Still worth it to purchase Market Samurai

Sounds like you are wanting to use Market Samurai primarily for keyword research/competition analysis correct?

I will be honest with you, and I know some guys may disagree, but I am not a fan of market samurai at all, in fact I own it and can't remember the last time I actually had it opened, I am not even sure if I still have it on my hard drive.

I am using Long Tail Pro, which finds keywords, checks domain availability and also does competition research, allowing you to analyze the top 10 results. Its a lot faster than everything else on the market, that I have used and I use it everyday.

I believe it is cheaper than MS as well, or at least it used to be, not sure if the price went up.

If you're monetizing with Adsense, informational keywords are the way to go IMO. You're right, physical products have become insanely competitive and there's no reason to dabble there when low hanging fruit is available elsewhere.

Don't be scared to take on promising keywords on topics you know nothing about. You can get just about any info you need from Wikipedia and reword it.

I'd look more in the 2000+ local exact match searches and $2.00+ CPC. There are plenty of them with virtually no competition ;-)

50% competition bar is good and also make sure there are at least a handful of relevant ads displaying for your exact keyword. Head over to EzineArticles and type your keyword in and then click on an article that has it. You'll get a good idea of the types of advertisers bidding on that word within the content network and this is really a more reliable indicator of actual CPC then whatever GAKT or the contextual tools spit out.


You should only really be worried about the competition in the top 3 especially if you're targeting low search volume phrases. The distribution of clicks for spots outside of the top 3 is just too low to bother with if you're relying on organic search engine traffic, so make sure you can get somewhere up there.

The question is how?

PR, DA, Directory subs and a few other things aren't all that important, particularly after Panda. Quality, relevant content and quality, relevant backlinks have far more gravity and will continue to do so.

Here's the checklist I use.

The more of these that you can answer "No" to, the better! The * symbol indicates a particularly important factor.

• Is it a generic type of site? (Article directory, answer site, about.com, wisegeek.com, etc.)*
• Is it a Root Domain?*
• Is it Keyword Optimized? (URL, Title, Description, Page)
• Does it have a lot of Quality, Relevant Content?*
• Is the whole site (NOT just the page) Laser Targeted to your exact keyword?*
• Are there 20 Links or less to the PAGE? (not the entire domain)*
• Are they Quality/Relevant Links?
• Is the PR of the PAGE 4 or less? (0 is best)
• Are there other affiliates who know what they're doing?
• Is it an Exact match domain?

The only problem with SEOQuake I've had is it sometimes doesn't show the Yahoo links and Yahoo links domain but just hit up Open Site Explorer and check your backlinks manually. This way you'll also get a feel for how RELEVANT and high quality the backlinks and the site doing the linking are! :-)


If you've found weak competition in the top 3, just get a domain with an extra letter on the end or an "hq" or a .info or a hyphenated domain or something. You don't need an EMD to beat wussy competition any more than you can beat strong competitors by virtue of having an EMD.

Tools can only facilitate something you already know how to do. They will NOT think for you or supplant a solid understand of the underlying principles of keyword research or any other activity.

I recommend you head over to Spencer's niche website hub, he explains a lot of this stuff in a really easy going and easy to understand tone...and he's got his facts straight!

Niche Websites Hub | Niche Pursuits

Hope that helps!
Vic

Correct, that is the program that Spencer from NichePursuits made. It really is a good program and it works fast. I have used Market Samurai, NicheFinder, Micro Niche Finder, a couple of other software as well as some online niche finding services and the easiest, fastest and most efficient program that I have used and continue to use is LongTailPro, he did a great job with it.

In regards to your keyword research method, I think you are on the right track. I wouldn't worry about finding exact match domains, because frankly, if you only go after keywords that have an EMD, you will be missing out on a lot of great keywords. I would look for hyphenated domains, or add a word to the end like reviews, shop, etc.

By the way, LongTailPro will also look for hyphenated domains automatically, so it makes that easier as well.

Also, I wouldn't mess with 750 searches per month, its a waste of time in my opinion. Unless you are going to do a very large site with lots of 750+ searches per month keywords.

I generally look for a minimum of 2000 searches per month, but lately I really only go after anything that has 5000 searches per month, simply because when you rank for them there is more traffic and money there.

vtotheyouknow,

I could not have agreed more: "Now if SECockpit would only get about
80% cheaper..."

And yet, I do understand the webmasters rationale of such a high price.
As you pointed out, this software has gone where none other has, yet.

If they are to provide their customers with the best, then they will need
to find a way to ensure that they can afford it.

I think much of the membership fee does go to the maintainance of the
software. So don't be too hard on them.


alodie

LOL their affiliate program is set up so that the first one you sell for them, you get no commission. thats great if you can find suckers to sell that

its basically 50 percent commission, paid as 100 percent commission on every OTHER sale

100 percent commission on sale 2,4,6,8, etc etc
LOL

so sale number 1? free, no commission
sale 2. 100 percent commission, so you basically get paid for sale number 1 at this time

Sale 3? zero
Sale 4 , 100 percent commission so repeat of sale 2

at 149 bucks pop, its good money for them I am sure, but me? I rather get 50 percent commission straight up.
the way they set it up, you are tied to them for life waiting to get paid for the sale you just made for free, waiting for the next sale

I am sure they think its brilliant but as an affiliate it leaves a bad taste in my mouth