It’s a bit inefficient so it will take you a little longer, but it will do the job just fine.
Whatever you decide, please, please, please...
Do use a Master Keyword List. It will evolve into the master blueprint for your entire site. If you follow these instructions, the site will almost build itself!
OK, here’s what to do with your Master Keyword List. Create four columns and label them KEYWORD, DEMAND, SUPPLY, and SUPPLY SITE INFO. For each
“fashion”-containing keyword in your DEMAND WINDOW...
1) Enter the keyword itself into the column labeled KEYWORD -- copy-and-paste to avoid typos.
2) Enter how many times it is searched (info that you found in the DEMAND
WINDOW) into the DEMAND column.
3) Enter how many sites Search It! finds (in your SUPPLY WINDOW) in your column labeled SUPPLY.
4) Read the listings for the Top 20 sites that Search It! returns for each keyword. Make brief notes in the fourth column, SUPPLY SITE INFO -- no need to visit the sites yet (perhaps just a quick click to the home page if you need a bit more info). Just get a flavor for the kinds of sites that each KEYWORD search delivers.
I’ve started your Master Keyword List for you...
KEYWORD DEMAND SUPPLY SUPPLY SITE INFO
fashion 3,083 577,000,000 See NOTE...
NOTE: “Fashion” is too general. Don't bother researching this word for products/services. The real opportunities lie in the niches, in topic keywords that have more specificity.
fashion design 387 18,100,000 Design principles, patterns 35
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Add as many notes as you like for SUPPLY SITE INFO. I’ve kept it very brief here, since it is only an example.
Finally, make two more columns, one labeled POSSIBLE PARTNERS and the other called IDEAS FOR CONTENT. Time for some in-depth, professional, SUPPLY WINDOW research...
Review as many sites from these results as you like. I’d suggest at least the first 10-20 sites. But you may find merchants in need of traffic help (i.e., you!) deeper down.
As you get into this in-depth research, you’ll notice three types of sites...
• irrelevant -- for whatever reason (off-topic, geographic, lousy site, etc.), they just don't fit. Skip these.
• merchant -- in POSSIBLE PARTNERS, enter what kind of merchandise they sell. If they have an affiliate program that fits your concept, enter the URL of the
“join page” for the affiliate program of that merchant. These are indeed potential merchant-partners for you.
Even better, you’re automatically organizing the POSSIBLE PARTNERS
according to each keyword. This means that you are already pre-planning each Keyword-Focused Content Page’s “in-context” text links and setting the groundwork for the “M” (Monetization) stage.
• content -- these sites are your direct competitors. They make money through affiliate programs, too. And good news! They’ll speed up your learning curve by giving you a lot of information. Why? Because they've already done a ton of work for you!
Here’s what to do...
i) As you review these content sites, you may get some great ideas for content on your own site. Enter these ideas into the IDEAS FOR CONTENT column.
ii) Browse the site, drilling down into the content. Click on the banner ads and text links, following these links out to their destinations to see what kind of merchants they have chosen as affiliate-partners. Or perhaps it’s a straight advertising deal -- make a note of these merchants as potential advertisers, too.
If a given merchant fits your concept and has an affiliate program, enter the kind of merchandise it sells, and the “join page” URL, as you did just above. Once again, you are preparing for the “M” stage.
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QUICK TIP: It can be a tedious pain to look for a link to a merchant’s affiliate program. Some home pages are quite crowded. Here’s how to find it quickly...
1) See if you can find a reference to it with a quick scan of the top, left and bottom navbars (graphic or text links). If not...
2) Do a quick find on the home page. Press on the control+f keys on your keyboard (command+f if you are using a Mac). Then enter “affil” (the first few letters is fine and reduces chances of a typo) into the box of the window that pops up. Try also for “assoc” (short for “associate”) and
“refer” (short for “referral” or “referrer” program).
