DAY 3 -- Fully Brainstorm Profitable Topics for Your Best Site Concept

SBI! Modules Used Today -- Brainstorm It!, Search It!

Your DAY 3 goal is to fully brainstorm and research your chosen Site Concept to develop your Site Content Blueprint.

When Do I Register a Domain Name?

Not now. Yes, most people (those who do not have SBI!) do register a domain immediately (often a big mistake). You will only do that on DAY 5.

It's part of the reason that SBIers go to the top.

Tortoise It!

Today, DAY 3, you are going to completely brainstorm and research your chosen Site Concept. On DAY 4, you are going to more fully investigate and plan monetization options for your site.

Then and only then, assuming DAY 3 and DAY 4 "prove up" your Site Concept, will you be ready to register your perfect domain name (DAY 5).

What if it fails to "prove up?" Simple... you repeat DAYs 2-4 for your second Site Concept.

Does this seem like too much preparatory work? Are you super-anxious to start building your site? "Enough of all this planning," you say?

These are your most important DAYs...

The decisions you make on DAY 3 and DAY 4 determine the size of the success of all your efforts over the next 12 months, and beyond. So...

Time spent now is time well invested. The most common reason for failure by an SBIer (yes, it can happen!) is failing to spend the necessary time here to make the right niche decision. It is not hard, but it does require patience and thought. It might even mean modifying your current Site Concept Keyword, or choosing a different one. In other words...

Take your time and get this right. You will be well on your way to a profitable e-business.

Today's brainstorming and researching will more fully develop and define your Site Concept. You will...

• finish building a superb list of quality keywords related to your Site Concept (i.e., topics related to your niche). We call them Specific Keywords because each one will become the topic of a Keyword-Focused Content Page (KFCP). Your list will also include General Keywords (ones with a general focus, but that are related to your site's niche).
• know how much demand exists for each of those keywords, and how much real competition you face for each one.
• organize it all into a blueprint for your site's content ("Site Content Blueprint").

Wondering What a Site Content Blueprint Is?

An architect creates a blueprint for the design of a building. The contractor does not start construction of the building when the architect has the plans only half done. He waits for the entire set of plans so that he has an idea of what needs to go here, what there, when he needs concrete, etc.

In the same way, by the end of DAY 3, you will have the blueprint you need to begin building your site (your "Site Content Blueprint"). You will be planning out which keywords will go where (TIER 2 or TIER 3), and how much you will be writing about each topic (how many TIER 3s for each TIER 2).

Fully analyzing your keywords and creating a complete Site Content Blueprint will pay dividends as you build your site, just as following the architect's plans pays dividends to the contractor, who is able to complete his project on time and on budget.

Do you have your architect's hat on? Good! Let's get started...

And remember, these are your most important DAYs! Tortoise It!

Step 1 - Complete the Full Brainstorm Process on Your Site Concept.

On DAY 2, you did the Vertical Brainstorm > Site Concept Finder query, chose your Site Concept, and deleted all keywords related to the other Seeds Words. You now have an excellent starting list of keywords that contain your Site Concept Keyword, many of which will be the topics of future Keyword-Focused Content Pages ("KFCP," more on this below).

Frankly, if you really like your chosen niche and its list of keywords the way it is right now, you could skip lateral brainstorming and move on to the next step. In business, though, it's wise to leave no stone unturned. So let's proceed with a lateral brainstorm. You will...

1. Lateral brainstorm to grow your Master Keyword List (i.e., find keywords that are related to your Site Concept Keyword, but that do not contain your Seed Word).
2. Delete irrelevant lateral keywords.
3. Blend with vertical keywords (from DAY 2).

Lateral Brainstorm To Grow Your Master Keyword List

Return to Brainstormer and begin a Lateral Brainstormer query. The process is fast and simple...

STEP 1) Select Lateral Brainstorm.

STEP 2) Select Lateral Brainstormer.

Remember to read the in-context help on the right when you first do any query.

STEP 3) Enter your Seed Word.

As usual, STEP 3 appears when you select the resource (in this case, Lateral Brainstormer). Enter your chosen Site Concept Keyword and click Brainstorm It!...

