Want to get the most targeted traffic to your site? Of course the obvious answer is yes!

Here is the problem…Generalized keywords, broad generic terms are the terms that are most widely used in your niche, however they are the hardest to rank for. And really, you don’t want to rank for them anyway. These broad terms may get you a a bunch of traffic but will rarely turn any sales.

This is where Long Tail Keywords come in.

What are long tail keywords? Long tail keywords consist of a phrase of somewhere between 1 to 4 words (sometimes more) related to your niche. Using long tail keywords will produce less traffic, but they will provide more targeted traffic, the kind that results in conversions.

Lets take a look at an example in the pet niche. Searching the term “dog clothes” returns almost 4.5 million results. How easy do you think it will be for a brand new site to rank high for this type of keyword? Not be easy at all!

Realizing that we can probably not rank for such a broad keyword, lets looks at a more specific long tail keyword phrase – “betty boop denim dog clothes”. This search returns a much smaller number, 17,700.

I know, some of you are saying, this is still a pretty high number for competition.  But wouldn’t you agree that it will be much easier to rank among 17,700 vs. 4,390,000?

Keyword research is one of the most important aspect of Internet Marketing. Before deciding on a niche, you must research the niche. Not only to verify there are products available to sell but also that people are actually interested in the niche and are searching for it.

Keyword research is also very helpful in narrowing down a niche so you are not promoting to a huge market. This will help you to get targeted traffic. Targeted traffic is very important to anyone who wants to make sales. I mean really, would you rather get 1000 untargeted hits a day on your website and and no sales OR 100 targeted hits to hour site and make sales!!! I know what I would choose.

Even though keyword research is a huge necessity, it isn’t always as simple as it sounds. Using tools designed for keyword research are really a must. It would be torturous to do it manually. There are several tools available. I use both a free tool and a paid tool; Wordtracker and Market Samurai.

I will be reaching out to you with these tools. I plan on showing you what you can do with them and why you should not ignore them.

What are your favorite keyword research tools? Let me know below so I can show what can be done with them.

If you are new to Internet Marketing, you may not have heard about the 30 Day Challenge that is about to begin. This is the perfect opportunity for you to learn what really matters about starting a business and how to do accomplish it.

Ed Dale (@Ed_Dale, #30dc), a well known and successful internet marketer began the 30 Day Challenge six years ago. It was so successful in its first year that he improved it and did it all over again the following year. Each year, this challenge has been tweaked and updated and every year it is exceptionally successful, with thousands of internet marketers, new to the scene, or not, following along.

So what is the 30 Day Challenge anyway?

Well, first of all the the “30 Day Challenge” I have been boasting about is now defunct!!!! (tires screech…..)   WHAT???

Well, this year the format is changing a little bit. The “30 Day Challenge” is now called “THE CHALLENGE.”

The Challenge is comprised of a series of videos and training teaching all about the tools, social media, blogging, seo, keyword research and much more. It is aimed at you making your first dollars online, getting a new customer, providing a new service, whatever it is that is NEW to you!

You will learn for 30 minutes a day for seven days. You then get seven days off. This will happen seven times. At the end of the challenge you will know everything you need to know about starting a business online.

How much does it cost?

The Challenge does not cost a single cent! The only $ needed is your TIME.  Some say Money is Time, but no $$ will pass hands throught the challenge, unless it is someone paying you for something you are selling, whether it be a physical product or service. The only money exchange will be to YOUR hands.

To learn more about this challenge and possibly sign up for it, go to The Challenge blog.

Check it out soon because The Challenge begins July 1, 2010.

I will be in on the challenge! Will you?

You say “nitch”, I say “neesh”, and she says “neeshae”, but it really doesn’t matter how you say it. It all means the same thing. A niche is defined as a distinct segment of a market.

In the Internet Marketing world a niche is a specific subject or topic that you wish to focus on, become an expert in, create products about or sell products around.

For instance, let say that you, as an Internet Marketer, wanted to concentrate on health related products. Well as you probably know this is a huge market. When you say talk about health related products you could be talking about any number of different topics; vitamins, exercise equipment, dieting, etc.

Trying to tackle a huge market such as this would be very difficult. This is where you will do your research and decide which “niche” in the health related field you want to focus on.

I will be discussing niche research methods, keyword research and more in future posts.

What would you like to know about choosing a niche? Comment below and let me know so I can post articles in your area of interest.