Based in large part on the top-notch SEO and web content education I'm getting from my subscription to SBI!, I've had good success recently in choosing profitable keyword combinations for my eHow articles. Here's the method I use to generate ideas for eHow keywords:
The basic formula is to choose in-demand keywords with relatively low supply. You'll also want to factor in Google AdSense CPC, or "cost per click" data. If traffic is only so-so for a certain keyword, but the cost per click is high, an article based around that keyword may still be profitable. Make sure to choose unique titles for your eHow articles, since Google will only index a couple of articles with the same or very similar titles. There's always a way to choose a unique title! Even if another eHow user has already written a similar article on the same topic, you can find novel keyword combinations and present the information with your own unique "voice."
I use Wordtracker and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool for my eHow keyword research. Wordtracker gives me a preliminary idea of demand for a given topic and a storm of related keywords that contain my original serach term. Then I use the Google Adwords tool to get detailed traffic and cost per click info.
While you do want good demand for your topics (i.e., enough people searching for your target keyword), if you pick a keyword that's too general, you won't be able to direct targeted traffic to your eHow articles through search engines (though you can, of course, drive traffic in other ways).
I'll use my eHow article "How to Conceive a Girl" for the first example. This has been my highest earning article so far, and it was written before I knew anything about SEO or keyword research. By a pure stroke of luck, I ended up with a profitable combination of good keyword demand, moderate supply, high advertiser competition, and good cost-per-click keywords. I'll briefly define each of these terms before presenting some specific examples.
Demand is the number of people searching a given keyword phrase. You should aim to use keywords with an average search volume of at least 1,900 per month in the Google AdSense Keyword Tool. Higher is better. Be sure to look at average search volume, and not actual volume for the previous month, unless you are targeting a seasonal topic.
Supply is the number of competing web pages that contain the exact keyword phrase you are targeting. For supply, aim for 80,000 or less. To determine supply, you'll need to do a Google search of your term, in quotes. "How to Conceive a Girl," based around the keyword phrase "Conceive a Girl" is my most profitable article to date. This search term has a supply result of 79,700. Don't get stuck on the numbers - if the supply is borderline high, your article still could be profitable.
Advertiser competition tells you how many advertisers are vying for ad spots for a given keyword. With Google AdSense, ads are displayed on the page automatically based on the keywords in a web content article. The more advertisers competing for given keyword, the better your chances of many high quality, targeted ads appearing on your article's page.
Finally, CPC tells you how much an advertiser pays when users click on their ads. Google AdSense ads based on the term "Conceive a Girl" cost advertisers about 1.79 per click. Remember though that Google and eHow receive the lion's share of this amount (which is a good reason to consider starting your own niche website...I'll talk more about this in a later post). You'll receive your portion of the ad revenue under eHow's mystical algorithm for its WCP (Writer Ccompensation Program).
See how the following screenshot of a search for the keyword phrase "conceive a girl" matches up with these factors:
Here are my eHow earnings for this article, from April 2008 to the present. This article earns about $8 per month on average.
I'm experimenting with how these factors come in to play with my most recent articles. Here is demand, supply, advertiser competition, and CPC information for each of the following articles:
1. How to Choose Eczema Clothing for Children
Keyword phrase: eczema clothing
Demand - 590
Supply - 4,310
Advertiser Competition - Average
Cost per click - $1.66
2. How to Use Natural Eczema Treatments
Keyword phrase: eczema treatments
Demand - 5,400
Supply - 47,400
Advertiser Competition - High
Cost per click - $1.82
3. How to Send a Free Internet Fax
Keyword phrase: free Internet fax
Demand - 9,900
Supply - 68,300
Advertiser Competition - High
Cost per click - $5.20
Notice that I've broken my own rules by chosing some terms with a farily small demand. But, they also have very low supply. I hope to find out in the coming months and weeks whether these types of small-niche articles have decent earning potential.
My 'free Internet fax' article appears to have the highest earnings potential of these three examples. It falls squarely within the rules and has an amazingly high CPC of $5.20.
The thing to remember is that you should understand these concepts and think critically to estimate how demand, supply, advertiser competition, and CPC will interact to make your eHow articles as profitable as possible. Don't get number bound - it's not an exact science. Experiment with your articles, and see which niche topics and keyword tool parameters yield the best results.
Look for an update down the road as earnings for these articles start rolling in.