When the Lateral Brainstorm completes its work (which takes a few minutes because it visits the top 200 sites found in Google), you are sent to the MKL again.

All newly brainstormed words are in blue, as we discussed in DAY 2. For your convenience, they appear at the top of your Master Keyword List ("MKL") after any brainstorm.

What do you see? An "interesting grab bag" of words. Some are excellent future Web pages for your site. But others are numbers, utter nonsense or other words that are irrelevant to your Site Concept, all of which we will eliminate in a moment.

Delete Irrelevant Lateral Keywords

Clicking on the Keywords heading label sorts your keywords alphabetically. Clicking again sorts in reverse-order (this opposite-direction-sort effect is true for every blue column heading label). Click to sort your keywords in A-Z alphabetical order.

This brings numbers and years to the top. You likely don't want many, if any, of these. Add a check to any numbers or years that do not relate to your Site Concept, like this...

Keep going through your list of lateral keywords and add a check to words that are not relevant to your Site Concept. Don't worry about Supply and Demand right now. Just check every keyword that has no relevance to your Site Concept.

Once you have added checks to all the keywords you want to delete, click on the "sort checkboxes icon" ( ) at the very top of this column to sort the keywords with checked boxes to the top. Review them to ensure you are not deleting keywords you want to keep. All set? Delete all of the checked keywords by selecting Delete Checked from the Select Action menu, like this...

Blend With Vertical Keywords (from DAY 2)

You now have two strong sets of keywords...

• the remaining, relevant Lateral Keywords brainstormed in DAY 3 (often around 200 keywords), and of course...
• up to 333 Vertical Keywords that you brainstormed in DAY 2 (this number depends on how many were returned by the Site Concept Finder query, and on how many words you deleted).

Let's blend both groups together by choosing All (from the Seed Word menu) and clicking on All Keywords. Then sort them alphabetically...

Good job! You now have a consolidated Master Keyword List that makes your upcoming keyword evaluation and additional research much easier. Give yourself a pat on the back. I'd do it myself, but I'm just an icon!

Step 2 - Add More Keywords to Your Site Concept's MKL. (Optional)

At this point, if you have over 300 keywords and you are happy with your Master Keyword List, you could jump straight to creating your Site Content Blueprint in Step 3, but before you do...

Always Be on the Lookout for New Keywords for Your MKL

Never think that your MKL is finished. Maintain a 24x7 "on-the-hunt" mindset for new keywords...

• while you're working with your Master Keyword List
• while you're creating content for a certain keyword
• while doing other research or other work related to your site
• while in the bath (naturally)
• and if you're really keen, while you sleep! Eureka!

To brainstorm even more keywords, think like your customers. Who are they? Who belongs to your target group? What do they do? Break them down into segments (i.e., retirees, hobbyists, fixed income, health-care providers, etc.). What do they want?

What kind of searches do they do... not just related to your theme, but about "nearby themes"? Think about their needs and wishes/desires. Provide the information and solutions they want. Go where they are (content-wise). Intercept them at the Search Engines' results pages!

Add each extra keyword to an existing Seed Word's list using the Add Keyword tool.

And if you want Brainstorm It! to generate more content ideas at a later date, come back here to Step 2. You'll have the added benefit of visitor response to your site to guide you towards areas that your visitors are most interested in.

Click here to begin working on your Site Content Blueprint.

Does your MKL have fewer than 300 relevant keywords at this stage? Then consider the following strategies, in order of importance. They will fill out your MKL with more relevant keywords. There is no need to do them all, though. Stop when your MKL has more than 300 relevant keywords.

Use Important Vertical Keywords To "Deep Brainstorm" (Optional)

As mentioned earlier, your vertically brainstormed keywords are your most important ones. And several of those will be your important "money words." In the case of Anguilla, it will be words like "Anguilla hotels" and "Anguilla villas," even "Anguilla real estate" (if the market is hot). You should already know those words if you know your Site Concept, but here's a quick way to find them...

1. Filter for "Anguilla" (the exact Seed Word) by typing it into the Keyword filter box. This brings back all keywords that contain your Site Concept Keyword.
2. Type 100 (adjust the number higher according to how competitive your niche is), set to greater than, into both the Value Demand and Real Supply filters.

