Ok ... my subject is very competitive ... what now ...

Well,

I must say that my subject is very competitive... and the keywords have many searches... I know that the general advices is NOT to use the competitive keywords...

The problem is that they are almost the only ones wich describe the subject... While the bit less competitive ones don't get a fraction of the searches ... so that won't get me much traffic ...

I've also heard about long tail keywords ... It also seems that they have way less search results... and thus are less competitive... And it makes sense to use them... but then how will I get the amount of traffic I want ??

So what do I do in such a case ???

1) Do I use ALL keywords ... the highly competitive ones AND the long tail keywords ? Making use of the hight search volumes (if possible) and also the less competitive ones ?
2) Do I only target the less competitive ones... meaning that my site will be found by less targetted viewers and by less people ... all this in exchange of a higher ranking in the search results...

Could anyone tell me what the usual strategy would be here ?


regards,
-FOP-

 

.

You are tripping over pebbles if you really, honestly believe you are pigeon-holed
into using only a string of the most known keywords for your topic.​

You Are Not Looking Hard Enough​

ALL niche topics can be dissected, scrutinized, expanded on and ripped apart to find a boundless number of keywords and phrases, mainstream (on the radar) or not. I have yet to find ONE topic that doesn't have thousands of traffic-worthy keywords attached; and I guarantee Clients have come up with some pretty obscure (what the hell is THAT?!) kinds of subject, including those I hadn't heard of.

Your problem lies in your approach, not your niche. Most people who constantly complain (not suggesting you are a chronic complainer - ) about not being able to find "any" good niches or "any" good keywords fail to dig deeper than the surface. You are too myopic, expand your horizons. Step back and walk around in the shoes of your end-user. Or become one of them.

.

 

always select a non-competitive keyword for the site

 

Uhm ... I don't think you understand my point rob ... and this is no way to get the rep you are looking for ...

-FOP-

 

go for the keyowrds with traffic I would say and develop content for long-tail keywords

 

1dollar, yes I was thinking the same thing ... I actually don't see alot of other options that this ... thanks for you opinion...

-FOP-

 

.
FOP,

TOTALLY MY FAULT: I assumed you might read between the lines a bit, but perhaps I didn't address your solution clearly. That's my fault.

I do understand you have asked two questions, but even on my re-read after being told I missed the actual point, I am interpreting the same core issue. Of course, it is highly possible I'm barking up the wrong tree.

I should have just said #1 or #2, instead of trying to give you more benefit than a yes or no type of question, and should have kept my mouth shut, even if I believed you were going down an unnecessarily short road with little expectation. That lesson has been learned - Thank you.

But, since I failed miserably to offer any help to you, and in turn deserve a justified slap on the hand, just ignore everything below this point. It's just a fella with all the time in the world, failing to do good, by explaining how I was trying to help. My apologies FOP.

Don't Bother To Read Anything Below This Line - It's Not Worth It...​

----------------------------------------------------------​

You said: "The problem is that they are almost the only ones wich describe the subject."

Plus, your bottom line, the root of the problem is WHY you asked your two questions, in the first place. I am reading your post to mean that you have a traffic issue ultimately. They're your questions, so I was making the assumption you'd pick up on what I was addressing. Not so...my error.

I get the point that you have keywords: ones that are competitive and ones that are long tail. Are you not asking and saying you are concerned about using your competitive keywords - - the ones you have said "are almost the only ones wich describe the subject"? Because you "know that the general advice is NOT to use the competitive keywords". So YOUR proposed solution is to use long tail keyphrases that (again the root of the problem) do NOT get nearly the traffic, as you said. Thus, posing a problem you would like solved.


You are right about something; we obviously are not on the same page.


I was suggesting that you are NOT limited to only a few words (or whatever the number) as being the only way to describe your niche. I was implying, which I should have spelled out in more detail, that if you believe (which is how I'm reading your post) this to be a problem, enough to think you are locked out of targeting your main words, being stuck with crappy traffic: then open more doors.

Traffic is what you want. You need people to find you in order to get that traffic. You are dead wrong if you think that the people who are searching for your most competitive words, can't be found elsewhere (or with other targeted words, that DO HAVE traffic, But DO NOT have as much competition).

The two questions you asked are based on the belief (yours) that it is an either-or, black or white, night or day answer. I'm saying your belief is wrong. Thus ask better questions.

I could say:

I've somehow managed to spill lighting fluid on my pants leg and dropped a lit match on top of it accidentally, clumsy me.

1. I know that patting it with a towel, ultimately will smother the flames, but works.

2. I also know that water works pretty well on fire.

I've witnessed both in action, ((it's getting pretty hot in here, by the way)), so what would you do in such a case?

Who cares. The root of the problem is my leg is on fire! ​

If you don't fully interpret the underlying issue, your questions, although asked with good intent, won't deliver the problem-solving answers you are looking to get.

I unsuccessfully tried to enlighten you about the root of your problem, and give you another way to look at it. You're right, I didn't do a good job, at telling you what you wrote.

I also apologize for stating my point in a couple different ways, and making this post longer than normal, but I'm hoping doing so, might allow somebody-anybody to see where I'm coming from.

One last note, and I'll only address this, knowing nobody in their right mind, would even bother reading such a terribly long post - - short answers, that offer no insight is my new rule of thumb.

"and this is no way to get the rep you are looking for ..."

I've been off on my interpretation lately, but guess that this means Respect, Stellar Reputation, and being a worthy contributor here on DP. You are absolutely right. I invest way too much time trying to share my business (online and offline, both my own and my Clients' over many years) experience with readers who post questions.

