"It may seem hard to believe, but if you know what to do, you can buy the cheapest keywords in your product segment and wind up with more customers and more sales than if you had bought high priced words," explained Glenn Livingston, Ph.D., founder of www.FreeMarketingAudios.com, an internet marketing education firm based in Windham, New Hampshire.

Search engines sell keyword clicks based on a competitive bidding formula. Experienced bidders know which words and terms are used by those who are "just looking," and which are used by surfers getting ready to make a purchase. "Just looking" prospects are viewed in the industry as less valuable and thus are much less expensive. And this, Livingston says, is where your opportunity lies.

The secret is making your web site so useful and informative that prospects you draw in early in their buying decision process (those you get from the inexpensive "just looking" clicks) find everything they need there, and lose interest in competitive sites.

"As their level of buying interest increases, progressing along what is called 'the search continuum,' they go deeper and deeper into your site for information, rather than clicking around the search results looking elsewhere," noted Livingston.

"Covering the entire search continuum with your web content takes your prospects out of the competitive market early, before they're even sure they're going to buy, and gives you many opportunities to sell to them when they are."

So, how do you know what to put on your site that will answer all your prospects' needs?

"You can map out your market's entire vocabulary in a simple two-question online survey," Livingston explained. "This will show you exactly how your prospects and customers 'walk through' the keyword path in your category and give you a strategic blueprint of your market that your competitors are unlikely to know about."

Getting the survey done is easy, according to Livingston. You drive people to a ready-made survey site using pay per click advertising on the top ten keywords in your market. There are free survey sites like www.DoYourSurvey.com that are inexpensive, simple to use and require no programming.

Livingston recommends asking just two questions: (1) What is your most important question about (keyword here)? And (2) How difficult has it been to find the answers? (Very, Somewhat, or Not at all).
"Once you have 30 answers for each of the keywords (300 surveys total) you'll have a good sense of everything your prospects are seeking," explained Livingston. "Then, it's up to you to provide that all in one place.

"By following these few simple steps, you've substantially increased your odds of gaining new, loyal customers," he continued. "And the best part is that you can get them on the 'just looking' keywords, where costs are much cheaper (sometimes by a factor of 10 to 1) and where there are a lot more prospects available (sometimes ten times as many). This is often the difference between getting clicks for a nickel or clicks for a dollar ... which can make or break most small businesses.
"Your prospects appreciate not having to spend time searching numerous sites to find out what they want to know, and you've taken them 'off the market' before your competitors even know they exist."

To learn more about the search continuum or about Livingston's system for doubling your business, go to: www.FreeMarketingAudios.com.

Glenn Livingston, Ph.D. is CEO of Psy Tech Inc., an internet publishing firm which helps entrepreneurs get more customers for less money and sell more to them using professional marketing research tools and techniques. Dr. Livingston previously did corporate consulting for dozens of Fortune 100 companies.