It seems like there is a new keyword tool of some description available every day, either paid or free.

Keyword research tools can be considered a dime a dozen now with the Rolls Royce versions such as Theme Zoom, Wordtracker and Keyword Elite top of the tree. However, do you really need tools of this magnitude? Well, yes and no.

From a portal builder’s point-of-view they make life a heck of a lot easier. Keyword research is a laborious task and can literally take forever. One of the benefits of a Portal Feeder 2.0 membership is learning the correct way to perform keyword research for maximum profit. Get this part of your research wrong and it will hurt you where it counts!

For those just coming online or concentrating their efforts on article marketing, then one aspect of keyword research you should consider is forum hunting. What is forum hunting? Well, it’s a virtual goldmine when searching for theme related keywords on your chosen subject.

Here’s an example from Portal Feeder 2.0 training - if you’re planning an article on chainsaws then as a keyword proposition chainsaws is good but very competitive. Instead, by scanning forums related to chainsaws there are any number of related terms and key phrases which are used by participants on these forums. It’s their own “lingo” and that’s what you’re after.

Many of these terms will be unfamiliar to the general consensus however, for those in the wood-cutting profession, either pro or semi-pro, or home handymen, then these terms will mean something.

You simply compile a list of these terms and check them for competitive analysis such as typing in “chainsaw maintenance” in Google. You’ll get a return of about 15,000 which may be a little high for article marketing purposes but still very doable in terms of getting a profitable return.

This is just an example term and there are far better prospects in this niche which have good search totals yet a low number of web pages or articles optimized.

The interesting thing about keyword research is you’ll find your own level playing field in time; when you find something that works for you, stick with it.

During the past week, Portal Feeder 2.0 members have received plenty of early Christmas presents in the shape of a complete suite of PPC tools including the Mother Lode of pay-per-click spy analysis tools called PPC Kahuna. One of it’s functions is finding those exact same profitable keywords we’ve just spoken about but it’s all automated. Very powerful stuff!