Keywords And Your Noggin

“One way to compensate for a tiny brain is to pretend to be dead” ~ Scott Adams, American Cartoonist, creator of Dilbert

How do you do your keyword research?

Wordtracker? There is a free version as well as a one-week subscription. Lots of data at your fingertips.

Google Keyword Selection Tool? It offers a very powerful free tool in AdWords. Always changing with new features.

Trellian Keyword Discovery? Many in the industry call this the best keyword tool in the business.

Me?

I use my brain. I'm serious.

I've seen too many badly optimized pages and poorly performing PPC campaigns put together by so-called SEO professionals that rely mainly on these types of tools and not business logic.

Everyday I ask my four year old son, "Have you used your Noggin today?"

When actually I should be asking these guys that question. Finding words with the best impressions may not be the best words to buy or the best words for your site. A keyword tool won't think for you. It's garbage in - garbage out. Simply mining data based on your input. It's doesn't make a campaign work by using it.

Bottom line.... to find the best keyword for your site or your campaign you shouldn't just "Do the Research"... you should do the following three CVoD initiatives:

Think
Strategize
Act

Brainstorm with your editors, copywriters, product mangers, etc. Find the best words you can, expand as you go based on your target for success. In other words, come up with a plan that will best attack your objective. Sometimes you may want to cast a wide net and slowly tighten it. Other times you may want to start small and then expand.

Do what is right for you, your campaign and your budget.

If you need help, by all means use these Keyword research tools in addition to your noggin, but NEVER in lieu of.

Keep in mind that these tools do have a time and place and can expand your universe of names. But it's not a panacea.

Lastly, go for it. Don't hold back. Just keep thinking... and doing these Four CVoD principles:

Test
Report
Analyze
Test Again

You knew that was coming, right?

AP