Well I think #1 in google is very possible especially if he really did some research on a specific niche.

Did he really only get 2 hits from Google?

I have a general query for all users. Is it prudent to pay for search engine optimization keywords, or would it be better to start off doing some original research and trying to see what works best for that specific site?

Wordtracker seems a little expensive for an initial investment.

Original research is the way to go....
coz most of the SEO firms are a fake i think...sorry guys for all you SEO guys here.....but one of my friend got badly duped.....i mean he even got his domain penalised by google!!

So, i think original research is always better than SEO firms...
and there are some good alternatives to wordtracker like google adwords...

I bet he is faking it ;p I doubt its a mistake.

Holy crapola, 900. Haha, happy 900th post. :D

Yes that might be a fake case.

Back to the topic I do just make up my keywords naturally and just go on writing the content around the keywords that comes to my mind. LSI might also play some important role in getting better rankings for the main keyword of mine.