Minimum monthly search volume - whats your cut off point? (Those making $5k a month or more)

[John Romaine]

Ive just taken a look over some of my stats here and am quite surprised at just how low some of my main keywords are in terms of monthly search volume. I guess for the most part, I started some of these projects before I "got it" so to speak.

Im making okay money, although nothing substantial and Im thinking its obvious that this may be due to such low search volume traffic based on my main keywords.

Over the next few months I plan on hitting some bigger numbers (10-20,000 ESPM etc) but am curious....

For those that really began to ramp up their earnings, moving from say $2,000 a month to $10,000 and upwards, do you feel that this was primarily because of specifically targeting keywords with larger search volumes?

And if so, whats your cut off point in terms of "lowest monthly search figures" ?? 1,000? 2,900? 8,100??? ....more???

Im basing this question on the GKT.

[Zeus66]

Johnny, two things jacked my income up more than anything else when it came to organic search traffic....

1. Focusing much more on conversions. Figure out how to turn more visitors into action takers and THEN figure out how to get more traffic.

2. Focusing on buyer keywords instead of placing so much emphasis on search volume.

#2 plays into #1. The bottom line is that I made more money from some sites with far less traffic than others simply because the visitors were coming from specific searches indicating they were ready to buy. I simply put what they wanted in front of them and it was child's play. If you rely too much on search volume numbers, you end up working harder (because of the competition) for traffic that converts less often.

[spectrefax]

I've been doing a ton of keyword research in all kinds of niches lately and I can tell you that you might as well aim high, because even keywords and buying phrases that are getting less than 1000 monthly searches are being fiercely competed for.

I'd aim for searches in the 200+/day range and up. No point in going for less if you're going to have to do the same amount of work to compete for this page 1 and a page 1 of a keyword getting 50/day in the same niche.

[John Romaine]

Thanks for taking the time to answer John, I appreciate it.

I understand exactly what you are saying. I know I made that mistake when I first started out. I spent too much time focusing on search volume, and missed everything else, buyer mindset, list building, conversions etc.

Im pretty comfortable where I am at the moment, (I can usually pull 1-2% conversion rates) which is the basis for asking this question. If I can pull 1-2% conversion rates on such small search volume data, then surely I can start making more sales based upon larger search figures. I know this isnt always the case, but Im hoping you get my point.

I was just curious know whether or not the bigger players here when performing keyword research have a set minimum that they work to. And if so, what?

[Dresden14]

800 local usa searches per month plus.

[Jackson Soo]

For Amazon sites, I'll go for at least 3000 exact match USA searches a month now. At least for the main few keywords for that site. Min price of item around $100 and up.

Clickbank sites I go for at least 5000 exact match global. Some sites i don't even make substantial given that i rank on first page and keyword gets more than 10k exact searches monthly (global).

I use only Google's keyword tool for that now cause I believe that is the most accurate tool available, but even the number of searches and the traffic i get confuses me at times (actually oftentimes). :S

How about you? Would love to know how our lowest numbers compare.

[bmcgoff]

I found this thread by Googling the same question. What about for the offline market? Say something super niche like "town name cosmetic dentistry". If you're trying to sell or lease a lead capture site to a local business, what's your minimum search volume? Seems like it can be much lower (like a few hundred a month since one new client/patient/lead is worth so much).

[MikeFriedman]

My minimum depends entirely on the niche and what I'm selling.

For most AdSense or Amazon related sites, you need thousands of visitors to turn a profit.

For something that pays $100-$1000 a sale, I'll settle for much , much fewer searches. Even under 50/month if it is a good buyer keyword.

@bmcgoff... for offline clients, I generally do it much differently. I make a list of all the related local searches for that client. I pick the top 10 most searched terms and start with those. Once rankings are achieved for those, I move on to the next 5-10. Those search volumes often range from 25/month to 500/month depending on the business and town.

But I basically do not cut anything off. If it gets searched for and relates to my client, I'm going to get them ranked.

[yukon]

Personally I stay in the same niche for all my larger sites.

Saturate the entire niche for any & all keywords in that niche, across a few large sites.

I think a lot of folks get distracted with to many different keyword niches, staying focused on a single niche works for me.