3) Use the site search tool or online support chat (if it has one) or 1-800
line, or send an e-mail. If the site doesn’t have an affiliate program, ask if the Webmaster is interested in buying pay-per-click advertising (more on selling pay-per-click advertising a bit later on in the course).
If you still can’t find an affiliate link after that, forget it. The site probably doesn’t have an affiliate program.
ANOTHER QUICK TIP: You can also find MERCHANT sites via Search
It!. Select the Inbound Link Opportunities category (STEP 1).
Obtain content sites by reviewing the top 20+ search results from Search It!’s Competition category (STEP 1).
Or use its Monetization category and choose this search type, “Find Products/Programs at ClickBank” (STEP 2).
Plow through your Master Keyword List until you have completed all six columns for all of your high-profitability “fashion”-containing keywords.
Expected results?...
• lots of good content ideas for the site
• some good monetizing leads to merchants who could need pay-per-click advertising from you a bit later
• a few merchants who have affiliate programs (but the real mother lode for affiliate programs -- more “M” -- will come in DAY 4!).
Important Note...
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I can’t over-emphasize the importance of your Master Keyword List. Your entire site, including its most profitable directions, lies in this blueprint. Please do this.
If you find creating your own list (with a database or spreadsheet program) to be too daunting, and if a text list is too awkward, let Site Build It!’s server-side Brainstorm It! do your work for you! Click here to see this easy-to-use tool in action…
http://demo.sitesell.com/day2/day-2-f.html
Want to accumulate even more information about the intensity of the competition (i.e., the SUPPLY of keywords) for top rankings for your keywords? Investigate other search types in Search It!’s Competition category. (I told you that you would use this versatile tool often!)…
One special note.. . If your search on a keyword returns sites that seem inappropriate, it’s likely that your keyword does not reach the people you thought.
For example, let’s say that you want to write a page about how to price products. This page is meant to show e-commerce merchants how to price new products. But your research shows that surfers searching for the keyword “price” are not business folks looking for “pricing” info. They are consumers looking for deals.
Save yourself time and money... “price” is not a good word to focus upon.
Repeat for the keyword “pricing.” BINGO! This is the right word.
OK, where were we? Oh yes...
Your DEMAND WINDOW’s search generated many “fashion-containing”
keywords, along with the DEMAND for each keyword.
Your SUPPLY WINDOW’s search revealed the number of sites (i.e., the SUPPLY of sites) that provide information about each keyword, as well as a lot of leads to possible merchant-partners and even some ideas for content.
Now it’s time to pick the keywords with the best profitability. These will be the keywords with high DEMAND (i.e., tons of searches) and low SUPPLY (i.e., not too many sites found). Eliminate any words that appear too competitive (i.e., SUPPLY is too high in WINDOW #2 or bidding competition is too intense), especially if they are not searched upon very often (i.e., DEMAND is low in WINDOW #1). And especially if there do not seem to be many POSSIBLE
PARTNERS for them!
Bottom line?...
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Your best words should have HIGH DEMAND and LOW SUPPLY.
This is a rough protocol, so don’t become a slave to it. Follow these two general guidelines...
1) Eliminate only the worst combinations of high SUPPLY and low DEMAND and low number of POSSIBLE PARTNERS.
2) When you’re ready to write your site, start with the keywords that have the best combination of high DEMAND and low SUPPLY (especially the ones that you really enjoy and know!) and a good number of POSSIBLE PARTNERS.
As you start to see patterns for the kind of sites that appear in your SUPPLY
SITES and POSSIBLE PARTNERS and IDEAS FOR CONTENT notes, you’ll refine your Site Concept. Ultimately, you’ll create Keyword-Focused Content Pages that...
• fit with your final Site Concept
And...
• have a good SUPPLY/DEMAND ratio
And...
• have a good number of POTENTIAL PARTNERS
AND that...
• you enjoy writing about.
Now you are ready to work on…
WINDOW #3 -- BREAKOUT WINDOW
By now, you very likely have enough keywords to keep you busy for a while. If so, give this a quick read and move on to the next section. But...