Review this list of keywords. Then...

Do a Lateral brainstorm on each "money word" to bring back more keywords that are related to the Seed Word, but don't contain it (ex., "Exclusivity Villa," topics on renting villas, etc.). Don't bother with a Vertical brainstorm of a vertical keyword (ex., "anguilla villas"). That will bring back only a very small subset of keywords, and they will all contain the original Seed Word.

This is a quick way to load up your MKL with top-notch dollar-generating topics. Of course, you can do the same for less commercial topics like "Anguilla beaches." This will bring back more general interest topics to create content for.

But remember to "master the money words."

Use General Keywords To "Branch-Brainstorm" (Optional)

Remember General Keywords? Those are the lateral keywords with a general focus that are related to your site's niche. They were blue (above) right after you did your Lateral Brainstorm.

They won't always be blue, of course. After you log out and return, they will be black. Here's how to find these high-Supply, high-Demand laterally-brainstormed keywords ...

1. Click the All Keywords button to remove any filters or sorts that might have previously been set.
2. Select your Site Concept Keyword (ex., "anguilla") in the Seed Word drop-down menu.
3. Click on the Filter button and select excludes in the Keyword filter. Then enter that same Seed Word ("anguilla"). This excludes all keywords containing the Seed, which means that the Vertical Brainstorm keywords are excluded. Only those words that were laterally brainstormed (i.e., do not contain the Seed Word) are displayed in the MKL, automatically, like this...



4. Choose greater than for the Real Supply filter and type 100000 into its filter box.
5. Choose greater than for the Value Demand filter and type 50000 into its filter box.
6. Click twice on the Real Supply column label to sort keywords with highest Supply to the top.

Your MKL should now look something like this...

Let's get back to Branch Brainstorming...

General Keywords provide useful "branch-brainstorming" opportunities. This branching may take your Site Concept in a slightly different direction than you originally anticipated. For example...

Suppose you were planning a site about "cholesterol." As you reviewed your MKL, you realize that this is a boring, rather unfocused theme that needs some spark. So now you review your General Keywords, looking for interesting ones that might add a little sparkle to your theme.

You discover General Keywords like "heart disease" and "stroke" and "recipes." So...

Perform a Vertical Brainstorm for "stroke" (without the quotes). You don't find many useful words, though, so you delete them all (prevent "keyword list pollution" -- delete unusable words as soon as you spot them). Next...

Do a Vertical brainstorm for "heart disease" (without the quotes). Bingo! You find a good set of heart-related keywords, many related to cholesterol. But maybe we can do even better...

Use Specific Lateral Keywords to "Branch-Brainstorm." (Optional)

Here's an interesting twist on the previous step. Click All Keywords to eliminate the filters and sorts. Do a filter to retrieve Lateral Keywords (repeat the first 3 of 1-6 just above). You don't want General Keywords this time. Now...

Sort by Supply, clicking once to sort the lowest Supply Keywords to the top. These are Lateral Keywords (i.e., they do not contain your Site Concept Keywords), but they are very specific in nature (the lower the Supply, the more specific). As you scan, you find "coronary artery disease."

This time, do a Lateral Brainstorm on this term. An excellent list of keywords come back... "angina," "myocardial infarction," "heart attack," "stress test," etc., etc. You have found the motherlode of superb "heart-related" words to add to your "cholesterol"-generated MKL.

Grow An Interesting Branch... See Where It Goes

However you discover it, once you find a "branch with potential," brainstorm and research it fully, using Vertical and Lateral Brainstorms as needed to flesh out the set of keywords that will be the topics of the pages of your new Web business.

Keep your mind open, by the way. This "branch" may be a way to improve your original Site Concept. And that alone is great. But, if a "branch" brainstorms especially well, could it in fact be a better Site Concept? Just a thought!

Skip to Step 3 to start working on your Site Content Blueprint, or keep reading about the final 2 options for finding more keywords...

Use Search It!'s Brainstorming Tools (Optional)

Use Search It! to perform some supplemental brainstorming...

