Get the Geeks – the Rest Will Follow

Bill Gates did something for geekdom when he succeeded. Formerly, geeks were relegated to space camp and math club, forever wedged in lockers and stuffed in garbage cans, perennially wet haired from surprise bathroom swirlies and constantly tugging at their shorts after a sneak attack wedgies.

Bill Gates fixed all that. Gates made geekdom COOL.

‘Geek’ suddenly became synonymous with ‘potential’. Watch out for that geek – he’s gonna be a millionaire someday. What does this mean? it means that geeks are now treated with respect, that their advice or opinion is worth something, and that most importantly, they have a FOLLOWING.

If you can grab the attention of the geeks, pretty soon you will have a nice flow of traffic, as people will now take their cues from the geeks and run around behind them hoping that their own personal geek is the next Gates – and will be generous.

A surefire way to get the attention of a geek is simply to use the word ‘geek’ in the title of an article or post. No, I’m not kidding – a couple hundred geeks have probably already been alerted I am typing this post right now, and will be the first ones to see it when I hit publish.

This is only natural. Stay at Home Moms read posts and articles about stay at home moms. Wannabe surfers read about surfing. The average redneck can’t stay away from anything with the word ‘hunt’, ‘hunting’, ‘hunter’ or ‘beer’ in it. Same goes for any demographic – they love to read about themselves, or the themselves they wish they were.

Geeks are no different – they will avidly look for news and read up on doings in the geek world – the main difference here is that geekiness has actually become so accepted in the mainstream culture that the rest of us are interested too. We secretly embrace our geeky side, and tell ourselves that if a geek can do it, so can we – so we wait and watch and hope just in case the next big thing comes down the pike.

Once you have a band of geeks checking you out, be careful and don’t startle them. They flock together and prepare to run at the slightest hint of danger. Speak kindly to the geeks, and wait. The secretly in the closet wannabe geeks will not be far behind, and they can number in the millions. They figure if it interests a geek, it may have some intrinsic value, and they want a piece of the action and a slice of the pie.

What does all the geek talk have to do with SEO? Simple. We used geeks as an example, but the precept holds true – if you can snag the attention of the leaders, the ones that spread the good word, the ones that are always on the lookout for something great and have appointed themselves as ambassadors of good news to the world, then you have found a free marketing tool.

It all comes down to who you know – and how many THEY know.