how to do proper keyword research?

[Richard]

In these times of revised SEO due to the changing Google algo, your main goal is to provide content that perfectly fits your target audience. Do not go crazy on keywords as Google has become good at detecting over optimized website. Long tail keywords are still advisable but you will need to create variations as well. So you can mix up all of the terms.

Here are tips (and some tools as you requested)

First, analyze the market and you audience
-Visit forums to know the most common terms used by people
-Visit your competitor blogs and check for the terms used by bloggers and commenters
-Go to ubersuggest or lsi keywords and check for keyword variations
-use Google free tools to shortlist your collection of keywords - Keyword planner, Google Trends, Google Insights
-Use Traffic Travis (it is free) to analyze and compare competition (alternatives: market samurai)
-Collect all the closely related keywords and incorporate all of them in your content
-Make sure you develop a high quality and unique content that will answer the problems or needs of your audience..

Keep in mind that traditional SEO may not be effective anymore. Don't go crazy on keywords. Just make your link profile diverse, make your site more social, and your design responsive. Google measure social interaction signals more than ever so balance everything. You can get more insights through Del Asks dot com.