Spammy Industry Keyword Research

[buzzmediallc]

Hi everyone,

First question posted on here. I have spent a lot time this week going through videos and discussions since I signed up here earlier this week.

We're just starting in a particular niche that is powerful (home-based businesses), but EXTREMELY spammy with all the at-home opportunities from stuffing envelopes, to MLM, etc. Then there's the other side which is not as spammy, but just not an overall good business model with the in-home Tupperware, candle, and makeup party sales companies.

The people that we help and serve are just people who want to start up a part-time or full-time home-based business doing what they love. Maybe it's a dad who loves golf and would like to start a golf store on Ebay or a lady who is great at making stuff and wants to open an Etsy shop or start selling her goods at craft fairs.

Our program is more about teaching them how to start a real home-based business that can either earn them a profit either part-time or fulltime while also doing what they love and spending time with their family.

My biggest question right now as we begin the Keyword Research and SEO process part of this, is how do we go about doing the keyword research for this while also dealing with a spammy niche? All the research I've been doing for home-based businesses comes back to all the ugly examples I gave above and that isn't the type of people that we're a good fit for.

I appreciate all your help and guidance in advance. Been doing web development for 10+ years but finally taking the tiger by the throat and actually learning the SEO/SEM piece myself.

[ThompsonPaul]

Hey Aaron:

First thing to realize is that you've basically decided to get into running and chosen the Olympic Marathon as your first race. The "work from home" category is probably one of the 4 or 5 toughest categories to compete in due to the massive, usually spammy/black hat competition.

I'm sorry that sounds like such a downer, but It wouldn't be fair to try to answer this question without first making sure you're aware of the incredibly steep challenge and learning curve ahead of you. Are you certain you want your first foray into SEM to be in such a difficult market vertical? I don't ask that to be discouraging, just to ensure that you've got a realistic view of what's ahead.

That said, if you still want to dive in to this specific market... You're clearly wanting to target legit approaches to home-based business. My suggestion would be to initially go after some very specific niches that will help you get away from most of the crap you've already mentioned as your biggest obstacle.

The good news is - I think you've already identified a couple. Why not start with specifics like your "how to start a store on Ebay" and "how to start a part-time store on Etsy"? You could focus your keyword research on just these kinds of specific activities, and even get right down to a couple of specific interests (say golf and crafting) that you're already knowledgeable about. They would lend themselves to a lot of really obvious content building, both in text and video. (These wouldn't have to be separate sites, just different categories on the same site)  You could even aim to organize by interest, rather than by business opportunity e.g. home-based business ideas for golfers.

This is called "going after the long tail" - specific topics that will have far less volume of interest than the primaries like "home-based business" but with far less competition and a much more defined target audience. Develop and hone your skills with these more accessible targets, then use what you learn to move up the chain of competition. (Or simply spread wider in the long tail with more highly niche targets!)

Start with just a couple of these concepts, and as you build them out and start seeing success, find another to add. Don't spread yourself too thin at the beginning. Once you've built up a bunch of these categories of content on your site, you'll naturally be moving toward becoming an authority site on home-based business in general.

Because of the spammy nature of the niche, building trust and authority are going to be very challenging but critical to long-term success. You'll most definitely need to build social media networking into your plan also, since done well it can be very effective at building that trust/authority that is much tougher with just a website. Let your passion for helping people come through as much as your specific business expertise.

Bottom line, you're going to need to have a clear strategy that's do-able given your current skills and resources, before you start considering how to do the actual keyword research. You're already part way there having figured out that you're up against a very messy category. My recommendation - carve yourself a very, very specific niche and build from there.

[gcdtechnologies]

Hi Aaron,

I would conduct keyword research in the normal way - search volume, competition, relevance for your wesbsite etc. Niches that are filled with spam are just like any other competitive niche - except the competition is easier to beat once you establish authority.

Once you have a bank of keywords that you feel would drive quality traffic, begin to work on producing quality content around them.

It will take work and patience to differentiate yourself from the spam. Building links from authoritative sources, press releases, social media promotions and generating quality content can help to establish the site as an authority on the subject.

The bottom line is that search engines and searchers hate spam. By differentiating your website from the spam and working to gain trust and authority, the chances are that you will be rewarded.

Best of luck!

[SEOLocal92]

well, the fist thing i need to said is "there is no spam keywords there is a web spam to this keywords" so i will suggest the follow.

first really search into it and read the last panda update from google and penguin to have some more idea of what need to be done.

after you will understand that you will have more idea of what i am saying next.

start with your site and make SURE you don't have so many keywords in your content ( i will recommend 2-3%)

have your site optimize with the right url's and the right pages and content for the type of services (business)

start with a press for what you do i will recommend to use PRWEB .

try finding good sites and forums to talk about your site and i will said use Seomoz tools to figure out how good is the site.

try not spamming your site by creating landing pages and divert crags list ads to them.

there is lot more to do and when you start you will get the hang of it.

hope i help you to start , good luck