Number One on google with 12 million competing sites

[Dana_W]

A while ago I posted when I made it to the first page of Google for "press release writer".

Now, I am currently at the number one spot for that keyword phrase. And frankly, I am no SEO genius.

My main tips:

1.) Quality content! I have written dozens of blog posts about press releases and online publicity. And I tweet links to those blog posts, and people tend to retweet them and link to them. When I put quality content on my site, it means that Google sees that my site has relevant content, and also, people link to me from their blogs and visit my site, which helps me rise in the SERPs.

2.) Relevant URL - my URL is "www.thepressreleasesite.com" so it has a keyword in it that is directly related to press releases.

3.) Age. The site will be two years old this October. And I've observed this with other sites of mine, sites that were in such competitive niches that I never thought they'd go anywhere. No matter how competitive the keyword phrase, if you keep linking to it and fill up the site with good relevant content, it WILL rise in the search engine rankings. This is hard for me, because I am very impatient and I want instant results, but experience has taught me that sites WILL rise over time.

Also - I have an SEO plugin on the blog, so that I have page titles instead of numbers.

[BigDaddys101]

It's stories like this that inspire others.

When you work hard enough, you can get what you are trying to achieve. No goal is impossible.

[Andyhenry]

Originally Posted by Dana_W

A while ago I posted when I made it to the first page of Google for "press release writer".

Now, I am currently at the number one spot for that keyword phrase. And frankly, I am no SEO genius.

It must depend where you search from - when I do that search (with quotes) it only returns under 14,000 pages and you're not in the top 10.

[Cathy Shelver]

Andy I think you are searching google.co.uk as a default obviously based on your location.

type www.google.com/ncr or www.google.us/ncr and then search the US google yip she is number one. With and without quotes without is 12 million results.

Congrats that was inspiring

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

It must depend where you search from - when I do that search (with quotes) it only returns under 14,000 pages and you're not in the top 10.

[JustinP]

I did a search on google.com for press release writer without quotes and you show up #1 for me!! Congrats, that is a great success story

[Dana_W]

Thank you! I didn't even really aspire to those kind of results when I created my website - I just wanted to have a website so I could market my press release writing services.

The same thing holds true for an adsense site that I recently sold. It was in a super competitive niche and when I checked out my competition three years ago, when I first created the site, I was sure I would never rank for it. Then I wrote a bunch of articles on ezinearticles, wrote a bunch of blog posts on the site...and eventually got to page one on Google for a number of keyword phrases I wanted.

And I started making money from that site within a month or two of writing those articles and linking back to it from article directories. It was having good content that got me started.

The number one takeaway here is quality content. And number two is, patience.

I see a lot of people who put up sites filled with incomprehensible spun PLR, and then they're angry and frustrated because they haven't started making thousands of dollars within a month or two. Nothing in life is that easy, unfortunately. I'll say it again - time and quality content.

I assure you that WHATEVER niche you are trying to crack, if you start today, write great articles on your website - and they don't have to be more then a couple of hundred words each - and you link to your website from other sites like article directories and online press releases and forums - you WILL eventually get excellent search engine positioning - because most of your competition isn't as good as you, and because they give up and go home.

And by the way, being no. 1 on Google gets me a lot of inquiries, many of which turn into paying customers who buy press releases from me at $150 per press release. So it's all been worth it.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Dana:

Great job! Glad to see you've hit #1, you deserve it. I refer folks to your site all of the time.

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by Steven Carl Kelly

Dana:

Great job! Glad to see you've hit #1, you deserve it. I refer folks to your site all of the time.

Well, thank you very much! I hope they find my press release writing info useful.

[cagliostro]

With google (and adsense) you need time. Nothing happens in a few months. You need at least 2 years to be able to have a decent ammount from adsense.

Of cource the above stands if you have a good website and work with it.

[yukon]

Good job!

Your number #1 when I search Google.

Looks like a very competitive niche with all the adsense ads in Google search top & sidebar.

[mattlaclear]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

It must depend where you search from - when I do that search (with quotes) it only returns under 14,000 pages and you're not in the top 10.

Just checked myself and she is at the #1 position for sure. Though with only 1800 backlinks to the site I wouldn't be coming here on the WF sharing my keywords to it.

[Xmas]

Originally Posted by Dana_W

Thank you! I didn't even really aspire to those kind of results when I created my website - I just wanted to have a website so I could market my press release writing services.

That is what is all about. Content that people need. You weren't trying to knock it out of the park with a trick to fool Google to be on the first page.

You wanted to offer a quality service. Your heart is in the right place.

This could be put under the category of the "Law of Attraction"

Believe, Know, & Do.

[theseoguys]

Fantastic! More people need to hear that working hard and smart pays off! How are you handling the increased traffic and work requests?

[remodeler]

Congratualtions Dana! It's threads like this that can inspire and show others what effort, time and patience can do for your business.

[Amys101place]

I loved reading this. As many have said.. "very inspiring!" Congrats, Dana!
Amy

[Amys101place]

Dana,
After reading your post, I started searching to see if my newest website was showing up for any major keywords yet (It's #1 for many long tail keywords).

