Anyway, I am writing about longtail keywords today. This is obviously nothing new or Earth shattering, but I need to convey it anyway. This is because I have about a dozen friends from the “real” world who are just starting up their internet marketing careers: this post is for them… but it never hurts to review… and, of course, you guys are welcome to add in your thoughts as well cuz I am sure to miss something.

What Is A Long Tail Keyword?

Longtail keywords in internet marketing are those basic/primary “search words” that are modified in some shape or fashion using adjectives, mostly, but sometimes verbs or points of action, or states of being. I am not a grammar nut, so I think it best to just give you examples.

Here is an example of a primary keyword: “vacations”

Now “vacations” is a major keyword and if you can rank your site #1 for it, I can promise you an easy $50K+ in revenue per week, probably more. But there are a couple problems with this thinking.

1) The term “vacations” by itself is very vague. That means you’d need a mega site serving all types and kinds of “vacations” in order to truly cover that search term and get any kind of conversion. And guess who owns that term? Check it out here. Yeah, the big boys, Priceline, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc.

2) You will NEVER beat those guys for the term “vacations” so don’t even try. They have the money and the power to command those rankings and they will keep them, all the while trading places in the top 3 or 4. There is no room for us there, believe it!

So What Can The Small Time Marketer Like Me Get A Piece Of The Action?

Here are some positives and negatives in regards to longtails:

1) the longer the long tail, the easier it is to rank for it (positive)

2) the longer the long tail, the FEWER searches there will be (negative)

3) most times, the longer the long tail, the more TARGETED the searcher is, ie: buying mode!

Classifications Of Long Tails

Adjective Modifiers

cheap vacations

cheap all inclusive vacations

cheap last minute all inclusive vacations

best tropical vacations

Predicate Long Tails

vacations for couples

vacations for honeymooners

vacations on cruise ships

Geographic Long Tails

vacations Cancun Mexico

vacations Clearwater Florida

Club Med vacations Cayman Islands

Question Long Tails (my favorite for $30K websites)

where is the best place for a getaway vacation?

what is the best place to visit in the Caribbean?

when is the best time to vacation in Greece?

who has the best vacation deals online?

Generic Product Long Tails

14 volt cordless drills

1 megabite Mp3 players

broadband mobile phones

Product Specific Long Tails

Craftsman 14 volt cordless drill

Craftsman 14 vold cordless drill model CFN78

RCA Jet 1GB Sport Media Player

Blackberry Storm model 7656 smart phone

“Review” Long Tails

Carnival Cruise vacations review

Carnival “Glory” Cruise Ship Vacation review

Craftsman 14 volt cordless drill review

Date Driven Longtails (people do search by month/season/year)

best lawn mowers 2010

cordless drill reviews 2010

January vacation deals

summer vacation ideas

Mis-Spelled Long Tails

all inclusive vacations cankun mexico

craftsmen drill reviews

Combinations (where the fun starts!)

cheap all inclusive cruises for couples cancun mexico

who has the best deal on all inclusive vacation cruises to mexico?

Carnival Glory 2010 Caribbean reviews

cheap honeymoon vacation destinations in February

Considerations:

1) not all longtails are “buying terms” … some are “informational” terms only. But when I build a site that I plan to use for Adsense, or flip for profit, informational terms are just fine IMO.

2) to target the terms, you need to BOLD them in the post, use them in the post tags, and most importantly, have the key words anchored and pointing to your post in the form of LINKS!

3) because of the lower traffic on some longtails, you should plan to target bunches of them in your niche. You can target one longtail per post, or if they are related, you can hit a few in the same post.

4) some longtails get mega searches and if you can, use one entire site dedicated to that long tail… Court called this a “sniper site” back in his Cowboy days.

So there you go guys, and in case you are wondering, “yes” I am taking my family on a cruise this year on the Carnival Glory and some of those terms are pretty real to me. And that is what I want to leave you with:

You need to learn to think like a real person and not an online money making internet marketer. I mentioned this in my recent video about “writing long posts” and I am mentioning it here again because of how important it is.

Amidst all of your scramble to be a Twitter Expert, you should realize that there are millions more people using Google everyday, and they are buying, not Twitting. If you think like a Google searcher, you will make money. If you think like a Twit, well, you know!

comments? additions?