If you are doing search marketing, you are of course familiar with keyword research and targeting. This is your bread and butter. Your SEO website copy and tags are totally oriented toward those keywords and keyword phrases that you have found are relevant to your business.

Unfortunately, there's a downside to all this glory. Everyone else online is doing it too, and Internet traffic and trends are highly volatile. Both of those factors mean that you have to do this better than your competition if you wish to make serious money online.
 
Most search engine marketers are making several keyword research mistakes. You don't want to follow in their footsteps. You want to be set apart. So, pay close attention….
 
Don't use keywords that are little more than you company's or industry's insider jargon that few people would ever search for. You may think it makes you sound smart or that it will get you highly targeted traffic. Wrong! The average person doesn't know your insider jargon, even the bright ones. They most likely aren't searching for it, so don't use it.
 
For another thing, popularity is not the most important aspect for choosing the right keywords to make you money. What's most popular is also what's most being used, so its effectiveness for you is watered down. But what's more, the keywords you use MUST relevant to your business and to your target audience.

You want to target future repeat business and referral givers, not everybody and their brother.
 
SEO is not automagical. You have to use it as the tool it is, and be a marketing pro who thinks like his target audience thinks. Again the most popular or the coolest-to-you sounding keywords may be irrelevant to the vast majority of your target audience members. Research and select ONLY keywords that matter to THEM, not to you.
 
Also, don't most people search for a phrase or a string of related words, not merely single words? Yes, they do. Quit wasting your time on single word keywords for SEO. Use phrases. It's MUCH easier to rank higher for keywords containing 3 or more words.

With that being said, if you are certain there are particular single keywords your target audience hunts for, work them into a creative, sensible phrase. That will allow you to target them AND stand out from your competitors. Just don't waste a ton of time trying to rank #1 for these keywords. It will be very difficult.

Always, consider what you competitors are doing, but don't simply copy them. It is imperative on the Internet that you stand out from the crowd. On the Internet, uniqueness wins the market share and the money. Don't ever forget this.
 
And that leads to the fact that was alluded to above concerning Internet market volatility. You may wantto routinely review your keywords and determine if they are still highly relevant, or if newer keywords that are relevant have become more popular. It is unavoidable that keyword relevance can change over time. Keep abreast of these changes or lose buckets of money.
 
All of this means that you have to take your keyword research seriously. It's part of your business, so don't blow it off. Use a keyword tool to speed up the research process and zero in on targeted keywords with search volume. Do your thinking and researching into this matter very carefully. The rewards are definitely worth it.