Popular Keyword vs Unpopular

Hi. The keywords that I selected for my web site
do not receive much traffic. They are not popular words
for people to search. I rank in the top 7 for one word and
top 12 for the other. This took some doing, there is
actually competition for these two words.

Now, the real great keywords for my web site are
extremely popular. I'm not even in the top 100.
Very important company web sites with lots of money
are high ranking for these words. The traffic these keywords
generate is HUGE.

I'm not getting that much traffic to my site, on average
40 unique visitors a day.

My question is, do you think I should instead focus my attention
on trying to increase my ranking for these popular keywords,
even though it seems impossible now to rank well for those.
And, it would probably result in lower ranking for the keywords
I use now.

I've tried Overture. But, the price is very high for those "important"
keywords. I don't have the money to compete with those
corporations.

BTW, the *important keywords are: family tree, genealogy.
My KWs are professional genealogist and genealogy researcher.

What should I do? Any suggestions.
Melaniejk

melanie:

there are a few different approaches you can take related to keywords.
you have touched upon a couple already.

if you go for the gold of the big competition keywords...
the action is fierce.
the rewards are great.
another thing to consider...however...is that these words are generally more 'generic' and even though you will get a ton more hits if you rank well...it may result in a lot lower percentage of quality visitors looking for exactly what you offer.
for example...if you target 'family tree' and do the hard work and spend the money climbing to the top of the search results...you may find that even though you get many many more visitors...there is a very low percentage looking for say...."family tree forums'...which is what you offer.
but if you target 'family tree forums'...a less competitive phrase...and less work to achieve top 5 ranking...you might get as many qualified visitors [or more] since they are looking for exactly the the type of site you offer---"family tree forums' and not some other family tree service or product.

so...working the peripheral less competitive keywords can actually be very lucrative keyword strategy.



.

see? zoo sometimes has extremely helpful answers. (just had to point that out to those who seem to miss them)

relaxzoolander,
Thank you for helpful answer. I understand what you
are saying. But, when I did splurge and paid $$$ for
the keyword "family tree" I did see an increase in
orders and inquires. Though after paying Overture the
big bucks I barely broke even.

Many people who are interested in hiring someone to
research their family history, are not familiar with the
words "genealogist" or "professional genealogist".
Therefore, I think many type in the words "family tree"
or "genealogy" and look at those results.

Do you think it would be possible for a site like mine
to get in the top two pages for a term as competitive
as "family tree" or "genealogy" ? Is it possible when
there are corporations competing for those words?
Or, is it whoever has the most money wins?

Thank you for your input. It's much appreciated.


Melaniejk

Hey, I just check out your profile and clicked
onto your web site.
I'm getting some kind of strange "driver error".
Just thought i'd let you know.

thanks dd.
no one pays attention to my answers when they are like this.
my 'friends' out there would rather wait until i make a spelling error or poke at a newbie to launch their attack at r|z.
i dont mind.
its all about the love.
i got plenty! :grin:

melaniejk, i think zoo is right. start with family tree forums. you can work your way up the "tree" so to speak, and hit family tree next, and finally genealogy later if your site gets popular enough. if you use this link, http://www.searchguild.com/cgi-bin/difficulty.pl , you'll see that they rate "family tree forums" as easy to rank well for, "family tree" as an intermediate term to rank well for, and "genealogy" as difficult to rank well for. (don't ask me how accurate the tool is, because i don't know, but it seems to at least be in the ballpark for the things i've checked). because "family tree forums" contains the term "family tree", it should eventually naturally evolve into helping rank well for "family tree" at some point in time. so that's the way i would go with this. hope that helps. (oh, and to answer your question - you CAN beat the big boys without a lot of money - but you'll work your *ss off to do it). so my advice is to take the climb at a slow but steady pace.

to duke it out with the big guys...you either need man-power or money-power.
if it just you...company of one. i assume you dont have much of either.

therefore you need to outsmart the big guys.
use your size to your advantage.
you need to focus your forces on a niche.
perhaps its a location...las vegas genealogy
perhaps its a group of last names...miller family tree
perhaps its a distinct aspect of the service...family tree chart
perhaps its a sales strategy...free family tree

take a look at this helpful tool to see relative ratings for phrases:
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/s...rds=family+tree

it may help you select a some niche phrases that will score well.
i tried 'family tree'.
you can try 'genealogy' or whatever.



.

targetting location and last names is a very good idea ....
but u have to put a lots of effort ......
making pages containing resources on these ....

do also make a directory / resource page giving link to good websites .....

also while exchanging link get back links for say maryland geneology from that type of websites .....

forums do help a lot ...as it increases ur search engine ranking as well as a medium for bringing people to the website repeatedly.......

also 1 more thing:

ur guide2 guide3 ... pages are quite deep inside ....
better make a site map and link to all of them ..

or give a link in the guide home page to all these pages ...