This all depends on the kw your trying to rank for. If you search it and theres 5 million pages on that kw, then good luck. However, if there's maybe 100,000 you have a better shot. It may be difficult to get your actual site listed, so you may want to write articels or blogs on that kw that may get ranked high and lead back to your site. Also when you do things like forum posts, blogs, and articles that all have an anchor link to your site, you get high quality backlinks that will help to rate your site higher.