In trying to persuade people - especially newer marketers - that long tail is the way to go, I often see the "light bulb" moment when I explain things this way...

The crux of the matter is how search engines work. If you're a real go-getter and think you can conquer a top ranking for a keyword that gets a ton of searches and that has a ton of competing pages, you might be able to accomplish that goal eventually. If you do, you'll reap some big rewards.

But...

OK, I've spent the last few days really digging into the long tail SEO concept, and I've decided to devote my blog to it from now on. That's how convinced I am that long tail is the strategy to use for the vast majority of online marketers trying to develop profitable websites.

I've been involved in Internet Marketing since about 1996. I'm no newbie, ok. One of the most common themes I've noted is that people just getting into IM shoot for the moon right out of the gate (sorry...