SEO Tycoon

**ForrestCroce** · 11-28-2007, 02:37 AM

I know Adam is going to banish me to the link exchange forum for a few weeks for this one. Vanity searches are usually a pointless waste of time. I think coming up for my first name would actually be useful ... and a lot easier to do than if I were Tom, Dave, or Bob.

I go by Forrest in most situations ... I'm thinking that must have been taken when I signed up here? I'm thinking mostly about the offline world; at parties and social functions, even at work, I strike up conversations about local hiking trails, day trips, and just about anything else. I've got a bit of commissioned work this way, and sold prints, without trying, by word of mouth. Someone who likes my stuff knows someone who needs something... My gut tells me I'd see more of that if a person can meet me in real life, be impressed, then find me easily online.

Is that a reasonable line of thinking?

**chrishirst** · 11-28-2007, 05:51 AM

Course it is.

Marketing and Networking (real networking, not the online version with imaginary "friends"

) can be powerful allies.

**ForrestCroce** · 11-29-2007, 01:27 AM

Good to hear I'm not crazy!

I have something a lot like business cards, actually small photographic prints with my URL in the bottom corner with some of my best work. I've given them out and later seen them up on peoples' walls. But I don't always bring them with me, and when I do, I only take them out when someone else has given me a reason to ... I'm not 100 % comfortable with 'pushing' my interests and ventures on other people, but I got a call at work yesterday from somebody who'd been shown my site by a mutual friend. The person wanted to tell me that my photos convinced him to take his family on vacation to a particular spot in Montana, and wanted to let me know there had been a wildfire there.

How would I go about influencing the serps for Forrest? Even if it were possible it wouldn't be worth the effort to try to out rank imdb's entry on Forrest Gump. I don't need to, either; if my photography blog landed on the first page for my own first name, people who I met but didn't hand a card to would be able to find me pretty easily. My blog has been pulling search traffic for terms I really shouldn't be in the first thousand results for, and yet my first name is elusive.

Is this something that would be more influenced by on or off page tweaking? My name only shows up twice on any given page, unless I've left comments myself. On the other hand, when I comment on a blog - and not in the spammy sense - I go by my first name and point back to my page. I seem to have earned a few fans who like to recommend my site, but usually by its title. And I don't want to slap my name in a heading ... I'm trying to write about more interesting and meaningful things than my own daily life.