I always do a Google search with excitement. How about you?

Whatever it is I'm searching for -- from internet marketing tips, travel destinations, recipes to the latest trends and tools in internet technology, typing a word or phrase in that search box always holds the promise of a vast amount of information for me to devour. With the number of results one gets from a single search, one will understand why keyword research is crucial to survive in the web.

Of course, I don't need to tell you that effective selection of keywords can make or break a campaign - you already know that. Keyword research and SEO go together, but while they are very vital processes in internet marketing, I'd like to emphasize that they don't, and should NOT take the place of writing great & valuable content. After all, it's the needs of your audience that you should focus on.

Focusing only on keyword research and SEO without thinking and writing about the needs of your audience means you are entering a No-Go zone and you are completely wrong! Worthwhile, valuable content always takes precedence. Believe me, readers CAN tell if your content is purely for the search engines, and not for them.

To further understand what I mean, check out Copyblogger's post on the 20 Warning Signs That Your Content Sucks, particularly sign #8. However, writing a remarkably good content without doing keyword research and SEO, isn't the way to go either. You need smart SEO.

Keyword research is an art, and because it is such a fascinating process, I've developed a love affair with the entire process.It's best to go back to the basics if you haven't updated your keywords lately or if you're just about to start with a new blog.

After all these years of working online, I've learned that you need to acknowledge that you don't really know what is going on in your customers' heads. So what do you do? Using some tools such as Google keyword tool, Wordtracker, Overture Search Suggestion Tool and Keyword Discovery, you research like a madman. Your goal is to promote your website with the intent of attracting more traffic or visitors, right? Let's not go into the details of the process (that will be for another post).

Instead, I'll let you know why I fell in love with keyword research:

It has opened/uncovered a world of hidden opportunities!

Due to a lot of of terms turned up by a good research, there are for the most part a few unanticipated keywords that turn into what I call my "lucky words". These typically occur because they receive significant traffic, yet there is little competition. Since you're only one of the few who are using them, your chances of getting found by visitors are higher. The result? An increase the return on your web marketing investment.

It saves a lot of money!

Traffic and competitive estimates for each keyword allow you to most effectively allocate resources for SEO purposes. Isn't that great? With effective research, you can focus time and money on SEO for the keywords that have enough traffic and only a few competing sites rather than trying for top ranking among hundreds or thousands of other sites competing on the same phrase.

Needless to say, keyword research is such a vital part of effective web marketing efforts. We will dig deeper and more in detail into the subject of keyword research in future posts. We will tackle subjects like:

How to Find Higly Relevant Keywords

How to Find High Traffic Keywords

How to Assess Market Competition Of Your Keywords

How to Assess Commerciality Of Your Keywords

Finding Long Tail Keywords

How to Avoid Targeting the Wrong Keywords

My absolute favourite tool for keyword research is Market Samurai because it is so detailed. So pay attention to your research efforts now. You might find yourself falling in love with it too!