Maybe not quite to the degree that they used to, but yes, keywords really do matter. When used properly.. 

A very important key thing is HOW they are used. The days of keyword stuffing are long gone.

There was a time that a person could get an article or post ranked simply by inserting a bunch of their main keywords into the article in any way, shape, or form. Not only does that not work any longer, it will work against you if you do it.

Your keywords need to be strategically placed. Not only in the title, the URL, and the meta description, but throughout the post as well. But it has to make sense. The keywords must fit accordingly, so as to flow with the content.

Google is now looking more for high quality content that has value and that reads well. Therefore, the keywords must be integrated and a relevant part of the article.

There are tools and methods of keyword research that will help you learn to choose good relevant long-tail keywords.

Keyword Tool is free and it's easy to use you. Type in the main keyword and the tool will show you a lot of variations of that word. They are listed in order by how often they are used in searches. This will give you ideas.

You can also use Google Search itself.

First you'll get the SERP results (Search Engine Rank Page) so you can see what others are doing, and secondly you'll see at the bottom of the SERP page Google's "related searched" listing which is a great way to revise keywords.

Google Search can also tell you how popular a keyword is. Realizing this can help you deter from trying to compete with words and with bloggers that are just too big and too competitive to even mess around with.

To find out start first with a general and popular keyword and note the number of pages of results. 

Now try a long-tail keyword. Use "quotes" around the phrase so the results are only for that particular phrase or set of words. Look at how many pages of results you get. Do you notice the difference? Would you rather compete with words that bring back 100's of pages, or a handful of pages?

Do you think it would be easier to get on the first page of Google using long tailed keywords?

If you answered yes, you are correct.

If you have expanded to the level of doing some Google Adwords advertising, you can use the tools for deeper research. They will show you search volumes, costs per click, even who the competitors are and how many.

Choosing the right keywords for PPC Adwords will save you money and get you better results with your campaigns.

You might have to upgrade into a paid version of the Keyword Tool to get the information you want. This is a more advanced keyword research.

When doing your keyword research, always make note of the companies and domains that are ranking at the top.

Are the top page rankers huge companies and bloggers that have tens of thousands of subscribers and millions of website visits each month? You would want to stay away from even trying to rank with those giants. 

This is why we say that it's advantageous, especially when you are getting started, to go after a much narrower niche and target market. The narrower the better.

This is also why we talk about long-tail keywords. You use those to narrow your niche.

Keywords must be used correctly. Place them in page and post titles, preferrably at the beginning of the title.

Also place your keywords in the meta descriptions and "sprinkle" throughout the post content where it makes sense.

If you are using WordPress, the Yoast SEO plugin will make your life easy when it comes to placing these keywords. Yoast is a free SEO tool that is a favorite for most WordPress bloggers and marketers.

Make sure you keep the flow and that it reads naturally. This is a big thing for you to learn and use in the right way because a lot of your competitors will not be doing it correctly. You can fill a void and jump over them in the page rank results.

The use of keywords and SEO is not an exact science. It's not a black and white picture. There are some grey areas and it will require some testing and tweaking as you go.

No one really knows the exact Google algorithm. There are indicators to learn however and you can do well if you follow those indicators. Google is constantly changing so it is something you will want to keep track of.

But it's a learned skill and once you have it, it's with you for life. It can be very worth it. Learning SEO is a good investment of your time and your money.

Getting ranked on the first page of Google for your chosen niche can bring lots of additional traffic to your website and result in a steady growth of your business.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully now you realize and understand that keywords really matter with Google and SEO ranking. I didn't think about it too much when I was new to online marketing, but now I'm fascinated with it all. There's a lot involved but worth it to learn. Check back often as I'll be adding to this post with updates and additional information.

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This is what we are doing now and you should too ... intensive internet marketing training. Learning how to blog and build a website. Use this as your homebase and your hub for feeding your social platforms. It is the key to building your own brand online. Providing good content that has value and benefits. It will attract other networkers to you. They will see the benefits and will want to do it also. Include all other aspects of internet marketing such as SEO, video marketing, and list building.

Making a decision to learn how to market online and building your own brand online could be the best move you will ever make. It's not easy. It requires hard work and daily action. But it's worth it in the long run. We've been down this road and we learned some hard lessons. It's not fun wondering what to do next, or if you've made a mistake even getting involved. People quit days later after realizing they don't know what to do to make it happen.