My site (web-design101.com) is 2 days away from being only 1 month old and I'm page 2 (#15 overall) for the term Web Design 101... not using quotes! (Alexa Rank = 461,951) Not too bad for over 9,000,000 results I think! Especially considering I have not even started a back-linking campaign of any kind so I currently have 0.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Also, to those reading about Dana's outstanding success (and getting to #1 for any decent keywords is a great success), remember that when your PAGES are competing against other pages (not sites, pages -- Google doesn't rank sites, it ranks pages) your only actual competition is the top 10.

If you're ranked at all, the most number of pages you're competing against is 999. So don't be afraid of the "number". Competition should be evaluated on quality, not quantity, and it is Dana's quality that helped her get to the top spot.

[Colossal]

well done!



what was your link building strategy? i'm sure your quality content helped with natural link baiting but were there any other techniques involved?

article submissions? anything?

thanks!

[themew]

Originally Posted by Dana_W

Then I wrote a bunch of articles on ezinearticles, wrote a bunch of blog posts on the site...and eventually got to page one on Google for a number of keyword phrases I wanted.

Major congrats on making it to #1 --- YAY!

You say 'a bunch' of articles on ezinearticles -- how many is a bunch??

I've finally got my site ranking in the top 50 and some in the top 10 for about 40+ keywords but would love to rank as high as you...

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by themew

Major congrats on making it to #1 --- YAY!

You say 'a bunch' of articles on ezinearticles -- how many is a bunch??

I've finally got my site ranking in the top 50 and some in the top 10 for about 40+ keywords but would love to rank as high as you...

About 45, for the adsense site. That may have been overkill.

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by Amys101place

Dana,
After reading your post, I started searching to see if my newest website was showing up for any major keywords yet (It's #1 for many long tail keywords).

My site (web-design101.com) is 2 days away from being only 1 month old and I'm page 2 (#15 overall) for the term Web Design 101... not using quotes! (Alexa Rank = 461,951) Not too bad for over 9,000,000 results I think! Especially considering I have not even started a back-linking campaign of any kind so I currently have 0.

Congrats! Exciting, isn't it?

If you write some short, informative, keyword researched articles for ezinearticles, goarticles, & associated content and link back to your site...you will see even better results!

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by Colossal

well done!



what was your link building strategy? i'm sure your quality content helped with natural link baiting but were there any other techniques involved?

article submissions? anything?

thanks!

Article submission, and press releases linking back to my site, and tweeting links to all of my latest blog posts. I have 22,000 Twitter followers and about 500 friends on Facebook, and a few hundred Linkedin connections, so when I broadcast my links to them, it helps send traffic and many of those people will link to my latest blog post.

Also - having lists of resources on your site encourages people to link to you.

My most popular post, hands down, is my list of free press release distribution sites.

i am considering experimenting with SEO Linkvine or Uniquearticlewizard to see what that does in terms of SEO/ranking.

[FrankBowman]

Have you checked how many exact match searches are done each month for your keyword phrase? How long did it take you to hit the top 10 and then #1?

[4morereferrals]

Hey thats sweet!

Congrats ...

[Amys101place]

Originally Posted by Dana_W

If you write some short, informative, keyword researched articles for ezinearticles, goarticles, & associated content and link back to your site...you will see even better results!

Thanks, Dana. That is exactly what I'll start doing next as it's obviously worked great for you. Thanks much for the advice! Keep up the great job!
Amy

[budhi1976]

Thanks for sharing Dana, it makes me realize what I am lack of in this IM business.. Patient...

Going to give all my websites a closer look and see if I can apply your tips about article submissions.

Cheers,

[mayorlan]

Congrats Dana,it really worth it,jurt that everyone is not been patient enough to see resuits,all want immediate cash.But to ask,how do you get that kind of 22,000 twitter follower?

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by FrankBowman

Have you checked how many exact match searches are done each month for your keyword phrase? How long did it take you to hit the top 10 and then #1?

I honestly did not pay attention at first - I happened to check a few months ago and I was on the first page. Then I checked a couple of days ago and I was in first place.

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by mayorlan

Congrats Dana,it really worth it,jurt that everyone is not been patient enough to see resuits,all want immediate cash.But to ask,how do you get that kind of 22,000 twitter follower?

I picked people in the niche I wanted; in this case, I followed small business owners. I followed people every day. Some of them followed me back.

[Sector Timing Report]

Nice work Dana! How long did it take to build up that many followers?

[connorbringas]

Thats crazy, thats a very competitive keyword for sure. Good job! How long did it take you to reach that goal. I know the site is 2 years old..but how long have you been working on seo?

[snobants]

Congratulations, can we know about monthly value $$?

Congratulations on the #1 spot!
Roughly how much traffic are you getting each day for the keyword phrase "press release writer"?

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by snobants

Congratulations, can we know about monthly value $$?

That is really hard to say as far as the press release site goes, because I am selling services, not products or adsense. I make my living writing press releases and I get my business entirely online.

I charge $150 to write a press release, and many of my clients come back for repeat orders, so the amount that I earn varies widely.

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by j2011

Congratulations on the #1 spot!
Roughly how much traffic are you getting each day for the keyword phrase "press release writer"?

I get a few thousand visitors a month - not a lot, I know, but it seems to be very targeted traffic because I get a lot of inquiries in the form of email and phone calls.

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by Sector Timing Report

Nice work Dana! How long did it take to build up that many followers?

It took me about a year to build up that many followers. It can be done faster but Twitter is getting pickier about building up followers too fast so I like to be cautious.