How do I know I have chosen the right keywords?

[chucky_boy]

Hey everyone, I have been working in business dev for just over 3 years in seo/sem. Needless to say I was hooked right away and I think I am finally ready to start something on my own. I have started some work for a client who does not  want to spend lot of money(what else is new).

They manufacture watches and handbags and have over 2 hundred retailers across Canada. They currently have no online presence with with the site they have now.On top of that they have decided they want to start selling their products online. Also they want to target retailers as well as the general public. So I started thinking how can I use  keyword phrase that would attract both retailers and end users

I thought a good keyword phrase "buy stylish cheap watches and handbags online in Canada" that has a lot of opportunity because it has several keywords in the phrase, and can be broken down to target several 3 word key phrases.

I have checked out Google's Keyword Suggest as well as WordTracker, and found that the phrase as a whole has very little traffic value.However there is tons of traffic when broken up.An example would be. Buy stylish watches online, buy affordable watches online and so on and so on.

How do I know If I have chosen the right keywords if my client doesn't have the funds to test them all using PPC?

This is my first client and I really don't want to mess this up.They are really good people and I would like to do right by them. Can anyone give me some advice. Great know my keyboard wont let me put in a question mark lol, thankfully its the weekend.

[RyanPurkey]

Hi Charles.  It sounds like you're on the right track with your keyword research and have taken to heart conversion data indicating the strengths of 3 & 4 word phrases.  If you do a precise match campaign on the very long phrase(s) you indicated, chances are you spend very little money in PPC. Further, you could create a landing page that is optimized for SEO as well as receiving PPC visits.  A lot of times there's a benefit in segmenting these two, but for a client with little funds there likely won't be enough resources to make multiple pages.  Still, you can acquire great tracking insights by carefully organizing your campaigns via the Google URL Builder: http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55578

The phrase you suggest above can become the title tag of your newly created page.

Since you're also dealing with a brick and mortar company you may have success using highly targeted, location specific Facebook ads.

Once you show your client conversion data they'll see the point in spending advertising money to make more sales.

Best of luck!

[EGOL]

Just sayin' what came to my mind as I read your question....

I don't know where to begin in answering your question because to answer it effectively I need to know what level you are at in your understanding of these things.   What I read makes me think that you are at an entry level and at that level you could burn a lot of money trying to get an understanding of how these things work.

If you are going to do PPC via Adwords and don't understand "quality score" then it is essential go master that topic before you start doing PPC with anybody's money.

I think that it would be best to make a personal investment (mainly of time, but might cost a little money) to start learning or relearning the basics about SEO/SEM.  There are a lot of free learning materials out there (lots right here at SEOmoz) and there are lots of other great books, videos and tutorials.

I've been doing PPC since Overture and even now read, study and test to learn more.  The information that google provides is great and if you can afford it I recommend Brad Geddes' Adwords Seminars (I've done his Adwords seminars twice and learned just as much the second time as I did the first.)  You can also learn a lot from his book (I've read it twice and some parts several times).

Even if you have lots of previous experience, now that you are going to sell your service it is a great time to invest in yourself.  That will help you deliver even stronger results to your clients and make more money over time.

[chucky_boy]

Thank you Egol,In answer to your question I would have to say that I would be considered an entry level because I have no hands on experience.

Remember though that I have been in the industry for over three years all be it in sales, so I have picked up a few things along the way. All though I must admit besides the basic understanding of PPC and what constitutes as a proper working ad campaign I have no expertise in that area. So I am going to learn more about PPC and more importantly " quality score", although seems pretty straight forward to me .

Now, I have read Seobook from AaronWall , Seo for Beginners from seomoz as well as the advanced guide, not to mention more then a dozen other ones and every article I can get my hands on that has to do SEM/SEO/SMO.

This will be the first time however I that I will be getting my hands dirty. That being said thanks for your advice it was most appreciated.

Charles

[EGOL]

It sounds like you are off to a strong start with a great attitude.

Good luck to you!