Maybe a stupid question...

[thebassman]

I'm still pretty new to figuring out this SEO stuff, and after google did it's "rearranging" yesterday, when you search for video montage, which will probably be one of the main phrases I am/will target, the 2nd ranking is a post I made in another forum. How does something like that happen, that a post on a small forum not only gets ranking way higher than a website, but also higher than all of my competition that are also probably targeting the same keyphrase?

[compar]

I doubt like hell that anybody is targeting that phrase. If you do the most elementary keyword research you will find that nobody searches on it. That's why any reference to it anywhere will show up. Nobody but you uses the term.

Why don't you get a site first and then worry about all this shit later?

[thebassman]

My site is being designed by someone else... should be done in a matter of weeks. In the meantime, I'm trying to get everything else ready.

Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning, Bob?

[alpha3m]

LOL

[compar]

You don't even know what your best keywords are. How can somebody be designing a site if you haven't done this basis research yet?

And you are the guy who pissed in my shreddies. I can't believe the inane questions you are asking.

[sem4u]

Calm down you two!

Keyword research MUST come first in site design.

[Fruit & Veg]

You can design a site and do keyword research later - the design of the site is NOT determined by the keywords. If so, that means that the colour of a site and the layout is determined by the keywords...that doesn't make sense.

Keyword research does need to be done early though, I agree. Plus the site design and the coding of the site has to be SEO friendly. You may have to do some 'recoding' when you get your site back form the designer.

I think thebassman is asking relevant questions.

'video montage' is searched 929 times in Feb on Overture - http://inventory.overture.com/d/sear...ry/suggestion/. I heard somewhere that you can multiple this figure by 30 to get a rough Google estimate - so 27,870 searches per month for one keyphrase is quite significant in my book.

Regarding the forum posting ranking high, don't worry about it too much until it's actually beating your site in a few months time. In the meantime, check out the other sites in the top 10 for that phrase and see what they are doing and start getting a list together of sites to contact to get some inbound links to your site.

Compar - I think you should stick to muesli this week

[I, Brian]

compar, if someone annoys you feel free to ignore them.

As to the question - obviously Google considers such a post most relevant to the search.

Also note that just because a term doesn't show up on Wordtracker, it doesn't mean to say it is not searched for. Wordtracker uses an extremely restrictive database, so if a term doesn't show as search for on it, it just means that the word is not searched for with any particular frequency. However, I can quite guarrantee that some of these phrases are searched for, and I've seen them lead directly to sales.

It *is* a good idea to do some research on the actual frequency of searches for any term, though, and get an idea of what you actually need to target. Smaller search terms first, but with a form eye on moving into much more competitive search terms.

[thebassman]

Thanks for the advice Fruit & Veg and I, Brian. I have done some research with what my competitors use for keywords and whatnot. Is there a way to see what they're paying for AdWords and Overture and whatnot?

Originally Posted by Fruit & Veg

In the meantime, check out the other sites in the top 10 for that phrase and see what they are doing and start getting a list together of sites to contact to get some inbound links to your site.

Yes, everyone keeps saying links are important. Other than submitting to indexes and whatnot, what's the best way to get inbound links from sites (and what should I be prepared to do in return?)

[GoldDust]

Originally Posted by compar

Why don't you get a site first and then worry about all this **** later?

show some respect!

My Deep House Mix will chill you out

[RonHollingsworth]

I'd love to help you, but stop saying whatnot. Just kidding.

Good point I, Brian. Wordtracker is a great resource but don't rely 100% on. Do some research on the industry your in. A competitor is a good start.

[thebassman]

whatnot... LOL. That's funny. I never noticed that I wrote 'whatnot' that often... hehe. I guess I should be more articulate. I'm not sure who, but someone recommended the Keywork Tool at DigitalPoint.com, and I've found it really useful now that I've found most of my keywords.

Other than looking for keywords and keyphrases in title & meta tags, what other info should I be gathering from competitors?

[Fruit & Veg]

Who's linking to them, you can find out here - http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com here - http://www.linkpopularity.com and here - http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/

Also, general marketing stuff like how do they sell their product/service?, what price?, what extra's does a customer get? If they have Shreddies in the morning? Do they have an affiliate program?

When your site is live, let us know then you can get some specific advice.

[thebassman]

Thanks... will do.