SEO - Aim High
When I was first starting out in Affiliate Marketing I read everything that was out there on SEO. I spent more time reading than doing to begin with. Most of what was true then still holds true today, the rules of SEO haven’t changed all that much.
Using the now defunct Overture Keyword Tool I’d choose my keywords and aim for a phrase somewhere below the top, assuming that the main one or two word phrases would belong to the big online brands and SEO Jedis.
This seemed like a good long tail tactic to get started as a noob and produced a few trickles of traffic. When I accidently started ranking for a few of the “top” keyphrases I’d tried to avoid, I realised it was possible to aim higher with some success.
This isn’t a how-to guide on basic SEO or a step by step explanation on the intricacies of on page keyword density; the morale of this story is aim high. Use your homepage to chase the top ranking SERPS in your area/vertical, and work hard to get those backlinks. Over a period of time (and it really won’t be quick) you can get your site ranking for highly competitive and lucrative terms.
When we launched sunshine.co.uk we decided to have a go at “cheap holidays“, one of the highest ranking key phrases for our sector. It took over a year to reach page 5 of Google, but within 2-3 months after that we were on page 1. A few more tweaks and some more link building brought us up to the top end of page 1, where we seem to rotate between position #1 and #2 daily.
Our medium-to-long term aim now is to get onto page 1 for “holidays” and see how far we can take it!
So don’t be frightened to give it a go, long tail isn’t the only SEO option available to you and remember good SEO is a marathon not a sprint. (cliché cliché)
4 Responses to “SEO - Aim High”
By DougS on Jul 1, 2008 | Reply
Nicely put Chris
2 years of link building, 4 hours per day is how I started. Remarkable how lucky you can get with the links.
Doug
By Lammo on Jul 2, 2008 | Reply
Good idea Chris - “Aim for the stars, and even if you fail, you could reach the moon” - I’m probably still aiming a little lower, targeting the “winnable” keyphrases, so once we’ve cornered them, I’ll certainly have some fun trying to get ranked for a major keyword or two
By Dean on Aug 21, 2008 | Reply
Nice advice chris, start with the longtail, tweak analyze and do it again, your spot on about the marathon, patience time and a good athical technique will stand you in good stead.
Oh and btw i am not far behind you with one of your competitors
well at least another 9 months.
Dean
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