Is it better to hire a consultant for keyword research or can our company handle that internally?
The answer to this central question depends upon a number of related variables. Some of the most important of those are these:
1. The depth of your knowledge concerning directly and tangently related keywords
2. Access to the tools that are available to assist in this process
3. Familiarity with using those keyword research tools
4. Your ability to interpret the results so that you are able to separate the useful words and phrases from those that will have little business significance
5. Your budget
As you can see, all of these come down to what you know and how much money you have to dedicate to this part of your Internet business plan. Let me address each of those in a bit more detail.
Your Thorough Understanding of Keyword Research
Identifying relevant keywords and phrases is as important as any other part of your new business. In fact, it is more important than most of your planning. The lengthy list that you generate is central to all of your marketing efforts in the short and long term. The tactics impacted include your article marketing, your search engine optimization, your paid advertising and your copywriting. The entire future of you business is directly related to the quality of your keyword research.
Some available tools are free to use, such as Google’s keyword research tool. Others can be purchased as desktop software or as online membership applications. It is important to use multiple tools for your research, because results will different based upon the databases that the tools consult and the formulas with which they conduct their searches. You should gather information comparing keyword research software options.
Most of the tools are relatively easy to use, but the interpretation of your results can be difficult unless you have experience in doing so. Each keyword that you discover will not have the same value to you as every other keyword, and a high volume of searches for a certain keyword does not automatically make that keyword of greater importance to you particular business than another keyword that draws much less traffic.
Money
If the amount in your budget for early business development endeavors, this area merits the allocation of its share of those funds. The expense of outsourcing keyword research is rather modest when it is compared to the potential benefit. I recommend that, if you do hire professionals for this task, that you make sure that they also do a competitive analysis of your industry or niche and offer advice concerning how to use the findings of the study to your competitive advantage.
Often keyword research is bundled into an overall search engine optimization (SEO) contract. Consequently, if you plan to invest in such a large scale purchase, there is usually no point in buying a keyword or niche research package as well. If you choose to go this route, make sure you understand exactly how thorough your SEO company will be.
Bottom line: You can do this task yourself if you already know a great deal about the process (or are willing to take the time to learn what you need to) and if you have the critical tools.
