KeywordSpy Tracking: Spy On Your Competitors On More Than One Search Engine

While Google is top dog in search engines, it doesn’t completely rule the world. You still have the two other major players: Yahoo and Bing. And your competitor may not just be advertising in your Google. So you would want to figure out how they are faring in systems keyword tools hardly come across.

This gives KeywordSpy Tracking the upper hand among keyword tracking tools. It scours all search engines for all the keywords that your competitors use, and how these keywords are used in the broader spectrum of the industry. Thus, it gives you the option whether or not to compete in another search engine where the competitor is not advertising.

For example, we come across the keyword of a competitor showing up in this search engine, but not on another search engine (e-florist-inc.com)

This provides us with insightful information. It may mean one of two things: Either the competitor wasn’t convinced that the keyword was profitable in one search engine so he chose not to bid there, or he inadvertently did not bid there.

In that case, you can possibly grab the opportunity to move in to the unused search engine (in this case, Bing) to extend your campaign. In doing so, you should be prepared for a risk that your campaign may not also succeed due to limited visibility. And probably your competitor would know that for a fact.

Either way, that valuable information was revealed to you through the power of KeywordSpy Tracking. And this is information that is a strong catalyst of a more competitive strategy for your campaign. It gives you an informed decision on whether to engage or not engage a competitor in a certain millieu. At the same time, it relieves you of the burden that you would normally undertake in carrying this task out, and leaves you to the analysis part—the only part in your whole SEM exercise that you would mind going to.

KeywordSpy Tracking—Keywords Hold The Key To Your Success

People have often asked why for the KeywordSpy Tracking feature, the first thing entered into the system is keywords, and not domains. If you count yourself among those lost individuals, consider yourself lucky at this very moment, as you shall get enlightenment as to how keywords form the basis of this tracking tool.

Let us start you off with this thought: It is easy to pinpoint competitors just by the mere basis of their merchandise. The question is, are they really your competitors when it comes to the keywords they input into their site?

To go head to head with people jostling for a good position on the search engines, you need to cover them all by using the keywords you yourself would use. Most likely, you have entered keywords in your site already.

So on that thought, we now list the reasons why the KeywordSpy Tracking Tool would ask you to put in keywords first, before you discover the competitor domains:

• It lets you narrow down from general to specific.

Think of keywords as pieces to forming a puzzle. Once the puzzle is complete, then you get the big picture.

The same principle applies to the KeywordSpy Tracking Tool. You pinpoint the competitors for the same keywords that you are real time, so it erases doubts that such companies may hardly be your competitors.

For example, you have a diet help website. You’re almost certain about a particular list of competitors. The ones you have been monitoring for the longest time; pre- Tracking, are the following:

Healthy eating
Six pack abs
Metabolism
Low carb diet
Cortislim
Weight loss tips
Weight loss surgery

But since KeywordSpy Tracking requires that you put in keywords first, you heed that call. From your own experience in building the site, you enter the keywords you yourself used for it in the Create Campaign tab:

You then activate the campaign, and wait for a few hours. It is in this time that the system tracks the keywords down among the countries and search engines you specified through the Create Campaign tab. In doing so, it unlocks the domains using these keywords:

• It sets the pace for unlocking more keywords.

Using KeywordSpy to track keywords will trigger a ripple effect in the site; as it will also index the keywords these domains use. These keywords will be shown in the Keyword Suggestion Tool tab—whose main function is showing keywords your competitors use and you are not currently using--and you have the option whether to ad these new keywords or not.

For our diet website case, we are offered the following options:

Amazing, isn’t it? So how do we describe the above picture? As one great poet used to say, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

One more thing: While not obviously stated, it matters that you have a knowledge of keyword optimality before placing in your keywords in the KeywordSpy Tracking module. If a keyword may be too expensive to bid on, you may think twice before adding it in your own campaign. The KeywordSpy Research tool can help you with that, by giving you metrics such as the cost of bidding on the keyword, the ROI, etc.

By using keywords as a starting point for the Tracking module, KeywordSpy becomes wonderful and user-friendly as a keyword tool. With KeywordSpy Tracking, keywords will be the keys to your success.

The KeywordSpy Affiliate: A Partner In Co-Dependent Wealth

We’ve seen the rise of affiliate marketing in recent times, especially in lieu of the recession. But the question of what product to promote always lingers for many people.

If you are an aspiring affiliate, here are the things that you may have taken into consideration, while going through research for the product you want to sell:

1) The playing field: One will have to think about how many competitors one is up against when bidding or ranking for this product. The fewer the competitors are for a product, the more likely it is to draw people to sell it.

But along that line of thinking, one must also consider, is how easy it is to get exposure for the product you hope to be an affiliate of. Some affiliate networks can offer their media services to you, aside from the usual banners and links.

Also, one must note that there are restrictions to the proliferation of the ad campaign, usually stated in the vendor’s terms and conditions.

2) The product being promoted: What grabs a person’s fancy is how a product they promote could be beneficial to other people. Ebooks are example of a popular online retailing investment. But another important thing to consider in choosing a product is: how much will it help in the financial well-being of the person.

