Manual keyword research is very time consuming and tedious work, but if you are like me, you do not have the cash to layout for a fancy software package to do the work for you. I am certain even beginner affiliate marketers have heard how important it is to find the right keywords, or key phrases to optimize for. Whether it is a website, article, or blog post. I would just like to share a few tools with you that I use when doing manual keyword research.

Notepad and pen: Before you can even begin your manual keyword research, you need to figure out what you are going to want to perform the research on. For a few days, carry around a small notepad and pen, and take some notes. If I were to ask you to jot down 100 different keywords and phrases to research right now, you would probably have a very hard time of thinking of that many. By having a notepad and pen at your side, you can pull it out and jot down your thoughts at anytime. Even if you have a website you are going to promote, you can still do some brain storming for future ideas to help optimize what you currently have.

Spreadsheet: While you do your manual keyword research, you will be getting different information about each word in your list. Having a spreadsheet to organize and evaluate the information makes things a little easier. You can use a software spreadsheet program, or if you like to write things down, you can choose to use a notebook. Be sure to leave room for about 7 columns or so. This will depend on what information you feel is important to you.

Search Engine: I prefer to use Google when doing my manual keyword research, but if you like, you can use your favorite search engine. The info here is going to assume that you are using Google though. In order to find out about other websites that might be using the same keywords you are looking to use, you need to do an exact search. An exact match search will give you the most accurate results. In order to do this in Google, place quotes around your key phrase. For example, use “dog training guide” when looking for sites, instead of dog training guide. This will tell you how many pages are indexed with that phrase on it. Google also offers other tools to help you out. I like to use allintitle, allinurl, and allinanchor, be sure to be recording these results in your spreadsheet.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool: Make sure to bookmark this website when you get to it, because this is probably one of the most important tools when doing your manual keyword research. Where the search engine gives you the number of sites with your keywords, the AdWord keyword tool lets you know how many searches are being performed on your terms each month. If no one is searching for the phrase you are wanting to optimize for, then you will probably want to find something different. A little tip, make sure to use the exact match type, the results are more accurate and will be more helpful to you.

There are many different ways to perform manual keyword research, but these are the tools that I use when doing it for myself. Although it can take a lot of time, getting your pages optimized for the proper terms will reward you with higher search engine rankings, and more traffic, which should lead to more sales and leads. Even if you decide on a software package, or service to do this for you, it is still important to know how to do your own manual keyword research, you will never know when you will need to do it so keep these tools at hand.

Doing manual keyword research is not all that difficult, but it does take a lot of time to get great results. Spend some time researching, and figure out what keyword research techniques work for you.

If you want to know how to use these tools to perform manual keyword research, visit me at http://www.proaffiliatemarketing411.com/55/manual-keyword-research-for-affiliate-marketers

Author Bio: Doing manual keyword research is not all that difficult, but it does take a lot of time to get great results. Spend some time researching, and figure out what keyword research techniques work for you.

Category: Advice
Keywords: manual keyword research, beginner affiliate marketers, keyword research