Select Brainstorming as STEP 1 ("Select Search Category"). Then explore STEP 2 options ("Select Search Types")...

Try the various brainstorming options in STEP 2. Be sure to click on the small blue Click Here for Information About Search Type AFTER Completing Step 1 & Step 2 link for online help each time you try a new Search Type).

When you find a relevant new keyword, you can either...

• Return to the Brainstormer tool and enter it as a new Seed Word, using a Vertical Brainstorm. This brainstorm will automatically add that word, plus several other keywords that contain the Seed, to your MKL!. Use this option only if you feel there is potential to bring back several keywords ("multi-word" potential). Or...
• Add the relevant new keyword to a list of keywords that already belongs to an existing Seed Word. Here's how...

  Click on the Add Keyword button...

  

  Read the help for this function before you add your first keyword. Or click here to read the help now.

  Enter the keyword in the tool that appears. If you want to add it to an existing Seed Word, select that seed from the Associate with menu...

  

  Then click on the Add New Keyword button. You'll get the Value Demand, Real Supply and Profitability for that keyword. Keep the added keyword if it looks good. Delete if it doesn't.

A Final Option, Only If Necessary: One More Lateralizer... "The Ultimate"

If you want to be really, really complete, or if you seem to be "short on keywords" and need to squeeze some more out of your primary Seed Word, you can do one more Lateral Brainstorm. Below the "Lateral Brainstorm > Lateral Brainstormer" in the Brainstormer drop-down menu, you'll notice another option...

STEP 1) Select Lateral Brainstorm

STEP 2) Select Ultimate Outside Lateralizer

Congratulations!

You're heading towards a nicely developed niche, with a domain like "cholesterol-and-your-heart.com." (Or, if you had "branch-brainstormed" the keyword "recipes," perhaps your site would be "cholesterol-reducing-recipes.com.")

Step 3 - Steadily Design Your Site Content Blueprint.

It's time to stop brainstorming. No more adding keywords to your MKL. Instead, it's time to design your Site Content Blueprint. How?

Well, it's much like the old joke about how you make a sculpture of an elephant...

You start with a big block of concrete and then you chip away anything that does not look like an elephant!

That means you are about to get ruthless with your Master Keyword List. You'll be using all the MKL tools to "chip away" at your MKL and reduce and organize your keywords into your Site Content Blueprint...

There is a forum specifically about Working With Your Master Keyword List if you need a little advice from fellow SBIers (remember, give back to the community by helping someone figure out something else).

As you "chip away" (i.e., review and analyze) your Master Keyword List, you refine (or in some cases, merely confirm and tighten) your original Site Concept. You start organizing keywords (each of which is the topic for a quality content page) into logical groupings, and sub-groupings, within your soon-to-be Web site.

You also look at which keywords are good for interactive Content 2.0 invitations.

As you plan your site's architecture, start thinking about how you will implement Content 2.0 once you have several visitors coming to your site. Mentally flag a popular topic/TIER page for your first invitation, something provocative or with wide appeal that will make people want to jump right into the conversation. (For example, see how this invitation hit a chord with Nori's audience.) Do any other TIER pages strike you as having good C2 potential? Store that information in your mind or make a note of it for later on when you are ready to add invitations.

So what's the end result of all this chipping and organizing? The groupings and sub-groupings become your Site Content Blueprint. Actually, your blueprint already exists in your MKL right now, just like that elephant exists in the block of concrete...

You just have to chip away until you have it!

This step covers the techniques you will use to delete, group and organize your MKL keywords into the three-tiered blueprint structure that works so well for both humans and spiders....

• TIER 1 (home page)   This KFCP focuses on your Site Concept word (ex., "Anguilla"). It links to TIER 2 pages.
• TIER 2 (NavBar button pages)   These KFCPs are the hub pages, linking from TIER 1 and linking to TIER 3 pages. Each is a major subcategory of the Site Concept (ex., "Anguilla villas" and "Anguilla shopping" and "Anguilla beaches"). And they should be "big enough" to break down into their own sub-subcategories...
• TIER 3 (most of your pages)   These should logically be related to, or be subcategories of, their respective TIER 2 pages. For example, "Anguilla villas" can be logically divided into articles about Anguilla villas (ex., legalities, trends, how to find and rent them, etc.) and feature some special villas (who just may pay you for the special coverage).

