Your opinion on this opportunity's difficulty?

[49wetnoodles]

I'm building a tool for mechanical engineers, and I'm trying to find 10 low-competition keywords to target in my first few content marketing efforts.  I've got a lot of maneuvering room, so (with a bit of expert advice) I bet I'll be able to find some low-hanging fruit.  Here's what I've found:

Most keywords are seem to have about 40% difficulty.

• What's the highest level of SEOmoz "keyword difficulty" that a new website should reasonably try for?

Some ranking high-authority pages are don't appear to be targeted at the term

• Is it fair to say that I could beat any page with less than a 'C' ranking for on-page optimization?  (Assuming I target the term with general best practices)*

Thanks!

If you're interested, here is my current process:

1. Go on engineering blogs for keywords
2. Use Wordstream's Keyword Suggestion Tool for ideas around it
3. Use Google Keyword Tools for keywords above 50 searches in direct match
4. Use SEOmoz Keyword difficulty report, looking more deeply at keywords under <50%
5. If I can find a top 10 page that's less than 30PA and less than 40DA, or has less than 'C' ranking for on-page optimization, I consider the keyword achievable within 3mo, using general best practices.

*Except for YouTube/Wikipedia/etc

[EGOL]

I think that you are putting way too much analysis into this.  (Engineers tend to do such things

Here is my suggestion....

Go build your kickass tool.  Place it on a page with a title tag and optimization that describe that tool perfectly.

Be sure that you explain it clearly and perfectly.  Be sure that it works flawlessly  (Engineers will pick at very tiny problems

When it is ready for use and for other engineers (who will try to break it) then share the URL with some engineers who blog.  Share it on a couple of engineering forums.

If your tool is really valuable then taking the steps above will be like throwing gasoline on a fire.  You will have people calling and emailing to ask if they can have the calculations so they build the same tool on their own sites.  People will be writing to you asking you to explain the calculations.

Don't launch prematurely.  You will get their good attention the first time but not on a relaunch or a repair.

Good luck.

(I hope that you already have some highly related content and content that supports people who will use this tool.  If they see your tool AND other information then your site can become a "go to place" for that topic.  If you don't have other related and supporting information try to get it ASAP... preferably before launch.)

[49wetnoodles]

Gotcha - thanks!

You're absolutely right, engineers do tend to overthink things.  I've realized that it's hard to get a sense of the optimal thinking/doing ratio in a given situation.  When designing bridges, it's very different than when hitting a baseball.  I'm not very good at either of those (don't worry - I attempt either of them either!)

I've launched the site, but as you recommended, I won't go wild publicizing it until it's got a  critical mass of great content.

Thanks,

-matt