How do you write news that keeps you on the first page of Google?
So far, I have written posts on 3 topics that have gotten dramatically more traffic than all the rest. For two of them, they still own good space on google. The third cannot be found on the first 5 pages.
First, I was the first to publish the results of the Puget Sound Business Journal’s list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies in Washington State. You can find it in google under almost any permutation involving ‘100 fastest growing companies,’ and I provide a list of search terms in this previous post.
I still own the top 3 spots, above the Puget Sound Business Journal itself, and even the 6th spot.
The second topic I talked about that still gets traffic is transferring content from wordpress to blogger, where I own the 3rd and 4th spot.
The third topic is when I posted about the bomb exploding at Paypal. I saved the results page on another computer, so you will have to believe me that I was number 1 in the world for 2 days. Yes, that generates some traffic.
Now, for two of these three topics, I still hold decent search real estate. 3 things have to happen for the news you write to last. You have to a) say something important, b) say it first, and c) blog it appropriately.
Say Something Important
All three topics, fastest growing companies, wordpress vs. blogger, and the paypal bomb were important. But, I did not add a lot of value with my post on the paypal bomb.
On the fastest growing companies, I listed all 100 with their ranks, and then talked about them later. With wordpress vs. blogger, I talked about the issues. With the paypal bomb, I said, look at wikinews. That is not helpful longterm.
Say It First
I was the first (and only) person to post a list of the 100 fastest growing companies for this year. The PSBJ themselves did not publish their own list.
I am far from the first person to talk about wordpress vs. blogger, but I still own real estate because of c).
I was the first person to report the paypal bomb on wordpress and tag it appropriately.
Blog It Appropriately
WordPress gave you tags, now use them right. For the 100 fastest growing companies, look again at the search results above. The top 2 results are in fact a wordpress tag page, not a direct link to my blog. So learn how to tag pages.
For paypal, it was the same deal- I got all the links through tags, not a direct link from google to my blog.
For wordpress, notice in the results above that it is a direct link to my page, but that that requires a very specific search query to get there.
So, to write news that lasts, say something important, say it first, and use tags. If you want to get your name in front of your clients, then write news for them that matters and helps them in their businesses. For example, if your clients would be helped by blogging, then write a post on how to blog better.
