When Is a Niche Too Competitive?

Makes sense. Thanks for your input

I started a site 18 days ago, and it is (obviously) PR0, but beating multiple PR4s on the first page of Google. It is in position 1 from 2,000,000+ results for the broad keyphrase (three words).
Sandboxing and all the SERP dancing? The site and domain are brand new, but I'll get through it. There are things you can do to prevent or minimise impact.


Since studies have shown about 60% of clicks go to the first three entries on page one, I don't enter a market if I don't think I can get a top 3 position. (I'm fairly new to this game, so my thinking may change as I enter more markets, etc.)
For those seeking to profit sooner rather than later, I think it is much better to rank at position 1 for multiple less-searched (but very relevant) keyphrases than one hugely popular keyphrase. Every situation is different, though.

Authority sites can and will budge - forcibly. They may be PR4/5 and have a lot of inbound links, but if the majority of those inbound links' anchors do not contain the keyphrase you're optimising for, then you can win, and relatively fast, as I have discovered in my (thus far) short stint in internet marketing.


Good information. If you have a keyphrase that you know is profitable and dedicate your time to optimise for it, you will get there. Have a plan, a natural linking routine. Employ the link wheel for variant keyphrases to attain an authoritative stance. Domain age and age of links is a big thing, too; age in general is much more than a number here!

I've only committed to two projects so far (I'm relatively new), but they're both on page 1 of Google. I had high hopes for the first site, but knew I would not hit a winner right away (there is little commercial intent). While my action is here, I am trying to learn everything else. A holistic approach... it suits me.

A note on competition checks, like the SOC (Strength of Competition) feature in Micro Niche Finder: most are rubbish. I hope everybody does keep using these religiously. The keyphrase I am optimising for seems very lucrative (commercial intent, 10k+ broad monthly searches), and because it was a common variant, I knew I would score. The SOC was 2 in the beginning. Since I began my promotional efforts, the SOC is now 360, and accompanies a big ol' X. This will already deter 80% of people using Micro Niche Finder from going after this keyphrase. All that's occured in the last 2-3 weeks is the introduction (or, rather, sudden propulsion) of my site into the rankings.
Another site could take my spot in a matter of days with concentrated effort.

You're never competing with 100,000,000.

You're competing with 10.

The 10 on the front page.

Why worry about the others if they are behind the top 10?

You want on the front page. You look at the competition on the front page.

If you can beat ONE of those guys then you are doing better than every other one on the back pages.

You look at those top 10 and determine how hard or easy it is to beat ONE of them.

For every one of them that is an Adobe type authority site that will never move then you have to subtract each of those that you can't beat.

Now you still have the others. Would you rather try to win a spot out of ten spots or six? Ten makes it easier on you.

But if there are 8 spots up for grabs and the other 8 are chumps then jump in the ring.

Matt

Required for what?

Do you mean to outrank them by having more inbound links?

What do having inbound links do for your site?

Does it give you a better page rank?

If inbound links gives you a better page rank and page rank is not important, then what is the purpose to having inbound links?

Matt

I beg to second this!

You can't expect to do what everyone else is doing and make it duh (that will be too competitive)

But....

Find your space, do things differently so that you stand out. You have to put out more effort than your competitors if you want to crush them.

I agree with this too, but there should be a line of realism too. While many things can be done, you must also ask yourself how committed you are to your niche. If it's something you're passionate about and can make a lot of money with, then stick with it. It certainly won't be easy, but it can be achieved in time. However, if it's something you just want to make money at -- but there is a lot of competition -- then I suggest you skip it and find 3-5 other small niches that you can dominate easier and make the same amount of money in combination.

Everything is relative to your time line. Most marketers don't want to waste their time on a single niche that will take them 6 mos - 1 year to make a good dent in the rankings amongst highly competitive markets. So ask yourself that question -- is it worth your time? If it is, then you have all the time in the world to rank, therefore you have nothing to worry about. If not, then move on.

I agree with this 100%. If you find a niche that's saturated with marketers, think about what you could market to the marketers in that niche. Angles - it's all angles.

I agree with you 100%. If they had spent the time building websites and pages instead of buying crap products that will not help them at all they would be making money right now.

All you need is a computer, a website builder on your computer - I use Expression Web 2, and a server at a host to make money with IM.

All talk and no action will make you nothing.

If the top few organic listings belong to sites who aren't wise enough to disallow site tarteting ads from adsense, you'll always have a fighting chance.

Besides, it's not all about organic SE traffic for every niche. That's only one source. And your business strategy will determine how important any one traffic source is to you. You may be in a niche that depends more on JVs, PPC, generating leads via eBay, etc.

This is exactly my point.

Are there ways to fight the big bad sites? Yes. Can you learn how to put up a good fight against some pretty strong competition? Yes.

But like savannah said above "...my stress level has come down and I've made money...".

I don't work for a paycheck I work for a lifestyle.

Matt