Help me understand Keyword Tool

[Chappy]

Hey folks
Still learning the internet marketing thing here.
There is a town near me with 50,000 population. I notice the domain <town>plumber.com is available for reg. I type "<town> plumber" in the Keyword Tool and it shows 30 exact local matches with a CPC of $25.
When I search "<town> plumber" in Google there is a Yelp listing and a bunch of plumbers sites with lame webpages. There are also ads at the top and the side.

Is this something worth exploiting? I could probably fairly easily set up a plumber directory site and add some plumbing articles.

Thanks

 

[Biggie]

you were willing to gamble on 1000 searches last time (pool removal) and even put up a site for review... so why not go with <geo> plumber for 30?

http://www.dnforum.com/f73/help-newbie-how-do-i-analyze-search-popularity-thread-501458.html


seems you like the tool only to check cpc values and search volume is basically irrelevant



am i wrong?

 

[Chappy]

I can always count on your reply Biggie, thanks!

My pool removal sites are for Lead Gen and not advertising revenue. I can score up to $200 per single lead from those sites so they can be profitable from even low traffic. I am already ranking #2 on both my pool removal sites.

With the <geo>Plumber site I'm thinking a directory listing may be the way to go. I charge Plumbers $10 a month or something to be listed. The Keyword Tool suggests there are 30 people a month who search for my <geo>Plumber so assuming if can rank #1 then that's potentially 30 new customers per month for the plumbers which is worth their $10 investment.

Then I saw the high CPC and am trying to figure out what that means. I assume that means the ads are pretty expensive for the advertisers but that translates to more PPC income from adsense ads. So, maybe it's worth throwing up some Adsense ads on the Plumbing directory too.

Thanks for any advice

 

[Biggie]

you assume too much from the results


to assume 30 searches for a term, equates to 30 people that will search google for that exact term in a month....if a foolish assumption.

as the google keyword is not the same, as the overture tool was. but mis-interpretation of results are the same mistake others make when trying to cypher gkwt results

additionally, "IF" you were to get 30 visitors in a month... the more plumbers on the list, the less likely those on the bottom of the list would benefit from paying a fee.

especially if listed in alphabetical order or first come first serve, as it would be very similar to getting traffic with low rank for terms in google.

i see it as basically trying to take a low volume term, build a directory on it and charge folks to be listed.

value for value, they may be better off buying adwords straight from G


still the adsense ads are a good idea to start with and you could use any stats from that as fodder for your sales pitch


imo...

 

[Chappy]

Thanks Biggie.
Will research this some more.

Are you enjoying success with profitable websites? I'm looking for suggestions on whether a 'beginners guide' exists to get me rolling to save me from posting dumb questions on here.
Most of my internet queries point me to the Warrior Forum which is OK but seems like everyone is trying to sell me things.

 

[Biggie]

Thanks Biggie.
Will research this some more.

Are you enjoying success with profitable websites? I'm looking for suggestions on whether a 'beginners guide' exists to get me rolling to save me from posting dumb questions on here.
Most of my internet queries point me to the Warrior Forum which is OK but seems like everyone is trying to sell me things.

lol


i ain't trying to sell ya nothin, just sharing things i found out thru trial and error.

but i know what you mean.


i say, many "beginner guides" in this biz are written with an agenda... cuz beginnners are more impressionable

and if you can make a lasting impresssion, they'll follow you right off the cliff


but imo, no question is dumb, when asked intelligently

and if you don't ask, how will you ever get an answer?


i'm not trying to shoot down your ideas, just want to present all considerations.

 

[Shane]

1st place get's you a whopping 18.6% CTR on Google. So 18.6% of 30 equals 5.58. You're wasting your time.

A UPS direct mail campaign would be a better investment for those plumbers.

 

[Chappy]

1st place get's you a whopping 18.6% CTR on Google. So 18.6% of 30 equals 5.58. You're wasting your time.

A UPS direct mail campaign would be a better investment for those plumbers.