Especially, beginners, who probably, you're right, would prefer when they come to this forum specifically to get advice, if those who are answering their posts, would give nondescript, open ended, good luck being able to use such broadly explained, answers.

Like the painfully basic questions that FOP has asked and posted, simply by looking up all of his past posts and replies, by clicking on his user name. What would be better, probably, if when people ask for help, I begin to spew out utter bullsh** (of course, that stands for bullshop) that yes, provides an answer, but sends the one asking, down a completely dead end path.

I should keep all the blood, sweat, tears, hardship, mistakes, failures, successes, triumphs, pains and pleasures, quantifiable tests and results, insider information collected through years of paying hundreds of thousands to the best, or from my personal relationships with folks who most would name drop, to myself -- selfishly.

You're right, to ensure I "get the rep" (Gawd, I love when strangers tell me what I'm thinking and what my goals are on this forum, in which I contribute) and what "I'm looking for" I should NOT give back to those who might need a leg up or be interested in seriously slashing their learning curve, or be in a similar position I was years ago hoping to come across somebody who would give me a straight answer and go one step further, maybe even looking out for my best interests, so I didn't get plummeted in the marketplace.

And I'll start agreeing with everybody, not stand out like a sore thumb, by stating an opinion despite it being what you believe. I mean seriously, who really wants opposition, devil's advocate, a different point of view perhaps never considered. Maybe I'll do one better, and when the business that comes in by 85% referrals, instead of solving their problems quickly, I'll just string 'em along, over-bill 'em, and provide the same song and dance, and pony show that disgusts me, but a majority of people who couldn't market and successfully sell a chocolate chip cookie to their own Mother, who believe they are Business / Marketing "consultants", because they've read a book or two.

Gawd, I feel ALIVE NOW! Silly me, I've evidently been doing it all wrong.
I should be ordinary, boring, deceitful, ignorant, and mean! Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. I really have a direction in my life now - you saved me.

Man, I'm glad - - pleased as punch - - that I answered your post.​

With my hands held high above my head, I surrender. Guilty as charged. "Take 'em away - he's a threat to society!"

And on the note, happy 10th post.

 

Somethings a bit not right here .... Did you forget your medication today tothepointrob ??


-FOP-

 

Have you really digged through? When I started using adwords I could perhaps find 10-30-50 keyword topics... However, if you try combine all the keyword suggestion engines (feeding them with what they suggested to you in first round) you will get a huge list.

If you find a series of good keywords. Have you tried covering all keyword combinations and permutations?

of course, above two suggestion will result in many phrases with low traffic, but combined... Well, result depends on the niche, bid price etc.

 

Well, yes ... I use wordtracker for this. Ofcourse it is possible to find a large amount of keywords on the subject but the problem is that obviously the target group's charactiristics are such that not alot of them search on long tail words... this ofcourse says alot. It's a specialized field and any other then the specialists are of almost no use to me visiting the site... because then I would have to shift the site topic.

It comes down to the fact that I will have to find good ideas to get around the competitive circle in the beginning I believe ...

Regards,
-FOP-

 

Fistful,

I'm no SEO expert either and most everything I have learned in the last month and a half has been on this forum and other forums.

I have 3 websites, the oldest a little over a month all on bass fishing. Two of them are content rich, the 3rd is a storefront for eBay. My goal for the sites are to get income from affiliates and Google adsense. What I have noticed for my oldest site floridabasslakes.com is that I'm getting traffic (not much right now) from my subpages for specific lakes. I originally thought that my index.html page would get the majority of the hits from Florida bass lakes and bass fishing tips, maps and some other keywords. I have found it's more like 40% traffic for index and 60% for my other pages which are specific lakes in Florida.

In fact, the specific lake pages have very high rankings in MSN, where a lot of them are #1 for the lake name. They also rank relatively high in Google. Yahoo is another story, and I don't know why they don't rank well there. Here's some examples of what I mean for floridabasslakes.com:

Lake Myakka- MSN #1, Google #4

lake hatchineha- MSN #1, Google #13

lake arbuckle- MSN #3, Google #22

lake reedy- MSN #1, Google #6

lake istokpoga- MSN #4, Google #28

florida bass lakes- MSN #1, Google #5

florida lake maps- MSN #35, Google #92

free maps of lakes in florida- MSN #4, Google #8

I would venture to say that you may have specific keywords that are competitive, but there maybe some that are geographically targeted or other specific targets that would receive better SERP. Perhaps you could create subpages that target a more specific market using your higher level keywords i.e. competitive ones, but also using specific less competitive ones in your subpages. You'll probably SERP better for those subpages and at the same time drive traffic to your site while still working on getting better SERP for your very competitive keywords.

Again, just an idea and I am no expert as these are my own observations over the last month and a half. Good Luck in all your endeavors!

 

pbruessow,

THis is EXACTLY the right thing to do indeed. It's the same concept as with the fishing... thanks for your input... I have done so much research that I've narrowed it down to this solution too ...

Regards,
-FOP-

 

Try using several different word trackers online. One good one is www.wordtracker.com.

 

One suggestion that I would give is to think outside of the box. Almost every single marketer uses Wordtracker, therefore it is a good idea NOT to use it. Use your head, you be surprised what additional kw you would be able to generate yourself. It's a damn slow process I know, but that's probably the most EFFECTIVE way to get effective results for me.

-Swapw