As you follow along below, always keep in mind that each keyword should "fit" into your evolving 3-TIERed Site Content Blueprint, something like this...

How To Turn Your Master Keyword List Into a Site Content Blueprint

There's no magic involved with this transition. It's a simple mindset change... look at your MKL as a tool for designing a Site Content Blueprint, the foundation upon which you will grow your business. In order to get a clear, unobstructed "view" of your MKL, you'll do one last fine-tuning by "keeping the best and dumping the rest." Here's how...

1. Look at the quality of the keywords based on relevance to your niche, and on your knowledge and passion for this topic.
2. Study the keywords based on the numbers brought back by the three pre-set tasks and custom filtering, which we will discuss below.

As you go through the Step 3 process, delete from your MKL any keywords that you do not want and keep the best. Start thinking and taking notes about how you are going to group keywords into your 3-TIER structure.

Okay, let's get started...

Do a Qualitative Review Using Your Human Judgement

As you review all your Site Concept's keywords...

• consider the refined theme that you have been developing (ex., "cholesterol" may have turned into "cholesterol-reducing recipes."
• think about the 3 TIERs that are forming in your mind (including which keywords would be great to use with Content 2.0) and use the spreadsheet to start building your 3-TIER site architecture.

Ask yourself these two questions...

• Does each keyword really fit your (refined) Site Concept?
• Does this keyword fit into one of the 3 TIERs?

For example, by now you may have refined your "Anguilla travel" theme into "high end Anguilla." In that case...

• "cheap Anguilla hotels" may not belong. Delete the keyword from your MKL.
• "Offshore Finances" now becomes a good choice for a "TIER 2," whereas before, it may have been a "drop it" (or borderline TIER 3). Place it in TIER 2 in your spreadsheet.

From this big-picture thinking, let's zoom in now and ask these 3 questions about the quality of the keywords in your MKL...

• Is this a word you want to write about, knowing that your visitors are interested in this topic?
• Can you think of a way to monetize this keyword? If you can, leave a "DAY 4" note for yourself in the Notepad for that keyword. If you write "DAY 4" in the Notepad, you can use the Notepad filter using "DAY 4" to find those notes when you're ready!
• Is it a "keyweird"? Brainstorm It! is state-of-the-Web, but it is still only a tool. You need to interpret the data. It may bring back perplexing nonsense keywords. Do not be misled... human judgement rules.

An example would be good about now, right? At this point, you may have refined your "Anguilla travel" theme into "high end Anguilla." In that case...

Keep keywords that are still relevant and that fit into the 3-TIER site architecture. Ideally, you should also be knowledgeable and passionate about these keywords -- it's wonderful when "work" is "play." Passion shines on Web sites... without trying! We've talked about passion enough, but let's digress for a moment with these optional discussions on...

• the power of relevance and
• the power of knowledge (and how to supplement your knowledge with solid research).

Great work!

Before we move on to the second examination, a numerical review of the Value Demand, Real Supply and Profitability of your keywords, let's first clear up a common misconception about Profitability and Monetization Potential...

Clearing Up a Common Misconception

Profitability and Monetization Potential are not the same!

Value Demand, Real Supply and Profitability relate to how in-demand/commercial your keywords are, how competitive they are, and the relative value (risk/reward) of "trying to win" for each keyword. You have to consider how much competition you are willing to face, how much Demand there is for those keywords (an indication of how much traffic you'll get), and the Overall Profitability when you look at the ratio of Supply/Demand across many of your keywords.

Monetization Potential is the income-earning potential of (how much money you can earn from) various monetization models for your e-business.

The Big Bottom Line? Value Demand/Real Supply/Profitability are keyword-based. They give you an idea of how much traffic you can get, for how many keywords, for what type of keywords, and how much work it will take to overcome the competition. It's not income itself, but it is definitely related to income and it is important to consider because...

No traffic, no money. Some traffic, some money. Good quality traffic, most money.

