How to do free keyword research: Interview with Trinity Owen

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This is another interview with someone that I think you will benefit from knowing and learning about. All my interviews are with people who are experts in their respective fields. Furthermore, all of those people have something of value to offer to you-teaching you how to do free keyword research.

This interview is no different. I am excited about what you’re about to learn because I believe it’s a skill that every single blogger and online entrepreneur needs to know about.

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on my link to make a purchase, then I will get a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Tell me a little about yourself

Hi Mariam! My name is Trinity Owen. I’m a work at home mom of two littles and the owner of The Pay at Home Parent.

I started working from home more than five years ago as a freelance SEO. I learned to do everything from optimizing product listings to writing content that ranks on page one of Google. I started my blog just two years ago to help other moms find ways to monetize their passions while raising kids.

How do you handle your work/life balance?

Balancing work with everyday life can be a struggle. Thankfully my husband has been a huge support and advocate for all of my crazy business ideas and investments.

I try to do most of my work while the kids nap or play on their own and while my husband is working. That way we can enjoy some family time together before the kids go to bed.

Since working from home with kids is a challenge in itself, I’ve realized that flexibility is the key to getting everything done. Sometimes I have to work late night hours while the kids sleep in order to balance it all. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What prompted or inspired you to start your business?

I’ve always been an introvert. Since I started my first job working for a local mom and pop restaurant, I knew that working outside of the home wasn’t for me.

Also, my dad has been an entrepreneur and worked for himself for as long as I can remember. He is another inspiration for starting my own business.

What’s your main source of monetization

The majority of my blog’s income is from display ads and now selling my SEO eBook, Get Your Keywords Together (affiliate). I realized that doing SEO is what I enjoy and what I’m the best at.

I earn enough money from my blog to hire a Pinterest VA, freelance writers, and an editor. My goal is to scale my blogging business and automate most of the processes so that I can focus on what I enjoy doing the most: SEO.

I know that you do some freelance work, what’s your specialty?

Currently, my income is largely driven by freelancing as an SEO. I offer a range of services like providing lists of keywords to bloggers that are worth targeting, optimizing existing blog posts, and writing SEO content. I have also provided blog audits for those who wish to fix the SEO issues on their own.

What do you think bloggers and content creators in general should focus on?

Blogging offers entrepreneurs like me a way to build multiple income streams, right? But to make sure those streams earn a stable income, you also need to diversify your marketing methods.

Since I enjoy and know SEO, you might expect me to suggest setting aside everything and learning how to SEO. But that’s only one piece of the puzzle.

Learning Pinterest is important for new bloggers since it offers a more immediate way to get traffic. Also, starting an email list can help grow your blog as well.

So my suggestion is to focus on writing great SEO content, mastering Pinterest, and setting up opt-ins for your email list. These three aspects of blogging provide three different streams of traffic which can translate to income. If one avenue fails or loses traction, you have the other two to fall back on.

Let’s talk about your new book!

The eBook is such an amazing resource. I think many bloggers and creators will rush to get their hands on this.

I’m so excited to have finally published my new eBook, Get Your Keywords Together (affiliate)! Ever since I joined the blogging community in early 2018 (having freelanced in SEO for over three years by then), I have had a blast sharing SEO tips and strategies. It’s a topic I love to discuss and love seeing bloggers succeed at it even more.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat down to write this eBook and stopped. What can I tell people that others don’t already teach or publish for free?

And then it dawned on me. Many bloggers rely on expensive SEO tools to tell them whether or not they should target a certain keyword. My strategy, however, has always been to use a combination of up to five FREE tools along with a brief series of critical thinking questions that tell me whether or not a keyword has good potential. I also have a few different tricks up my sleeve to find new topics and keywords without relying on brainstorming new ideas from scratch.

I’ve used (and adjusted) this strategy for many years now and I’m ready to share it! That’s why I sat down to detail the strategy in my eBook, Get Your Keywords Together (affiliate).

I truly believe that beginners and intermediate bloggers who may or may not have a good grasp on SEO will learn something new from my eBook. Finding keywords that you can actually rank for is the very basis of good SEO. You might know how to get the greenlight from a free SEO plugin like Yoast, but that doesn’t tell you if the keyword you’re targeting is worth it.

My moto is that I would rather target long tail keywords that have a low search volume than hit all of the high volume keywords that will never rank. It’s far better to get lower traffic numbers to a single post than to get no traffic at all because the keyword you chose is just too competitive.

There are several great resources out there on the topic of SEO, what does your book offer that others do not?

It’s hard to find a complete keyword research strategy all in one place. I’ve looked. You could probably spend weeks if not months piecing together my strategy from other resources, but most people wouldn’t know where to start or what to look for.

Get Your Keywords Together (affiliate) is a step-by-step guide that covers all angles of keyword research; even the parts you may already know a little bit about.

I also have some pretty neat extras that come along with my eBook, including an SERP test spreadsheet with a list of critical thinking questions to help you vet keywords, an extensive SEO checklist, and the template I use to outline my content for SEO. Plus, you can opt-in to my free six-day SEO boot camp at checkout to help you implement the strategies I teach.

What’s one piece of advice that you have for bloggers and content creators?

Invest in your business. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel when plenty of bloggers have already paved the way.

When I first started my blog over two years ago, I thought that my SEO knowledge was enough to make things work. Oh boy, was I wrong. Blogging has so many tasks including researching keywords, outlining content, proofreading/editing content, creating graphics, and marketing your content and brand. It’s okay to admit that you don’t know everything about blogging. Not many people do!

The bloggers who make the most money have either invested in knowledge (courses, eBooks, or coaching) or in hands-on services (SEO, tech support, freelance writers, etc.). Don’t try to reinvent blogging if you struggle to earn money from your efforts. Grab an eBook like Get Your Keywords Together (affiliate) and start learning and implementing methods that work!

Conclusion

As I mentioned several times in the past, SEO is crucial for a blogger’s success. You can always do things like Pinterest and social media for traffic, however, you can’t overlook SEO.

Sure, SEO is a long game and requires patience and proper research and optimization to make it work.

However, only with SEO can you really count on stable growth and scaling.

Thank you to Trinity Owen for this wonderful interview. Her ebook is a must-have resource for anyone who doesn’t want to or is not able to invest a lot of money in keyword research tools such as SEMrush or Ahrefs.

If you want to learn how to do keyword research with completely free tools, then her ebook Get Your Keywords Together is a necessary resource for your success.

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