My 5 Favorite Keyword Tools

Free Keyword Research Tools I Love –

Needless to say, the past two posts about how I do keyword research and keyword research questions, have caused a good bit of email to me lately. There seems to one big question amongst the majority of these emails – “Jennifer, which keyword research tool do YOU use?” I figure that as long as we are on the topic of keyword research, that this is a great time to spill the beans on the tools I use and love.

Before we get started, I want you to know you are more than welcome to use my free keyword tool that is right here on this site. Just look up top for the “Tools” page. There is also a free Google Rank Checker Tool on that page too.

Fact is – I Use 5 Keyword Research Tools

For me, keyword research is all about getting to the BIG picture of a small niche market. No one tool tells me everything, but when I use my 5 tools together, I get a lot of information. Not only are keyword tools good for finding these phrases, but they are also AWESOME at brainstorming for related keywords.

I LOVE tools that help with my niche marketing. I tend to spend a lot more money on tools than I do on systems or plans. To me, if I can find a tool that saves me time, it will, in turn, make me money. When you’re a one-woman show (or a one MAN show), time IS money.

Now, it might take a while for someone who is new to all this to know which tools are right for them. I highly suggest learning how to do keyword research by hand (ie, the old-fashioned way) before ever looking to pay for any tool that claims to do it FOR you.

Internet marketing tools don’t make money for you – they help you make more money by improving the results and making your research more efficient. ie, they should make your life easier.

Ok – so, let’s take a look at what keyword research tools ol’ PotPieGirl uses every day (yes, if I am working, I use these every day.)

My Top 5 Keyword Research Tools

1. My Brain (free)

Yes, my brain. 80% of the time, my brain works well for me. The other 20% of the time, well, I don’t know WHAT the heck happens, but it refuses to participate…lol

The best part of your brain is that you already know what keywords you should be looking towards. Know why?

Because we were all consumers long before we were online marketers.

When we turn off the marketer and ask ourselves, “Ok, Self, If I was looking for this product or information about this topic online, what would I type into Google? Would I type in something different if I was new to the topic as opposed to what I would type if I was looking for some place to buy it?”

Then, simply make a brain-storm list of the words that come to mind. Don’t worry about competition or any of that at first…. just write ’em down.

Your brain is a darn good tool if you let it be =)

2. Google Keyword Tool (free)

Google gives PLENTY of free information about keywords. You can type in a seed word and get tons of related phrases and synonyms. Or, heck, you can just as easily put the url of the sales page into the tool and let Google tell you what THEY think the page is about.

3. SEOBook Keyword Tool (free)

Yet another wealth of information for keyword research. These 3 tools so far are plenty for the beginner internet marketer and offer a TON of information on their own.

4. FreePPCSpy.com (free)

This is a VERY cool little add-on for those that use FireFox (doesn’t work for Internet Explorer, but you shouldn’t be using Internet Explorer anyway…lol).

Once this is easily installed, you can click a little button when you run a Google search and instantly see what keywords each PPC/AdWords advertiser is using. Now, this is really great for those using PPC, but it is also great for we “organic marketers” too.

Here’s the thing…. if someone is PAYING for traffic from that keyword, it has a very high chance of being a well-converting keyword.

There is an optional upgrade for this that I do have (and it’s very, very good), BUT you do not HAVE to upgrade. You can just use the free version for as long as you like. The video on that page shows exactly what this does. It’s pretty nifty.

5. SENukeFree.com (free trial)

This software is THE BOMB! It is so powerful and does SO many things, but it also can be dangerous if used improperly or unethically. It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed this software in my internet marketing tool box.

What’s it do? Lordy, it does EVERYTHING…lol!

Imagine this…

You know that intitle/inanchor keyword research technique I showed you the other day? Well it does that behind a proxy so you don’t get that nasty 403 error from Google.

Big deal right?

Ok, imagine this….

You go to the Google Keyword Tool and get this huge list of keywords. Then, you click a button and all those keywords get put into a new window. You click a button and it starts TELLING you which keywords you should use and which you shouldn’t bother with. Literally – the results say things like “Easy!” or “Don’t Waste Your Time” and other variations.

The keyword/niche research part of this tool makes it awesome by itself, but that is only ONE little thing it does.

Have a video? One click and watch as it submits it to all kinds of video sites.

Have an article? Watch as it submits unique versions of your article to all kinds of places – including making blogs with it!

Want to get those articles indexed? The software keeps all the urls of the new blogs and articles it just posted so you can then go to the social bookmarking area and watch as it bookmarks all your new articles and blogs.

Rss feeds? Yup, it remembers them too – and you can watch as it submits your RSS feed all over the place.

Want to use a pen name? Click a button and watch it create a pen name and a gmail account for you. Then click another button and watch as it creates new accounts for you at TONS of 2.0 type sites. Then, click another button to verify your new accounts.

When you use the article area or the bookmarking OR ANY of it, the software logs you in to your accounts and handles ALL that. You get to watch the software do all that work FOR you… literally.

Since this post is about keyword research tools, I’ll hush and get back on topic. Before I do, I want to add that I do not provide training for this, nor do I provide support for this software. There is EXCELLENT training, support, and a forum available to all who use it. This software is not for the faint of heart, but it is a MEGA tool when used properly (AND a REAL time saver, too!)

There is a free trial and if you’re curious, I recommend getting it and playing around with it so you can decide if this is something you could use. Check it out here

What About Back Links?

Yes, knowing good keywords is awesome in itself, but you need to be able to determine how many back links you’re going to need to rank where you want to rank in Google. As I demonstrated in a previous post, I use back link analysis tool for this. It’s a quick and easy tool that gives you a speedy snapshot of what you’ll have to do to rank for a certain keyword query.

I like it a lot. While it is not really a keyword tool (tho it has a research function), it is something I use to get the BIG picture. You can find the backlink analysis tool here.

Ok, kids, there you have it – PotPieGirl’s favorite keyword research tools. I am SO excited because NicheQ is going to be released Tuesday at noon EST. I know I am supposed to get busy promoting it, but honestly, I just can’t wait to get my HANDS on it! (What Is Niche Q? Click here to read my post about it.)

I plan to be VERY busy creating new sites and projects the next few weeks. Since One Week Marketing was released, I’ve felt too busy (and a bit over-worked/over-whelmed) to even THINK about starting something new.

As of tomorrow at noon my time, I am making it a top priority to put creating my passive income streams BACK on the front burner. NicheQ will be a HUGE time saver for me…. I can’t wait!