Fribble

If you are doing keyword research with the intention of finding potential niches to fill by launching small, informative web sites what do you look for?

I use Overture and Word Tracker currently and I've been choosing terms that 1. I am familliar with and can create good quality content for and 2. have the highest search / lowest # of competing pages in my target search engines. There are some terms I would like to have a go at though even though they do not appear as 'easy' as the ones with the best numbers.

I'm not clear on how much competition is too much competition for small informational sites (how to upholster a chair, or how to bind a book) assuming you're targetting search engine traffic and don't have a large network from which to create link popularity for the new site. I know the relevancy and SEO quality of the existing pages is a consideration, but can anyone share their ground rules for making this judgement? Do you look for a certain ratio of searches vs. competing sites? Do you just look at the top results and judge based on close examination and backlinks?

If my question is too vague just give me a nudge and I'll dig up a few examples to post and clarify with.

As always, thank you for lending your minds to my questions,

Fribble

CasualNerd

It's not always the most important factor when it comes to information / content sites. If you know you can get $1 per click on the keyword you're targetting, it's worth the same as a site targetting a 10cent keyword even if you only get one tenth the traffic.

I'm trying to say that a site in a competitive area might fare just as well, with the same amount of work.

I'd personally look at things like backlinks, and work out if you could move past them into the top SERP's. If you can do that for anything with significant traffic you should see a profit eventually.

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Head Boy

Content and understanding the niche is important. It's also important to see how many revenue generating sponsors are around, and how easy it is to promote them.

But then I seem to grab names that I fancy when I see them , and work out what do do with them later.

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tadiz

I am thinking to do some type of mainstream site, but I am afraid of choosing too small/narrow (dunno how to say) niche. Is it possible?

For example , I would buy domain www.acdc-lyrics.com and all the content would be all acdc songs lyrics, and maybe guitar tabs.
Wouldn't it be too small site?

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GTP Thomas

I typed in acdc lyrics at google and I got a LOT of results ranking very good for the exact term - so that might not be the best site to start for SE traffic...

So I did a little bit of research at overture... I got these terms:

If I were you I would choose a domain that is a little bit more general, and then cover some of the keywords in the top of this list in subdirectories - if you want SE traffic... So like:

acdc-info.com (no idea if it exists)
acdc-info.com/posters
acdc-info.com/dvd
acdc-info.com/acdc-music
acdc-info.com/acdc-lyrics


This way you can cover a lot more markets!

Baldbastard

I tend to look at a general term, and then use the keyword tools to break it down, quiet often there are phrases I have never thought of, these help me in content writing, site structure and in choosing a domain. Also look at the competing sites and try and mentally workout where your site might get listed, if the top 20 sites all have over 5000 incoming links your in for a fight. Most people forget that they are already experts in something, and content is only an arms length away, and pictures say a 1000 words and can fill a site fast
The key is what content you have and your knowledge of the niche your targeting, not all sites have to make money directly, but they may offer links into your own network which can make them equally as important as your money making sites. I look at keywords when buying domains as well. When I find a new area I want to promote generally I will throw up a test site, I try to make this pretty good and go for a dmoz listing, later on this site can help feed the network. When deciding on a new niche look at the search terms, then look at the sites competing for that term. Content is king so what content can you offer the web?

Baldbastard

I promote adsense a lot so one of the first things I do is throw a keyword into google and see how many adsense ad's are running, when I see the ebay ad I know the money has run out So for me AC/DC would not be worth touching as not many people are bidding on it, does not mean you could not buy the traffic yourself though and make sales, its just flat for adsense promotion.

tadiz

Thanks pulsher and baldbastard.
Another thing is, (i am not registered at google) can you filter somehow the ads which are shown on your site, because I wanna have REALLY topic-related ads, I have seen sites where the ads were totally not on topic.

And the last thing, maybe I should ask all these questions on new threads, because this thread has gone a little bit offtopic )

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Fribble

Not at all, your question has brought about answers to my own and spawned some valuable responses. This thread is serving it's purpose, run with it.

CasualNerd

Yes you can. You can block any ads you don't like, many people block competitors in their niche for example.

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tadiz

that's a good news for me , thanks

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