Now, with that misconception behind us forever(!), it's time to examine your keywords again, looking at the numbers...

Do a Numerical Review Using Pre-Set Tasks and Custom Filtering

Use pre-set tasks and custom filtering to evaluate keywords' Value Demand, Real Supply and Profitability.

Obviously, keep the high-Profitability keywords. And hold onto high Demand keywords even if they have high Supply (i.e., lower Profitability), too. Why?

You may not win the Search Engine "wars" for these keywords right away, but when you do, they are valuable pages. They often make valuable TIER 2 pages. And visitors will also find these pages by navigating through your site from pages they do find at the engines.

Low-profitability keywords can also be valuable if they fit well with the Site Concept and within your 3-TIER site structure. Why? They usually deliver your first visitors because it is easier to rank highly for them. They have an important "start-the-traffic-snowball" role. And there are many of them, so the traffic adds up. (More about this in the Site Content Blueprint section below).

Those are general concepts. Now let's look at the numbers related to each of those concepts. We'll do that using the 3 pre-set tasks...

• Lower Profitability finds keywords that have above-average Real Supply and low Value Demand. The filters are pre-set as a starting point. Change the numbers to find better or worse profitability. Highlight the number, delete it and enter your own. Delete the worst of the bunch, especially if the relevance is shaky.
• General Competitive finds keywords with high Real Supply and Value Demand (highest 20% for both). These keywords are General Keywords. Eliminate them unless they are directly relevant. Change the numbers of the filters to find keywords with different Supply and/or Demand numbers.

• Solid Potential finds keywords that will form the core of your site. These "bread-and-butter" keywords have reasonably good profitability (above-average Demand and mid-range Supply). Some of these will be TIER 2 keywords, but most will be TIER 3 keywords.

  Important Note

  If your Seed Word brought back a list of low-value keywords, then the Solid Potential task will only bring back the best of those keywords. Remember, garbage in, garbage out!

There are several different ways to review and evaluate your keywords...

• Use each of the 3 pre-set tasks as is.
• Customize each of the 3 pre-set tasks by clicking the Filter button to show the filter boxes and then experimenting with different filter values and different sorts.



• If you really like working with numbers, use completely custom, or free form, filtering. (If number crunching is not your thing, you can skip this evaluation and still have a great set of keywords to build your Site Content Blueprint.) Sequential filtering brings back different sets of results when you change the filter order.

  For example, you won't find the same set of keywords if you filter the best 50% Demand keywords first, and the best 50% Supply keywords second... compared to vice-versa. Compare the two screenshots below for an example of the difference that filter order can make....

Highest 50% Supply followed by lowest 50% Demand, sorted by Profitability.

Lowest 50% Demand followed by highest 50% Supply, sorted by Profitability.

You may find that some keywords appear in the results of both the Lower Profitability task and the Solid Potential task. Why? Because of the overlap in the percentages used in these pre-set tasks.

For example, since Lower Profitability finds the 50% of all keywords with the highest Supply, and Solid Potential finds the mid-range of all keywords (20% to 80%), the same keywords can appear in the 50% to 80% range. Using those keywords, those at the high end of the lowest 30% Demand (Lower Profitability) may also be at the low end of the highest 60% Demand for words returned by the Solid Potential task.

Each of the three pre-set tasks and the custom filtering find a different type of keyword. Your reactions to each word will vary...

• You will eliminate some (low Demand and Profitability).
• You will want to write about others very soon (ex., "the basics," which tend to have higher Demand and Supply -- Home Page, important TIER 2s and strong TIER 3 pages).
• Others are prioritized after that (ex., lower Demand with lower Supply before the lower Demand keywords with higher Supply and also before higher Demand with higher Supply -- these will all become solid, topical content, but you want to get the easier traffic started ASAP).

Here are some other types of keywords to look for...

