Getting a #1 Google Listing
October 19th, 2007 by Chief Nut
In the processing of picking out new glasses, Seth Godin involved his readers and did two things. I suspect the first was intentional and the second not. 1) He tied the process of eyeglass selection to the idea of font face selection. Abstract, VERY insightful and worth reading. 2) He also got a number one listing on Google in less than 24 hours for the phrase “book about picking glasses”.
In the past week I’ve heard three people use a phrase similar to “I don’t get blogging” … or “I don’t understand what all the fuss is over blogging”, etc. In each case I patiently go through the process of explaining why blogging is relevant to the world — especially the world of business.
Let’s consider a fashion designer who wants to carve out a nice little niche for him/herself. They certainly have the experience to start a blog, yes? … as well as writing an article or two? … and, if you compile all of this great content together, you get a book! Here’s my point; The opportunity of getting the #1 listing on google for the phrase “book about picking glasses” was inadvertantly scooped by Seth Godin, NOT consciously mined by a more obvious (and beneficial) individual such as an eyeglass designer or an optometrist or a fashion consultant.
Tip #1 — If you ARE an eyeglass designer or an optometrist or a fashion consultant, AND you have a blog, there’s no reason why you can’t be capitalizing on this concept … and a million other similar ideas. THIS is the power of blogging. Be the first to write that book! Become THE expert in eyeglass selection!
Tip #2 — If you’re in another industry, what are the phrases that may not be frequently used but, when found by a Google surfer, would position you powerfully in the #1 spot and drive targeted, hungry customers to your front door? Want to take a guess who’s got the #1 spot (no peeking) for “Creative Web site design”? Yes, indeed, blogging is powerful.
How did you come to do that search? Did you read the post and decide to try the search?
I actually didn’t intend to get to the font thing… it only occurred to me as I was thinking through all the glasses advice I got.
What a weird world this web is…
Comment by seth godin — October 19, 2007 @ 8:47 am
I’m totally in agreement with you that blogging can impact one’s business in very positive ways.
I do need to point out that Seth Godin has a very popular blog. He’s consistently in the top 25 of all blogs on the internet. (Here’s his Technorati stats: http://technorati.com/blogs/sethgodin.typepad.com)
In order to have that #1 ranking on Google, it’s important that you write about your niche over and over again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
“Book about picking glasses” WAS inadvertently scooped by Seth Godin, but it was because he has become the expert on something else and taken advantage of his effective SEO strategy.
Comment by Brian Feener — October 19, 2007 @ 9:08 am
Greetings Seth and Brian,
A phrase like “Book about picking glasses” is a long-tail phrase. Two points:
TO SETH — I just assumed that a long-tail phrase coming from a popular blog like yours would get an immediate reaction from Google. I was pleasantly surprised to be correct. Regarding your insight about glasses and fonts, I think your comment from a couple posts back about using Wikipedia … “I want them to be great at synthesizing ideas, the faster and more insightfully, the better.” … is directly relevant here! SEE! you do that without even thinking about it! Thanks for the response.
TO BRIAN — I LOVE the “lather, rinse, repeat” comment. So true! HOWEVER, with long tail phrases, the need to repeat over and over and the need to be as popular as Seth becomes less important. The farther out on the tail you go the less you need to be worried about these issues. Getting many hundreds of thousands, or millions of long tail #1 listings is actually quite easy. Because of this dynamic I’ve secured the domain name “YouDontNeedSEO.com” I haven’t done anything with it yet however … so many ideas, so little time. Sigh.
Comment by Chief Nut — October 19, 2007 @ 11:03 am
great post, the funny thing about this is after you posted and used the term “book about picking glasses” you jumped to the #1 position
Comment by ethan — October 19, 2007 @ 12:59 pm