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Am I on the right track?

by fated82
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi all,

I am new to the IM scene and am trying to build an affiliate network through niche marketing. I hope you guys can share with me if my way of researching for niche is the right way to go about, if not what can I do better?

First Step: I key in a one word category on Google Keyword tool. So for example, I choose the word "bird" and run a search.

Second Step: I scan through the list to look for a search term I am interested in. In this case, I found "bird feeder".

Third Step: I run another search for this keyword term "bird feeder" to see what comes up.
I realize a few potential niches - "hummingbird feeders", "squirrel feeder" and "squirrel proof bird feeder". They all have about 22,000 - 40,000 searches in Jan.

Fourth Step: I go on to Google Search Engine and type in "squirrel proof bird feeder" (with quotes) and realize that there are about 39,000 pages on this topic. From what I know, anything below 100,000 is a good niche to chase after?

"squirrel proof bird feeder" - 39,000
"squirrel feeder" - 35,000
"hummingbird feeders" - 143,000

From what can see, "squirrel feeder" seem like a good niche to go further.

Question: Should I ran a search on google for my keywords with a quotation or without?

Is there anything I did right or wrong and how can I be more accurate in finding profitable keywords?

Looking forward in hearing from the experts here.
#track
  • Profile picture of the author affiliated survivor
    So far so good. You can also check the backlinks of the first page sites, to get an idea about what´s necessary to get there.

    These competition data can be misleading. Also check your keywords in broad match and in phrase match. If both search results show the same websites on the first page it´s a good sign if not, look for something else.
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    • Profile picture of the author Gary Becks
      The number of competing pages means nothing. It is the strength of the competitors on the first page that you should be focusing on. If the top five competitors are high pr sites with thousands of backlinks then you might not want to waist your time with that keyword. Especially something like bird feeders. That is unless you have some bird feeders of your own to sell, then it might be worth it..
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    Thanks for the advice...Will find tune it as I go along.

    Any other inputs?
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  • Profile picture of the author GSX Enterprises
    Yes! Do the allintitle: squirrel proof bird feeder command into Google to also check competition. This shows you who else may be "potentially" targeting these keywords and gives you an idea of your DIRECT competition.

    Then do a basic search without quotes and check the top 3 results and see how many backlinks are coming into those pages. Anything under 20-40 backlinks is great. A couple backlink checkers I use are

    backlinkwatch.com/
    http://www.online-utility.org/webmas...n_analyzer.jsp

    Hope this helps!

    -Safe Travels
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    • Profile picture of the author fated82
      Originally Posted by GSX Enterprises View Post

      Yes! Do the allintitle: squirrel proof bird feeder command into Google to also check competition. This shows you who else may be "potentially" targeting these keywords and gives you an idea of your DIRECT competition.

      Then do a basic search without quotes and check the top 3 results and see how many backlinks are coming into those pages. Anything under 20-40 backlinks is great. A couple backlink checkers I use are

      backlinkwatch.com/
      http://www.online-utility.org/webmas...n_analyzer.jsp

      Hope this helps!

      -Safe Travels
      Hi, thanks for the advice. So does that mean the allintitle command is more accurate in finding out your true competitor in that niche?
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Becks
    There are a number of factors to determine when analyzing your competition in a niche but the number of backlinks is the most important. I would recommend getting a copy of seo spyglass or at least using the seoquake plugin to get a more in depth look at what your competitors are doing in terms of backlinks. All in title means nothing top me. I mean your going to have the keyword in your title to aren't you? So you can easily beat your competition in terms of on page SEO but if you don't have enough backlinks it won't matter.

    The other thing to consider is how confident you are in your seo skills. If you feel that you can get more high quality backlinks then your competition in a reasonable amount of time then of course it is worth it. But only if the ranking for tat keyword will generate a decent amount of money.
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    • Profile picture of the author fated82
      Originally Posted by Embions View Post

      There are a number of factors to determine when analyzing your competition in a niche but the number of backlinks is the most important. I would recommend getting a copy of seo spyglass or at least using the seoquake plugin to get a more in depth look at what your competitors are doing in terms of backlinks. All in title means nothing top me. I mean your going to have the keyword in your title to aren't you? So you can easily beat your competition in terms of on page SEO but if you don't have enough backlinks it won't matter.

      The other thing to consider is how confident you are in your seo skills. If you feel that you can get more high quality backlinks then your competition in a reasonable amount of time then of course it is worth it. But only if the ranking for tat keyword will generate a decent amount of money.
      Hi Embions,

      I might have a few sites running and I want to generate as many backlinks as possible. What are the fastest way of getting backlinks? Is it a good idea to buy them? Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Becks
    Well there are many ways to go about it. I would say that buying a good pack of links wouldn't hurt and it's definitely not a bad idea. But in the long run I think that it is best to develop a strategy to easily find high pr sites to get links from. Aside from that I do article marketing simply because I am good at it and can get a whole lot of links from it in a short period of time. Another thing that I have started toying with is press releases and it seems to be working fairly well also.

    My main source of getting links right now though (aside from profile links) is building my own community of high pr web 2.0 sites that I can easily generate a lot of link juice from any time that I want. This is more of a long term strategy though and takes time to build but it is more than worth it. Aside from that you can do some blog commenting, and maybe a little social bookmarking (manually if you want to see any results).

    For the quickest effects though you will definitely want to find a good link pack to buy. Aside from my own personal ones I would say Terry Kyles is pretty good. Best of luck...
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    thanks Embions,

    As I am trying to create a niche blog network model, I want to create a systematic way of getting fresh content on all the blogs and also great backlinks fast. having said that, i think I need to learn from the members here so that i can decide what are the strategies I could use to build backlinks systematically.

    Thanks for the advice, will look through the backlinks pack and decide again.
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    thanks Embions,

    As I am trying to create a niche blog network model, I want to create a systematic way of getting fresh content on all the blogs and also great backlinks fast. having said that, i think I need to learn from the members here so that i can decide what are the strategies I could use to build backlinks systematically.

    Thanks for the advice, will look through the backlinks pack and decide again.
    Signature
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