keyword research for 2 concepts

finding keyword research for two concepts

[gerrigale]

Newbie here,

I have recently launched a real estate website. Keyword research indicates that 99% of real estate terms are very competitive. So My initial idea was to utilize transportation as a means to rank in google and then grab the real estate client for my particular area. For example , my territory is north Jersey and my website is all about "Commuting to New York City in 30-60 minutes-"
I have been targeting keywords like:
"homes for sale on the montclair-booton train line":
"Communities along the morris/essex train line"
So I am trying to do keyword research which will tell me information about two different concepts: 1. TRAIN LINE AND 2. HOMES FOR SALE IN A PARTICULAR TOWN
Any idea how to do this , not getting much data on google keyword tools.

[Jabzebedwa]

From one newbie to another, it seems that your keyword phrases are a bit esoteric. When I read them I wonder if people will actually type those into a search. Your findings of low-to-no data in the keyword tool would support this.

"Niche" is good, but can be taken to an extreme that simply doesn't deliver.

Real estate agencies rely heavily on the Internet for their business. Consequently, the terms that work are highly researched and competitive.

[tedster]

One approach you might take is to type your proposed keywords into the search box and watch what suggestions come up letter by letter - and in what order. I'd assume that the higher up the list you see a phrase, the more traffic it is likely to get. Of course, skip over those phrases that are not on-target for the site.

[rankmaster77]

Jabzebedwa has a good point.

Idea:

You may want to consider the user of your services and extend into niche areas that will help you capture certain clients ($,the need, well qualified), for example: executives relocating & or looking for homes where they can commute to NYC. You'll have to dig in and find these related or associative Keywords, but it may be worth a try. This may help you bid on less expensive keywords for that potential client. Those KW's may be cheaper, yet they let you semi-compete in the real estate market.

In my past experience if you intend to compete, sometimes there are a few KW's that with time, could help you get just enough leads to break even or make money. I am assuming in your field the commission on a sale is pretty good, so you may want to work your way up with just a few good keywords, pay the price for now, get plenty of neg-kw's in and see what you can capture.

You may also want to bid during certain hours where it may not be as expensive, i.e. the wee hours of the night. Just an idea.

Hope that helps! :)

[Andy Langton]

I think you need to rethink the approach a little. Perhaps one person a month searches for "homes for sale on the montclair-booton train line". One way of thinking about it is that if you wrote thirty variations on the same theme, that would be thirty visitors a month. But it isn't going to work that way.

For one thing, Google increasing wants to rank the other way round. the best match for "homes for sale on the montclair-booton train line" is either a page about the train line that discusses homes, or a page about homes that discusses the train line. this is a by-product of wanting to select trustworthy resources to rank. So you may well fail to rank anyway.

The other problem is that presumably, you are intending to grow your site over time. Unless you're planning on 're-optimising' your content constantly, your traffic potential is going to remain the same. There's just no room to grow with pages targeting ultra long tail keywords so specifically.

To me, you've made a great start in the thought process - you've recognised that you're not going to compete against big players on their playing field. But I think you've chosen the wrong approach.

You're already thinking about what your audience is looking for, and slanting that towards things that are less competitive. That's good! People looking for journey times are likely to include a percentage of people evaluating a move. So go the next step into seeing what people search for around journey times, and create real content to attract those people. In that way you can start to pick up traffic that includes a decent chunk of your target market, assuming you can find the right ideas.

Doing this is a slower burn, but the potential is that you end up with a site that has a growing audience that are going to be interested in real estate services - and especially interested in the site that already helped them out. And then some of those money keywords might start to look like something you can compete for after all.

[gerrigale]

thanks I am rethinking my approach now. Getting ideas from the forum - thanks again for your time

[gerrigale]

HI All,
I bit the bullet and have gone after more focused keywords. I am reading about linking a blog to your page ( using the keywords) and also articles can help your page move up or rank better , with these self generated backlinks. Any thoughts on this? I am new to this as you can tell. thanks

[Andy Langton]

As a rule of thumb 'self generated' links are less likely to provide you value, unless there is a good reason for Google to believe those links are trustworthy.

If you wanted broad advice, I think the worst thing you can do when building a new site is to concentrate on what search engines want. if you're in it for the long haul, think about what users want, and how they may not be getting that from your more established rivals. If you invest in solving that problem, you have a real shot at success.