If you were a plumber, competing with 50 or so other plumbers in a town of 50,000, how much would you be willing to pay to be listed #1 on Google when someone searches for <Geo> Plumber?
If that brought even a single additional customer a month surely that's worth something?

 

[Shane]

How many advertisers do you plan to have? You're getting 5.58 visitors per month to split between multiple advertisers? Let's say every month you manage to push 1 visitors to each of the plumbers homepages.. It's still not a guaranteed sale. That's 12 leads per year per advertiser. Factor in a normal conversion rate and you MAY get 1 conversion a year per plumber..

Or they can use a direct mail campaign to target home owners which will convert...

You aren't building a business. You're building a thin site with no use and then trying to charge hard working small business owners for maybe 1 sale a year? Come on. Stop dreaming.

 

[Chappy]

Okay so we're saying this model works but ONLY if there is decent search volume.
So if I had HoustonPlumbers.com which pulls in 500 searches per month then it may be worth it.

In a video from Adam he recommends having at least 500 monthly searches and CPC >$8 to make it worth it. I guess I should follow that advice.

 

[Shane]

Okay so we're saying this model works but ONLY if there is decent search volume.
So if I had HoustonPlumbers.com which pulls in 500 searches per month then it may be worth it.

In a video from Adam he recommends having at least 500 monthly searches and CPC >$8 to make it worth it. I guess I should follow that advice.

There isn't a set number of searches per month that makes a niche viable. It truly depends on the niche, how high you can rank, amount of qualified traffic you can generate and most importantly, the revenue generated per lead.

For example,

10,000 monthly searches > 5$ per lead = Viable

Estimated traffic of 1,860 (per month) at a 2% conversion rate equates to 37.2 leads per month or $186 in revenue.


10,000 monthly searches > 1$ per lead = Waste of time

Estimated traffic of 1,860 (per month) at a 2% conversion rate equates to 37.2 leads per month or $37.2 in revenue.


You have to calculate potential revenue prior to devising a strategy. Otherwise it's not a business.. it's gambling.


It doesn't matter if theres 1 search or 1,000 - if the leads don't pay well you're screwed.

 

[Johnn]

I don't know about your area but here in PA they charge anywhere between $125-$175 per hour and they are real busy so they don't really care about advertising on the web.

There are only a couple big companies in each city which may want to advertise but you need to prove traffic before they will spend the money.

Pick some other services - I don't think plumbing would work.

 

[Chappy]

How important is getting the exact match domain?

[medical assistant salary] gets almost 20,000 monthly searches at $6 CPC.
How much of an advantage does MedicalAssistantSalary.com have over say, MedicalAssistantSalaryInfo.com or Medical-Assistant-Salary.org?

Thanks

 

[Shane]

How important is getting the exact match domain?

[medical assistant salary] gets almost 20,000 monthly searches at $6 CPC.
How much of an advantage does MedicalAssistantSalary.com have over say, MedicalAssistantSalaryInfo.com or Medical-Assistant-Salary.org?

Thanks

Depends who you ask but I still see it holding significant weight.

If possible, get an exact match TLD. Remember, if it's not worth investing money upfront it's probably not worth pursuing.

 

[elevatoria]

Does the exact match search volume still relevant with Google to rank any site now?

 

[Biggie]

Does the exact match search volume still relevant with Google to rank any site now?

i guess you're kinda confused, because of past blog articles and forum threads about emd names losing value.



one minute emd's are all the rage, next thing you know big G is changing algo


but i think the intent of the rhetoric is to keep you guessing... which benefits the experts, as they try to clarify.

it's what a seo biz thrives on


imo...

 

[Chappy]

i guess you're kinda confused, because of past blog articles and forum threads about emd names losing value.



one minute emd's are all the rage, next thing you know big G is changing algo


but i think the intent of the rhetoric is to keep you guessing... which benefits the experts, as they try to clarify.

it's what a seo biz thrives on


imo...

A conspiracy!

In general most are saying that the latest algorithms give less of a 'bonus' to EMD's. It's not that an EMD hurts your site but they simply tweaked down the bonus of having it.
Most would still take an EMD to build a site on if it was available.