How can I see what is the competition for one(or more) given keyword(s)? Where can I see how much is the bid for #1 place in the results? How can I see what google really sees on my landing page or if my domain had bad records in the past?
Regarding the cost to appear first, that depends on other people's bids, their Quality Score, and your Quality Score. It will vary from town to town, depending on who is running locally targeted campaigns. It will vary at different times of day, depending on who is running campaigns only at certain times of day. It will very for each keyword, and if you are using Phrase or Broad match, each search query. In short, it varies all the time - the only way to find out is to adjust your bids until you appear first...
Raising your bid to beat your competitor is 1 way. Another is to raise your bid to just below the #1 competitor - and hope that you can get him to blow his budget and lowers the price back down.
How do I know how much to raise?! That was my main question in this thread... just raise like a blind man and search google to see if it's there?!
You shouldn't set your bids based on what position you want. You should look at the value of a click to you, and bid the most profitable amount (more = more conversions, but each one is less profitable, less = more profitable conversions, but fewer of them). But the only way to find your cpc in different position is to vary your bids, and see what they are...