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Starting a niche site: How much does user intent influence keyword choice?

by JoePen
4 replies
Hi,

I'm a freelance writer with some experience in SEO who is just getting into building micro-niche, affiliate sites in foreign markets (where we promote our own products too).

After doing keyword research, I have found a few key phrases with exact match domains available. Most of the metrics look good--They have high monthly search volume of over 100,000, a low keyword competition of around 20%, an average CPC, but only a low level of advertiser competition.

My question is would you go for a keyword with metrics like those above, even if the advertiser competition is low and the user intent is not necessarily close to being transactional--More just general browsing the web for info to share. For example, 'funny memes'.

Any thoughts or insights would be really appreciated. Thanks.
#choice #influence #intent #keyword #keywords #niche #seo #site #starting #user
  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Your question belongs in the SEO section here:Search Engine Optimization
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    Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

    ― George Carlin
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  • Profile picture of the author JoePen
    Okay, thanks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Joe,

    You said you've done some keyword research. Have you done market research? They're not exactly the same although market research does include some keyword research.

    The reason I ask is this: market research will help you to understand the demand that's already in the marketplace for what you plan to sell. Some markets are "money markets" where the audience is ready, willing, and able to spend money in that topic . . . other markets are not flush with buyers and people willing to spend in the topic.

    For example . . . often free video sites, recipe sites, joke sites, quotation sites, celebrity sites, etc don't produce well for small time Internet marketers like most of us here. They are difficult to monetize. Part of the reason is that the content at many of these sites is freely available and found all over the Internet. A second reason "why" is that the traffic to these places is typically not real targeted toward a specific purchase. The traffic is often just random people killing time or looking for entertainment.

    So the point of my post is to just tell you that I think you can expect to get traffic for what you're doing, but it's probably not going to be "buying" traffic. I think it will be difficult to make money from what you've described.

    Just my opinion,

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author JoePen
      Steve,

      Thanks for your reply, some great points.

      To provide a bit more info, the key phrases we are interested in are relevant to a specific audience which we are targeting through ads and our own products.

      Maybe a better example would be if we were targeting the key phrase 'foods for diabetics', and then promoting dieticians and selling comprehensive diet plans/courses for diabetics (that are unavailable on the web).

      To address your point on market research, we know there are people spending money in the market, we are just unsure if they are the same people doing the searching for these key phrases.

      So like in the diabetics example, the key phrases being searched are specific to our audience, but are not really transactional. Therefore, we are unsure if they will convert into sales. Another thing that works in our favour is that although the user is not necessarily at the transactional end of the buying journey, they are in an emotional state, and our products are an extension of what they are searching for (just further down the scale). e.g. foods > recipes > diet plans.

      Thanks for your insights.

      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      Joe,

      You said you've done some keyword research. Have you done market research? They're not exactly the same although market research does include some keyword research.

      The reason I ask is this: market research will help you to understand the demand that's already in the marketplace for what you plan to sell. Some markets are "money markets" where the audience is ready, willing, and able to spend money in that topic . . . other markets are not flush with buyers and people willing to spend in the topic.

      For example . . . often free video sites, recipe sites, joke sites, quotation sites, celebrity sites, etc don't produce well for small time Internet marketers like most of us here. They are difficult to monetize. Part of the reason is that the content at many of these sites is freely available and found all over the Internet. A second reason "why" is that the traffic to these places is typically not real targeted toward a specific purchase. The traffic is often just random people killing time or looking for entertainment.

      So the point of my post is to just tell you that I think you can expect to get traffic for what you're doing, but it's probably not going to be "buying" traffic. I think it will be difficult to make money from what you've described.

      Just my opinion,

      Steve
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