. Keyword research is the first and most important step in building a search engine friendly website. The effectiveness of your keywords impacts everything from selecting your domain name to writing your content. Your choice of keywords determines the traffic that is driven to your site.

If you are in Internet or network marketing, then you know your business will live or die based on not only the quantity of traffic but the quality of that traffic. To be successful, you must know your target market, what their wants and needs are, and how to deliver a product or service that provides the solution for what they are seeking.

Keyword research is the cornerstone of attracting your targeted market. While network marketers know that more traffic equates to higher conversion rates (more sales) they often fail to generate their desired volume of traffic due to the keyword research process they use.

There are essentially two approaches one can take to do keyword research:

1) Manual using search engines or free tools

2) Purchased keyword research software

Each of these have their advantages and disadvantages of course. The obvious advantage of manual/free keyword research methods is that there is no cost involved other than the investment of time. The drawback to this type of approach is that your assumptions about your target market will play a big factor. If your assumptions are not spot on, your effort may end up delivering far less quality results than you expected.

We can all take a page out of the book of seasoned niche and affiliate marketers by understanding that they do not blindly follow their own assumptions about what people search for on the Internet. They use quality keyword tools that provide them the metrics they require to target with near pinpoint accuracy those keywords that will attract the most qualified prospects to their products or services.

Of course such tools do cost money. However the return on investment will pay for itself in such a such period of time, that you will find yourself using such a tool almost daily. Even if you are not into niche or affiliate marketing, you should understand that keywords are the KEY to every aspect of an online presence.

I have always considered myself to be a better than average keyword researcher especially after watching this market samurai review. I utilize Google search directives, have several search sites bookmarked and have used these manual methods for several years. However, as I embarked on building my network marketing business, time became a most valuable commodity.

The effectiveness of SEO, choosing domain names, articles, blogging, advertisements, etc. are all impacted by keywords. While I cannot totally free myself of my assumptions regarding my desired targeted web traffic, I can open myself up to discovering things I might not have thought of otherwise simply by making a monetary investment in a tool that helps drive the success of my efforts.