Also, they may ask the question: Is it a one-time purchase, or will it continuously be picked up by prospective buyers, or used to generate more money?

Other things to consider are visibility and quality. Does your website fare highly in the search engines? Will it be a suitable enough vehicle to showcase your ads?

3) Media for promoting: Nowadays the possibilities are endless. It started with the search engines employing PPC ads. Now there’s Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. Thus, social media has gotten into the act. Now your products can gain more exposure not only when people search, but also when they check on their friends.

In lieu of this, we make the case for selling a program which would define affiliate selling at its most organic—organic in the fact that the product is an aid in making the online business, which the product itself is a part of, more competitive. That product is none other than KeywordSpy.

KeywordSpy is giving everybody a chance to be an “online retailer” for the service it deems the most powerful keyword research and keyword tracking service. As the world starts to fully recognize how potentially profitable an online business is, the more significant keyword research tools will be in contributing to websites’ exposure via the always dependent search engine.

Since KeywordSpy helps in market research for SEM-reliant companies, one can make a profit, and help the person that patronizes his/her product earn a profit. This is a phenomenon you can compare to that illustrated in the film, “Pay It Forward”, wherein the privilege of being an affiliate that could help people spring from the throes of recession can be passed on, with you earning on the part of goodwill.

In other words, you help others also become rich by using your keyword research tool, so that they may gain exposure in sites. With the lucrative PPC market now in full swing, there is more reason to jump on this opportunity. And since early birds will always get the fattest worms, allow yourself a good deal of the package by joining now!

Nothing shares the wealth more than being an associate in the common wealth generated by the web. So, for a netizen wanting to participate in the web’s potential for wealth, we would recommend that you take this opportunity and generate hassle free income right from your own computer.

For more information on the KeywordSpy affiliate program, visit this link: http://affiliate.keywordspy.com

New KeywordSpy SEO Plugin for Firefox: The Power of Page Supervision

Ever felt sometimes that you have to keep watch over a page for SEM research and can’t risk leaving your choice keyword research tool just to do that?

It has been more convenient for people to actually do their research while away from the research page itself.

That’s why the direction for SEM or PPC and SEO research is heading towards portable software. It lets you be mobile and not just be pegged down to a page.

Yet sometimes traditional software can take a lot of disk space and memory. Thankfully, plugins have been developed, so the utilization and setup is less of a dilemma because it doesn’t take that long to load.

Moreover, with a portable tool such as a plugin, it enables you to take the site’s features with you wherever on the Net you may go.

On that note, KeywordSpy itself is introducing a new plugin that allows people to scout pages even while away from the site itself. This enables you to do a quick research of the keywords and other statistics of more than one site, without going through the trouble of typing all the domains one by one.

You are able to mine PPC and SEO information, and apply it to a strategy or campaign of yours in a jiffy. Moreover, you can check out the ranking of the sites on tools such as Google and Alexa in an instant.

In addition, you also get to see other SEM or PPC and SEO relevant ratings for the site such as Nofollow links and directory information, and their rankings in other countries or regions: really specific information that could be the telling detail in your campaign.

Brace yourselves now, people—keyword research and tracking has just taken the next step. And with this new wave of in-depth SEM or PPC and SEO research; bidding and ranking for keywords has just upped its ante a bit more.

The KeywordSpy Tracking 2.0 Comparison Tool: Delivering Visually and Numerically

The KeywordSpy Tracking Comparison feature—a new bonus from the KeywordSpy’s Tracking Version 2.0—is not an entirely new option in the field of keyword research and tracking. But how KeywordSpy does it is admirable in scope and unmatched in comprehensive scouring.

For starters, this groundbreaking feature cuts across countries and scours over 30 databases, making it the keyword research and tracking tool with the widest reach among all the behemoths of the industry.

Furthermore, it presents data in a unique graphical manner, which enables clients to get a better scope and overview of how they match up against a competing brand.

For example, notice the circular graph comparison above which was generated by KeywordSpy Tracking. The two circles represent the two competing products and the total keywords each one uses. When these two areas of the circle are within each other, this means that the said areas are keywords both domains are either bidding on (if PPC keywords) or using organically (for organic keywords). In this case, since hosting-review.com’s circle is totally inside Rackspace.com’s circle, all keywords used by the former are used by the latter.

For those who need their numerical and statistical fact fix of SEM, PPC and SEO metrics—aside from the already helpful graphical presentation—you can get it from the row located right below the space containing the circular comparative graphic presentation. These competing websites are segregated via tabs, providing individual metrics in a more specific and quantitative size-up, for your business research reports.

It provides the client ratios by which to measure profitability and visibility factor of the keyword, such as average CPC, average click per day, etc - very important factors when it comes to SEM, PPC and SEO strategies. All these keyword analytics are derived from Google API. All in all, this makes it a great blend of the graphical and the statistical, or the visual and the numerical, for your research.

