John Dennis

When doing keyword research, there are some tools that make life much, much easier. One of these tools is Microsoft’s free Commercial Intent Tool - which, in a nutshell, is a way to detect customer intent to acquire information or to purchase products from you (or your clients) based on their search queries or recently visited websites.

Not only do I talk about this tool with students and readers, but also with offline clients of mine when consulting with them, for credibility’s sake. Here’s a example: While some clients have insisted on using PPC without even knowing a thing about it, the majority are either just a bit curious, or downright want nothing to do with it. Although you won’t find yourself approaching too many business owners with the idea of PPC, it is a way to establish extra credibility with the ones who ask about how it works and want to know more. There are some that actually do inquire about that “yellow highlighted area at the top of Google.”

Using the Commercial Intent Tool for your offline consulting business is much like using it for your own article marketing, PPC, and SEO purposes. It is ultimately used to determine the probability of someone looking to either make a purchase or receive information based on what keywords were used in their search query.

So, let’s say you have a client. Your client is a restaurant owner of 4 local Italian restaurants and is interested in your internet marketing services. We’ll call him Frank. Frank knows almost nothing about internet marketing, so you decide to show him a couple things on your laptop during your initial consultation. (which, by the way, is a GREAT way to start establishing quick credibility). One of the ways (out of many) that you establish credibility is by showing him Microsoft’s Commercial Intent Tool. You show him that a user searching for the phrase, “Italian food in XXX city” returns a lower commercial intent probability than “Italian restaurant in XXX city,” revealing that there is between an 80%-90% chance that the user is looking to spend money at a local Italian restaurant. Frank stares at the screen for a moment, then looks over to you, clearly impressed and a bit bewildered (and this is good). Team this up with the other instant credibility building techniques and you’ve landed yourself a few thousand dollars, with some recurring maintenance income on top of that.

This can virtually be used with any offline business, any market or niche - just to prove how important it is to establish effective keyword research when looking to leverage internet marketing for an offline business. It is important to remember that most clients you interact with will know little to nothing about effective internet marketing. It is up to you to show them strategies that are easily implemented so that they identify you as the professional, and put you to work for them right away.

(P.S. If you have any trouble with understanding the commercial intent tool, post your questions in a comment below and I’ll reply as soon as I see it. Otherwise, your comments and thoughts are appreciated.)

Click here to go to the Commercial Intent Tool

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