The basic formula is to choose in-demand keywords with relatively low supply. You'll also want to factor in Google AdSense CPC, or "cost per click" data. If traffic is only so-so for a certain keyword, but the cost per click is high, an article based around that keyword may still be profitable. Make sure to choose unique titles for your eHow articles, since Google will only index a couple of articles with the same or very similar titles. There's always a way to choose a unique title! Even if another eHow user has already written a similar article on the same topic, you can find novel keyword combinations and present the information with your own unique "voice."
I use Wordtracker and the Google AdWords Keyword Tool for my eHow keyword research. Wordtracker gives me a preliminary idea of demand for a given topic and a storm of related keywords that contain my original serach term. Then I use the Google Adwords tool to get detailed traffic and cost per click info.
While you do want good demand for your topics (i.e., enough people searching for your target keyword), if you pick a keyword that's too general, you won't be able to direct targeted traffic to your eHow articles through search engines (though you can, of course, drive traffic in other ways).
I'll use my eHow article "How to Conceive a Girl" for the first example. This has been my highest earning article so far, and it was written before I knew anything about SEO or keyword research. By a pure stroke of luck, I ended up with a profitable combination of good keyword demand, moderate supply, high advertiser competition, and good cost-per-click keywords. I'll briefly define each of these terms before presenting some specific examples.
Demand is the number of people searching a given keyword phrase. You should aim to use keywords with an average search volume of at least 1,900 per month in the Google AdSense Keyword Tool. Higher is better. Be sure to look at average search volume, and not actual volume for the previous month, unless you are targeting a seasonal topic.
Supply is the number of competing web pages that contain the exact keyword phrase you are targeting. For supply, aim for 80,000 or less. To determine supply, you'll need to do a Google search of your term, in quotes. "How to Conceive a Girl," based around the keyword phrase "Conceive a Girl" is my most profitable article to date. This search term has a supply result of 79,700. Don't get stuck on the numbers - if the supply is borderline high, your article still could be profitable.
Advertiser competition tells you how many advertisers are vying for ad spots for a given keyword. With Google AdSense, ads are displayed on the page automatically based on the keywords in a web content article. The more advertisers competing for given keyword, the better your chances of many high quality, targeted ads appearing on your article's page.
Finally, CPC tells you how much an advertiser pays when users click on their ads. Google AdSense ads based on the term "Conceive a Girl" cost advertisers about 1.79 per click. Remember though that Google and eHow receive the lion's share of this amount (which is a good reason to consider starting your own niche website...I'll talk more about this in a later post). You'll receive your portion of the ad revenue under eHow's mystical algorithm for its WCP (Writer Ccompensation Program).
See how the following screenshot of a search for the keyword phrase "conceive a girl" matches up with these factors:
Here are my eHow earnings for this article, from April 2008 to the present. This article earns about $8 per month on average.
I'm experimenting with how these factors come in to play with my most recent articles. Here is demand, supply, advertiser competition, and CPC information for each of the following articles:
1. How to Choose Eczema Clothing for Children
Keyword phrase: eczema clothing
Demand - 590
Supply - 4,310
Advertiser Competition - Average
Cost per click - $1.66
2. How to Use Natural Eczema Treatments
Keyword phrase: eczema treatments
Demand - 5,400
Supply - 47,400
Advertiser Competition - High
Cost per click - $1.82
3. How to Send a Free Internet Fax
Keyword phrase: free Internet fax
Demand - 9,900
Supply - 68,300
Advertiser Competition - High
Cost per click - $5.20
Notice that I've broken my own rules by chosing some terms with a farily small demand. But, they also have very low supply. I hope to find out in the coming months and weeks whether these types of small-niche articles have decent earning potential.
My 'free Internet fax' article appears to have the highest earnings potential of these three examples. It falls squarely within the rules and has an amazingly high CPC of $5.20.
The thing to remember is that you should understand these concepts and think critically to estimate how demand, supply, advertiser competition, and CPC will interact to make your eHow articles as profitable as possible. Don't get number bound - it's not an exact science. Experiment with your articles, and see which niche topics and keyword tool parameters yield the best results.
Look for an update down the road as earnings for these articles start rolling in.
Photo credit: sxc.hu/v_hujer
3 comments:
Great post, Jamie! Super detailed. I've read a ton on SEO and keywords but I always appreciate a fresh approach!
Choosing profitable keywords is an important part on online writing success --- and isn't SBI awesome for in-depth learning on the topic? My SBI subscription was worth it just for that education.
@Maria
SBI is totally worth it. My goal is to keep at least one SBI niche site just for the tools and info it offers, even if I end up building and hosting websites elsewhere.
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