After a recent redesign and refocus of this web marketing blog, I decided to check out some rankings. On Yahoo #4 and for MSN it’s #1 in only a couple months. On the other hand, Google seems to be penalizing it for no apparent reason. Just running your typical blog here.
What is really cool is that for the phrase web marketing, it is in the top #125 spots 30 spots on Yahoo (top #75 for MSN), out of 1.9 billion results. I expect to surpass have surpassed Bruceclay.com very soon. For those that aren’t in the know, he is one of the biggest, and definitively original names in the commercializing of search engine optimization. Sure, his site is mainly about SEO, but he is still targeting that phrase on part of his site. He probably has tons of inbound links, while I only have a dozen tops.
Does that mean that I should charge $1,000 per hour like he does (or however much his rates are up to now)? Okay, so the words web marketing are in my domain name. Guess I only have one option then. Try to pick another phrase that he is targeting and see if I can surpass him there as well.
I know that while the phrase internet marketing gets more searches, it gets more competition too. I am not ready to take on the world in that regard, and I need this blog to continue narrowing its target focus.
The points to take away from this are:
- There is still a lot of ranking room for new players in the search engines
- Your domain name may want to include one or two or your primary keyword targets as long as it’s not too restrictive in the long run, and add to your memorability/brandability. Domains that are simply made up of lots of keywords are rarely successful; mainly because no one can remember them
- Focus on phrases you stand a chance for, and then move up to more competative stuff as you start to succeed
- Search engines vary widely in their results, and can do mysterious things sometimes even for perfect sites. Yahoo and MSN are definitely easier to get ranked in based on your on-site content, compared to the Google
- Focus on words that are going to get you the most visitors that are likely to stick around on your site
Dear Mr. Bruceclay. If you would like some consulting advice on web marketing or SEO, just give me a buzz. I am not cheap though.
If you have a story of how you are ranking above your competitors for especially difficult phrases, then leave a comment.
