I am doing keyword research for my new blog, and would like some clarification from folks, to make sure I am on the right track. I got my "how to" from a podcast on internet marketing, but I think the information will translate to our field.
Here is what I did (based on what that expert recommended):
1)Used Google's Adword Keyword tool (free), and typed in what I thought would be the most popular searches for my area (such as, "[my city] real estate", "[my city] homes for sale", etc. Google then gave me the average # of searches for that keyword, as well as last month's # of searches.
2) once I had a fairly long list of the most popular keywords, I then (based on the expert's recommendation) "Googled" each one of those search terms, being careful to put the keywords in quotes. At the top of the page, Google displays "Results 1-10 of about xxx"; I noted these results for each of my keywords.
3) based on all the information, the keywords that I want to focus on are the ones with the best ratio of Average Search Volume to # of search results. So if I had a keyword that averages only 4000 searches per month, but there are 300,000 search results for this keyword, that is one that will take much longer to "dominate".

Am I way off base here? I know that it would take a ton of effort to dominate page 1 of google for the most popular terms, especially if others in my market have been at it much longer, and have a solid network of inbound links, etc.

Looking forward to your input.

I wouldn't rely on any third parties for specific research to your site. The only way to tell is to buy traffic, and test how well your site converts that traffic.

Bid on the keywords your gut tells you you should go after, and see if you can convert them into leads. If you can't do that, there is no use spending months optimizing your site for a phrase that you can't turn into business.

AFTER you've found your best converting keywords from Adwords, then go and optimize for those sites.

PS - Here is an article about some low-hanging fruit that you could go out and get immediately. (Low traffic volumes, but those that do find you will be serious prospects.)
http://joelm.automatedhomefinder.com/200...estate-traffic/

The podcast is about right. I would add that you should target the most competitive keywords with the main entry page to your blog/site and use your blog posts to target the lesser search terms.

Keep in mind that Google treats competitive commercial keywords like "your city real estate" different from non-commercial keywords. It takes longer. Often when "experts" are estimating the ranking times they are using non-commercial terms as their reference point.

PSS
Pay no attention to how many results come up for a given phrase (quotes or not). That's irrelevant. (That logic is like being scared to swim in a 100 foot deep pool vs. a 12 foot deep pool. As long as you can swim - it makes no difference.) To make the first page, you are competing with the site in the #9 & #10 spot, and should otherwise ignore how many sites come up for any given search.

Check how many links they have pointing at the specific pages that are ranking for that phrase, and get more links if you want to outrank them. If that number is too intimidating, pick a less competitive phrase (like podcasts about that city, or neighborhoods within that city.) You'll get almost immediate results AND will build your authority - enabling you to eventually rank for the "heavier traffic phrase" while you're at it.

Thanks all for the input on this question. Joel, the low-hanging fruit fable is a good one. It seems to make a lot of sense for what I am going to be doing -- even though I want to get as many clients as possible, there is a specific area that we will be targeting, one that is not as easily searched, since in encompasses several zip codes - it is basically a certain hot school district, so targeting neighborhoods for optimizing to should be more effective.

Do you guys have any specific site that spells out what you are talking about better? It is hard for me to wrap my mind around this. Books? Etc?

The majority of the books that you might find on the subject will be outdated (this is the nature of technology) - Do some searching for keyword analysis, SEO (search engine optimization), and SEM (search engine marketing) and be ready to spend a bunch of hours reading - about the only thing I can tell you is that it will be fuzzy for a while, but the more you read, the more you'll start to get it.

Yeah, I see what you are saying. I've been reading like crazy. It is very interesting. But seems like it will be fairly simple once it sets in. Somewhat time consuming but others seem to say it is worth the wait.

WK - The lingo that gets thrown around in the SEO realm can get hairy. Just do a lot of reading up on the subject--SEO for Dummies can be a good starting point - some good sites are SEOmoz.com, SEObook.com, and one that i have just found, HubSpot.com.