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Single Guy With Web Site Feels Unloved
October 20th, 2005 by mike
As a single guy with an eCommerce site, Waldo* feels unloved. He certainly is no Wallmart, what with his niche selection of power tools, but he just doesn’t qualify as a “Mom and Pop” store either, leaving him often feeling left out.
 Our man Waldo** |
“I really don’t want to have kids just to get a bit of attention and sympathy”, Waldo said. “Kids are a serious thing, and I would never take it lightly. However, when your site suffers in search engines, everyone rallies behind the Mom and Pop banner, but us singles get no love. No one ever says ‘what Google did to small, single people sites is appalling’. No one ever goes in to bat for us. Don’t we have feelings? Don’t we matter? Is our blood not the same? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you take away our free search engine traffic, do our businesses not suffer? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.”
Waldo also claims that it is toughest for single Guys, with PageRank biased against them in particular. “There are parents networks, there are networks designed to help women, where are the networks for single guys? How do I promote my business through Men’s clubs? And anyway, aren’t ‘Men’s Clubs” just strip joints? So while my married and single woman friends get all the links and all the rankings, I sit here and suffer. PageRank is an absolute joke, IMHO, because it is just flat out biased against single men.”
Despite the gloom and doom, it isn’t all bad. Waldo mentioned as distinct single guy advantages the cash flow benefits of living at home, having clothes washed and food prepared, as well as the low overheads associated with paying minimal board and “sharing” mum’s ISP account.
“But even with that, it is tough to do well when you can’t get freebie links like everyone else”, Waldo whinged.
Waldo’s mum, Mrs Waldo***, is also upset. “It just breaks my heart to see that dear boy work so hard and get nowhere. He is in his room all day everyday, working so hard. I have never met a boy with more dedication. He is so dedicated he even locks the door to keep me out cause he gets distracted when I come in and try to clean up a bit. Really, I want to just ask Mr Brin and Mr Page to please help small sites like Waldo’s out. The boy deserves a break, and it just isn’t right that Google won’t give him one. His site is just so very excellent. I don’t use the Internet much, but his site is clearly the best one I have ever seen.”
Waldo has recently begun a network for living at home men, which he plans to call LAHM. “I know it isn’t a funny acronym like UPONG, or that clairvoyant one, but sometimes the humour isn’t in a silly acronym, but the inevitable consequence of a well thought out and executed idea.
“And I just want to give single guys a chance to get links, and SAHM is the only way I could think of. Plus it is a bit of a tax thingy as well, just quietly.”
Waldo said he expects to have the organisation up and running some time in the new year, and promises to keep all ISoS readers informed. “This really is the only Blog that gives people like me a chance to have a say. That Joe Searcher article was really insightful, and really connected with me. I had me one of them Oprah light bulb moments when I was reading that. It read so much like my own life it was frightening.
“So yeh, I will keep ISoS readers informed of my progress with LAHM, and I’ll even reciprocal links with you if you like…”
*not his real name
**not his real face
***also not her real name
Entry Filed under: Mike's Ramblings
1 Comment Add your own
1. Fijatevos | October 22nd, 2005 at 2:38 am
Hey, thanks from changing from Bl**ger, now I can make comments. I was hestitant to do so before, because I thought THEY might be watching. I don’t mind sitting around in my underpants and all, but having THEM watch makes me uncomfortable.
I really got alot out of that Joe Searcher article too. As a SME I can’t really afford to go out and pay focus groups myself, so it was good to get a look at my target audience, thanks ISOS.
Also, this article got me thinking “Really, I want to just ask Mr Brin and Mr Page to please help small sites like Waldo’s out. ”
Isn’t odd that one of the owners of Google is Mr Page, and the rating system is called PAGE RANK? You guys should do an investigation on that. I was always under the impression that PageRank was for web *pages*, but now I realize it must be something else. Do you think he’s related to that guy from Led Zeppelin?
And if Page gets Page Rank, what did Brin get? Well, in light of this I better go do some algo-lyzing and adjust my site’s “pages” to reflect these new paradigmseess.
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