With this new Tracking feature, you can now have a better picture of the real-time battlefield between you and your online competitors. You can avail of the KeywordSpy Tracking package at $89.95.

And if you thought that feature was convincing enough, imagine if you combine it with the metrics of the Research function by getting a Professional membership at just $139.95 (40% less than if you purchase both Research and Tracking separately). Now that’s one unbeatable keyword tool when it comes to your SEM and SEO research needs.

Keywords of Wisdom for the Holidays

The best—or worst—thing about holidays is that people are out to spend more than usual. For those involved in SEM or PPC and SEO, that’s more-than welcome news. Therefore, if you have an online business that sells special items, cashing in on a period in time such as a holiday, or seasonal marketing and advertising, is something you ought to consider in your market research and strategy.

Another decision to ponder on while carrying out your seasonal advertising research and campaign is deciding whether to use PPC or SEO to draw holiday traffic—and buyers—to your site.

For a holiday, or a holiday item that entails people not to do much spending, hype about it, you may just want to settle for SEO for your seasonal keywords. It’s less expensive to employ compared to a PPC campaign, plus it can ensure that your site will get just about the right number of customers from the holiday market.

For longer-period—or special shopping intensive holidays—like Christmas and Hannukah, SEM or PPC application for seasonal keywords would be more applicable. With so many stores competing for spots on the web, these appear as more sensible choices for seasonal advertising.

Of course, this mix of PPC and SEO involves a big amount of thinking. As we’ve said time and again, “words aren’t cheap”, and the genius of melding keywords together is a special skill only the smart and equipped are capable of.

And for SEM, there is no better way to be equipped than with a keyword research tool. The keyword research tool is like what a map is to a trail. It gives you the guidelines so that you don’t get lost in the wilderness. Especially during a special holiday.

The KeywordSpy Tracking 2.0 Keyword Suggestion Tool: Giving You More Keyword Options

Even the best of us make fatal mistakes.

Napoleon, considered the best general of his time, lost in Waterloo. The Disney Company, the world leader in entertainment for children, suffered a setback when EuroDisney flopped.

But those who adapted to the situation always survived. And they also recognized that they count on something more than their own skill.

The thing goes the same for the online business owner. You start off a campaign that goes pretty well, then find out later on that your competitors have matched you in your keyword efforts.

And this happens at a time when your brain is really drained of newer, fresher keywords - even after hours of doing research for the longest time.

To those who found themselves in that situation, fret not. Because KeywordSpy has developed a feature, which manages to put itself in front of the competition, and in turn put you against yours.

The Keyword Suggestion Tool of the Tracking Feature is designed to rectify a mess of a worn-out campaign. From the newly revamped KeywordSpy.com Tracking comes this feature sure to keep you on track.

While most of the results would also come from competitors, they could also help out in enemy territory. After all, a rear admiral of a keyword tool such as KeywordSpy.com explores all available options for you, and gives you endless possibilities of keywords utilized by the competition. Because of this, you need not worry about a secretive move by your opponent.

The KeywordSpy Tracking – Keyword Suggestion Tool: Because the best of us can always use a little help.

How The Keyword Came To Rule The World

Suddenly, everyone is realizing how much a premium position on the Net is important.

And this is all important to realize, since we all hail from the Internet generation.

I was in high school when the first dial-up services were introduced. For you to have Internet access way back then was a definite status symbol. And the joy of seeing websites was unparalleled. You would dream of actually making your own web site—which is what I, along with a couple of friends, did.

Looking back at that website, I could not help but surmise how the graphics were crude when compared to today’s standards. It wasn’t perfect: after all we were just catering to a select group of people, some people off to college and might not have the chance to catch glimpse of again until the ten-year get-together (All though social networking sites and IMs took care of that, but that’s entirely a different topic. Insert laughter here).

Anyway, the reason why we’re bringing this up is that the Internet has changed since those lowly times. Everything has come up on the web. Most significantly, online businesses, saving people time, effort and some gas in purchasing stuff.

And the recent recession has even helped the boom, as more people are realizing a work from home strategy can be done.

Yet only a few will ever succeed. And their level of success all depends on a powerful force in the Internet: The search engine.

Not all people will see website addresses. Many have employed creative ways, like some NBA teams post their URL’s on top of the hoops just in case they show an instant replay of a good play. Of course, that sight will only available to select group tuned into their TV sets at that time.

But with the search engine around, there is little need to memorize. They could just merely search for the topic, or the product online.

And more importantly, the use of keywords.

Admit it. We’ve actually typed a million keywords in our lifetime. When we needed the answer to something, or wanted to download a photo of a celebrity we had a crush on, we’d Google it. Or Yahoo it.

And everyone came to realize the value of keywords, creating a scene reminiscent of prospectors settling in California for the Gold Rush. The concept of SEO was born, and soon, PPC advertising, or SEM, followed.

And keyword research and tracking tools came to the fore. They came both in software and Web-based formats. All with their own unique strategies and operations. People would have to put out dough to avail of these complex services, but because of the wealth that these researches could provide, especially in the fields of SEM, PPC and SEO.

