newbie keyword question

Why does everyone try to rank for only 1-3 keywords? Wouldn't it make sense to try and rank for 10-30 words so you can get 3x the traffic?

OP.. but it would mean 3-10 times the effort too! I would recommend focusing efforts on 1-3 strong keywords which have high search results.. and then identify a dozen or two of low competition and low search keywords. For example, I've been trying to rank for a keyword like "buy articles" and am now on the 4-5th page. On the contrary, "buy seo articles", "buy niche content" am bang on the first page! A mix is what i'd advise.

Yes you could. But you're going to need THAT many more articles and that much more SEO...