Targeting competitive keywords is easy...

[isrealh]

I am about to optimize my website (still being designed) to compete in the insurance and loan industry. This is obviously, a very competitive area. Other than targeting the medium to low keywords, building quality links, using internal links and keyword rich copy what other techniques have you found to be successful when optimizing in completive keyword categories?

Would the creation of several mini sites linking to the main website be worthwhile (unique copy, different host companies of course?)

[TryUsOut]

Would the creation of several mini sites linking to the main website be worthwhile (unique copy, different host companies of course?)

This could work but only to a certain extent IMO.

But I think is a bit more tedious than doing SEO (afterall, you need to also SEO this sites for them to make a good impact on your main site). I'd suggest you to start with building quality backlinks - as they will help you in the offpage optimization and also draw direct targeted traffic in the long run.