• near-zero Demand   Keep the highly relevant keywords, even if near-zero. But drop the rest. Use the Lower Profitability pre-set task to quickly find keywords with near-zero demand.
• near-zero Supply   Many of these will be nonsense-type words. But do keep your eyes open for overlooked "keyword gems" (good Demand/low Supply). Low-Supply words are easy to rank highly at the Search Engines, and great for "starter traffic!"
• super-high Demand and/or Supply   These words are usually highly generic. They are worth keeping if related to your Site Concept. You will scatter these General Keywords into the content of appropriate pages (useful for being found by searches for Word Combos. Use the General Competitive pre-set task to find these words.
• near-zero Profitability   Again, keep quality, highly relevant words. There is long-term value in providing good content for low-Profitability words that are highly relevant to your Site Concept. But drop low-Profitability keywords with poor relevance.
• Keyweirds   We discussed "keyweirds" during the Qualitative Review. There, this term related to words or phrases that made no sense to you based on knowledge of your niche. Here, keyweirds are based on weird Demand or Supply. As always... do not be misled -- human judgement rules.

Bottom line? Thinking about the results from your qualitative and numerical reviews gives you additional insight into your keywords, which are, after all, the raw material of your future.

Step 4 - Finish Your Site Content Blueprint.

Review of the Three TIERs

Your blueprint should be so clear and solid that the site can almost write itself! And your schedule should realistically enable you to execute the plan.

The following is a simple review for what you leave this day with... your 3-TIER Site Content Blueprint.

TIER 1   Where to start? Your home page!

Your Site Concept Keyword is one of your highest Demand keywords. Ultimately, it will be the most highly visited Web page. It won't be your first page to rank highly at the engines (it will likely be one of the last since it also has one of the highest Supply values among your Specific Keywords).

For example, "anguilla" won the DAY 2 selection process, having solid Demand and winnable Supply. And it has survived DAY 3, having added some good lateral keywords, and dividing up nicely into 3 TIERs. Assuming it "makes the cut" during DAY 4 (evaluating monetization potential), "Anguilla" is going to be the Site Concept Keyword (i.e., be the topic of your home page, TIER 1).

TIER 2   This is the all-important hub tier. Which keywords from your MKL make good TIER 2s? Choose the ones that sub-divide well, naturally leading to several TIER 3 pages that are sub-topics of each TIER 2. Here's an example...

"Anguilla Hotels" is a TIER 2 page that discusses the topic of "Anguilla hotels" in general terms...

• It links to TIER 3 pages that each cover a specific Anguilla hotel.
• It links to other TIER 3 pages that are contextually relevant.
• It also cross-links to another TIER 2 page, this one about lower-cost Anguilla hotels.
• And it offers a Content 2.0 Invitation (which you'll learn about on DAYs 6, 7 and 8), so it has links to yet more hotels.

The result is a high-powered, high-value page that ranks highly at Google. This page is her top AdSense earner (equal with her home page due to reasonable Demand and high CPC dollar-value of the keyword).

In effect, what Nori has done is create a mini-site on Anguilla hotels within the larger authoritative site about all of Anguilla.

And that brings up other, secondary considerations when choosing a TIER 2. A site's natural organization is the most important factor. But if many keywords subdivide well into TIER 3s, lean towards keywords with...

• high Demand, reasonable Supply -- it's nice if the TIER 2 is highly profitable, but sub-division is the most important criterion
• a good number of potential monetization options (DAY 4) -- again, sub-division is the most important criterion.

TIER 2 pages are the critical hub pages between your home page (TIER 1) and your TIER 3 pages (the last effective tier). They logically flow/subcategorize/link into TIER 3 pages. High Demand and high CPC are nice bonuses. Why?

These pages will, once your site matures, be found at the engines more frequently than TIER 3 pages. And since they are "NavBar button pages," visitors will click to visit them more often, too. So plan to monetize your TIER 2 pages, one way or another.

Here are more TIER 2 keyword examples... "Anguilla real estate" and "Anguilla shopping" both fill the key sub-dividable-into-TIER-3s criterion for TIER 2 pages. One is highly profitable/monetizable (a real estate agent pays a handsome monthly retainer for leads). And "Anguilla shopping" is not (although a new partner in Anguilla is going to try to secure local advertising income!). The key point to retain...

Site structure (i.e., natural sub-categorization/flow/linking to numerous TIER 3s) is most important. Humans must feel that you have sliced and diced a site in a logical, easy-to-understand manner.

