2 blog posts + one week = #1 in google

I posted about the WSU Honors College here and here. I tagged the posts ‘honors college blog.’ Now I am #1 in google for the search ‘honors college blog.’

I called up a professor buddy at the WSU Honors College to draw his attention to it, in case my rankings drop. 2 blog posts is not a firm foundation in any way, shape, or form. But it is a beginning.

How many people search for ‘honors college blog?’ I can tell you right now- almost none.

But those few who do, are a highly targeted audience. What highly targeted audiences exist in your industry that you would love to have the attention of?

Let’s try again. I am going to tag this post ‘tax return analysis.’ I am going to wait one week. Any bets?

Note: this only works if there are not any big players in your space. Tag your post ‘google’ and see if anyone cares. They won’t. But for your highly targeted audience, if no competitors are paying attention, that top space can be yours in one week.

how the wsu honors college can increase their visibility: if they can do it, so can you

Promoting an Honors College and selling salt are intimately linked, in that google is prime search real estate. Also, people may search in very specific ways.

I posted yesterday about recruiting for Portent Interactive, where I work. In that post I mentioned the WSU honors college, and I tagged the post with ‘wsu honors,’ ‘wsu honors college,’ and ‘honors college blog.’

Today, one day later, I am result #19 for the search ‘honors college blog.’ And note that this result is straight to my blog, not to a wordpress tag page, as with my high results for ‘100 fastest growing companies Puget Sound Business Journal‘ or similar searches.

Within a day or two I expect my post to appear higher up, and under the wordpress tag page.

Here is the point- 1 day and 1 blog post put the Washington State University Honors College on the second page of google for the ‘honors college blog’ search. As you would expect, I will be tagging this post appropriately. Now what if Kim and Jessica decided to start a regular WSU Honors College blog? They could easily be high in the rankings.

Just by blogging.

Now, that is for ‘honors college blog,’ a fairly specific term. How about this term: ‘honors chemistry.’ Search it. Not a blog on the first page. So if you are an honors college, and you have an honors chemistry class, you could talk about it on a blog and get on the second page at the least, within a few days.

So: salt. Search for ’sea salt.’ Our client Saltworks is number one. Now seach ’salish smoked sea salt.’ That is one heck of a specific search term. And Saltworks owns it, and their ad is on top, and the have a product search.

Combine Honors chemistry, honors college blog, and salish smoked sea salt, and what you get is a clear reason to a) start blogging now and b) go after those specific, rare terms in your blog.

Not sure what terms matter for what you do? Use google’s keyword tool to help you find what people are looking for. I had no idea ‘honors chemistry’ was important till I used their tool.

recruiting through the wsu honors college and the wsu innovation assessment center

I am talking about two things today: how to find good people, and proving a point about how to find good people.

We at Portent Interactive are looking for more client services people. We were in the top 100 fastest growing companies in Washington state this year in large part because we have been hiring good people.

Now we are big enough that we are growing a client services department. I am looking for smart, agile, humble people to work for me. I want intellectual curiosity. I want ambition. I want creativity. I want passion.

I want demonstrated marketing ability. Better yet, demonstrated internet marketing ability. Better yet, demonstrated profitable internet marketing ability. If you don’t have years in industry, that is okay so long as you get internet marketing.

Maybe you are nearing college graduation, and observe that the future lies with those with a deep understanding of the internet. You have a marketing background, with a major in Marketing or, better yet, Entrepreneurship.

Besides loving marketing, you dabble in code, or you sell artwork on the side. Or you have been using Adwords since you were a freshman.

Bottom line, if you have drive and potential, I want to talk with you. Leave a comment on this post.

So that is the sales talk. Now here is the point I am going to prove with this post. The Honors College at Washington State University, of which I am an alumnus, sees some of the best and brightest that school has to offer.

But, they do not appear on the front page search results for a variety of searches. So I am going to tag this post for them, and I bet that within 3 days at the most, I will be on Google’s front page for a few of these searches.

The point of this is to show those in charge that they themselves should be blogging about their (my) school, if they want to attract young tech-savvy students.

Also, I am encouraging the WSU Innovation Assessment Center, which does economic development for smaller companies, that they should start blogging.

I am looking to both these organizations to help me find good people. Now you, dear readers, if you know anyone like I described, please leave me a comment. Also, I specifically want to meet someone involved with the UW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Networking on three. 1, 2,…