Newbie Question about Keywords/Niches

ikelove · 10-14-2009, 10:48 PM

To save myself HOURS of frustration and time, I figured I'd ask the board first about finding a good keyword/niche.

First off, when you use the Google Keywords Tool to find out how competitive a keyword is, what's a reasonable number of search queries for a keyword? Someone who directed me to a site that taught me Internet Marketing 101 said on his site that any keyword you choose should be in the range of 2,000 to 20,000 searches monthly. Anything below that range gives you very little chance to make any money and anything above that range is too large to penetrate anytime soon. That being said, is there an ideal number within the 2,000 to 20,000 search range i.e. is choosing a keyword that has 18,000 searches still too competitive or choosing one that has 2,400 still wasting your time?

Also when you check the keyword in google to find out the top three sites that list for the keyword, should you just forget about even trying to compete with sites like Wikipedia or about.com if they're among the top 3? Sites like those I see have thousands and thousands of backlinks so I would assume that trying to outrank them would be way too time consuming. What is the maximum cutoff point for the amount of backlinks for a site that you can reasonably hope to outrank?

War_Guy · 10-19-2009, 04:25 PM

The answer is not that simple, everything has to be taken into account including how bad you want to be in the niche. Let's say that you are absoluty sure that you can provide a huge value to selling "Blue Brushes" would you not go into because you saw 20001 sites? The best thing is to find a group of URL's that you would like and choose that best between them.

Wikipedia is a hard act to beat, but I have beaten about. The point is that you need to try setting up sites and find what works best for you.

HTH

Let me know.

David Wolfman · 10-19-2009, 05:01 PM

Wrong approach. You cannot focus on general keywords, you'll be always outranked by key players in the market.

Find long tail keywords even if they have much less traffic.

What is the purpose of the keyword? If it is:
- to get the buyers ---- focus on "buying" keywords,
- to get general visitors ---- focus on volume keywords,
- ppc keywords ---- focus on your desired outcome.

One more important factor is the number of competing pages per keyword.
If you find keyword with 20K searches and little competition - you're the Man.

ikelove · 10-20-2009, 01:52 AM

Hey, thanks for the response. I'm currently in the process of searching for a Wordpress template now because I wanted to create my own inspirational blog that eventually promotes affiliate products, so I do intend to test this all out.

10-14-2009, 10:48 PM	#1
ikelove HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 219 Thanks: 20 Thanked 10 Times in 3 Posts	Newbie Question about Keywords/Niches To save myself HOURS of frustration and time, I figured I'd ask the board first about finding a good keyword/niche. First off, when you use the Google Keywords Tool to find out how competitive a keyword is, what's a reasonable number of search queries for a keyword? Someone who directed me to a site that taught me Internet Marketing 101 said on his site that any keyword you choose should be in the range of 2,000 to 20,000 searches monthly. Anything below that range gives you very little chance to make any money and anything above that range is too large to penetrate anytime soon. That being said, is there an ideal number within the 2,000 to 20,000 search range i.e. is choosing a keyword that has 18,000 searches still too competitive or choosing one that has 2,400 still wasting your time? Also when you check the keyword in google to find out the top three sites that list for the keyword, should you just forget about even trying to compete with sites like Wikipedia or about.com if they're among the top 3? Sites like those I see have thousands and thousands of backlinks so I would assume that trying to outrank them would be way too time consuming. What is the maximum cutoff point for the amount of backlinks for a site that you can reasonably hope to outrank?

10-19-2009, 04:25 PM	#2
War_Guy Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Near NYC Posts: 66 Thanks: 10 Thanked 7 Times in 7 Posts Contact Info	Re: Newbie Question about Keywords/Niches The answer is not that simple, everything has to be taken into account including how bad you want to be in the niche. Let's say that you are absoluty sure that you can provide a huge value to selling "Blue Brushes" would you not go into because you saw 20001 sites? The best thing is to find a group of URL's that you would like and choose that best between them. Wikipedia is a hard act to beat, but I have beaten about. The point is that you need to try setting up sites and find what works best for you. HTH Let me know.

10-19-2009, 05:01 PM	#3
David Wolfman HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Midlands, UK Posts: 206 Thanks: 14 Thanked 16 Times in 16 Posts	Re: Newbie Question about Keywords/Niches Wrong approach. You cannot focus on general keywords, you'll be always outranked by key players in the market. Find long tail keywords even if they have much less traffic. What is the purpose of the keyword? If it is: - to get the buyers ---- focus on "buying" keywords, - to get general visitors ---- focus on volume keywords, - ppc keywords ---- focus on your desired outcome. One more important factor is the number of competing pages per keyword. If you find keyword with 20K searches and little competition - you're the Man.

10-20-2009, 01:52 AM	#4
ikelove HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 219 Thanks: 20 Thanked 10 Times in 3 Posts	Re: Newbie Question about Keywords/Niches Hey, thanks for the response. I'm currently in the process of searching for a Wordpress template now because I wanted to create my own inspirational blog that eventually promotes affiliate products, so I do intend to test this all out.