Interesting Keyword Search Driving Traffic
I always find it interesting to read through the various terms that drive traffic to this little blog here at BruceMarler.com. Most of the terms do not surprise me and should be expected, domain related terms are obviously no surprise and terms around minisites and Wordpress both tend to send me traffic. But I thought I would show some results that caught my eye or were just plain funny, watching how people search is quite the learning experience:
1) Newspapers Closing - This one really does not surprise me and I did a post a while back about Newspapers closing and it has continued to send traffic my way. If people are searching for this then that tells me that this is moving into the general mainstream conversation more and more everyday.
2) Vote for Bruce Marler - This one just popped up today but I figured it has something to do with the voting at Domainers.us. This one falls into the plain funny category. Did not expect to see that one.
3) People see me but they just don't care - Strange.... What gets me with this one is that I cannot see someone actually putting this into Google and searching for it.
4) Snapnames iphone - Tells me my post awhile back about the domain auction houses needing an iPhone interface was not far off the mark. I hope both Snapnames and Namejet are listening.
5) Famous sites me domains - As much as I have discussed .ME this should not be a surprise, just interesting to see how people search. It would be nice to know if this was someone that had just heard of .ME or a domainer.
6) Bruce Marler seo blog - This one is interesting since I have never actually called this an SEO blog.
7) Premium domain continue to gain value - Now this one we should all like, looks like someone is realizing the value of domain names.
Whats nice to see in Missouri - Hopefully this person found the link to Missouri.me 
9) begging for mobile phone - This one made me laugh, who actually searches for this. I am trying to picture someone going to Google and type "begging for mobile phone".
10) Targeting end users - Only had one visit from this term but a very interesting search nonetheless.
Any interesting terms driving traffic to your sites? Post them in the comments with why you found them odd or interesting. Its amazing what terms the search engines pick up in the unique content. Never know who may end up here.
The Story Of BruceMarler.com
After reading the post over at TeenDomainer.com I thought a little bit about how the acquisition of my namesake domain name occurred and how it ended up being focused on domain investing and development.
A few years back I had done the initial check on my name and had found it taken. As someone who had the understanding of the value of a domain I knew I needed to grab my name if possible and had hoped that the person who owned it (yes, another Bruce Marler) may of not had a use for it planned and we could come to terms for me to acquire it easily. Well, after some initial emails I had no response from the individual and wrote it off for a period of time.
I should note that my Father also has the same name (except his middle is Wayne, yes my Dads name is Bruce Wayne, like Batman) but there is also one more Bruce Marler in the area I live in, unfortunately this person had the same middle name as myself except it is spelled differently and he has several pages of criminal records on the Missouri CASENET site where public records are viewable by all and I realized that it was very possible for people to run across his information and think it was me. There was no easy way to get around that but I knew one way to possibly take control of what people see and read about what I am doing compared to others was to own my name. So once again I sent an offer in the low 4 figure range for BruceMarler.com. And once again, no response. I was frustrated but after trying some other avenues I moved on again.
About six months after that last attempt I was searching Godaddy for a name and moving through the shopping cart process when I noticed something, rather than telling me that the crappy BruceMarler.name was available as I was hitting the skip to actually buy button I noticed BRUCEMARLER.COM is available click here to add to cart. I did a double take and of course bought immediately.
Yes, that is right, someone basically ignored and offer or basically mismanaged their domain registration contact info and I saved over a thousand dollars and got it at reg fee.
I was never quite sure what I was going to do with it exactly and during the initial launch I was still debating if it was going to be purely domain focused or if it would also focus on my other interests (travel, endurance sports, etc) but in the end it became obvious that focusing on domain names and domain development was what I liked to write about the most.
One thing I noticed earlier today was a search for my name plus the town I live in landed a person on my blog, very interesting, not sure why or who did that search. It is interesting to see people search for Bruce Marler and end up at my blog, are they searching for me? Are they searching for another Bruce Marler? I do not know, but I do own the search for my name now and I think that can be very important as we move forward growing our business.
I also went ahead and picked up the domain names of the rest of my little household here. My daughter has a blog on hers, she does not update it much but it is fun for her when she does, and its even more fun when she goes to Google and does a search for her name and her blog is number one. Is it a competitive term? No. Is it fun for an 8 year old little girl to see a domain name and understand what it is, SURE!!!!!