If you need more high-profitability keyword topics, or perhaps you just want to be as thorough as possible, work through this third and final WINDOW. It just might affect the final concept that you refine and the domain name that you select.
It’s easy to get “concept-keyword-bound.” Resist the urge. Keep in mind that 39
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SUPPLY and DEMAND numbers are still merely gross guidelines that point out some interesting big pictures. Make your brain the ultimate judge.
No single keyword, no matter how profitable it may calculate out to be, makes or breaks a business. The overall quantity and quality of all your pages are, ultimately, what makes your business snowball and gain momentum.
The money (i.e., your income) is in C
T
P
M...
Develop a wide variety of different keywords, and then build Keyword-Focused Content Pages (KFCPs) that deliver high-value information. Those pages attract and PREsell targeted visitors, who then click through to your merchants and other sources of income.
OK. Let’s see where we are in the process. We started with a basic “Concept Keyword” like “fashion.” All the brainstorming and pruning revolved around that word. Let’s now BREAKOUT (i.e., widen the field) a bit. What we need is a good sharp knock on the side of the head, so that we can come up with keywords that are related to “fashion” but don’t necessarily contain the word “fashion.”
Use the one and only Search It!.
Search It! > Brainstorming (STEP 1) > Google AdWords Keyword Tool (STEP 2)
> fashion (STEP 3)…
You can then use those new keywords to brainstorm and prune some more keywords in your DEMAND and SUPPLY WINDOWS. And that means more potential high-profitability topics for pages on your fashion-oriented site!
One special note about our BREAKOUT Brainstormer. Don’t reject words outright. Ask yourself… “How does this fit in with my target market?” You might be surprised! It’s an amazing idea sparker.
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Ready? Let’s see a small sampling of the results…
fashion
fashion design
fashion designers
mens fashion
fashion show
spring fashion
fashion trends
fashion magazine
fashion week
couture
clothing
Use these words in two ways...
1) Use the ones that fit your Site Concept “as is” to create more Keyword-Focused Content Pages, (ex., a Web page about “spring fashions” or “fashion trends”). Add these to your Master Keyword List and complete the DEMAND, SUPPLY, SUPPLY SITES, POSSIBLE PARTNERS, and IDEAS for CONTENT
columns for each one.
Or a bigger idea...
2) Extract “General Keywords,” like “couture” and “clothing.” Feed these fashion-related “concept-level” words back into your DEMAND and SUPPLY
WINDOWS to brainstorm and prune a whole new series of high-profitability keywords.
Add these to your Master Keyword List, too. (Or start a new Master Keyword List for any “concept-level” keyword that is different and strong enough to stand as a separate site.)
For example, “fashion shopping mall” would be an excellent topic to include (especially since it includes “fashion shopping” and “shopping mall” within it.) You can keep right on BREAKING OUT in WINDOW #3, then brainstorming in WINDOW #1 (DEMAND) and pruning after doing research in WINDOW #2
(SUPPLY). You will really come up with original, non-obvious keywords and affiliate programs that are right for your target market and that are part of major new directions related to fashion, but that don’t contain the word “fashion.”
You may even discover a concept that is so strong that you decide to adjust your first concept, or even replace it with this new one!
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Here’s another way to BREAKOUT. Use this really interesting feature…
Search It! > Metasearch (STEP 1) > Ixquick (STEP 2) > fashion (STEP 3) In this search, a site gets one star for every major Search Engine that scores it in its Top 10 (i.e., on Page #1 of search results). So it’s a fast way to check all the major engines at the same time.
Any site on the first page of this search result with three stars or more is a good performer. These sites know what they're doing and are not there by accident. Getting two stars is good. One star could just be a fluke.
Ready? Search for “fashion.”
At the time of this writing, Fashion.net scored top stars. Click to that site.
Now click on “Fashion” in the menu. Click on “Designers,” then “New York,” and finally “Betsey Johnson.”
Now go to the menu of your browser...