TIER 3   The mass of your Content ultimately resides in TIER 3. Think of it as the big, solid foundation of your 3-TIER structure. If you have chosen your TIER 2s well, these keywords are easy to slot into place.

Your Site Content Blueprint is taking shape nicely. Once you have most of your TIER 2 pages nailed down, you can assign the remaining keywords to TIER 3. These are the pages that TIER 2 pages link to, in the same way that the TIER 1 (home) page links to TIER 2s. However...

While your home page links to TIER 2s through a graphic NavBar and a text Table of Contents, your TIER 2 pages should generally link to TIER 3 through contextual, within-the-body links. These TIER 3 pages should have something to do with the TIER 2 "parent," so that should not be difficult.

OK, now take this one step further...

Site Content Blueprint
Mini-Sites Within Your Site

Think of each TIER 2 and its TIER 3s as a mini-theme-site within your main site. Tie each TIER 2 and its TIER 3s all together for both your human visitors and the engines. Here's how...

Let's say you want to cover several mini-reviews of hotels on your TIER 2 "Anguilla hotel" page. You can't squeeze them all into the page comfortably. Or perhaps you add new ones later. List those in a brief "Table of Contents" near the bottom of the page. Use a brief headline (linking to the TIER 3), followed by a short description or teaser. Do that for each one.

Or perhaps your TIER 2 on "Anguilla condos" is an interview with a local real estate agent about Anguilla condos. You include a couple of in-context text links during the course of the article, naturally. You add updates and links to Anguilla condos in a "text TOC" at the end of the page, like this...

And turnaround is more than fair play...

Link the TIER 3s back to the TIER 2, either within the content or at the end of each page (or both). It is good navigation to link a TIER 3 back to its TIER 2 and the home page (TIER 1) with text links at the end of each page...

How Big/Detailed Should Your Site Content Blueprint Be?

Great question! The answer depends on you. How detailed do you like to plan? You only have to include the number of pages in your blueprint that you will have time to build during your first 6 months to 1 year.

Three quick examples...

• If you organize your MKL into 7 TIER 2s, and then lay out 7 TIER 3s for each TIER 2, that's 49 TIER 3 pages all planned out. Together with the 7 TIER 2s and the home page, you have the blueprint for a 57-page site.
• If you like to plan in more detail, map out 10 TIER 2s and, say, 10 TIER 3s per TIER 2. That's a 111-page site all planned out.
• Finally, the "mega-plan." Place 15 keywords into TIER 2 and 15 more for each of them into TIER 3. That's 241 pages, more than enough!

Naturally, not all TIER 2s "divide up" with exactly the same number of TIER 3s. Some will have more than others. The key point is to start picking pages for TIER 2s (major subcategories of the Site Concept that also can be subdivided logically/naturally into TIER 3s). And the most important point...

3-TIER Structure Summary

The home page crowns the pinnacle. It's a Keyword-Focused Content Page that focuses on your Site Concept Keyword. And here's a critical error that many small businesses online (not you, though) make...

Your home page should never link out of your site -- it's too early. The only exception is when you monetize (ex., through Google AdSense). Your home page's main structural job is to link to approximately 5-15 TIER 2 KFCPs.

Each TIER 2 page should be a good "hub" page, working well as a logical link from the home page and naturally linking to 5-15 TIER 3 pages (which are related but more specific in nature, usually a subcategory of the TIER 2 subject matter). It's an added bonus if a TIER 2 also has high Demand (with reasonable Supply) and solid monetizability.

The TIER 3s? If TIER 1 is the trunk of a tree and your TIER 2s are its branches, then TIER 3s are the leaves. In the same way leaves fill our planet with oxygen, all those TIER 3s add up and fill your coffers with dollars.

And with that over-stretched analogy, it's time to wrap up!

Moving Forward...

Phew! Just about done. Blueprint in hand, you're roaring to register your domain. But first, let's devote DAY 4 to verifying and planning your monetization models. After all, you may have a wonderful Site Concept, one that excites you, and with theoretically profitable keywords.

But monetization is where the rubber hits the road. You could say...

It pays to be sure!

Let's go to DAY 4.