with our talents are what help us become successful. What I’ve seen is you can chose every day to do things towards the success of your business. “Small success leads to Big Success!” is the Moller Marketing Mantra for a reason: it’s the little things that we do (or don’t do) everyday that ultimately lead to our success (or failure) with a new business.
2. Shortcuts: THERE ARE NO REAL SHORTCUTS TO SUCCESS! Often times people don’t reach their potential because they have no idea how long the process will really take. There is a saying by Saadi that says,
   “Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.”
   No matter what project or goal we have in our lives, we need to stop “microwaving” them. Instead, we need to “Crock-Pot” our ideas – let them simmer and soak. Shortcuts NEVER pay off in the long-run. I have learned that there are quicker ways to do things but it still takes work and planning to succeed in anything.
3. Cost: Yes, success has a cost. You have to give up something for everything you gain. It could be time; it could be money; it could be a combination of both. But the bottom line is, we have to give up something very important to us to achieve something much more worthwhile. Fred Smith said the following:
   “Human nature tempts us to stay where we’re comfortable. We try to find a plateau, a resting place, where we have comfortable stress and adequate finances. Where we have comfortable associations with people, withouth intimidation of meeting new people and entering strange situations. Of course, all of us need to plateau for a time. We climb, and then we plateau for assimilation. But once we’ve assimilated what we’ve learned, we climb again…Many times, our challenges in life are not in understanding; they are in doing.”

   There’s a gap between knowing something and then DOING it. Our attitude affects our ability. What is success with your online business worth to you? Do you have a strong enough reason WHY you want/need to be successful?

4. Problems: Problems have a way of holding us back. There is a difference between problem-spotting and problem-solving. Most people can EASILY spot a problem. Problem solving, on the other hand, comes from those who maximize their potential. A great habit to get in to is, when you spot a problem, before you tell someone about it and complain about why it just won’t work, come up with three suggestions for solving the problem. One of the solutions has to involve YOU! It’s amazing to see a person’s attitude change when they are held accountable for their own solutions.

Now What?

Well, one of the things I plan to do with this information is work hard to be a better problem SOLVER instead of a spotter. I plan to come up with three suggestions for solving a problem, one of which includes ME.

What do you plan to do with this information?

I’ve been teaching a few clients how to use custom wordpress themes for their online businesses.

For this reason, I’ve temporarily changed the “look” of Moller Marketing to match the Halloween & Autumn colors.

Wouldn’t you LOVE to live in Utah right now?

photo from west light images

As a teaching tool, I wanted to show all Moller Marketing readers that yes, it is really easy to change the look of a Woo Theme.

Step by Step Guide on Changing WordPress Themes

Step 1: Purchase a Woo Theme and Download it to your Desktop.

Step 2: Upload the extracted file to your “Themes” folder using FTP (Filezilla is what I use).

Things you’ll need to know:

1. Host.
2. Your host username.
3. Your host password.

Once you log in, you’ll first locate the new theme file on the left side of the screen.  (Don’t open the file, just locate it.)

Then, follow this path on the right side of the screen:

public_html > your site folder > wp-content > Drag new theme to the Themes Folder

Step 3: Once you have the Woo Theme uploaded, click on the Appearance Tab, then the Themes link in the side navigation of your wordpress blog.

It will look something like this:

You’ll need to select “Activate” for the new theme to work.

Step 4: Time to make adjustments to the color of your theme.

Depending on the theme you purchased, there should be options on changing the Theme Stylesheet. Pick the color you’d like to use. (I’m using the Flash News for one blog and the Busy Bee for the Moller Marketing Blog)

Step 5: Open your site in a new window, test it out, and start making sales 🙂

If you have any questions, please submit them in the comment section or in this form…

Is keyword research really for you?

Aren’t there better things you could spend your time doing?

Shouldn’t you be starting hundreds of websites and watching the money come rolling in?

HA HA HA! If you have a huge data base of trusted buyers, keyword research may not be AS necessary. However, if you really want to be successful long-term with your new online marketing endeavors, keyword research is essential!

One of the cool tools you can use to keep good track of what you’re research is Google Docs. It’s Free. It’s Easy. And it makes keeping all your ideas together in one place that much simpler.

Here’s a step by step guide.

How to Use Google Docs for Keyword Research

Step 1: Go to http://docs.google.com

When you get there, sign in to your Google Account. If you don’t have a Google Account, click on Get Started below:

Step 2: Click on New in the Top Left Corner

When you hit new, there will be a drop down menu with different tools you can use. For keyword research, the Spreadsheet is the best option.

Step 3: The Spreadsheet will open in a new window

We’re almost done! Now that you have the spreadsheet open, start entering in the information we’ll need to do effective keyword research:

• Keyword phrases – names of products is a great place to start if you’re selling products online. Also think about “buyer” phrases – what are words people would use if they were looking to buy something from you? “Browser” phrases are fine for traffic, but in the end we want to focus on words and phrases that will help us make SALES on our website. (ie. history of clogging – browser phrase vs. black garment bag – buyer phrase)
• Demand – I use a tool provided by Google called the Google Adwords keyword tool. If you’d like to know more about how I use this tool, subscribe to Moller Marketing via email or contact me on Twitter.
• Competition – I use Google again for researching who my “real competition” is. You can read more about how I research competition at the article titled Keyword Research – Demand vs. Competition.

Step 4: Save Your Document

This is found in the top right corner of the screen.

When you click on Save, this box (or something like it) will appear:

Step 5: Share the File

This step isn’t MANDATORY but, for some of my readers, they’ll want to know how to share the file with me so I can review the research they are doing. Simply click on “Invite people”.

Step 6: Type in the Email of the “Sharee”

Click Send!

There you go. If you have any questions about any of this, please comment below.