But it is important to note the effectiveness of your keyword tool. More so, the trust you can put on it to give you the best and most useful results out there. We are therefore grateful that a keyword research and tracking tool such as KeywordSpy covers the services in the most in-depth manner: it can research the PPC and SEO metrics of every keyword/domain, and it can track the PPC and SEO performance of a keyword over a certain period of time.

To be all nostalgic about it, a keyword tool such as this should be testament to how far we’ve come in the e-world. And our lives are better for it.

Concerns With Keyword Research

In doing keyword research - or even keyword tracking - for your SEM, PPC and SEO campaigns, there are numerous concerns that need to be looked at. Here are just some of them:

1. The keyword you’re bidding on may be too broad.
Your keywords may not be hitting the mark. Maybe what you are putting in your site or your ad may not be the words your competitors are typing in. On that, you should be cautioned.

For example, you bid for term such as “video games” That alone as a search may be too broad, considering that we’re way past the ‘80s and games are just more than Pong or Qubert. You’ve now got RPG games, combat games and so on, and you have to specifiy which of these games you want to be searched for.

Another factor is that broad/general keywords have too much competition. “Bags”, example, could still compete with “accessories” when customers do their search.

2. Different words used by business-owner and customer
The keywords you think are ranking highly in search engines may not be the ones they are looking for. You may be thinking that whenever people are looking for outdoor gear, they’ll be typing in “hiking gear”. Then you find out later on that they’re actually searching for “camping gear”. Not only do they miss your website, they troop to your more knowledgeable competitor more.

3. It’s not in the quantity, it’s in the quality
Remember the time when you’d search for a topic and you’d actually go to pages that barely have anything in common with the term you searched for?

Say, while doing a search on Ab Machines, you’d see this site called “AbMachines.com” that claimed to be “the comprehensive guide to Ab Machines”. But then when you click on it, you’d get an intro copy—in big bold letters—that runs: “Find Ab machines in your area. Discounts on Ab machines right at your fingertips! We have the most ab machine information about every machine ever invented.” And right below it, are links to obscure pay sites that don’t really give you what you’re looking for.

By stringing together words that didn’t make sense, yet since they made heavy use of keywords, such sites made themselves irritatingly visible on the front pages of searches. Well, Google, Yahoo and Bing have made controls on that now and it’s not just easy anymore to rank high for a keyword, even if SEO is still a primary basis for research.

That is why it is important that you have to keep a lid on the SEM, PPC and SEO competition. You should know their every move, and allocate a good part of your money for market research. The money you put out will give you better returns. But just as important is what you will be spending it for.

Again, with web-based keyword research and tracking tools at your disposal, you have the information right at your tips. You get information on not just a keyword, but also the basic results that come with it. More than the rankings, you’ll have to have a deeper analysis on the PPC returns it could give you, why they get the number of clicks the get, how much they fare at that current time, and how the rates of search for it fares with your competitors.

In doing so, you’ll be able to hit more targets and have less blanks in your SEM, PPC and SEO campaigns.

9 Things Your Keyword Tool Should Have

The battle for visibility on search engines has become more intense, and it has become more important that people be discerning in the keyword research and tracking tool that they use for their SEM, PPC and SEO campaigns. But how would you know which keyword tool to use?

Before we dive into the details of this discussion, let me stress how important it is to devote your self to a keyword research tool. Sure there might be keyword research tools that have the free trial option, and you could toy with it as long as time permits you, but if you really want to get the very gist of the function of the keyword tool and utilize it to the fullest in conjunction with your business, then you would have to subscribe.

Knowing that you have to shell out cash in order to bring in more cash, you should realize that in finding a keyword research and tracking tool, it is important that one considers the following criteria:

1. A user-friendly nature

The starting page should already show where to do your keyword search. Aside from that, the information should be presented in an orderly manner. Graphics should not be too distracting, but also not too dull, in order to communicate the needed information well.

2. Comprehensiveness in information

Your limit on your keyword tool should be a reasonable one. With thousand upon thousands of keywords on the Internet, your goal is to get each and every one of them. You should have a goal of at least 50,000 keywords to collect, and skim the cream of this already precious crop.

3. Distinguishability in information

This means that once a person gets on a keyword research site, they can search for any of the following when they go to the site: a keyword and its PPC profitability, a competitor’s domain, an affiliate which helps sell his product, and a product which he can take an interest in examining.

4. Relevant metrics

Doing keyword research with having to go all over the search engines is like firing a misguided missile. The bottomline is, when doing your keyword research, you need to consider the metrics or analytics that will put you at the top of the heap. Namely, your keyword ROI, cost per click, and click per day. Such numerical statistics could prevent you from always making a wild guess and actually pinpoint what your customers usually search for.


5. A detailed description of how your competitors’ ads go


Most likely, a keyword research tool will give you the whole copy of the ad, from the title to the description down to the URL. KeywordSpy utilizes this to a hilt, for example, as it has the Ad Variations sections tab for every SEM and PPC related category in the Keyword and Affiliate Research sections, which shows the ad next to the landing URL.

