Opportunity Keywords

Opportunity Keywords and Finding Niche Keywords

Opportunity keywords are keywords with a high search volume and a low amount of competition.  This simply the act of finding niche keywords that target your specific audience and help your posts rank quickly in search engines.

The right keywords are capable of reducing your blog's ranking time by weeks or even months.  Just because a term or topic is trending, doesn't mean that you should try to get traffic for that word or phrase.  The trick is to find alternate phrases being searched that nobody else is going for.  That's where the "opportunity" comes in.  The "niche" is simply the topic or subject of your blog.

Why Keyword Research is Important

It is vital that you truly understand why keyword research is important to the success of your blog.  Of course, it is equally as important to articles and any digital writing that you may publish online.  However; it probably most important when writing a blog, regardless of the platform.

As mentioned before, finding the right niche keywords can mean the difference in your blog showing up in search engines in a couple weeks, versus a couple months.  Targeting keywords with a high search volume and low competition helps your blog post to show in Google on the first page, instead of page twenty.   How many people do you think are going all the way to page twenty of their search results?  Exactly!

If you are personal blog and only writing as a hobby, then you still want people to find and enjoy your content.  However, if you are writing and blogging as a business; it is critical that as many people find and read your content as possible.  It doesn't matter how you choose to monetize your blog; every method of monetization requires online traffic.  If your blog is meant to be a business, then traffic equals money.  Opportunity keywords are how you get plenty of the right traffic.  So, in the end... finding niche keywords equals income.

How to Find Niche Keywords

So, we know that the right niche keywords can be magic for your blog.  So, let's talk about how to find niche keywords the right way.  How you go about finding your target words and phrases will greatly depend on your budget.

The industry standard and best option is Ahrefs Keyword Research Tool.  This is your best option but will require a larger budget, since the lowest plan available is around $99 per month.  The good news is that you can get a one week trial account for only $7.  If you put effort into it then you can gather a very long list of great keywords in one week.  Even if you do not plan to keep an account with Ahrefs, I would strongly recommend that you get the trial and gather a large list to start with.

If using Ahrefs, you want to find search results that have the highest number possible under the "Volume" column and also the lowest number under "KD."  Be sure to take advantage of the filter options at the top of search results as well.  If you would like a tutorial of how to use this amazing site, here is a video to walk  you through it.

Btw... these are not affiliate links.  Ahrefs does not even have an affiliate program, yet has become the industry standard keyword research software.

For those individuals who may not be able to afford the cost of Ahrefs, or perhaps simply do not want to invest that much yet, there are still plenty of options available.  There are several options for keyword research software online.  Some of the most popular are:

• Google Keyword Tool
• KWFinder
• Jaaxy
• SEMRush
• and several others.

A quick search in your favorite search engine will undoubtedly give you tons of results.  The best way to find your favorite is to simply try each one and see which best fits your needs and skill level.  Of course, an added advantage to doing this is that after trying each you, you will have a very large list of keywords you can start to build your blog posts with.

PPC Keyword Research

Of course, if you plan to use paid blog advertising, then you will need to concentrate on PPC keyword research as well.  If you don't already know, PPC stands for "pay per click."  If you want to create one of those small ads you see on the side of the screen in Google or Bing Search results; then you need to target the right keywords for this too.

In this case, research is done the same way, however, the benefit is that high volume and low competition words will save you from spending too much per click.  Most research software will also display the current PPC cost for each keyword as well.

Generally, you want to have a list of at least 50 keywords to add to your pay-per-click campaign.  You can always include more, however, fifty is a good place to start.  Using online keyword research tools, it will not take long to gather your list.

How to Use Keywords in Content Writing

Of all the ways that you will put your opportunity keywords to use, the most common will be within your blog posts and pages.  Learning how to use keywords in content writing is pretty simple.  Honestly, it will come rather naturally and you will find that you rank for other phrases that you didn't think about.

The usage of keywords within the posts, pages, and other content on  your blog is the main element in SEO.  SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization."  Having the right keyword is useless if you do not structure your content correctly.  The most important aspects to remember when targeting your keyword within your content writing are:

Place your keyword in your title as far left as possible, yet in a way that allows the title to still make sense to a human reader.

Ensure that your keyword is used within the first two sentences of the first paragraph under that title.

Target two or more directly related keywords in one post.  Have each keyword in the subtitles as well as the following paragraph.

Use at least one image for your content and name the image file with your keyword.

Beyond that, the most important element to any post or page is to make sure that you are providing great information.  Write so that it serves your reader and not just your wallet.  If your writing doesn't help or at least entertain people... what's the point of writing at all?  Care about your readers and genuinely help them.