I was just wondering how hard it usually is to get ranked like #1 or #2 or so on google for keywords that are low volume, with about 1,000 to 1,500 or so pages found (when you do a search on google for the keyword phrase using quotes - "like this")???? Is it even worth the bother with low volume keywords? Does it still take awhile to even get ranked high for these terms? Or is it fast & easy when you specifically optimize for them? Would a couple or so good (do follow) backlinks from a site with a high PR (on the domain name) do the trick, along with onsite SEO? Or would I still have to get a good amount of quality backlinks? If so, I guess it wouldn't be worth the bother. Most of the keywords that I am interested in usually have amazon.com right at the top of the results, but their page that is relevant to the keyword phrase is poorly optimized for the term (so basically it is mostly their strong domain that is getting them ranked well). Any insight on this would be really, REALLY appreciated, as I would really like to figure out if this is even a via strategy or not. Thanks.
Ranking in those keywords would be very easy. But since they only have poor search volume, you wouldn't get that much traffic from it. You can still target these keywords, but I suggest you make a variation. Select keywords that are both competitive and less competitive.
In this situation I would make a website targeting a higher volume keyword that is related. Ideally it would have overlapping words. Then build links using a wide variety of phrases related to the main keyword. If your domain is already strong you can rank for such keywords fairly easily.
using this approach is recommended to websites that are newly created and just started in seo, once you reach the highest ranking using the not so competitive keyword its time for you to move on to the more competitive with a combination of the very competitive one.