6. Frequent updates

Current information is needed for more accurate scouring of the SEM, PPC and SEO competition. And on the average, keyword tools will give you that on a per-week basis.

Monthly updating is also a reasonable time if it involves meticulous keyword research. Since websites, as a whole, tend to relaunch a campaign on a monthly basis, techniques are fully fleshed out only in such a period. Your keyword research tool would then pick up that information once the database is refreshed and give it to you instantly.

7. Affiliate search capability

It’s not only the product owners themselves who are involved in the selling of their merchandise or service, but also the affiliates who sign up with them. It would be to your advantage if your keyword research tool monitors the PPC activities of these affiliates. Moreover, affiliates also publish keyword ads of their own, and the ideal tool would make sure to pinpoint those and present it to the client.

8. Option to track the competition

What would give your keyword research tool a great advantage is if it can, literally, follow every move of your SEM competitors. Your competitors can always pull out a surprising strategy against you, so you must know what to do in order as a counter-attack by way of tracking them—their changes in the use of keywords, ad copies, strategies and so forth. An example of such a site is KeywordSpy, whose revolutionary tracking feature helps you in accomplishing that.

9. Ready support service

Some sites go as far as having chat support for them to better address their market’s concerns in real time. Support via email is also helpful, for a more detailed description of how the service goes, and in addressing one’s concerns regarding the site. But all in all, a support service represents the value the company gives to the customer.


So, knowing all of these things, you can now set about wisely for a keyword research tool for your SEM, PPC and SEO research. And not just any keyword research tool—but something that you will use continually and give you the best value for your money.

Single Character Difference Part 2: Mother’s Day

Earlier, we saw how the keyword research results on KeywordSpy came up for St. Patrick’s Day. Now let’s look at another ambiguously spelled holiday—Mother’s Day.This day, just like other days, brings a promise of profit, especially for people who want to give the special woman in their lives a token of appreciation. Of course there are the traditional players such as Amazon and eBay. But we can also expect a lot of specialty stores either bidding on the keyword on PPC, or optimizing for it on SEO.

This is Mother’s Day 2009: wherein even in the midst of a recession, spending for Mom is still a time-honored tradition. And online commerce takes a huge chunk of that homemade apple pie of mother-honoring merchandise.

Without further ado, let us make the Mother’s Day-keyword research connection. For this day, there are three common variations of the word that pop up: “mothers”, “mothers’” and “mother’s”. Just like in our earlier example, where the apostrophe is placed could determine how it will pop up in searches.

For example let’s take a look at the KeywordSpy research results of “mothers day”:

From our keyword research, we can see that it gave us vague numbers for the keyword metrics. We also see that it only gives us two PPC results, which is surprising since Mother’s Day can be a fairly profitable holiday.

Now let’s take a look at “mothers day”, without the apostrophe:

In this keyword research, we find that people bid more on just Mothers Day. It could be that probably cause it’s easier to punch into the keyboard than that with an apostrophe.

Now let’s look at the alternative spelling for Mother’s Day—“Mothers’ Day”.

This is somehow because the use of Mother’s is more prevalent than Mothers’. The probable reason? It has been a notorious mistake that the apostrophe is inserted in the word itself even when it refers to more than one person, so the spelling variation “Mothers’” may not be as lucrative an investment, even if it is more correct than “Mothers Day”.

This sample keyword research is, of course, a mere experiment on our part, and should not reflect the situation as a whole. But as a KeywordSpy client, we may have helped you shed light on market strategies for keywords. The focal point? Apostrophes can be a factor.

On that note, I would also to greet my mother a nice and warm Mother’s Day. Yes, even SEO, PPC and SEM Specialists can be sentimental creatures themselves, even in the cutthroat arena they tread through.

Global SEM and PPC Keyword Tools

SEM and PPC is fast becoming a global phenomenon, much like anything else that has found its way to the Internet. Much as SEM and PPC have made their mark in American websites—with the proliferation of search engines specific to every country, paid competition has gone on a global level.

In lieu of this, you cannot just merely rely on a normal, generic keyword research tool anymore. You need something that will take your game to the next level. Just because Google and Yahoo are US creations doesn’t mean you should not consider advertising in them. For all you know, you might have competitors who are also operating in your area and might be using the SEM and PPC to their advantage, thanks to keyword research they have done on their end. Don’t you think you should, too?

KeywordSpy, a keyword research and tracking tool which taps into database of both PPC and organic keywords of every site, recognizes this. And what makes it more suited to use wherever in the world is its country-specific domains, which reflect the willingness of the keyword research tool to reach out and empathize with its market.

If one goes to any of the sites, the first thing he notices is the top part, with the logo and the search tab:

In this example from the KeywordSpy Indian domain (www.keywordspy.co.in), you can see that while it is similar to the top part of KeywordSpy.com’s main page, the logo is different because of the different URL. In addition, the nation served by the URL (in this case, India) is already highlighted as the main nation to search for on the Keyword Research tab. Finally, the examples listed and hyperlinked at the bottom of the bar include actual Indian domains, and frequently search keywords in the nation. This adds to the localized feel of the site.

