When doing research for keywords is it a good idea to look at what tghe sucsessful sites are using or is that just putting yourself in competition against them? Would it be better to do it another way?
I check what are competitors keywords.. then find other phrases or keywords that are related to their keywords but less competition.
Use a keyword tool that can help you figuring out what's the best keyword you can use for your site and see how competent it is and how searchable it is on the search engine. Make a study in your keyword and your competitors keyword so that you can make your tactics more useful.
i would recommend you to use google adword tool for searching relevant keywords for your site. this tool can give you some ideas what keywords do have high search volume.
The best with it is study your competitors strategy and the keywords they using, so that you can have a plan in how to attack.