You may not realize it, but in the next few minutes you are going to learn one of the three most important steps to a successful pay-per-click campaign. That is, how do we find powerful keyword phrases in five easy steps? And the best of all, these steps are absolutely free!

As a start, you should focus on finding keyword phrases versus individual keywords. An individual keyword is usually too general in target and carries a higher bid price. For example, just think if you chose the keyword "toys" and how many types of toys might come up in the search results. We could have girl toys, boy toys, adult toys, child toys, youth toys, adolescent toys, pool toys, etc. If you were marketing toys for boys six to nine years old and bid on the keyword "toys" you would probably spend an excessive amount and get a number of click-throughs from individuals that are not in your target market.

So, how many keyword phrases do you need? Your goal should be a minimum of twenty keyword phrases with a target of seventy-five to one hundred. By the time you apply the matching options offered by the pay-per-click search engine, you should have more than enough keyword phrases.

Where do you find the phrases? Keyword phrases can come from a number of sources. As a first step, take a look at your website and start listing possible keyword phrases. Think about your Unique Selling Proposition for your product or service and add to your list of keyword phrases.

Who are your competitors? Go to your search engine of choice and do a quick search with your initial list of possible keyword phrases. Scan the search results and select several web sites. Read the text on the selected web sites and add keyword phrases to your list. If you would like to get detailed in your search, review the Meta tags for the title, description and keywords. The simple way to do this is place your cursor in the web site page, click the right mouse button and select "View Source."

Now, add more keyword phrases to your list.

Some of the best sources for keyword search phrases are the suggestion tools provided by the pay-per-click search engines. Two of the most popular are the Overture Keyword Selector Tool at http://inventory.overture.com and the Google Adwords Keyword Tool at http://adwords.google.com/select/keywordsandbox.

Go to the Overture Keyword Selector Tool and enter your keyword or keyword phrase in the search box. The tool will display for the past month: your keyword phrase, the number of searches, other keyword phrases containing your keyword phrase and the number of searches for the other keyword phrases. You should be able to add a number of keyword phrases to your list that perhaps you haven't thought of plus you get one other key piece of information.

You will learn the popularity of the keyword search phrases. If the number of searches is in the thousands then you have a large market opportunity for your product or service offering. Unfortunately, if it is a low number of searches you may want to reconsider your market potential. However, a pay-per-click campaign could be a quick market research project. There is no reason why low search volume phrases cannot produce a high click-through and conversion rate opportunity in a small, targeted market. Isn't that what people refer to as a niche market?

Now again, add more keyword phrases to your list.

Check out the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. This tool works differently from the Overture tool. Enter your keyword search phrase in the search box, select your language and country and review the two results. The first result is every keyword search phrase containing your keyword search phrase. The second result is similar keywords to your keyword search phrase. Once again, you will probably see some keyword phrases that you haven't thought about. Unfortunately, search volumes are not provided but, look at the number of possible additions to your keyword phrase list.

Again, add more keyword phrases to your list.

There is one additional keyword tool you might want to consider. This free tool is Good Keywords which can be downloaded at http://www.goodkeywords.com. This tool retrieves its results from the Overture search engine so you will get the same information as the Overture Keyword Selector Tool. However, it does provide features and functions which make it easier to cut and paste results to other documents such as Microsoft Word or Excel. Once the keyword phrases and search volumes are loaded in an Excel spreadsheet, it is very easy to sort, group and manipulate your keyword phrase possibilities.

By now you should easily have one hundred plus keyword phrases to select from. In fact, you may have a several hundred or even more than one thousand. Also, there are several other things you may want to consider such as synonyms to your keywords, typical misspellings and seasonal variations of your keyword phrases.

The task of finding, selecting and targeting keyword phrases is a significant key to success in pay-per-click marketing. Apply these ideas and tasks and you will be on your way to pay-per-click campaign success.

Chet Childers is a successful Internet marketer utilizing the power and quick response of pay-per-click marketing to increase website visibility and profitability. Click http://www.ThePayPerClickMarketer.com and enroll in our e-course, "Discover Tips and Secrets for Pay-Per-Click Marketing Success," or visit http://www.ChetChilders.com.