PageRank, profile optimization, and the coolest guy in Seattle
I have the Google tool bar installed on my web browser, so every time I visit a web page, I can see immediately what its PageRank is. A quick over-simplified background for those of you unfamiliar with the term: PageRank is a number from 0-10 that Google assigns to web pages to measure their relative importance. The higher the number, the more weight Google gives that page. And even though it’s just one of many factors, it continues to provide the basis for all Google web search tools. So you can imagine how excited I was when I visited Biznik.com today and noticed that it’s now sporting a page rank of 6! (Previously, Biznik.com had a PageRank of 4).
How did Biznik jump two notches like that? Well, we have Thomas Schmitz to thank for that. Biznik’s resident SEO expert emailed me out of the blue a couple months ago, pointing out a problem with the way our URLS were formed. But more than that, he actually included the lines of code I needed to add to fix the problem in his email. How’s that for cool? (In case you’d like to know what that fix was, and how you can implement it, too, check out Thomas’s Search Marketing JamSession at BizJam on June 9th). Oh, and if you’re thinking of hiring Thomas to do SEO for you, you can’t - he just announced today that he took a full-time gig with Seattle internet marketing firm Portent Interactive. Congratulations Thomas.
But as cool as Thomas is, he isn’t the coolest guy in Seattle. At least not according to Google. That honor goes to Biznik’s newest supporting member, Erik Sjaastad. Try the search for yourself to see how truly cool he is!
How did Erik become the coolest guy in Seattle? He created a Biznik profile (and became a supporting member, which makes him very cool in my book). Then, he chose the words “coolest guy in Seattle” as his job title. Then he sat back and waited for the magic to happen.
“It was a fun prank to pull on all of my friends,” Erik says. “I sent out a text saying “Google coolest guy in seattle” and then my phone and email lit up. You’re right about the Biznik profile having a lot of weight.”
So, Biznikers, how are you using that weight to get you and your business noticed?
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:30 am
It just keeps getting better…
DD
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
That is truly interesting, Dan. I always recommend Biznik hosting to new clients (with almost perfect success) because of the value-add of the SEO component. Thanks!
May 5th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Just did a search for Seattle Business Consultants and my biznik profile came up 3rd. Biznik has been a great tool for sending people to my website link and that has led to many new clients. Thanks! It’s especially helpful since I have not made time to truly optimize my own site.
Shoot–I was hoping to hire Thomas for some SEO consulting after attending one of his talks recently! Just another reminder to strike while the iron is hot.
May 6th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
It is funny Dan that you wrote about this and I had to laugh at Eric’s techhique to being top ranked as well. I recently revamped my BizNik profile and business web site to put more emphasis on my QuickBooks tutoring. Now when I search for “QuickBooks tutor Seattle” in Google, my BizNik profile comes up at the top. Whee!
May 6th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
That’s great that you’re number one for that term, Keith. Let me know how it works out now that you rank that highly - I’m always curious to see how effective it is for different types of businesses to rank highly on Google. My experience is that it’s vital for some types of businesses, and hardly matters at all for others.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Hi Dan,
Thanks for the heads-up about PageRank. For those of us who don’t use Firefox, I found a bookmarklet that will work with Safari, or any other browser, that does the trick. Very cool!
You can find it at searchball.com.
See you,
Allan