Where do old websites go to die?

Recently I've stumbled upon a couple of golf websites, GolfHoles.com and ExoticGolfPutters.com. From an aesthetic standpoint, both of these sites look like they're circa Microsoft Frontpage 1999-2001, though the latter looks vaguely reminiscent of.... the movie Alien? I mean, neon green text on a black background? Seriously?

But I digress - I mention these sites not to criticize these small, single man operations, but rather to point out how the web is changing (or has already changed). Now, I'm not going to wax poetic about how great life on 14.4kbps dial up internet connections was because it wasn't. But back then, people were amazed by the idea of connecting with other people. Whether it was a car part, a line of code for a program, a tip to help with your golf swing - there was a web community (and even a website ring) that was focused on even specific niches (such as car models, code languages, etc.)

Now most of the sites you find along these topics are monetized sites run by a group of guys who figured out how to turn their hobbies into a second income OR a company that does the exact same thing. Neither of these options is inherently worse than the "for the love of the game" option - and doesn't imply a better/worse user experience either.

BUT it does mean that instead of connecting with an individual - you're now connecting with an organization/company - and that is a very different conversation.

Tiger Woods Timeline

In honor of the exact match URLs post I did yesterday - I purchased the .com website Tiger Woods Timeline.

The keyword volume tools I use suggest that it's a pretty popular search term (probably more so during golf season, but oh well). By building out the site with a bunch of content related to Tiger Woods career and the rest of his life (which is pretty easy to find, I'll just need to rewrite a lot of it) I think that I may be able to capture some of that search traffic.

It'll be an interesting experiment to say the least.

Exact Match URLs

The other day I wrote about localized SEO - and there's another point I'd like to expand upon here. This may not apply to all markets, as NewYorkGroceryDelivery.com is going to have a lot more competition than say, OntarioGroceryDelivery.com, but if you're trying to rank for the term "New York Grocery Delivery" - you'll have a leg up on on BigAppleDirect.com (or whatever some generic grocery delivery company in NYC is called).

That is because you have an exact match URL. So if I'm trying to dominate the Ontario, California water treatment services market and I'm trying to compete with a company like Culligan in the Ontario, CA market http://culligan.com/local-dealer/ca/ontario/ (notice the URL does feature the location and feed off the water treatment power of the Culligan.com domain) - I'd be better off with something like OntarioWaterTreatment.com or whatever - however, that could get tedious as maybe I'm selling water softeners, water filters, or delivering those 5 gallon bottles of water that you see in so many offices. In that case, something along the lines of "OntarioWater.com" might do - because then I can have separate pages for OntarioWater.com/Filters etc. that'll still match the keywords in the URL - though they won't necessarily be exact matches.

For local SEO - this is definitely a leg up. Even for national SEO, depending on the market, it can also be a big advantage. If I Google "lawn mowers" - by the second page you'll notice what is essentially a parked domain (an inactive one that is just used for traffic purposes) - lawnmowers.com. This site outranks millions of other pages, including Troybilt, Husqvarna, Lowe's, Home Depot, and others - simply because it has an exact match on the URL. Granted, it doesn't outrank Honda, John Deere, or Toro - but those three companies are all actively implementing SEO campaigns as well.