Another thing to note is the graphic underneath the toolbar. Let’s look at the version of it by KeywordSpy UK (www.keywordspy.co.uk):

While it mirrors KeywordSpy.com’s version of the graphic that caters to the US market (it also uses the keyword “flowers” as an example), the demo graphic shows actual UK sites which are related to the keyword “flowers”. By incorporating local examples into the demo, KeywordSpy speaks to the heart of the customer, and imparts to prospective clients why they need this keyword research and tracking tool.

Finally, just to demonstrate how much the SEM and PPC phenomenon has caught on in other parts of the world, let us take a look at ads searched by KeywordSpy:

Italy (www.keywordspy.it):

Brazil (www.keywordspy.com.br)

Even if you’re not a linguist, you can tell that the techniques in constructing these ads take heavily from the US-pioneered style, from the inclusion of the keywords, to the conciseness of getting the message across. No doubt that the PPC method has taken the world by storm, and has become a language that has become as important as English, bringing in profits for those who can master its use.

And the presence of a site such as KeywordSpy helps us do research on our competitors’ SEM or PPC and SEO moves, wherever we are in the world, whatever market we are catering to. And the information we can get from it will help us set our corresponding counter-campaigns. With several domains that are country-relative, a database that stretches up to 17 countries plus a PPC search that stretches across nations, it is no wonder KeywordSpy is one of the leading SEM and keyword research and tracking tools today.

How A Single Character Can Make A Keyword Difference

As we have said before in a past blog entry on KeywordSpy —while caps on keywords do not make a difference in the search, misspellings (key word instead of keyword) and extra punctuations (key-word instead of keyword) do.

For a more timely illustration, we shall use the recent celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in the context of this keyword research example.

The word St. Patrick’s Day, when used as a keyword, has a lot of ways to be searched (some would type in the whole day name “st. patrick’s day”, but others would also type in just either “st. patrick”, “saint patrick” or “st patrick”. All of these search variations would definitely draw in different results, so there’s always a probability that people would or would not take notice of a St. Patrick’s Day-related PPC or SEO campaign.

For this article we narrowed down the search to just the keywords “st. patrick” and “st patrick”, to show how a punctuation can make a difference. To that, we turn to our keyword research tool of choice, KeywordSpy. Let’s first look at the results for “st. patrick”:

We can see on the top left that the cost/click is $0.43, the clicks/day is 59, the cost/day is $30 and the paid advertisers are three. On the time chart, we see that March is the top month for the most paid advertisers, which is a given. Also, all months have at least one advertiser for “st. patrick” except April, September, November, January and February.

In the paid competitors’ list we can see that that Tafford.com/StPatricks tops the list, followed by CafePress.com, and lastly, Discover Ireland.com.

Now, moving on with our keyword research, let’s try using “st patrick”, without the dot:

Now if we check out the first three statistics for this keyword in this research, they come out identical to our first search. But if we look at the search results, we see that it is at 64,100,000, which is a large leap from the number we saw in the earlier search.

We also find out in the time chart that there are more months wherein “st patrick” had more advertisers bidding on it for their PPC campaign. In fact, in September, it even had two advertisers for it. This is a clear indication that “st. patrick” and “st patrick” will pull up different results.

This is reflected even more in the paid competitors list. While the number 2 and 3 competitors remain the same, at number 1 now is the domain Proposition317.com.

If you would like a little more verification, try searching for both “st. patrick” and “st patrick” on any search engine. Even if there will be very similar results between both those searches, the domain results will be in a different order, and sometimes they may appear on different pages of the search.

As an Internet marketer and PPC dabbler, it is important that you take note of these differences in punctuation in your research, much as you would in the spelling of a keyword. Since it would lead to two different searches, a simple punctuation can spell the difference in the price you are bidding for, in the placing that you will have in search engines, and in the number of people coming to your site.

In this case, since both variations offer the same price for the keyword, you can go for either variation should you decide to bid on it. But since “st patrick” without the dot lends itself to more search results, it might be a more viable option.

Such knowledge is a benefit that keyword research tools can offer you. If you had to rely on the searches on Google, Yahoo or MSN alone, you would have to go through every single page of the searches and hardly come up with information useful to your PPC or SEO research and campaign. On the other hand, through KeywordSpy, you were able to easily compare the viability of “st. patrick” with “st patrick” in a matter of seconds. You could also get a glimpse of the sites that are bidding or ranking high for the keywords with their corresponding stats—information that would evade you if you chose to use mere search engines.

So, in the future, should you ask, “To punctuate or not punctuate?”, let a keyword research and tracking tool do the dirty work for you—while you sit back, relax and enjoy that nice, cold brew. Or in the spirit of the holiday, shall we say—Guinness?