So your priority becomes promoting you, and why people would want to join you. This will bring better results than if you are always branding the product and the company. Of course you have to do some of that, but it's also quite necessary to provide your own value as well. Naturally your friends will join you, but no one has ever built a walk away income with just their friends and family. Your reach will need to extend far beyond that. Learning how to market online will help you pull that off.

When you get good at online marketing you'll be able to choose any company you want or build any business you want. It won't matter ... you'll be able to build it. You will be the nucleus, and if you choose a good company or a good product, you'll then have a one, two punch.

We spent years rambling about, bouncing around, going here and going there, not knowing what to do first or what to do next. Don't do what we did. Decide now to learn how to market online, and then choose what you are going to build.

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Today we will talk about it. We will talk about how important it is to just start, and that you don't have to be an expert, but rather just a little motivated. I have a lot of friends in the industry and I watch way too many capable people lose interest and lose their dreams simply because they just could not start taking action..

I can help you along with some simple advice and direction. Create an identity. This is the beginning of building your brand. You'll see the importance of this as you get going. Anyone that wants to make something happen online must create an identity and a brand. If you don't, you are just a ghost.

Your domain name is your name tag. It's all part of your brand. It can be anything you want it to be. Preferably something professional that relates to you. Some people use their name if they are an individual business person.

Company owners might use a company name or a company tagline. Others might use a nickname or something that people know you are associated with. But keep it professional. You can always adjust before you get too deep into it.

This is your next step. You are creating an identity online, and you are creating some online real estate. People have to be able to find you if they put your name in a search engine. This is the beginning.

You can add your home page and subsequent website pages later but start with a wordpress.org blog. This will get you going in the easiest and fastest way.

I use HostGator for my basic hosting. They are a good fit for a beginner. Once you get your hosting account the wordpress website is an easy install through the HostGator dashboard.

Too many people get hung up on trying to create the perfect home page website first. But it freezes them. You will hear me mention "rapid implementation" often times. Taking action is the key. Blogging is essential in your training. It's not just the writing of a blog post, but what it all leads to.

Blogging is your gateway to learning SEO, images, link building, list building, and setting up sales funnels. You start with the basics, you learn the basics, and then you start adding on. A sure-fire way to get frustrated and quit is trying to learn too much and too many different things at once. It gets overwhelming and you'll get lost. We won't let you do that if you follow us along.

​As you start learning and building momentum you will get more excited. Getting started with online marketing might seem hard at first, but stay with it and it will all start to make sense.

You'll develop a plan of action and a path to follow. My book, Internet Marketing Basics for the Beginner, talks a lot about the importance of having a plan and a strategy to follow. It will keep you on track and in the game.

These suggestions are the best advice I have for you. I'm speaking from experience. There's nothing better than self satisfaction in watching yourself grow and learn. There's plenty of training and it's all free. You have a complete encyclopedia a click away. Just Google it. Absorb and learn.

Your blog will become the hub of your networking wheel. You'll share your blog posts on your social media platforms. You will learn to repackage your blog content into various other forms of content. This leads to "content marketing" where it gets fun and exciting. 

Next you will build your website home page, your about me page, your lead capture page, and your list building funnels. This is what blogging will lead you to, and this is where getting started with online marketing will take you.

So instead of putting things off because you're not really exactly sure what to do, the thing is that if you just decide you are getting started with online marketing, you will. Put some things in motion. Take my advice and start with step one and step two. The rest will come to you as you go. It doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't have to be pretty. Remember ... rapid implementation.

You can take all the trainings in the world, attend all the webinars and workshops, read all the ebooks, and drive yourself crazy doing those things ... or you can just start and do, and learn as you go. The latter is by far the better.

Will you make mistakes? Of course you will. Will you learn from them? Yes! Nothing will break... you can't hurt yourself. Try it and you'll see. Learn how to set up a blog, how to post and market on Facebook, and how to create a Youtube channel and start doing some videos.

Find someone who is doing the things you want to do, watch them, study them, learn from them, and then do what they do. Search around and you'll eventually find someone who's training style you like. Follow that person.

After working at it for a while your current tasks will become habit. There's a lot of methods that can be incorporated into your daily routine that will gradually get you to the success that you want.

Anybody can do this. You don't have to have any experience and you don't have to be some kind of a whiz or guru. You just need to take some simple action steps. I was doing this the slow long hard way ... doing it on my own figuring it all out from scratch. .

You don't have to do it that way. Do it on your own but with the help and guidance of someone who has been through it and who is willing to answer your questions. It's not necessary for someone to do it for you and you don't need hand holding ... you simply need guidance.

