Wise Startup Blog

I had the goal about 3 months ago that I wanted to be on the first page of results for Google when people search for “Andrew Wise” and I’m happy to say my website is actually the #1 listing on Google.

I used a number of techniques to elevate myself to this top position, and I want to share those with you as I think they should be helpful in building your online reputation:

Step 1: Create your own domain

Previously I was on a hosted domain on WordPress, and being on a hosted domain, your SERP can suffer, so the first steps can be to take over your own domain. WordPress offers a free install suite and I personally use Bluehost for all of my hosting needs. The great thing about Bluehost is they offer SimpleScripts which with a single-click you can setup and install WordPress (for those of us web newbs).

Step 2: Optimize your domain

Since we’re using WordPress, there are a number of great tools out there that can help you with your SEO, including Headspace. Headpsace allows you to customize the meta information for any of your pages from your home page, to categories, tags, etc. Whatever you want users to find when they search in Google is what you want to enter in your title pages. If there are other sites that rank higher than you for your particular name, look at the html source in their title and meta for tips to help you optimize your own page. Here is the information on my homepage:

<title>Andrew Wise’s Startup Blog | Andrew Wise on Tech, Music, and Gadgets</title>
<meta name=“keywords” content=“andrew wise, andrew, wise, startup, blog, tech, music, gadgets” />
<meta name=“description” content=“Gainesville/UF entrepreneur, Andrew Wise. Reach Andrew Wise – andrew.wise@grooveshark.com. Andrew bl” />
<meta name=“keywords” content=“andrew,andrew wise,blog,gadgets,grooveshark,music,wise” />

Step 3: Create incoming links

The most powerful and effective way to increase your search engine rankings is to have people with higher ranked sites than yourself linking to you with your keywords as the anchor tags. For example, if I want to have my site show up when people type in gadgets, I can link to “one of my cool gadget posts and tell everyone to go read it”.

Now unfortunately this used to be one of the main ways sites could increase their search engine rankings, but due to some algorithm changes, Google no longer likes this and actually penalizes people who do it too much. What google is looking for now are incoming links, that is people from other sites telling them to visit gadgets on wisestartupblog.com.

So unless you have deep pockets or a lot of well-connected friends, the best way to build up these links is by using other social networks to help you interlink your web empire. So with your linkedin account, be sure to link to your website in the “my website” section but be sure to link to it as “wisestartupblog.com” as opposed to simply “my account”. For any account you have on twitter, facebook, etc. always be sure to link back to your domain, and if your domain has your name in the address, you’re building your rank each time.

Step 4: Get indexed by Google

The fastest and surefire way to get your site indexed by Google’s spiders is to have an incoming link come from a highly-ranked site. You can grab this from a number of sites like LinkShare, but for those of us who don’t want to spend money and are looking for a long-term return, your easiest bet is to POST, POST, POST!

The more times you post, the more times Google will see your site and pickup your posts. Also, by posting a lot, you’re more likely to get noticed by other readers and start building up the incoming links and the like, plus it’s fun.

Step 5: Setup alerts and watch your rank climb

I use Google Alerts for a number of keywords I am watching on a daily basis, and one of them is the phrase “Andrew Wise,” whenever Google finds my name, it sends me an email to let me know my name has been indexed and is now searchable. The faster Google finds your name after you make a post, the more often Google is indexing your page. Over time, you’ll find that you get indexed faster and faster (assuming you keep posting), you’ll also see when your usernames and accounts on other social networks get indexed which helps you build your incoming links.[ad#468x60-center-text]
Warning: This is by no means the only way to increase your rank, this is just one example of my success and how I did it. I welcome you guys to share your own stories and techniques, as we can always learn new ways to do things.

What I want to try to learn next is how to transition my blog into more realms. Now that I have my name maximized I want to be able to maintain this rank but also expand my blog into other realms like “startup blog” and the like — any help is greatly appreciated.

Hope you enjoy!