The below list is a short and sweet step by step guide that explains how to do Keyword Research for Search Engine Optimization.  The list is explained in a 3 Part Series on Keyword Research.  I encourage you to read each article:

Part 1 of Exotic SEO Keyword Research

Part 2 of Exotic SEO Keyword Research

Part 3 of Exotic SEO Keyword Research

1. Brainstorm a list of keywords and keyword phrases a person may type in to find your website.  Remember to be specific.

2. Go to Google AdWords and create an account.

3. Go to Google’s Keyword Tool and enter your list of brainstormed keywords and keyword phrases.  Narrow down the list of keywords generated in this report to be specific to your industry by selecting the categories most relevant to your business.

4. Export the generated list to an Excel spreadsheet.  Create two new columns next to your keywords.  The first will be named “Keyword Difficulty” and the second column will be named “# of Google Search Results”.  This second column is optional but helpful when determining which keywords to focus on.

5. Go to Google.com and utilize the Related Search tool to create more keywords based on your initial list generated from Google AdWords Keyword Tool.  Copy and Paste all new keyword ideas into your Excel spreadsheet under your initial list generated from the Keyword Tool.  Remember to document the number of Google Search Results for each keyword if this seems viable to you.

6. Take your final list of keywords to the Keyword Difficulty Tool powered by SEOchat.com.  Copy and paste each percentage into your spreadsheet.

7. Sort your spreadsheet by the Keyword Difficulty column with the smallest percentage first.  Pick 10-15 keywords between 0% and 35%.  Pick 5-10 keywords between 35% and 50%.  Pick 1-5 keywords between 50% and 70%.

8. Congratulations!!  You have completed your keyword research and now have an optimized list ready for search engine optimization!