One of the best lessons I learned in my career as an internet marketer, was how to find customers that are ready to buy online.
The way you do this, is through the keywords these buyers use when they search online. In this post I’ll be giving you some great tips on buyer keywords.
Before I give you a list of buyer keywords, I first want to explain the sales process online, so you can understand the thinking behing buyer keywords, and come up with more yourself.
When someone is thinking of buying something online, let’s say for example they are considering buying a new TV, then they may first initiate their search with keywords such as “best TV’s” or “TV reviews”. These keywords can make money, but really, people typing these kind of keywords into Google are still in the research mode and not ready to pull out their credit card yet.
Let’s continue with the example, after typing in “best TV’s” the person may find some sites that explain that the best TV’s are LCD’s as they last longer than plasma’s perhaps. So now the searcher is set on an LCD, but they still don’t know what LCD is the best. So what do they do? They type in “Best LCD’s” and continue researching.
This process usually continues on until the user finds the LCD they want, and when they have narrowed it down to the XYZ LCD, they will most likely type into Google “Buy XYZ LCD” or “XYZ LCD review”, and bingo they are now officially a buyer!
This is when you want to get your webpages in their view, so that they can read your articles and click your affiliate marketing link before buying a product. It’s not rocket science, just common sense with buyer keywords!
So with that said here are some buyer keywords that I often use:
Buyer Keywords
buy
purchase
review
best
cheap
new
bargain
budget
economical
inexpensive
low cost
low priced
reduced
compare
model numbers
brand names
Another kind of buyer keyword, is where the person is indicating that they have some form of a problem that they need fixed, this is especially true for health problems. For example if someone types into Google: “How to stop snoring” then they have indicated that snoring is a problem, and people tend to be happy to pay for a solution to a problem that is affecting the quality of their lives.
Some more examples of these buyer keywords include:
learn
stop
prevent
help
So remember you need a lot less traffic from buyer keywords to make sales than you do from other kinds of keywords, so take the time to target these on your sites, as it pays off big time!
What would be great is to hear from you all, so if you could take the time to comment below and let me know what you think and if you have more great buyer keywords then please list them for us all to share.
Hope that helps,
Matt Carter
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Excellent post on the topic of keywords. Thanks Matt! This would definitely help me on my next keyword research.
Thanks for the tips, Matt 🙂
Do you use these keywords both for PPC and SEO?
Matt Carter Reply:
October 26th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Hey Daniel, yes for SEO and PPC
Thanks
Matt
Thanks for these Matt, informative as ever 🙂
How about ‘cure’ and ‘remedy’ (along with their plurals)? As in the tried and trusted ‘acne cure’ or ‘acne remedies’.
Do you think these are strong enough indicators, better than ‘solution/s’ I suspect, but I’m a novice at this.
Trying to think what I’ve typed before when in buyer mode. It might be just a model number, which I suppose could be a ready to buy indicator.
Another one I think would be
“how do I’
Hey Matt!! GREAT article—
So where is the best place to go to really learn this process and figure out exactly how to go about positioning articles in front of buyer keywords…
Concept sounds brilliant!! 🙂
Lance
Mat, cool post. Thanks
Thanks Matt, as always.
Surprisingly, these keywords are also easy to rank for because not a lot of people are onto what Matt has explained in this post.
I have found this variation to be a good one specially with physical products.
taking Matt’s example:
XYZ LCD Deals
best XYZ LCD Deals
best XYZ LCD offers
and more keywords like these.
Thanks Matt, every bit of info helps 🙂
As for more buyer keyword ideas how about:
fast
need
Viola
Thanx for the info Matt, I can definitely attest to the info from this page. I’m reasonably new to SEO and have a site which only gets a couple of hundred views a month and im making commissions almost daily and getting an almost 5-10% conversion rate (not bad for my first SEO site i feel!). The only thing i can put it down to is having really targeted buyers keywords, as im not an SEO export.
Thanks again.
Hey Matt I always search for the cheapest product name as I am A skinflint
Ha Ha Ha
Aloha Matt, thanks for the invite by email and you always display great content. Glad I came by. Thanks for sharing! Lani 🙂
Matt Carter Reply:
October 26th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Hey Lani,
Great to hear from you again, and glad you liked the post
cheers
Matt
Yet another gem, excellent insight.
Cheers
Alex
Great article! Keywords have been my big hang up, so this is truly a big help. One of the clearest, most to the point articles I have seen on keywords. I’m going to copy it and put it on my desktop.
