Jennifer Martin is a coach, author, and marketing strategist who works primarily with influencers, real estate agents & brokers, doctors & medical providers, sports, & entertainment professionals, attorneys & law firms, and many other small and medium-sized businesses. Her expertise is strategizing with her clients to create a strategic approach to meet goals and objectives while dominating online.
When you’re a niche marketer, you rely on keyword tools to help you find the perfect words and phrases that will catapult your online campaign ahead of your competitors. Keyword tools are something every online marketer needs to utilize, but some problems come with using just any of them. Plus, you need to see both long-tailed and short-tailed keywords for the best SEO practices on your website.
There are three tiers of keyword tools – free, affordable, and expensive. Which ones are worth your investment of both time and money (if applicable)? With free keyword tools, you will run into some problems – primarily that they tend to be short-lived.
People will create free keyword tools as part of a viral marketing campaign, release them to the masses who get used to utilizing them, and then quit supporting them, allowing them to become outdated and useless. Like those provided by major search engines such as Google, some free keyword tools may have more staying power.
Then other keyword tools are affordable to the niche marketer just getting started online. These usually come in packages where a later upgrade to a more expensive model or tier is available.
Take Word Tracker, for example. This particular keyword tool has been around for years and has become a staple for many online marketers. The company permits a free trial, but then you’re given the choice of several tiers for paid access.
For Word Tracker, access is marked by a timeline. You can buy a monthly subscription for the keyword database or pay less by investing in an annual subscription. Other keyword tools simply give better information with a top-tier package.
Spyfu is another popular top keyword tool used by Internet marketers. It gives a sneak peek into the system using a free trial subscription, but then with a paid subscription, you’re given advanced analytics information.
In addition to just getting more data (free trials get you a top 10 result while paid gets you unlimited results), you also tack on additional perks. For example, with a paid subscription to Spyfu, you could find out the cost per click of a keyword, the number of ads and search results, and more.
Many marketers are jumping ship to get on board the Keyword Discovery train. They do the traditional free versus paid subscriptions and give you access to basic keyword research, spelling mistake data, seasonal search trends, KEI and density analysis, and more. They have three tiers – free, standard, and professional; each increases the number of benefits and results you get when you sign up.