Longtail keywords dominated by high profile sites - how to beat them?

As far as i've seen recently long tail keywords like "how to bla bla bla" are often conquered by high profile sites such as ehow.com or webmd in health keywords. The problem is, I rarely see small sites that can rank well in these long-tail-but-seem-profitable keywords. Usually 1st-3rd ranks are all high profile sites. I wonder if I should compete in these keywords or it is not worth it?

I would say don't bother. Google really rates these sites plus they have many people working for them to keep them at the top. I'd choose a niche within the niche your aiming for. For example, rather than 'how to cut hair', go for 'how to cut an asymetrical bob'. You get the idea.

Yep but dont you see there are tons of longtail keywords that are being conquered by them which weren't. I think 2 years ago their ranks weren't as good as today but apparently they are now.

Hi Guys,

Gotta say, the "how to" market is pretty saturated with ehow/video jug etc.
Would have to agree with Lafours, go for the longtail words. For example the phrase:

"how to cook steak" gives 9,900 exact searches with 7,720,000 competing.

No chance you are going to see an immediate effect if you go for that phrase, instead try:

how to grill filet mignon - 1000 exact searches - 338,000 competing
how to cook ribeye steak - 480 exact searches - 115,000 competing
grilling the perfect steak - 390 exact matches - 793,000 competing

Hope this helps