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 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're 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. So...

Time spent now is time well spent.

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

• finish building a superb list of quality keywords related to your concept.
• know how in-demand they are, and how much competition you face.
• organize it all into a blueprint for your site's Content.

Let's get started...

And remember, these are your most important DAYs!

Step 1 - Complete the full Brainstorm process on your Site Concept.

The process is fast and simple...

Lateral Brainstorm To Grow Your Master Keyword List

Return to Brainstormer and begin a Lateral Brainstorm query. This will return keywords that do not contain your Seed word, but are related to it.

On DAY 2, you did the Vertical Brainstorm > Singular AND Plural or the Vertical Brainstorm > Singular OR Plural query and saved the results for your chosen Site Concept. Now do the following...

• Lateral Brainstorm > Google Top 200

Remember, click the Click Here for Information AFTER Completing Steps 1 & 2 link when you first do any query.

As usual, Step 3 appears when you select the query (in this case, Google Top 200). Enter your chosen Site Concept Keyword and click Brainstorm It!...

When the lateral query completes its work (takes a few minutes because it visits 200 sites), you are sent to the MKL again. And once again...

Prune out the poor keywords, like you did during DAY 2. A sloppy MKL leads to sloppy thinking and planning later on. So prune out nonsense, irrelevant, and very low Demand keywords now.

Watch for related "General Keywords." They can be quite important...

Keywords with very high Demand and very high Supply tend to be more general in nature. We call such words "General Keywords." Keep them if they are related to your Site Concept keyword, or if they're related to a Specific Keyword that will form the topic of a future KFCP).

If they're not related to your concept or one of your keywords, delete them. The word "real estate" is a General Keyword if your site is about Anguilla...

...but not if it's about chainsaw-sculpturing!

Chainsaw-sculpturing? Don't ask.

Keep General Keywords, even if they are very general in nature (ex., "travel" for "Anguilla"). Especially watch for nicely related ones (ex., "Caribbean" and "cheap airfares" and "vacation rentals").

If you're unsure, ask yourself if a surfer might search for "Anguilla AND travel" or "+Anguilla +travel", which are two ways of asking the Search Engine to find pages for which both terms must be on the page (although not necessarily together as a phrase).

This kind of search is called a Word Combo. If you do have a Word Combo, then the General Keyword is related and should be kept. If not, delete!

Finished pruning? Let's see where we are...

Your DAY 2 Vertical brainstorm and research, together with the current DAY 3 Lateral brainstorming, combine to get you off to a strong, full start. You have a tremendous quantity and quality of relevant keywords.

You have now completed a "full brainstorm" (vertical and lateral) for your Site Concept Keyword. After pruning, you likely have 200-500 or more keywords, with Value Demand, Real Supply and Profitability data.

Now let's see if you can do better than what you have...

Fine-Tune, Adjust & Side-Branch Your Site Concept

Take an hour or so and review your new Master Keyword List. Think about the list of lateralized keywords differently this time. Look for possible new directions, for ways to improve the theme, for monetization opportunities.

For example, suppose you did a Google Top 200 on New York, knowing that New York was too broad but that maybe the "lateral grab bag" might give you something to grab at. And Bingo! What do you see?

"Tribeca" -- what about tribeca-new-york.com? Only one way to know for sure... Return to DAY 2 and do a Vertical brainstorm on Tribeca!

Hey, exciting! Let's run through the MKL one last time...

Click on the Keywords column text link to sort your keywords alphabetically. It's the easiest way to find a keyword. After your "alphabetical review"...

Sort by clicking on each of the column headings for Value Demand, Real Supply, and Profitability. Review each sorting for a new perspective.

Watch for interesting and important keywords that might help you "fine-tune" or adjust your Site Concept. Sorting will identify some of these.

And the MKL Search functionality will help find others. This searching feature is powerful and flexible (click here for MKL online help about MKL Search). It is very useful for finding pockets of valuable keywords to keep, as well as finding useless keywords to delete (ex., very low-Demand keywords).

General Keywords and Side-Branch-Brainstorming

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

You were planning a site about "cholesterol," but as you review the words you realize that this is a boring, broad theme that needs some spark and focus. You discover interesting General Keywords like "heart disease" and "stroke" and "recipes." So...

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

Repeat the query for "heart disease" (without the quotes). Bingo! You find a motherlode of heart-related keywords, many related to cholesterol.

If you uncover an interesting "side-branch" or entire new direction like this, brainstorm and research it fully, repeating the steps above, including a good prune! You're heading towards a fine-tuned 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.")

The key to branch-brainstorming? Look for General Keywords that have the right blend of specificity and relevance. If you brainstorm a keyword that is too general and non-specific, you will bring back too much junk.

A final tip... Take your time. Explore. Research. Study. Be sure. You're finished with this step when you are certain that you are unable to improve your Master Keyword List.

Step 2 - Keep the best, dump the rest.

