The Best Kind of Keyword Spy Tool
Jun 9th
If you decide to go and use a keyword spy tool for your online market research, there are a number of things you should keep in mind when selecting what product or service to use. This article is going to briefly look at some of the things to look out for when choosing your spy tool!
It is important to keep in mind that you can purchase desktop software (software that you use on your computer) or you can purchase server-side services. In the latter case, the keyword spy tool is ran through a browser online, and the information is stored on the service’s hosting. I find these types of services much better when researching keywords and spying on competitors. I find the data to be more accurate and the service itself is generally speaking a lot easier to use than some desktop software options.
Another thing to bare in mind when selecting your keyword spy tool is to make sure that the data is collected and updated regularly. I have mentioned in some of my other posts that some keyword spy tools take some time collect data and in some cases the results you are getting maybe a month to two months old. When you need and want fast answers, you need a tool that is going to be both fast and relatively accurate.
On a related note, you need to look at whether you need to load the keyword spy tool with keywords and then monitor them over a period of time. Whilst this can produce reasonably accurate results I prefer to use services that allow me to look instantly at some keyword data. The former option just always means you are a fair few steps behind your competitors, and remember we are meant to be using this software to get a head start in our campaigns!
I hope this post has been helpful in assisting you in determining what keyword spy tool you are going to use in your research and campaign planning and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below this post, or get in touch with me directly using the contact page.
Keyword Spy Tool Problems
Jun 5th
Although incredibly useful when conducting competitive online paid advertising research, keyword spy tools do have a number of flaws and negatives that it is important to be mindful of.
In this article, we are going to look at three of the main issues people experience when doing competitive keyword research.
1. The Results are not Real Time.
Generally speaking, the results that keyword spy tools display are from a couple of weeks ago, or in some cases a month ago. That is to say, that when you are looking at the data, it does not accurately reflect what your competitors are doing right this minute with their adwords campaigns, but it shows you what they were doing a week or so ago. Different services and different software update their information and data at different intervals, so how recent the results you are seeing, depends on what service or product you are using.
How to Deal With This: One of the most useful features of most good keyword spy tools is that you can see how long your competition have been bidding on certain keywords. So, a good indication of if a keyword is profitable is to look at how long some one has been bidding on it. If they spent a good amount of time (2 months +) bidding on a keyword, there is an excellent chance it is a profitable keyword, and worth testing, and this is the kind of information you can use, even if it is a couple weeks old.
On top of this, one of the other cool features of this kind of software offers, is to display the ads that your competition has been using, giving you the inside scoop on what adverts have been converting for other companies in your industry/niche.
2. Not all Keyword Spy Tools are Accurate.
Some products or services are not as accurate as others, and if you use a few at the same time, you will some times notice a disparity between the results and data that you are collecting. This is a result of the fact that results are not real time, and also the ways that the various services and products collect and monitor the data and activity of the advertisers. Some of the inaccuracies can often be found in the cost-per-click and the tool can also have trouble guessing the traffic levels and clicks certain ads are having.
How to Deal With This: The only real way to combat this is to use the right keyword tool when conducting your research. It is also important to keep in mind, that keyword spy tools do not have all the answers, and you should not be relying on them solely for your research. These tools are designed to give you a head-start by giving you some insight on what works right now in your industry/niche. If you rely on these tools exclusively, you will always be a step behind your competition. Once you have a working campaign, it would be valuable to branch out and test some of your own approaches and ideas out. Use these tools for what they are designed for and make sure you use the right product/service!
3. You Don’t Get the Full Picture
I am yet to see a tool which gives me a clear picture of what my competitors are doing on the content network, and what they might be advertising on youtube etc. That is because these tools are predominantly geared to keyword searches and advertising. PPC on Google adwords and other platforms are not the only ways of paid advertising, and often these tools don’t gather data from PPV and CPV networks. In other words, you can only see part of the bigger picture.
How to Deal With This: You need to do your own due diligence by surfing some websites in your niche and observing how, if and where people are advertising. You also need to accept the limitations of the keyword spy tool and use it for what it is, these tools are designed to provide you with information about keyword related searches and advertisements. This is a highly targeted area of advertising, and thus the gains to be made are huge. The use information wisely, and you will reap the benefits and rewards.
I hope you have found this post useful, and I hope it has been a help to you when deciding if you should buy a keyword spy tool for your online competitive intelligence.
Keyword Spy Tool With Keyword Research
May 26th
Using a keyword spy tool is really important when doing keyword research. When a person first starts researching keywords they are often looking for keywords that generate a lot of interest and get a lot of search queries on a monthly basis. One of the things people often to forget to think about though, is finding keywords that work and turn searches into money and profit. This is where the keyword spy tool helps. With the right keyword spy tool you can easily determine what keywords are making advertisers money and what keywords are not.
For example, lets say you have been doing your keyword research around a particular topic or niche. You find a bunch of keywords that have good search volume and some advertising competition. The problem is, you don’t know if those keywords are going to make you money. You have no idea if you will make a return off the PPC adverts you are going to invest in and you have no idea whether all the time you are about to put into SEO will be worth it. So how can you tell if the keywords you are researching are worth your time?
It is at moments like these when a keyword spy tool becomes useful. With a keyword spy tool you can see:
- Who is bidding on a particular keyword
- How much money they are spending on average
- How long they have been bidding on the keywords
- Where they are sending traffic to from that keyword
- What ad copy they are usuing
If some one is investing a lot of money in a particular keyword, and if they have been doing it for a while then the chances are it is a profitable keyword for them and could potentially be a valuable keyword for you to attack. Not only that, you can also see what adverts your competitors are using and simply adapt and modify them for your campaign. Keyword research is great, but with a keyword spy tool, you can cut your learning curve and save yourself a lot of time on research and failed projects. You can also use keyword spy tools to target direct competitiors in your niche and steal their keyword lists and have a good look at where they are spending their PPC advert money.
So when you next do some keyword research to find your next niche for your next website, have a think about finding profitable keywords that will make you some sales and consider using a keyword spy tool to properly research your market, keyword and competitors.
Welcome to Keyword Spy Tool Dot Net
May 15th
This blog features information on keyword spy tools for pay-per-click marketing and advertising.