Now, at more than one month distance, I’ve checked again with Wordtracker and it says “no results found”.

But it surprises me that with the hugeness and fluidity of the internet that one person could make such a difference. Just one more thing to keep track of as we do our research!

I don’t disagree with anything you say, but I’m still confused/concerned about the numbers that keyword tools return.

According to that WordTracker research from 3 months ago, there were 144 searches daily for [oakland tooth whitening].

I just checked my stats for the blog in question. I have the number one position for the term [oakland tooth whitening] without the quotes, and the site is PR2 only four months after launch.

In the last six days I’ve had 3 visits total. Not to beat this issue to death … the site’s up, I’ve moved on to other sites. But I’m now a LOT more suspicious about keyword research, particularly when to comes to local searches.

Lastly … according to WordTracker this morning, there are 65 searches daily for [oakland tooth whitening], less than half the number from February. Honestly, I really do believe that Court’s keyword sniping series led to enough of us doing local keyword searches for research that the tools started returning flawed data at the beginning of 2008.

I just found your blog and it’s nice to see another relative newcomer to the world of making a living online! I like your openness and your writing style and look forward to reading your posts.

About this issue though, I think one of the things that many of us forget is that there is a whole different set of buying attitudes and behaviors going on out there that aren’t (yet?) adapted to internet shopping. I know in my own case, I use the internet a lot more for information than for actual buying, even though I’m perfectly comfortable shopping online for most things. But as Ellen points out, teeth whitening is a personal service that requires a local provider if you want the best service (for example, laser whitening).

I’ve spent my whole working life in the business world, and people buy stuff for all kinds of reasons and in all kinds of ways. Now that I’m doing a lot of internet affiliate marketing, my perspective tends to narrow down to looking at everything from in IM viewpoint. I’m fighting that, though, because that is only one part of the equation. Maybe the supply/demand scenario for teeth whitening is poor in the brick & mortar world right now. If so, it’s unlikely that the picture would be rosy online.

Niche marketing has certainly gotten a lot of attention and some areas of the market are choked with competitors. I’m spending a lot of time looking at things I believe others aren’t looking at, and hoping that I can spot trends that haven’t been exploited to death. And if a niche isn’t doing well, I try to figure out if the problem is an IM/SEO one, an economic one, a personal one, etc. Some things can be fixed, some can’t.

As this business matures, it will become more difficult to make the kind of money that some of the early birds made in many niches. We’re going to have to look at a much broader picture to find those money-maker niches in the future, IMO.

The rest are sporadic. I’ve built sites for electronics and even the site I linked to here which I did for laughs and have no idea how to monetize even though it gets decent traffic.

I’m doing my first keyword snipes now, and am curious how long it takes before the sites begin to get traffic and at about how many months do they peak?

With hard-won experience, I think you’re absolutely right.

My point simply is that on the face of it, that’s a term that “should” have worked, at least according to the research. In practice, the research was somehow faulty, and it’s turned out to be too narrow a phrase.

I would suggest that teeth whitening is too narrow a term. Take a step back and look at the localized “service” that is involved with teeth whitening I think you will find a bit more traffic and higher payouts.

Beau

Look at the locations. They’re all major cities and/or specific locations and they all have one thing in common. *Lot’s of people with money to spend on this type of cosmetic service.

Obviously I can’t know for sure who is searching and/or why — but I am guessing there are lot’s of folks in these areas who want prettier, whiter teeth, and for the most part they have the kind of money in their bank accounts to get them. Even if someone doesn’t have the money to get them though, I’d be willing to bet most know they’ll have to go to a professional *close to home*.

ALL of the variations you’ve mentioned can be addressed LOCALLY – on the websites of the professionals *close to home* who not only specialize in teeth whitening but who can answer all the questions of “cost, discount, best, at-home, in-office, otc, problems, dangers, drawbacks, etc.

Dentistry in general is always a very personal thing. Every mouth is different and no one wants to open theirs to someone they don’t trust. Cost is always determined by the provider and insurance isn’t always available. Those who can afford teeth whitening services (insurance won’t cover this procedure), know they’ll have to find someone who can provide what they’re looking for, not only at a price they’re willing to pay – but in a way that’s convenient for them.

That said… with so many attempting to target those keywords (I googled to find out), I can also see how the results in a keyword search could be skewed. It’s not only those who are searching for tooth whitening but those who are providing information to those searching who contribute to the over-all results.

I don’t know if what I’ve had to say helps at all but thought it might be worth saying nonetheless.

But only local terms? All the top search terms that include [tooth whitening] are geographic terms? I’d have also expected variations on cost, discount, best, at-home, in-office, otc, problems, dangers, drawbacks, etc.

That’s what has me worried about results being skewed. I’d expect some, even many, of the terms to be geographic; but not all of them.