VIEW > SOURCE
This shows the HTML source code for this page. Look for the “META keywords tag” within this page’s HTML...
<meta name="keywords" content="Betsey Johnson, betseyjohnson.com, betsy johnson, Betsey Johnson dresses,Betseyjohnson,
glamour,beautiful,clothing,catalog,catalogue,pants,dresses,skirts,jackets, shirts,shopping,gifts,style,lingerie,sexy,apparel,shoes,online store,sale,footwear,jewelry,fun,fashion,fur,sequins,trends,sweaters,blous es,jeans,denim,swim,bathing
suits,swimwear,footwear,club,trend,tees,tops,college,evening dress,sportswear,capris,tanks,tubes,bracelet,necklace,earrings,belts,han dbag,knits,poncho,ponchos,casual
wear,intimates,bra,camisole,panties,underwear,bikini,halters,corset,shoes
,designer,stylish,satin,tailored,classic,formal,evening,accessories,outerwe ar,t-shirts,handbags,heels,pumps,strappy sandals,giftcard, gift certificates,logo,rhinestone,hats,hosiery,leather,suede,strapless,suiting,su it jacket,tee shirts,sweatshirts,fitness, mini skirt,playful" /> Yes, this site makes a common mistake of listing tons of different keywords. But that’s OK... they’ve done some brainstorming for you!
Continue researching the Fashion.net site. Or try other sites on the first page of your Search It! results. Or do a new search at Search It!.
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Depending upon your time restraints, repeat the process for all of your high-profitability “fashion”-containing keywords.
One final note…
If a particular search uncovers a merchant site, and if it has an affiliate program that fits your Site Concept, enter what kind of merchandise it sells. Also insert the URL of the “Join Page” into POSSIBLE PARTNERS
for that keyword (as explained above).
If it’s a “content site,” review its content and follow the “links out” -- add to your POSSIBLE PARTNERS and IDEAS FOR CONTENT columns.
OK, let’s get out of the three windows for a moment. They have focused on the
“KEYWORD END” of brainstorming...
KEYWORD END.............……………….. CUSTOMER END
(BRAINSTORM & PRUNE) -- KFCPs -- (BRAINSTORM & PRUNE) Now let’s look at the CUSTOMER END. Get into your visitor’s shoes.
Answer these questions...
Q -- Who is she?
A -- Writers, software companies, or manufacturers in any industry you can imagine. I’ll come up with a lot more answers and then figure out how to reach each one. I’ll be specific and break them down into niche segments. What do they do? What kinds of things would they search for at a Search Engine that is related to their occupations?
Q -- What is she trying to do?
A -- She is looking to sell her products or information and has no idea to do it. As an affiliate of SiteSell, I know that Site Build It! can help her... she just doesn’t know it yet.
I’ve figured out every way that she could possibly search for that information (ex., and I’ve even run those through WINDOWS #1 and #2!
But now for the million dollar question...
Q -- What other stuff does she look for?
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A -- She'll look for anything that is related to her business. I have to figure out what problem a member of my target market is trying to solve when she does a search.
I’ll trace her steps as she develops her product, writes her site, builds traffic, takes orders and ships product. I’ll intercept her with my message. What words would she look for? My site must solve that problem.
An example... what’s a common issue for people selling products on the Net?
“Fulfillment,” just to name one. “Taking orders,” “shipping,” “product development,” “market research,” “feasibility studies,” “writing sales copy,” “credit card processing,” “shipping,” to name just a few others. There are so many starting points that the head spins.
People looking up terms like the ones qualify themselves as serious business
people with serious needs. Exactly the right kind of people for Site Build It!.
So I’ll intercept them when they search for, let’s say, fulfillment-related topics, provide them with great content about fulfillment, and then also introduce them to the concept of effective Web marketing. I’ve added a whole new major direction
-- and income stream -- to my site simply by thinking about my target’s other needs.
Are you thinking...
“What does fulfillment or customer service or sales have to do with Site Build It!?”
Absolutely... positively... everything.