Matt Carter Reply:
October 26th, 2010 at 9:51 am
Hey JoelinPDX,
No problem and glad you found the post helpful
Thanks
Matt
Hey Matt
Are these keywords something that you would add to your site or rather mainly to articles you write
Hi Matt!
Thanks for the useful tips on keywords.
It’s not a bad idea to take this one step further, so to use your “TV” example it’s a fact that many people decide on a specific brand *plus* a specific model.
Simply use the model number as a keyword – and if you can get it buy the domian name too!
Let’s say someone is interested in a Sony 46″ LCD TV with the model number KDL-EX46500.
Use KDL-EX46500 as a main keyword, and get the domain!
Hope this is of use.
Cheers,
Jan
Matt, I wanted to thank you for being upfront with ,,,well,, all of us. You, truth be told really do help others. Todays post is just more proof of you being real with us. Thanks Again Matt Your good people in my book.
Martin
Thanks Matt,
These keywords will really help.
This is an excellent strategy Matt! Straight to the point and I know that you are getting results. Make it easy for people to buy and find you… awesome!!!
Hi Matt,
I really enjoy your content filled blog posts. Whilst other top marketer’s simply ram affiliate product after affiliate product down our throats, you continually think about how you can provide ‘value’ along the way.
I always look forward to anything that you put up on your blog.
Thanks,
Chronic Tinnitus
Matt,
You share such golden tips with us, thank you for this post – I am also loving the affiliate template – it is a great tool and will be using it on some old sites I have that I want to renew!
Cheers,
Susie
Thanks for the tips, some great advice.
Thanks Matt for the good tips.
Finding the right keywords can save a lot of hassle and expense. The buying keywords are right on the money, so to speak.
Cheers Craig
Yes Matt it is commonsense. You only have to think about how you search for something yourself and the keywords you use. I think your emails are so to the point and easy to read.
Thanks for all the help
Gwen
Hi Matt,
Great insight on a perspective of keywords I should be paying more attention too … Notes taken and this post bookmarked … Thx!
Excellent list, and thanks.
More: people who are ready to BUY don’t search for plurals. They don’t search for “best TVs,” they search for whatever brand or model it is they’re ready to buy, and in the singular.
Awesome tips. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the buyer keywords list which help other affiliate marketers narrow down the keyword research.
Matt, you are the TRUTH! As a neophyte to online marketing, I am in ‘analysis paralysis’ mode! I am just reading all of these so-called gurus emails and products that they are hocking, and you bring the truth to the masses…plain and simple!
Thanks for the jewels, and I am going to take action tonight! You definitely have my ear! Thanks for being you
Louis
Eager to Learn
Thanks for the keyword tips, Matt.
I haven’t read through all the comments, but how about
Discount
Discount code
also, colors.
Green couch slipcovers, etc.
Matt Carter Reply:
October 26th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Hey Stacie,
Thats a great point you make there, COLORS!! I never thought of that.
Nice one
Matt
Hi Matt, Great tips on high intention keywords. I like DIY when promoting plans or how to ebooks. Do you generally use exact, broad or phrase match in the google keyword tool? Could you explain why/
Thanks again
Jay
Great Matt
Tip: If you are wondering if the keyword you picked is really a buyer keyword? You can do a Google search going to their site “google commercial intent” and plug in your keyword and it will come back with a no or yes plus a percentage. Good tool.
Ken
Thanks Matt. You always have such helpful ideas and I really appreciate that you share them so generously.
Cool matt! keep posting the great tips. gonna take the action now! thanx.
Thanks Matt for the great tips and advice!
Love your blog by the way! It’s been very helpful!
Amy 🙂
Thanks again Matt. These ideas of choosing a better key (buying keyword) word should increase conversions by a large factor as they target people that are more ready to buy.
Hi Matt,
Great Post as usual. The more long tailed the keyword is, the better chance you have of a conversion.
Once again you posted a gem of information. Thanks very much.
Michael.
hi Matt
found the post helpful keep up the good work
Edward Young
Ken back at you. Here is the link for checking out to see if the keywords you picked are buyer keywords:
http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx
This is a free tool. Arrow down to the bar that says “best Buy” put your keyword in its place click on “query” then click go. The system will give you a percentage of non-commercial or commercial intent.
Ken
Bill Reply:
July 1st, 2011 at 2:42 am
Ken,
This site has been down for a month or so. Do you know anything about when it will be back up or an alternate site to use in the meantime?
Great post matt. Nobody has every writing about buyer keywords before that I have seen. Also there are a lot of good buyer keywords in the comments.
Hey Matt,
Great post…Again!
