I thought it might be helpful for people who are unfamiliar with analysing competion to post some real work examples of where I have ranked for a range of keywords.  Use these screenshots to find an understanding of what is and isn’t beatable.  I will post more over time.

In the example below (where I rank #1) you will notice that I have beaten sites with a lot more links to the domain than my own, and that a lack of a Yahoo and DMOZ backlink hasn’t hurt my potential.  Domain age also hasn’t caused an isssue.

The backlinks to the page aren’t anything over the top but the anchor text is the exact phrase 60% of the time.

Another tip to look out for is that when you see a page with a large number of backlinks but a relatively low PR – more than likely the backlinks to that page are of poor quality and the site is easy to beat.

If you haven’t used Market Samurai before than I recommend that you try out the trial version. It is enough to get you started and to get a feel of what it offers. Even once the trial has expired you can use the keyword research features for free.