What are your customers searching for?

Answering this question should be the first step of any effective web marketing effort including SEO and keyword advertising. It is tempting to think years of experience and dealing with customers gives us a good picture of how they act. However, there are several inherent assumptions that limit the utility of experience:

Customer interactions are self-selected. You only talk to people who found you and are interested in your products and services, not those that either couldn't find you or think that your solutions are not applicable. The number of people that can find you is typically less by the number that can't. Online search behavior is very different from inter-personal communications. People use different, much more concise terminology in search engines than they do in conversation.

There are more terms in use than we can possibly come up with and remember. Research on behalf of company we've served has turned up literally unanticipated keywords.
Experience provides excellent starting material for keyword research that will uncover many new opportunities.

Keyword Research Uncovers Hidden Opportunities:

Opportunities arise partly due to the sheer number of terms turned up by good keyword research. There are also usually a few unanticipated keywords that turn into real "gems." These typically occur because they receive significant traffic and there is little competition. The result is that keyword research increases the return on your web marketing investment.

Keyword Research Saves Money: