Would you attempt to build an elaborate set of custom cabinets for your kitchen without taking the time measure the space available and cut the wood to specification? Imagine the results of merely guessing on all the measurements. Measure twice, cut once – the maxim holds true every time and there is no substitute for proper preparation. If this doesn’t sound reasonable to you, then you can stop reading right here because you won’t be interested in things like keyword research.Would you take a road trip across Europe without a map? How about circumnavigate the globe on a sailboat with no compass, GPS or ocean charts? Care to find your way around the Tokyo subway system with no map or guide? Of course you wouldn’t do any of these preposterous things.Yet, perhaps you know someone who has launched a website, or written articles 
online without doing any keyword research. This is like, well, placing a plain-covered, untitled book on some obscure shelf in the New York Public Library and expecting it to get some attention. It won’t happen, no matter how good the book is.
What results should you expect when publishing a website with no keyword research?
Toss a blank envelope into the daily stream of postal mail and what will happen to it? Drop a message in a bottle in the middle of the Pacific and wait for a response. Get an unlisted phone number and sit there waiting for calls. Place a grain of sand in the Sahara Desert and tell someone to go find it. OK, I am running out of metaphors, but I hope you understand how absolutely crucial keyword research is if you want visitors to your site. There is simply no substitute unless you believe in blind luck, which can work in your favor on occasion, but is no strategy on which to build a business!
Identifying relevant and low competition keywords before you write your article and plugging them into the appropriate places in your webpage is like placing yourself in the middle of a shopping mall with a great product at a wonderful price. People will see you, buy your product and thank you for being there.Going for keywords with too high competition is like going up against WalMart with common household items. Seriously, you don’t have a prayer to rank against the web behemoths for the most popular keywords. You need to find a way in through the back door.The moral of the story: DO YOUR KEYWORD RESEARCH! Identify relevant, medium-traffic and low competition keywords and phrases to tackle. If you have a low ranking site (PR 0-2) don’t choose keywords with sites on the first page of Google that rank higher than PR3. Be reasonable. As you build your sites authority with the search engines, you will rank higher and higher and more competitive keywords will be available to you.
