Receptional_Andy - 9:57 pm on May 6, 2008 (gmt 0)

Keyword research is all about statistics, data and spreadsheets, right? A glance down the recent posts in this forum suggests that the most common questions are about getting hold of accurate data: where do I get it, and how accurate is it?

For all the luddites and technophobes out there who (inexplicably) still want to do keyword research, don't despair! You don't even need a spreadsheet. Two books will suffice ;)

I'm not sure that 'widgetising' is going to help me with this example...

Let's look at the example of Mr Widget and his Widget Workshop. My first stop is at a dictionary. You can cheat and use an online one if you must.

Here's what I got for 'widget':

noun (informal): a small gadget or mechanical device. ORIGIN - perhaps an alteration of GADGET.

I now know that people might also refer to widgets as 'gadgets' or 'mechanical devices', and widgets are usually small. There's a suggestion that if my audience is likely to be more formal, gadget might be appropriate. Time to check a thesaurus (which sends me over to the entry for gadget):

concern, contraption, contrivance, gimmick, jigger, thing, widget

The presence of 'thing' is a concern, since it implies my potential customers might not even be sure how to describe their widgets! I think I'm stuck with 'contraption' as the only keeper from that list.

This might be the right time to check some of those new words in our handy reference books, however I'll spare you the gory details.

Just as important, of course, is the specific offering of Mr Widget, who repairs widgets. You know where I'm going with this ;)

The dictionary and thesaurus give me a whole host of other words, including fix, maintain, mend, overhaul, patch, revamp and restore. A pen and paper is all that's needed to make some notes and put the words in the order Mr Widget likes best (he knows his widgets!):

Nouns

• Widget
  
• Gadget
  
• (Mechnical) device
  
• Contraption