It always amazes me how you keep providing really helpful ‘FREE’ information that the other so called ‘gurus’ would normally charge us for. Keep it up and I’m sure you’ll go to heaven!!
Thanx matt,
good stuff as always.
What is the lowest monthly EXACT search volume for a keyword that you will target?
btw, how do we enlarge the font size on your theme?
Matt Carter Reply:
October 26th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
Hey Ike,
i dont target anything less than 1000 exact match search vol, for the local market
thanks
matt
Thank you for another useful blog Matt.
I want to point out, with regard to plurals (a issue raised by one of your commentors) that I think it depends on the industry. The products I market are searched in the plural by people in a buying frame of mind.
Also,
I would add “XYZs for sale” to the list.
Hey Matt- top stuff and great job! I can tell all you newbies out there, that in the three years I have been online Marketing and after spending thousands of dollars on useless guru misinformation and useless products with missing pieces- that this is the stuff they don’t tell you about and- Gurus keep it to themselves. This is a money making strategy- you have to buy into a lot of products and disappointment to learn this one- so do not underestimate what Matt has given you for absolute free and at the start of your Internet marketing experience. You are way ahead of everyone else thanks to this man. Enjoy Philip Randall
Hi Matt, I love your stuff and actually open your emails which is why I have read this post. I find it very useful and concentrates the mind on valuable keywords and reminds me to check mine over and not waste time on non buying ones. Thanks.
Hi Matt, Thanks, I would also add “on sale” as a buying keyword, you can go to Google Keyword tool and type
“on sale” and get many ideas for topics and keywords.
Sometimes using for…. helps too. Eg: for kids, for girls, for dad, for mom.
Thanks for the post – you are right that drilling down and targeting is the way to go. I am guilty of having too many general domains which are not doing much to write home about.
Hey Matt,
Great to see you put the emphasis back on the basics. Messy keyword research = all effort in vain.
What is important is how to read the numbers. I tend to only search phrase match numbers, but that doesn’t give me the results I calculated. I guess searching exact match is the way to go. Makes keyword research more time consuming though.
Thanks for sharing,
Andreas
This post is so true, I have a number of sites that get great traffic but few sales as most are just people surfing around and are not buyers, they don’t even click much on adsense ads!
Hi Matt
Awesome tips here. I have to say i see this at work on my retail site. i try an rank for specific items and i notice when they a customer comes to my site after typing a product name into a search engine, they tend to have less page views but end up buying as they’re in the ‘mood.’
Writing an article on a product with the product name in the title and a link with the product name in your resource box and posting it on EZA works ver well.
Matt,
Thank your for this great post.One of my fears when working online is keywords research.My previous PPC campaign was not very successful.With these information you share here, I now know what to do. Thanks for helping.
Jean-Paul
I teach this concept all the time to the people I work with. Nice to here from another Guru!
For shopping carts:
best deal on *keyword* or *keyword* best deal(s)
best buy
on sale
*color and item description or brand name and model*
overnight *keyword*
Solid info Matt, as always.
Thank you.
Hi. matt.
great stuff for me to delve into,
i am finally finding my way through the maze.
Hi Matt,
Thanks so much for giving another great post. I love getting your emails and training you always come up with some great stuff. And I agree keywords is the whole key to your online business. Without the right keyword all your work is done for no reason, because you will not sell much if anything. Thanks again.
Thanks,
Michael
Matt
I have been following you for a long time and I really love all that you do for all us newbies out here. When I decided to get in tohis as a business I bought a course to help me because I was such a
Thank you very much for the best buyer keywords…I am looking forward to it and use it soon…
Matt:
Another great post and thank you for sharing. Some other buyer keywords I have used and will share are- buy online,who sells, who sells the cheapest
Great post. Simple, short and direct to the point.
Thanks for the great post this one is really good because it tells you how and what the people are looking for in google or any other search engine.Another good buyer keyword will be Wholesale,Discount,liquidator and liquidation. Hope some of those keywords will help somebody out there well thanks for the great post again
Great post and very interesting information! Wish you the best of luck and looking forword to checking your blog more often.
All the best,
Dino Vedo
Thanks Matt for sharing this. would you like to know how to get in the buyers mind with one simple question? http://marketingbullets.com/bullet04.htm
it is good info, i have learn from other marketers, the below words are buyers keywords too.
fast, easy, now, order, want, eager.
try to avoid ” free”
hope this help others too.
Thanks for the tips for selecting buying keywords Matt!
hi Matt.
another good bit of advice for us new at internet marketing! Thanks! I find I get so bogged down with content I can’t see the wood for the trees so having a list reminding me of the buying keywords is a big help.
