What if I could give you a solid piece of advice that not only has made me a lot of money, but will do the same for you? In this post I want to first describe what a long tail is and how it’s different from a short tail keyword.  Next, I want to explain why long tails are used by some affiliate marketers and the advantages to using long tail keywords.  Lastly, I’ll be talking about why you should NOT write off long tail’s when you are doing keyword research for a niche and how they can play an important role in your affiliate campaigns!

This post was inspired by Chad from CDFNetworks.  Chad wrote a post about the good and bad of using longtail keywords and I decided that I wanted to do a post along the same lines.  Even though he touched on both the good and the bad, this post will be one sided, I’ll only be talking about the benefits of using long tail keywords. I’ll be talking about some of the reasons Chad gave, and also expanding a little on those reasons and then adding my two cents on the issue of long tails.  Make sure to check out his post about removing long tail keywords.

What is a Long Tail Keyword?

A long tail keyword is simply a keyword that is made up of multiple words.  An example of a short tail keyword would be download ringtones, while an example of a long tail keyword would be download mp3 verizon ringtones.

Exactly how many words are required in order for a keyword to become a long tail keyword is really based on opinion.  I don’t believe there is actually anywhere on the internet that says this makes this a long tail and this makes this a short tail.  Basically if it’s short it’s a short tail and if it’s long it’s a long tail!  I know…Rocket Science stuff here!!!

What are the benefits of long tail keywords?

There are two big benefits to long tail keywords.  The first being that normally long tail keywords convert at a higher rate than short tails.  This is largely do to the fact that most long tail keywords are very specific as to what the user wants.  Now obviously the long tail keyword has to be related to your niche and product or service in order to produce the best results.

The second thing that makes long tail keywords valuable is the fact that you can bid on these keywords and obtain the top positions for a lot less than what you’re spending on short tail keywords!

Obviously better conversions yet you pay less for the clicks sounds great and a marketer would be stupid not to use them then…..right???

Actually, you’d be surprised at how many affiliate marketers don’t spend time and energy on long tail keywords.  “Why?” you ask.  Because there is one huge disadvantage to long tail keywords…and 99% of you already know that this is….lack of volume (traffic).  A long tail keyword might receive 100 searches a month or it might receive 1 search a month.  Obviously it depends on the keyword, but a long tail keyword will never be able to match the volume of a short tail keyword and that’s expected…..

So should I write long tail keywords off?

This is what I really wanted to talk about in this post…

As I said, believe it or not, a ton of affiliates write off long tail keywords and decide that their time would be better spent focusing on the short tail keywords only.  Why?

This is just my opinion and from what I’ve hard over the years during consultations with people, but the reason that seems to pop up the most is that it’s easy for people to launch a campaign with a thousand keywords than it is to launch one with tens of thousands of keywords.

When you are focusing on long tail keywords because there is a lack of volume, you make up for that lack of traffic by having a ton of long tail keywords.  Now this does of course mean more ad groups and ads, however, I really believe it’s worth your time…especially for new affiliates!

You need to remember one thing here.  Most of the big affiliates are probably bidding on the same short tail keywords that you are!  Now do you really think as a new affiliate you’re going to be able to take them on head on with your limited knowledge?  Of course not!  However, as I said earlier, a lot of affiliates don’t mess with the long tails and this leaves them wide open for you!

As you start to convert on the long tails, you are then able to slowly bring in the short tails and eventually you’ll find a happy medium with the two and have a campaign that kicks butt!  So please, please don’t write off long tail keywords.  They will and always will play an important part in your affiliate campaigns if you use them right!

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Hey guys, if you missed the live show you can listen by clicking play below.  Also, if you’ve noticed you can listen to any episode we’ve done so far by going over into the Sidebar on the right and using the player that is there!  Make sure you let us know what you guys thought!  We are still trying to find the best time and day, so let us know if you like Saturday or Thursday better so far!

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The next CC Radio Show will be Thursday Evening 10PM EST on November 6th.  Make sure to head over to our CC Radio Show Page and Subscribe to our feed or setup a reminder so you don’t miss it!  Also, we are still trying some different days and times as not everyone liked Saturday, so if Thursday is the day you’d like to see make sure you’re there so we know!  We need to find out which day allows for the most of our readers to join in and listen live!

Sometimes being a follower may seem like it’s the right thing to do, however, most of the times when listening to what everyone else is saying instead of actually trying things out for yourself is a good way to fail in your business.

I get a little excited in this video and I wasn’t going to post it, but I was told that I should, so bear with me!

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Hey guys, today is an important today here in the United States.  It’s time for us to go out and vote for our president.  However, what amazes me is there are still alot of people out there that will not vote today.  In my opinion this is one of the most important elections we’ve had here in the states and you need to get out and vote.

You Suck if you Don’t Vote!!!  Enough said…

Vote McCain!  (Sorry I had add that plug…didn’t want to…)

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This is a guest post written by Jim Liu.  Jim Liu resides in Los Angeles, California.  He is a member of the Click Consultants Forums and other Affiliate Marketing Forums.  Jim worked on the Wall Street for nearly 13 years before deciding to move to California.  He is also a black belt martial arts instructor in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu!

One of the benefits, of being a member of Click Consultants, is that I have the ability to ask questions and get responses from super affiliate marketers such as Mystickcal, Artamon, and Kellix. One of the key points I have learned is that it is extremely important that there is portfolio diversification within your affiliate marketing business. especially with my 1- on- 1 session with Derek Salyers (owner of Click Consultants).

So what exactly do I mean by portfolio diversification?  Quite simply, I’m talking about making sure you are running several different niches like ringtones, dating, weight loss, etc and not just running one offer!  The reason for this is because you can never be sure what’s going to happen in this business and what offers or niches may start to die or disappear.  (Ringtones for example)

I worked as a systematic trader in the currency markets for nearly 5 years. I had to carefully place my bets in the markets by doing research on past trends, and patterns in the currency markets. I understood, at that time, that portfolio diversification was an important component to keep volatility down and increase profits.

In affiliate marketing, portfolio diversification is also relevant. Having been out of the currency business for nearly 10 years, I am constantly reminded by Derek that I need to diversify my keywords (especially making it broad–instead of deep) and marketing niches.

When I first started my debt campaign, I took it to the extreme, and wrote a php script to  parse the  80,000 keywords into 3000 separate groups. When I turned on the campaign, I realized that tuning the portfolio was more than I could handle. I would regularly get IP blocked, by Yahoo, for too much activity, and had to go to the local gaming shop where they had 30 IP’s available to use.(I only used 3 in one session). Derek warned me about how many I should start with, and or course, he was right.

What I eventually saw, with a manageable portfolio, were the patterns within the keywords. I also saw how some of the long tail keywords were contributing to the overall profitability of the campaign. For me, the portfolio, as a whole, is much stronger than the few keywords that make the most money. I am beginning to think of the portfolio as an organic structure that will keep growing in profitability with time (with constant tuning).

Building portfolios in different niches, I think, is essential to survive in affiliate marketing. There is so much change due to advertisers dropping in and out, laws changing and etc., That is probably one of the reasons, why most successful affiliate marketers are younger, since they are able to change at a moment’s notice.

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