I'm not an expert now by any means but I've come a little ways. Not knowing a thing about it when I started I even put a note out about it that said "hey everyone I'm going to start blogging but i have not idea what i'm doing".Telling everyone what I was going to do ... means I had to do it.

I can now see where it is all going and along with a brighter future. If i can help just one person that's very well worth it. I'm helping myself at the same time I'm helping someone else.

Learning as I go and teaching others. You know they say one of the best ways to learn is to teach what you learn. It sticks better. When you learn something, teach another person what you learned. Post about it, blog about it, and video about it.

Everyone has strengths .... finding yours is the key. Getting started will help you do that.

So you see ... getting started with online marketing could be the best decision you make. There is only one thing holding you back, and that is you. So get started today.

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This has been going on for me for a while now, largely unnoticed at first, but over the last couple years or so it came like a slap in the face. Once the realization set in I knew that some changes needed to take place, and fast. I knew that it was time to shift gears and change directions.

So, moving forward, I'll be working hard at re-learning and perfecting methods that are current and utilize the tools and resources that are available. A big part of that will be providing education and good useful content that others can use to help them do the same thing. I want people to follow me because I want them to see the progress that I make. I'm hoping that those watching will be witness to a transformation with me in regards to my knowledge with internet marketing and the things that I can bring to the market.

If you miss me you'll be able to find me at home in my office with my face buried in a book reading something that I can then apply. Ok ... so it might actually be a computer screen. But I'm like a sponge right now soaking up everything I can get my hands on.... and you know what's really crazy... I actually enjoy it! I love learning new stuff and I love creating new cool stuff.

After I write about what I learn, then I'll video about it. I learned long ago that good content can be repackeged many times over with a variation of the same message, in a different way, that can benefit many different people.

It's work .... hard work ... but I think everyone should go on an internet marketing journey

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I can write a good letter, one that expresses well what i need to get across, but it might take a few minutes to gather those thoughts. That works with writing .. you can mull on the topic for a bit, and rearrange the words on paper, until it flows.

That's not the case with speaking though. With speaking, there is no time to think about it., so unles you have your points on notes or cards that you can read, you might get twisted up, or worse yet draw a blank. I know too well about this.

Knowing the topic is a huge help

Knowing your topic and your audience, why they are there and what they are looking for, is not just helpful but necessary. Interview type speaking works better for me. I don't have to remember what I should be saying, I just have to answer some questions. Some communication skills are easier for me than others

I've also had to learn to listen better. Listening better helps in several ways. I can get a far better idea of what the person is needing to hear back, and I can also transport myself and my mind and thoughts into the conversation for a better outcome. It becomes more of a conversation for me, and not just me talking "at" someone.

You don't have to be an expert

It's not necessary to be an expert, but it does help if you have a general knowledge of whatever it is you are talking about.

Answering a request for information is far easier for me then getting up in front of someone to give a speech. It's another one of those communication skills that I prefer. Providing information and answering questions does not require me to know all the answers that second ...I only have to know where to get them. I can follow up with the person once I do that.

The followup is key. I know you've heard this before, and you'll hear it again. It's a huge part of the communicating process especially for a person like me that is better at providing information through various forms like writing and doing videos. So it's very important that I become a pro at follow-up. A professional follow-upper, and a professional inviter. By getting good at these things, I don't have to be an expert speaker.

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Learning is a good thing... heck learning is a great thing! But .... learning in theory and learning through application are two entirely different things, and unfortunately sometimes we get stuck in learning mode and just can't seem to move past it. But we have to. We have to move past it. Sometimes you just have to put the book down, and apply the lessons.

How many courses have you purchased, or how many books have you bought about how to market online? Maybe quite a few? If we spend all our time reading and learning and not doing, we will never see success. We might get smart, but we won't get rich.

Getting stuck in learning mode is an easy thing to do, and sometimes can be a really hard thing to get out of.

Hanging out on training calls and webinars can become a habit. Sometimes we'll hear the same lessons over and over, yet we keep going back to hear them again. Reading book after book on the same subject makes us an expert in theory.

Get out of that habit. Once you actually start implementing what you are learning, it's exhilerating. There's a great sense of pride and accomplishment that goes along with hearing the lesson, and then actually doing the thing. You can become unstoppable. That feeling will have you itching for the next lesson, so you can apply the new strategy.