Tom
LOL! where will I keep all this good stuff!
Great post Matt and your explanation was right on. This is something I’ve been teaching as well. Once you understand the process, it’s much easier to start getting quality targeted traffic.
Thanks again for sharing.
Adrienne
Hi Matt,
Am on video 3 of your twelve part video series.
Thanks ever so much!
Very useful post Matt. Indeed I’ve had better luck when I do my Google ads with the buyer keywords included than others. The conversion rate is much higher!
I will have to mention this post on my blog, this is a great list, I wanted to publish something like this. I’ve checked the comments there are some nice additions. Here’s my little contribution, hope it’s not already been shared:
coupon
coupon codes
codes
promotional codes
free shipping
vs or versus (product X vs product Y)
Tom
Hello again Matt and @Adrienne, good to see you here too.
Here´s some of my favorite buyer keywords that work well for me:
how to
learn
study
how can
how do
review
reviews
where can
where can I
instructions
instruction
explaining
explain
install
secret
secrets
secret code
secret codes
tutorial
tutorials
free tutorials
free tutorial
online tutorials
internet tutorial
computer tutorial
html tutorials
online tutorial
video
videos
learning
save
directions
free shipping
password
passwords
buy
buying
purchase
online
improving
improve
faster
fast
quick
quicker
cheap
free
Would love to see some more from your readers if they tested them and want to share.
great explanation on keywords, i am new at this and everything i read on your blog makes sense, thank you
Seems logical to concentrate on BUYERS keywords. Logical, but I hadn’t thought of that before. 🙄 Interesting to see how you have narrowed down even the buyers keywords, to those at the point of purchase. If you want to make money on the Internet, this has to be the focus for keyword research.
Thanks for the ideas Matt. 8)
John
Hey Matt!
Awesome post, buddy! I can dig it…
I just wanna add that in my experience, the VERY best of the BEST buyer keywords are those that you mentioned above – the Model Numbers…
And a little tip for everyone:
The LONGER the key phrase is, the more TARGETED it is as a TRUE buyer keyword.
Long Tail = Good. 🙂
And in my opinion, a TRUE buyer keyword MUST have a specific product name in it… That way, it leaves the searcher NO OPTION but to buy that specific model type they’re looking for, in the color they want it in & the features they’re most interested in.
And of course, have the “buy” type of words to add more flavor to ’em. 🙂
Hope this helped anyone reading! 🙂
Keep rockin the cool posts bro!
Peace.
~Omar
Hi Matt,
This blog post is so important. I run public speaking workshops and when I’ve included “book” or “register” for a workshop the results turned out much better than what I hoped for.
Great post as always.
Trevor
Thanks Matt and fellows to share the precious information. That’s a great help.
Hi Matt…great tips for making money online!
You are truly generous
A helpful post, I just passed this onto a co-worker who was doing a little research on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I discovered it for him.. smile.. So let me reword that: Thank you for the treat! But yeah Thanks for taking the time to talk about this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more info? It is highly helpful for me. Two thumb up for this blogpost!
Interesting material, while some of those key words may be too general and lead to researcher traffic, most are strong buyer words.
Thanks!
Hi Matt,
Thanks to you and other contributors here, it’s fun and educative to read your post and other comments, you guys are awesome, terrific and encouraging. I never read useful post this good. You guys really embraced that positive and great sharing spirit.
You made me feel IM is not a dark art filled with dirty tricks any more, at least I know a bunch of ethical marketers are working hard to earn a living with it.
Thanks again.
Felix
Felix
Thanks for the tips! keyword research is often the most frustrating part of the business, but it’s important to be patient and do it correctly!
Thanks Howie for letting me know about this post. Thanks, these are great tips. I had never thought about the fact that with generic keywords buying might not be what is on the readers agenda.
Googled “buyer keywords” and your site came up #1 on Google.
Congratulations!
Great advice Matt, i find that using the product name or model number of a product works well. Also using keywords which involves the term “review” converts good, but not better than product names. Please keep in mind that this works best if your an Amazon affiliate marketer, clickbank takes alil bit more talent and skill. Buyer keywords which works well with clickbank invlove the terms “How to” “How to stop” “How to prevent”.. etc. Please key in mind the best converting products on clickbank involve solving problems such as bad breath, snoring and other embarrasing topics people rather find more info about online than in person. If your using Amazon, try to use there best sellers list to find products to promote. Promote products with atlease 4 stars or better. Promote products with a nice amount of reviews. I hope i have added more useful advice to Matts wonderful blog post. Enjoy!