The Revenge Of The Word-Only Ad

It seems like online search engine ads comprised of mere words are having their revenge over their traditional graphic utilizing counterparts. Recent research shows:

• It is widely reported that PPC ads have experienced a rise in popularity among Internet consumers (10% in the fourth quarter), while the more popular and more graphically appealing display ads have fallen in the ranks (7% drop in the same period). This comes about as a result of contracting in spending.

• Mega-accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCooper also predicts a consistent upward trend for pay per click advertising, increasing by a consistent percentage per month.

• The Wall Street Journal also reports that “in a study by periodical Efficient Frontier , retail marketers increased spending by 9% in the fourth quarter, up from figures in 2007.

• Search engine giant Google itself theorized the increase in search and pay-per-click advertising methods to cope with the recession, as it is one of the most cost-effective avenues.

• Advertisers who spend less than $50,000 on search ads cut spending by 23% year-over-year, while advertisers that spend more than $200,000 on search per month cut spending by 9% in that time. Meanwhile, purchases by advertisers who spend between $50,000 and $200,000 were relatively flat.

With uncertainty over the stimulus one-cure pill, advertisers have to make necessary adjustments. As a result, PPC spots are getting a second look, and keyword research and tracking stands to benefit more from this.

Some advertisers are starting to get the hang of it, but have to contend with old time players, who have already mastered spotting a good keyword combination when they see one.

Keyword research and tracking tools in the meantime, have grown in stature and importance in their role in Internet and SEM. Once part of a sleeper market, it has grown slowly but tremendously as online businesses have grown more aggressive in zeroing in on keywords that would guarantee maximum visibility in popular search engines.

Such sites were launched in the early part of this decade in response to a silent demand for SEO information, an industry that began before the turn of the millenium with the then Goto.com site (the forerunner of today's Yahoo Overture) leading the way. Since then, SEO has become the driving force of Internet marketing. And with the recent shift to PPC and SEM, expect the reliance on keyword research and tracking tools to grow even more.

The Philosophy Behind KeywordSpy's Look: No-Nonsense Keyword Research Above Anything Else

After going over the mailed-in feedback by KeywordSpy’s support engine, we found out that the look of the keyword tool site has drawn a lot of mixed comments from users and observers alike.

From one viewpoint, it could be a minimalist keyword research and tracking tool, free of banner ads, laid out in a monochromatic hue, and its simple text and graphics combination complements their ability to be exported into Text and Excel files.

On the other hand, those who have been accustomed to looking to competing sites may find KeywordSpy a bit plain, somewhat unexciting and just plain number intensive. And yes, looking at our competitors, we can say that is has the least pompous in appearance among our fellow keyword research websites.

Whatever your opinion, the trail that KeywordSpy has led is still something that deserves a long, hard look. We believe bold graphics can always take a backseat to the most comprehensive keyword research and tracking that KeywordSpy offers, covering over 30 countries and information updated daily for tracking and 30 days for keyword research.

Looking at KeywordSpy, you’ll see that when it’s kept to a minimum, the facts get to you straight. Once you do your keyword research, you see the snapshots of your of URLs, which appear very small so as not to be intrusive, yet visible enough to elicit stares.

Then as you get further into the site, you get your ROI per keyword, the clicks they each get per day, the cost per click, and other analytics presented in straightforward, tabular fashion, and with minimalist status bars. There are no fanciful graphics that just take eons and eons to load. You demand topnotch information and the most comprehensive keyword research and tracking in the industry, and that is what KeywordSpy delivers.

So next time you consider using the other keyword research tool just because the colors make it appear that it’s brimming with life, and its pie charts give you effects akin to a 3D feature—think twice, cause it all could just be hyped-up fluff. Take a quick stop at the KeywordSpy’s website and you’ll get the utilitarian features of a dependable keyword research and tracking companion for your SEM, PPC and SEO needs.

SEO Your Money's Worth

It’s always tempting to get on the dotcom bandwagon once in a while. But unlike in the real world, where you’re only up against a selected few… on the Internet front, you’re against volumes upon volumes of competitors. Next thing you know you’re up against a online retailer in West Bengal. And yes, they speak English, and excellent at it too, thank you very much.

The point is, it’s far too risky just getting lost in the commerce activity in the Web, just like a Mardi Gras in Rio. You paid a great amount of money for your web hosting, and to see that all go to waste just because you couldn’t zero in on your market because you failed to invest in keyword research is an awful shame.

Thankfully, you have your friends to turn to. And a dotcom businesses’ best friend—whether it be a bulldog or a chihuahua--is his search engine marketing (SEM) research tool. Primarily, you would rely on him for a good keyword research on your competitors. But then again, it’s also helpful if you’re able to implement tracking on his competitor's performance throughout time, watching your competitor’s every breath.

Another method would be the employing of affiliate clients. Affiliates make your placing in web sites more stated, adding to their SEO value. The more you are promoted, the more exposure your site will get from it. We will look at affiliate marketing in a more in-depth light in posts to come.

To sum it all up : be it old school SEO or costly but mileage generous PPC advertising, if you know the keywords to use in your copy, you get the market share you always hoped for. If you think you can rely on yourself to draw subscribers to your online web hosting joint in laid-back Tuscany, best of luck to you. Point is, if you have the means for it, make it worth your investment.

