Useful Content Wins on Google Search

July 27th, 2009 | Social Media, an Essential Tool for World Domination

I’ve been blogging via the Guide to World Domination for about a year and a quarter now. Thanks to Google Analytics, I’ve realized that while I enjoy writing about the Life and Times of Leanne Heller, all of my popular posts contain useful, non-personal information.

When I learn about something that I think would be useful to others, like How to Add Images to Your Gmail Signature Using Firefox Add-Ons or AIM Coho, Salmon & Trout Bots, I’ll post about it. Google picks these up, and posts like this (thankfully) get higher traffic. But for the most part, I write personal posts that don’t make the Google Radar.

I like having a mostly personal blog. There are several personal blogs that I really enjoy reading, but mainly because I have some connection to the author. I think you have to be famous, or at least notorious, to have a really popular personal blog.

I’m okay with this. I first started getting more interested in blogging after hearing Chris Brogan speak at a North Shore Tech Council event. I don’t want to misquote him, so I’ll just say I’ve noticed his blog always contains content that is useful to his readers. That is why an alexa comparison of our sites looks like this:

alexa comparison chrisbrogan.com gtwd.com

Yeah, I’m the red line. The one parallel to (and on top of) the line that forms the bottom of the chart. Again, it’s okay. I figure if I work hard enough at it, I’ll be popular some day.

If you ever want to make yourself feel really good, by the way, use siteanalytics.compete.com. I plugged the old GTWD in there, and apparently, I’m a lot more popular than Google thinks. It’s sort of like viewing your site through one of those flattering skinny mirrors at the carnival.

Perhaps I will become famous for creating an alternative site comparison widget that congratulates you on your traffic regardless of your unique visitors. “Keep trying, people love you. I mean, they really love you. The internet would collapse without your support.” Although, perhaps I should have someone slightly less sarcastic write out the congratulatory comments.