Do you know what The Long Tail is?

[introdor]

Hi

Where I come from a "long tail" is what we call a R.A.T. Why? Because it's believed to be bad luck to say that word so we say "long tail" instead. However that has nothing to do with this, sorry!

I bought a book on Saturday called The Long Tail by a guy called Chris Anderson. Chances are, people in this sort of forum could probably have already heard of it or indeed already read it. However, if you haven't I am going to recommend you find a copy and do read it.

Even though I've only just bought it, I'm already over half way through and yesterday was Easter Sunday!

So what is it about? Well, here's what is says on the back over, sums it up nicely really:

"The Long Tail, a powerful new economic force in a world where the internet allows almost unlimited choice, Chris Anderson has identified an important truth about our economy and culture. The future does not lie in hits - the high volume end of a traditional demand curve - but what used to be regarded as misses - the curve's endlessly long tail.

He examines how niche interests, which make up the millions of misses, have come together in a global network, stimulating innovation on an unprecedented scale. The result, he argues, is a cutural richness in which enthusiams previously dismissed as "minority" thrive and everybody everywhere can find something to their taste."

So what does this mean for people like me who want to get into the internet and make some money? Well, that there are umlimited niches out there which previously have been ignored because they had no market but now with a medium like the internet, all these obsure niches are in themselves a profitable business and when you add them up, they are huge business!

Anyway, I am finding the book fascinating and just wanted to let other people know about it. And if I were you, I'd get onto Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore or whatever and find a copy. Very very interesting! Hope you enjoy it too!

Cheers

Rik

[introdor]

Hi

Just wanted to quickly follow up on my original post. I actually posted this in another forum too and the administrator told me to check out another site. It was called hittail.com. Have just been to the site and it looks excellent. It appears to put into practice exactly what The Long Tail book is all about.

So, anyone out there that is interested I suggest you do what I did, go to HitTail - Long Tail Keyword Marketing Tool and take a look and definitely watch the videos on the HitTail - Demo page. They even refer to the book and the author there!

Hope that helps!
Cheers
Rik

[Ju3561]

In "IM" terms, Long tail usually applies to a KW sentence with a string of 3 or more keywords.

[RLorenzen]

In "IM" terms, Long tail usually applies to a KW sentence with a string of 3 or more keywords.

Yes, and these terms usually have less competition and are easier to get good page ranking for. Even though these individual phrases alone may not produce large amounts of traffic, optimize your site for many of them and you can produce some serious traffic.

[RLorenzen]

Also, they are very targeted and specific so there's a better chance that someone who enters that phrase into Google is looking for your exact product or service.