Creating a Good Keyword or Domain Watch List for SEM and SEO Competitors

One of the special features of the keyword research and tracking tool KeywordSpy is a watch list in one corner of its page. This watch list is made for the competitors you would most like to keep an eye on. Now, not all the time your competitors are at the top of your game. There'll be times that their share will fluctuate and you may not feel the least threatened by them.

But suppose you find yourself in the situation that your competitors aren't what you make them out to be. So you have to redo the search, and clean up the rankings. But if you had the right choices from the start, you wouldn't have to change the rankings ever so often.

So how can you come up with an effective PPC and SEO watch list? One technique is by checking the Time Machine function, also available at KeywordSpy. Over a span of months you will see what web sites would bid on keywords more consistently.

Supposing we have a site that would bid on 400 to 450 keywords from June to August for their PPC campaign, then will fall down to an average of 300 from September to November, then partially back up to 350 from December onwards. There's hardly little fluctuation there, so it seems a good candidate for the research watch list.

But then we come across a competing website that bids on an average of 600 keywords from June to September, then fall drastically down to 150 come September to October. Then the number will rise up to 200 for the last two months. Is this still a likely candidate for the watch list? The answer is, it depends on what parameter you would like to follow. If you count on the total average for the year (and yes, it is still quite a big one all in all) , it is still viable and you would think that numbers would be up for the year.

Another thing to consider would be the seasonality of the product you're promoting. Flowers would always be in demand come Valentines or Memorial Day (US), so expect numbers of it to be up on those said dates. Whilst we see a steady decline in certain models of cellphones (most probably no one will be looking for a Motorola KRazr or a Nokia N96 model real soon), so it may be better to put off keyword bidding and PPC and SEO campaigns focusing on such models and always be on the lookout for more modern paraphernalia.

Remember, your research watch list will be the key to your hold on your prospective PPC and SEO market, and is there to serve as a handy, quick reminder of what you will be up against in the tight keyword research and tracking race. Make informed choices for the list so that you keep your game on.

PPC or SEO: Which will click?

When doing marketing and advertising blasts for web sites, terms that pop up while executing the campaigns are the PPC and SEO facets. While the more traditional SEO is still a force to be reckoned with in a site's place for prominence in search engines, PPC is employed now by companies wanting to get ahead in the race for Web prominence, and incorporating a large chunk of their budget for prime spots on the Web's prized search engines and keyword research and tracking tools.

PPC, the most common SEM form, would give you an advantageous position with mileage, as searches for your product would pop up in the top tiers of search engines when a keyword of yours is searched. Add to that exposure via links on websites and blogs, where among the topics discussed may comprise a keyword you are bidding on. A sure shot deal? Yes, but if you've enough cash for it, and if your campaign does not limit itself to just one or two paid search engines.

Such could be a mistake when companies wanting to go into PPC, but whose content extending merely to just only Google, or only Yahoo for their search engine of choice. That's because the Web is just more than a one search engine site. Competitors relying on organic means would still see their visibility stretch farther, as it is on a good SEO campaign. If that happens, a one-sided PPC campaign may just be a feeble attempt; and may not shake up the market, as was the PPC advertiser's original intention.

Traditional SEO writing is not constrained by costs, but still carries with a magic touch for any website if executed efficiently. With the aid of polished graphics and strategically embedded meta tags which let out a combined scream of, "You'll never go wrong with our site!", the case for SEO implementation in dotcom businesses rings truer than ever. Notably for new web entrepreneurs who'd want a chunk of the online action--and profit.

Moreover, the chance for websites to increase their traffic and visibility through white hat means would bring a favorable light to them. Add to that the social media optimization (SMO) factor, as can be seen through forums where consumers offer their thoughts about the websites, among others. As noted Internet marketing expert Dr. Randall Hansen observes:

"...while buying keywords may be a good way to build or sustain traffic, most experts have much more respect for sites that build their traffic (visitors) organically ..."

So, while PPC gets you definite mileage, SEO provides you with inexpensive means of promoting your sight by strategically yet tastefully embedding your keywords, with the aid of material derived from extensive research. Master these tools of the trade, and a venture into Internet marketing--SEM, more so--will rake in the revenues you so aspire for.

Now, once sure of marketing strategy, be it PPC or SEO: the next question is: what tool can I use? One need not look further from where you're reading. KeywordSpy, as an keyword research tool has emphasis on both PPC and SEO keywords, allocating each a sizable portion in its interface once you begin that all too crucial first search for a keyword or a domain. Such is the case also with domains competing for a keyword: you get to see the top half of competitors paying for the keyword, while with the other half with the ones organically incorporating them. (Not to mention a nifty mini-screenshot of the landing URLs; a feature which has won Keywordspy favorable ratings among its users.) The site operates on the principle which realizes that neither one type of keyword quite dominates the other (PPC has still yet to pull away completely from SEO), giving the most comprehensive and worldwide-encompassing list at this point.