List building, creating lead capture pages, blogging, image editting, video marketing, and so much more. There is a ton of educational information at your fingertips. Google and Youtube are your best friends for learning. We are in the information age, and there are no longer any goood excuses for not doing something, because you don't know how. And most of it is free!

Want to learn how to do something? Great... Google it. But you have to learn and then apply. Learn, implement, practice, evaluate. Remember these steps each time you see a course you want to take. Are you really going to take the time to do all four on the list? If not, don't bother wasting your time or your money. There's nothing worse than getting stuck in the learning loop, if you are truly trying to get ahead with your marketing.

I had to teach myself how to learn.

Sounds funny right? But it's true! I had to learn how to learn. Take the lesson, and if the lesson includes an action, then stop, bookmark your page, or record the time on the video so you can go back, and then go do the thing until you know how. Physically do it. Once you start, you'll be addicted to learning how to do new things with your online marketing.

For the longest, when I heard a lesson that included an action, I neglected to stop to take the action. Instead I told myself I would go back to that part later... first I would finish the training. It's so good I don't want to stop now! But I never made it back. Next thing I know I'm on another training. Sounds familiar?

I'm always in learning mode, but I'm also in doing mode.

Learning without doing, for marketing, is a dead end. It's the doing that becomes the real learning. Reading watching and listening will get you started. Doing will take you where you want to do. Nothing has to be perfect. One of my mentors talks about imperfect action a lot, and I've come to seriously embrace this form of moving ahead and learning. Waiting until something you are doing is perfect, before publishing it, is a dead end. Imperfect action will take you across the finish line every time. You will get better. You will get perfect, but you have to start, in order to finish.

I think you know what this means ... you better learn some skills and up your game, because if you don't set yourself apart, you're going to get lost in the crowd.

The days of just "Buy Now" buttons are over. People are still buyers, they are just more careful and choosy buyers. They care about what they click on, and who they work with. But they can be had... there are still things that can be done to get those fingers clicking.

Here's a few of those things that can help you get more clicks and more sales.

1. Grab Them With Headlines - These days, before you get anyone to click to buy, you are going to have to get them to click to read. Headlines and subject lines are what do that. A good copywriter will tell you this is the single most important piece, because after all if you don't get the initial click, you get nothing. So what works and what doesn't? Impossible to say. You have to figure it out by getting creative and testing different ones. There's plenty to read and study about it online, but too often i see people over-train and under-action.

2. Laser Target Your Copy - Another common mistake is trying to target everyone. People naturally think the bigger the pool the more chance they have. Sorry but that's wrong. In fact it's just the opposite. The smaller the pool the more chance you have. Sounds odd, right? You can't please everyone. You need to niche down your audience. Study your audience and learn how to niche down. If you write your copy to the active participants in a smaller pool, your click rates will go up.

3. Saving Time - It might be as alluring as saving money. But are we certain? Do we know for a fact your audience wants to save time. Study your audience. It's quite possible, or maybe better said, quite probable. People are busy. They are in hurries and they want to get in and get out. "Time's a wastin"! as they say.

4. Saving Money - Another click trigger is the prospect of saving money... usually. But do we know for certain? Study your audience. Are they interested in saving money? Don't assume that they are. Know by testing and asking.

5. Promises - This can help. Somewhere in the near vicinity of your "Get my free trial" button, place some extra words like "You will recover from your workouts 20 percent faster! ... or .... Get a better night's sleep! That is adding a click trigger that often gets people to click.

6. Guarantees - Everyone loves money back guarantees. It's expected now so you better have it. Guarantee like "No Risk Money Back" get people to click. Take away the worry and their defenses drop.

7. Facts Sell - Provide an attention getting fact near the buy button, such as: "Used by over 10,000 successful entrepreneurs." Then watch the clicks go up.

8. Larger Buttons - Get more clicks with larger and more vibrant buttons. This sounds like a petty thing but we might be surprised the difference it can make. The good thing about larger buttons is that you can stop putting "buy now" on your buttons and spell out what they will get.

9. It's About Them Not You - This is something I had to pay close attention to and incorporate more. Stop using the words "us, "we" and "I" in your copy. Stick with using the word "you" and making it about them, and you'll get more response.

10. And finally .... this applies to all of the above. Learn how to do split-testing. It's not difficult you are simply testing similar yet different ads side by side to see which perform. This will tell you what you need to know, to get more clicks

If you get more clicks, you will get more leads and sales, that's really the bottom line. So start putting these suggestions into action and watch your click rate increase.