Once you've determined the keyword competitors, you need to determine the factors that might be in play to help these Web sites to rank, while yours may not. It's possible to get carried away with this type of analysis, as there are over 100 factors in play to determine why a Web site might rank, and the factors (and the weight of the factors) will fluctuate in the search engine's algorithms. With that said, there are some pretty consistent things that you can look for to better compete for various keywords. I think this is true but want to know your experience..
I am agree with your thoughts. To rank on every keywords with having lots of competition on over search engines. You can't target on all 100 or 200 keywords for your website to rank higher on Search Engines. You can choose your most targeted keywords on work hard on them. Also work on other keywords but your main goal should be on your targeted keywords.