To continue my SEO adventure, "Rank and Rent" is the next stop. These are the things I have learned about it so far.

What is "Rank and Rent"?

In simplest terms, my understanding is that you research a local industry for a profession that is in need of a website, then you create that website, rank it high with SEO, then rent it to someone in that profession. You need to choose an industry that isn't too competitive, but also has a good amount of people searching for the service. An example will likely make things clear.

In a mid-sized city, a Google search for something like "emergency plumber" comes up with some local results. You do some keyword research and find that the keyword difficulty* is low and the search volume is high. After some additional research, you decide to make a website all about emergency plumbers. It is generic but is full of SEO keywords and content. After it is all made and beautiful, it starts to show up first on the search results for "emergency plumber" in that city. A new plumbing business starts up and they need a website, or maybe an existing one wants their business info to have more status. Regardless, a plumber from that city would now ask to rent your new website so they can get the traffic directed to their business. They benefit from getting more leads to their profession, and you benefit because you still have full control of the website's links, content, and future. Once the renting lease is finished, you can get it renewed at a higher price because now it has more value, or you can rent it to a competitor plumber in the same area. So, after the website is created, it holds and gains value with use.

*note: keyword difficulty refers to how hard it is to compete with others using the same keyword. If a lot of people are using the same keyword as you, then your website is more likely to get buried in the search results. It is harder to get noticed this way, with a high keyword difficulty.

Sounds too good to be true, what is the catch?

The catch seems to be that you really need to research heavily to pick an industry that will pay off. You can't just pick anything, focus on a big city that has high volume, and expect it to work. There needs to be a discovery of that perfect sweet spot for something that gives high value, has low competition, and has a lot of people looking it up all the time. Some major industries (usually in big cities) have hired SEO specialists which makes your job much more difficult. If you go the opposite route and pick an industry in some small town no one has heard of before, well then you're not going to get the volume you want and you are probably wasting your time. The website will also need to be updated to keep the content current enough to still attract visitors.

What sorts of things should I research?

This is the part I had the most trouble with. I looked at guides, compared competitors, and tried to predict the future for these industries. There doesn't seem to be a definite formula for exact things to look out for - it is a bit of an art and a science. However, there are a few beginner/basic things that should definitely be looked at.

Initial Research Wish List:

• low keyword difficulty, including variations of the search term or phrase (Using our "emergency plumber" example, we would want that to have a low keyword difficulty rating, as well as maybe something similar like "24 hour plumber" or "emergency sump pump" for the same area.)

• high search volume -> You want people looking this up so that they can go to your site

• low/medium competition -> There should be some demand for what you are doing, but not so much that it is hard to get noticed.

• You want to pick something that will make money. Emergency services like the plumbing example would be a potential fit because people usually pick the first result and go with it because they are desperate and don't have the time to research anything. The problem needs solving right now, so they go with the easiest option. But if the city you are focusing on has 20 plumbers all with 20+ years experience and somehow they are all in business still, then its going to be hard to compete with that. Take the time to be thoughtful on this one.

Competitor Wish List (What to look out for when you are comparing the competition):

• Volume overall and on top pages
• number of other sites linking to them (more links -> more people talking about it -> more traffic)
• Quality of sites that link to them (spam? an enthusiastic blogger?)
• type of growth over time (is it gradual and continuous or unpredictable?)
• Are there any broken links? (If so, you may be able to convince them to change their links to your site, depending on the industry)
• What are their top keywords and phrases?
• Where is the traffic coming from? (if 25% of the traffic comes from China, then it might be a good idea to translate the website so they can read your information. If that isn't an option, then it might be better to pick a different topic)
• Is there a blog? (More valuable content -> more likely to be linked by other people)

I have my topic, did my research, now what?

Now you have to use all your SEO skills to build an awesome website that will rank high in the search results. Usually a blog is a good starting point and the information should be purely informational. You want people that come to your site to have a good impression, and that includes potential renters. If you can show that you know what you are talking about then it becomes more desirable for potential renters to reach out to you.

You will also want to show up on that little Google map that appears on the search results. It usually gets more clicks than the list of search results, so appearing on that map is very important. It is set up through Google My Business .

Maps aren't the only place you want to show up, think YellowPages or other directories, and the impact of social media. Basically, you have the site now you need to advertise as thoroughly as possible. This also includes building backlinks - getting other sites to link to your site. Building backlinks can take awhile because you need to reach out to other websites and have a line of communication established. They need to have a good reason to link to you, so guest blog posts is a great way to do that. Of course, you need to make sure your blog post is top quality otherwise they may take it down or refuse it altogether.

Then, you wait.

It can take awhile for these things to build up enough to end up on the first page of search results. But once you are there, it is a matter of maintaining the position.

Time to rent

In a perfect world, you will have people contacting you to request renting out your website. In the real world, it seems you will need to put in a good amount of footwork to get the job done. Advertising is a huge part of this, but you may need to just call up businesses and give them a 30 second pitch and hope for the best. Or maybe you are just an employee and now you can hand over control to your boss and he or she can do that part. Regardless, at this point you should have a great website that is ready for renting. I don't have experience with this part but I have read many guides and this is what they are all saying.

My thoughts

I did not expect this sort of thing to be in the tech industry. I have a psychology degree and I feel like that is being utilized more than my tech knowledge. Creating a basic website is one thing, but the bulk of the process seems to be in research and analyzing what people will want to buy. Then there is the time for maintenance. Building and selling or renting websites in this industry is understandable, but I would have thought that the market research step would be done by someone else and that the web developer would just create the website based on the recommendations of the market researcher. Even still, adding a "market researcher" title to one's list of credentials doesn't seem like a bad idea.

It also seems like an area of expertise where you don't really know if all of it paid off or not until it is time to rent. At that point, how long do you wait before realizing it was a success or waste of time? Online guides are quite vague about what to look out for when trying to create a rank and rent website, could that be a clue that suggests that it is worthwhile more often than not? I'm curious to know if it is more common among businesses or freelancers. It seems like a lot of work for just one person to pull off.

In conclusion, I already know SEO is a very valuable tool for a developer to utilize. If it can be paired with something like this that has been proven to be profitable time and time again, then that would be an amazing skill for myself to have when I am seeking employment, especially someone just starting out like myself. A Junior Web Developer with an edge in SEO might be something I should really focus my time and energy on.

In my previous entry, I alluded to Google Analytics, Tags, and Data Studio. I have been learning about those things but have not practiced them yet. I suspect they will be much more important once the website is live and maintenance is required. The reason being, you will need to monitor what people are doing on the website in order to optimize it further. A report would really come in handy to understand wtf is going on there. Still, I'm sure there are some ins and outs that I haven't come across yet, so when I do, I will write about them.