Fri 27 Aug 2004
Richard asked about number1 Google phrases.
It’s not something I’ve put a huge effort into recently. I have all of the work I need. I don’t need to promote myself.
Back in 1999 when I built my first website for my wife’s small business, (It was better then than it is now), I managed to get it to number 1 on Altavista for the word ‘childrenswear‘. This did bring quite a bit of traffic to the site. However, back then I was a newbie that didn’t think about my users, who would be searching for ‘kids clothes’. (If only I knew then what I know now…) I did manage to get it (briefly) to #1 on Google and Yahoo! for ‘childrenswear’, although I think the best combined result was 3rd on all 3 at once.
Jump forward 5 years: the ‘If you build it they will come’ way of thinking is long gone (it was gone in 1999 too, most didn’t recognise it though). First-move advantage is not as great as it was in the 90s. The big players have the pseudo-commodities market sewn up. This is the age of the niche.
It does you no good to jocky for position with the term ‘website’: there are too many others. What you need to do to get search rank is specialise (or buy it).
Richard has obviously chosen a niche and it appears to be working. There is probably only a small proportion of people out there that would use the search terms for which he is #1. The great thing is that anyone that does search for those terms is going to come across excellent content (which is why Google is so good).
So, which terms am I number 1 for?
- Joseph Lindsay – my name, and this domain
- just like everybody else – also the title of a great song by the band formally known as Shihad, now known as Pacifier (which is also the title of one of their best)
I did hold the #1 spot for the term “Specialist Generalist” which is what I am; I specialise in knowing a bit about everything. Unfortunately that means that I’m not an expert in any one field, the downside (and benefits) of which has been discussed before
So I don’t have a niche. Therefore, I’m not number 1.
UPDATE: I’m also number 1 for the phrase “bmx for everybody”. Two posts about BMXs on the homepage and I’m there. I wonder how long it will take to drop once they move of the homepage?
[...] r: Web development and design Cool websites — Joe @ 18:08 A while back I wrote about my #1 Google phrases. Guess what? I’m #1 for the phrase R [...]
It’s great you don’t have to promote yourself re career. I feel the need to, mainly because I’m not happy jobwise at the moment (we’ve all been there before though).
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “There is probably only a small proportion of people out there that would use the search terms for which he is #1.”
So I have a niche, but whether that many people share that niche interest is another matter.
Incidentally, talking of NZ things now (your Pacifier ref), I noticed my RSS egovt article got linked to by the eGovt website itself (the same egovt article I linked to). You left a comment on there, so maybe someone will see your name there too. So that is encouraging.