What are buyer intent keywords and how can you use them to make money from your blog? Consider the intent behind this article title and keyword. What is your intent for searching for this keyword (if you have done a search for it)? Presumably it is to learn how to generate a greater volume of targeted visitors to your website?
With a strong buyer intent keyword as your article title, you have a much better chance of converting your website visitor into a buyer, if they find your content via search. It is their search which differentiates them from other visitors.
Consider these two examples of keywords for example:
- Buy Camera
- Pentax k1000 for sale
If you decide to create content for these two keywords, which do you think would be most beneficial for making sales, all things being equal? “Buy camera” obviously has more traffic, but if you ranked at the top place on Google for both these terms, which do you think would yield the greatest amount of sales, assuming you could sell the product they wanted through your affiliate link?
The answer would be “pentax k1000 for sale”, in all likelihood. With the term “buy camera” there’s not a specific product you can sell from this content. Visitors are more likely to be in the information gathering stage, rather than the buying phase of their customer journey. Plus, the term “buy camera” would also be more competitive too, since there’s only two words in the keyword. These are two benefits of targeting long tail keywords for your article titles:
- They are easier to rank for on the SERPS – search engine results pages
- They are more specific and that means and can have a stronger buyer intent
Discovering Buyer Intent Keywords You Can Rank For
Most of the strongest buyer intent keywords are hugely competitive so it can be much more difficult to create content which ranks for them. In the context of affiliate marketing, (the topic of this site), getting buyers to my website can be difficult. The main keywords such as “affiliate marketing courses for beginners” for example will be too competitive to rank for. So you have to think outside the box a little.
Creating pdfs and free downloadable documents such as ebooks can be a good way to find keywords with strong customer intent.
Another simple strategy to get your content in front of buying traffic is to create a review of a product you can sell. Reviews are great for affiliates because you can more easily rank your content for a review, especially if your product is fairly new. With an older product, there’s going to be a lot of competition already ranking on Google, so it’s harder to find free organic traffic.
Reviews are great of course because they attract visitors who are in the last step of the buying cycle. They have already done some research on a product and zoned in on something specific. Checkout my Modern Wealthy Review if you’re looking to start an online business from scratch.
Good Keywords Vs. “Browser” Keywords
As a blogger, it’s a good idea to identify the intent behind your chosen keyword/s before you spend a heap of time blogging on it. You can attract traffic from your blog posts especially if you target long tail keywords with low SEO competition. But if that traffic is only browsing, all your efforts can be for nothing. Fine you may get people to your content, but if there’s not a strong intention to buy, you’re less likely to sell anything from that traffic, even in large numbers. A smaller volume of well targeted traffic can be much more lucrative.
This is why it’s worth asking yourself some questions about your keyword before you write your article, or create a video:
- What is the intent behind this keyword?
- Does my product/service align with this search query?
- Is it worth creating this piece of content?
If your content doesn’t match your products you offer on your website, it might be better to find a keyword which is more aligned with what you offer. You don’t want to spend all your time attracting the wrong audience to your website! See also target web traffic and customer avatar worksheet pdf.
Summary
A good buyer intent keyword is more likely to bring in paying customers to your business if you can get your content found when they search online. Most internet searches are for gathering of information, not buying. So if you create the wrong content on your website, you can struggle to make sales no matter how much traffic you attract.
Not all buyer intent keywords are alike. Product reviews are a good place to start since there’s a deliberate search intent behind a product review. If you’re looking for product review, you’re likely in the last stage of the buying cycle. Conversely if you’re looking for a “how to” guide, you’re probably not a buying customer; rather you’re looking for free information.
If someone is looking for a course to buy, for example, but doesn’t specify which one, they might still have an intent to make a purchase. Creating content can take some time and effort. So it will pay off if you think about the intent behind the keywords you use to create your content with.
Most website traffic doesn’t translate to a sale immediately, so it’s worth building an email list of subscribers so you can build a relationship with your website visitors as they opt in to receive your email updates.