This is the third article in a series I'm doing to help people just like you who feel overwhelmed from all the information at WA. You can find the first article here -- Taking Your First Steps.

Learning how to discover good keywords is a vital affiliate marketing skill.  It can make all the difference between a successful campaign and a waste of your time.

Whether you're getting started with article marketing or PPC advertising, you've got to select a good list of keywords to reach the buyers in your niche.

Unfortunately, a lot of new marketers just gloss over this step without learning how to do the proper keyword research.  They get so excited about writing articles and building websites -- and making money -- that they forgot the old carpenter's adage ...

"Measure twice. Cut once."

But you aren't going to do that, are you? :-)

"How do I discover good keywords?"

I recommend you start with Pot Pie Girl's Keyword Research 101.  It will give you a really good overview of what keywords are and why they're so important.

Next, check out Kyle's How To Master Keyword Research.  It explains how to use Google's free keyword suggestion tool to narrow your niche down to specific keywords.

I don't know about you, but I love learning from videos ... and I've got a great one showing you the Google free keyword tool in action! 

After you finish your popcorn, you'll want to hop back over to WA and check out Uridium's The Secret Keyword Pincer Movement. 

Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing about the title, too .... but it's a really good guide explaining how to hone in on good keywords.

Last but not least, I recommend you read through the Keyword Dilemma post on the forums. 

G and I go back and forth with Ray, showing him how we would actually perform keyword research on his keywords.  G shares an amazing way to size up your competition for any particular keyword. 

This is real "in the trenches" internet marketing stuff and you don't want to miss it.

"Do I need a paid keyword tool?"

 No, you don't need a paid keyword tool.  You can do all of your keyword research using Google's free keyword tool and a spreadsheet.

But that doesn't mean you won't want one.

"Why would I want a paid keyword tool if I can just use free ones?"

Spending a little money can save you a lot of time. 

I spend hours doing keyword research with free keyword tools.  It takes a lot of my time looking up all the possible keyword combinations for my niche and logging enough data into my spreadsheet to make a good decision about whether or not I should target each keyword phrase.

So I'm going to pick up Micro Niche Finder tomorrow and put it to the test.

I'm really excited about the Strength of Competition feature.  Micro Niche Finder actually considers how strong the competition is for a given keyword and shows you a green light if it's a good keyword to target, a yellow light if you should be cautious, or a red light if the competition is too strong.

It's also really good at digging down into your niche and finding a lot of possible keyword phrases you would never discover on your own. 

Watch the videos showing how to use Micro Niche Finder for yourself and see if it will help you, too.

Next up ... 

Choose A Good Product To Promote

If you found this helpful, check out the rest of The Newbie Zone.