You are about to get ruthless with your Master Keyword List. You'll be using all the MKL tools (so review the MKL help now if you have not already done so). And there is a vibrant 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).

OK, you've pruned. But this time, one last time, let's get ruthless. Review your MKL and delete the following...

• nonsense   BI! can't think (yet), so it'll bring back some nonsense.
• irrelevant   Does each keyword really fit your Site Concept?
• near-zero Demand   Keep the highly relevant keywords, even if near-zero. But drop the rest.
• 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, 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 ).

Work in General Keywords that will likely be associated with the specific keyword (i.e., the topic) of a Web page. Why? If someone searches with your Specific Keyword AND adds one of these General Keywords into the Search Term, you'll have a good shot at being found. That kind of search is called a "Word Combo" and is used often now that surfers have become more sophisticated.

• 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.

Keep keywords that...

• are relevant to your Site Concept
• fit into the 3-TIER site architecture
• you are knowledgeable about
• excite you
• have good profitability/monetization potential.

Each keyword you keep must have at least one of the assets mentioned above. Let's look at each now...

Relevance   The best way to score with both Search Engines and your human visitors is to focus your site on a single theme and to have each page focus on a topic (a Specific Keyword) related to that theme. Humans prefer to see a tightly focused theme across all pages. So, therefore, do the engines.

A diluted site will rank poorly with your visitors who do not see the quality and depth of information that they're seeking about a particular subject. As a result, your visitors do not consider you as a focused, credible source. With a mouse click, they are off to find a more satisfactory site.

And yes, "Mother Google" sees that behavior. So keep all your topical keywords focused on your Site Concept, your site's central theme.

While reviewing and pruning your MKL, think of each keyword as the topic of one of your site's upcoming Keyword-Focused Content Pages ("KFCPs"). Because that is exactly what each keyword is... a topic.

An effective KFCP wraps high-value content around a Specific Keyword (i.e., the topic for that page)... which both human visitors and Search Engines love. Not all keywords have to be high Demand/low Supply, but they do all have to add something to your visitor's experience. Developing a high number of relevant keywords provides you with lots of opportunity for Content creation...

You weave a wide web of topical pages of interest. They "catch" the surfers (via search results) who are interested in those topics. Since each topic is related to your site's theme, the visitor is likely interested in the theme, too. So your site gets multiple page visits as the surfer "surfs."

Search Engine rankings, multiple page visits, and effective PREselling are 3 good reasons why Theme-Based Content Sites are so powerful.

3-TIER Fit Each keyword should "fit" into an evolving 3-TIERed site blueprint of your Content, something like this...

(TIER 1 is your home page.) TIER 2 are NavBar button pages, linked to from

your home page. And TIER 3s are the vast majority of your pages, reached via TIER 2s. More on this in the Site Content Blueprint section below.

Knowledge   It's important to be able to OVERdeliver solid content ("PREselling"). This comes easiest when you have first-hand knowledge about the subject matter. Yes, of course, you can supplement with research...

If you know little-or-nothing about a keyword that would be great subject matter for your site, the Reference Library For Content in Search It! will be glad to come to your rescue!

For example, let's say that "Museum of Modern Art" turns up while brainstorming on "New York." It interests you, but you don't know a lot about it. What's the solution? Research!

Buy a travel book on New York if you need research material about the Museum of Modern Art. Or, better and faster and cheaper, use Search It!'s Reference Library for Content -- its set of reference tools is unmatched. (More on this in DAY 5.)

Even though you can and should research, nothing beats the authentic voice of true experience. The stories you tell, the details you provide -- it all adds up to "R-E-A-L." Keep keywords that you KNOW.

Excitement/Passion   We've talked about this enough. If you're not turned on, it's work instead of play. Passion shines on Web sites... without trying!

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. And visitors will still find them by navigating to your site from pages they do find at the engines.

Low-profitability keywords are also valuable if they fit well with the Site Concept and within the 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 "Content Blueprint" below).

We've considered Profitability and Monetization Potential to some degree already (in DAY 2). Tomorrow, we'll complete this investigation and planning.

Step 3 - Finish with "Site Content Blueprint" in hand.

As you create, build, review and analyze your Master Keyword List, you'll refine your original Site Concept. And you'll start organizing keywords (each of which is the topic for a quality content page) into logical groupings within your soon-to-be Web site. Your Content Blueprint emerges in your MKL.

The blueprint already exists in your MKL right now...

You just have to find it!

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").
• 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 and feature some special villas (which may pay for the privilege).

How Big/Detailed Should Your Blueprint Be?

Great question! And 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...

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.

More on the Three TIERS

TIER 1   Where to start? Your home page!

Your Site Concept keyword is one of your highest Demand Specific 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, so 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).

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) -- ditto.

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-3 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.

Site Blueprint
Mini-Sites Within Your Site

Your site 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...

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...

 

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!

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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.