Chris Leone

a: “Who raised the pandemic alert?”
b: “WHO”
a: “The people who raised the pandemic alert”
b: “WHO”
a: “The people who raised the pandemic alert to second highest level”
b: “WHO did”
a: “What are you asking me for, I’m asking you!!”

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/29/swine.flu/index.html

Back in September I wrote a post about achieving the number two ranking in Google for “Chris Leone.” Today, I finally achieved my goal of capturing the #1 spot

Some people have unique names and rank well without having to try. “Chris Leone,” however, brings back over 5 million results including IMDB and journalist listings. These are guys with powerful inbound links and lots of content. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I think ranking well for your name is a huge opportunity many people haven’t figured out. People complain about what they show up for (if at all) and don’t see an opportunity to market themselves, their skills, and their brand. 

I’m happy I achieved my goal but there’s still more work to be done. SEO is an ongoing process so I have to continue to work to maintain top position.

So with a little help from the class, I’ve have made some adjustments and improvements to my stiuqxela contest entry. Once Google crawls my site again, I’m confident I will be very near the top. I’m starting to become very interested in what it takes to improve your page’s Google ranking. I’m using the techniques I’m learning in this experiment to improve my personal page’s Google ranking. My goal is to ultimately have chrisaleone.com be one of the top results when Google-ing “Chris Leone.” I want to be at the top of searches for “Chris Leone” on the most expansive and sophisticated search engine in the world.

Besides the self-induced pride that may come with something like this, I hope to use this as a technique for when searching for careers next year. That’s right, even though I graduate in just over a month, I don’t plan to enter into a career for at least another year. Here’s why:

My original plan was to graduate, take a couple weeks off, and then start my career. I was fortunate enough to have an amazing opportunity offered to me; one that I couldn’t possibly resist. It changed those original plans.

I was offered a position in a drumline in Japan for the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008. This would be an all-expenses paid experience starting at the end of august and last through April of 2008 (a year from this week exactly). I see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity that could open up new doors for my future. Even if I was going to Japan to work, I would accept the offer. Now, I get to live and travel there (for free!) JUST to drum. I feel so fortunate to be in this position.

Not long after being offered a spot in the Japanese drumline, I was asked to go back on tour with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps to teach for a combined five weeks this summer (2 in June, 3 in July/August). This is the corps I spent last summer with and had the experience of a lifetime. Now, they want me to come back and pay me to teach the same drumline I once, and still do admire as one of the best drumlines in the world. Everything is now falling into place and I couldn’t be more thankful.

Filling in the time between being with Cavaliers this summer, I plan to bike for two weeks out west with my best friend Tim, recent UD graduate and current dental school student. We’ll bike the whole trip and camp out every night. Before I was offered to teach Cavaliers, this would have been a month long trip. We’re now planning an abridged version of two weeks starting around July 1st. The experience should still be amazing and I can’t wait.