Am I suggesting that you fool business people who are looking for information about these topics? No, not at all. Here’s why... if someone is searching for
“fulfillment” (in the non-Zen sense of the word!), she already has a product. A product that needs a Web site that works.
Obviously, Keyword-Focused Content Pages about building a Web presence are much more tightly targeted to our SBI! product. It’s easy to write a good page that ends in a recommendation to visit the sales site. And of course, this is a
“must do.” It's easy and effective.
But let’s say that someone just found my page about order fulfillment. It’s a terrific high-value page that delivers just what she was searching for. But how to lead that into a click to SBI!?
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Remember this golden nugget…
PREselling is really about building trust and credibility with your potential customer through great content. So, once I have PREsold with great content about fulfillment issues on the Net, I lead into a few closing links.
First, I join the program of a good fulfillment company. I provide a link to them.
Then, I add a link like this…
--------------------------------------------------------------
Before you can sell and fulfill orders
online, you have to first attract targeted
traffic and gain their trust. Site Build It!
is the solution.
Build a site that attracts a strong,
endless stream of free, warm, willing-to-buy
visitors... success guaranteed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
CLICK!
Our target customer does not necessarily have to be looking for site-building info
-- if we can intercept her in any of her daily needs, we can make her aware of this wonderful product that she will realize she needs.
Bottom line? If your keyword attracts your target market, there is always a way, with just a touch of creativity, to stretch her to other products that are also likely to fall within her “list of needs.” It’s all part of effective communication on the Net.
(And that’s where Make Your Content PREsell! comes to your rescue!)
Wow! What a DAY!
Take three little WINDOWS (DEMAND, SUPPLY, and BREAKOUT). Approach matters from two different directions (from the KEYWORD END and the CUSTOMER END). And you’ve got a great list of profitable content topics, almost ready to write itself!
Before proceeding to DAY 4, please complete your DAY 3 Goal-of-the-DAY, and take note of your Ongoing Goal...
Use each of the SUPPLY, DEMAND and especially the BREAKOUT WINDOWS, to grow your Master Keyword List ever bigger, ever more profitable. This yields the raw material for new Keyword-Focused Content Pages.
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Consider getting Site Build It!’s Brainstorm It! to do it all for you. It can build, research, and help you analyze an endless stream of high-profitability keywords.
What a time-saver!
No other product does what the Site Build It! does at such an affordable price…
Phew! That was a long and complicated section, I know. Here’s the good news... you’re over the hump. It all gets easier from here on in.
Please, please, please note...
It’s important to take your time and work through the strategies and examples until you “get it” and “do it.” DAY 2 (Brainstorm Your Site Concept) and DAY 3
(Develop High-Profitability Topics) literally build the engine of your business.
So take your time and stay with it. Your business, and you, deserve this effort.
Time to re-quote Calvin Coolidge...
“Nothing in this world can take the
place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common
than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of
educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone
are omnipotent.
The slogan “press on” has solved and
always will solve the problems of the
human race.”
Stick with it. The 10 DAY plan of action works... if you work it.
And by using Site Build It!, you can avoid the tedious, complicated parts of traffic-building and achieve impressive results, regardless of what kind of business you
own (or hope to own)… http://find.sitesell.com/
So take a relaxing breath of air and let’s keep going…
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4. DAY 4
Plan Your Monetization Models
“Show me the money!”
-- Jerry Maguire (1996)
Goal-of-the-DAY... The overall goal is to expand your site’s blueprint by planning how you could potentially monetize visitors interested in your niche (i.e., Site Concept), starting with the affiliate monetization model.
Your specific goal will be to choose 3 affiliate programs that fit with each of your 3 Site Concepts/5 high-profitability keywords (per concept) that you developed in DAYS 2 and 3. You must rate these merchants as excellent, and you must feel good about representing them. Do not associate yourself with those merchants who could adversely affect your credibility.
You will also consider appropriate secondary monetization models to diversify your Web income and give your