Mistake #1: Having keywords that are too narrowly focused (not having enough keywords.)

The common wisdom is to use the most relevant and targeted keywords for your site. The question is, out of the infinite keyword universe how do you determine which ones will bring you the most traffic that will buy your product?

Solution:

The only way to uncover them is through the "keyword discovery" process.  In this process, you will need to cast a wide net and try as many keywords as possible. We call this going "wide."

Here are some techniques that you can use to come up with your keyword list:

1.    Get into your customer’s mind:
Example: You're promoting a "teeth whitening" product. Naturally, you will punch "teeth whitening" into the Google keyword tool. This is a good first start, but in order to succeed with PPC advertising, you have to do more:

• Why do people want to do "teeth whitening"? Maybe because they want to have a great smile...
• Why do people want to have a great smile? Maybe because they want to increase their self- confidence...

In quick fashion, I have now come up with 2 other root keywords to use in my PPC campaign: "great smile", "increase self-confidence.

2.    Use Synonyms

3.    Get keyword ideas from competitors
This is the fastest way to come up with a variety of keyword ideas. Your competitors may have already done the exercises above, so why reinvent the wheel? Leverage what they’ve learned!

The truth is unless you're a professor of literature, coming up with different keyword ideas and keyword variations probably won’t come naturally to you.

iSpionage Keyword Tool helps you generate relevant keywords within your niche as well as find keywords that your competitors are using.