How to rank for difficult terms

[pretige12]

I am helping launch a new business venture that sells oak furniture in the UK.  The key product terms are along the lines of;

oak bed
oak dining table
oak chairs

etc

which are very popular search terms.  Im used to being able to hang of local or branded search which arent available in this project.

The domain is around 12 months old, it has few inbound links which we are working on now with an overseas freelancer (keeping an eye on them).  The pages of the site are unique-content rich and the titles and other meta boxes are ticked.

What else would the experts recommend?

[AndreVanKets]

You could optimise the website for the location in UK that the business is situated in. This will give it some priority over other websites if you search in the same location as the business.

Do some research on Local SEO and make the most of it for your client.

Greg

[gcdtechnologies]

Hi Tom, generating a good range of longtail keywords is going to be more difficult without local or branded keywords, but it is still possible and it's a good way to gain a foothold in a competitive market. So terms like "oak table and four chairs", "antique oak bed" etc. may help to drive traffic. SEOMoz has a really thorough guide to keyword research here: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research

If you haven't set up a blog, it could be a really good way to capture longtail queries, build your reputation as an expert in the field and improve your brand visibility.

Good luck!

[EGOL]

The terms that you list are not "easy".  When you compete for terms like that you are in a "battle of resources".  Those resources in my opinion start with best-on-the-web text content, fantastic images and informative video.

You want a website loaded with content that will make people say.. "Wow!"

I would spend lots of time staging small room scenes to get professional-quality photos of these products that demonstrate "in the home" settings.  Google image search and pintrest can generate a lot of traffic for this type of product.  Some people shop this way or look for ideas and then are inspired to purchase.  We spend lots of time and lots of money to get great images and acquire the props and acquire great photos.

I would spend lots of time making video that shows shoppers how to recognize high-quality products, how to care for them, how to arrange them into a great living space, etc.

As you acquire a library of great content start making category pages on your site that can steer people to your products and educational/inspirational content.  Blog publishing is easy but it is more chronological than topically organized in a way that allows people to drill down.

After you have a mass of kickass content you can try to get links from manufacturers, trade associations, home decor sites, interior design sites, etc.