Amongst the most successful entrepreneurs, there are founding stories that serve as inspirations for many aspiring business owners. One of these stories comes from ex-Google marketer Kevin Miller’s transition from an SEO expert to becoming the founder of The Word Counter. In this article, we’ll explore Miller’s path starting from his idea to witnessing growth driven by SEO strategies for his language query tool.
From his college years to working at startups and tech giants like Google, Miller absorbed lots of valuable information on marketing and SEO. It was during these years that Miller identified a gap in the market—a need for a user-friendly word-counting tool.
During college, Miller and his peers often relied on word counters and character counters for their assignments and projects. However, he quickly realized that none of these existing tools had managed to establish themselves as go-to resources on Google. Recognizing this opportunity, Miller embarked on a mission to develop a tool that not only accurately counts words, but also encompasses an array of language-related features. Most importantly, his main goal was to use this project as a real-life SEO case study to validate his strategies.
Miller had a vision for The Word Counter; it had to be user-friendly and visually appealing. Unlike existing word counting tools, he wanted his product to offer users an overview of their text including word count, character count, sentence count, and analysis of reading level.
To bring this vision to reality, Miller sought the assistance of Techy Scouts, a trusted development partner. Over the course of around 60-90 days, they transformed what once was just an idea into a fully developed tool. The cost of website development amounted to $25,000—an investment that Miller made as proof of his SEO tactics.
Prior to the launch, Miller and his team took a unique approach in preparing for the release of the tool. He began by writing 100 articles and populating The Word Counter’s website with them. These articles served two purposes; filling the website with content and providing trust for users and website visitors.
Miller’s content publishing strategy proved effective and he began adopting a daily publishing schedule, hiring writers to help him publish at least 5 times a day. This indicated to Google that the website was active, which encouraged visits and helped establish trust with the search engine.
Since its launch, The Word Counter has focused solely on acquiring and retaining customers through its powerful SEO strategy. Miller and his team have published over 2,000 articles targeting keywords and addressing questions about the English language. They have also engaged in backlink-building efforts by distributing press releases and reaching out to reporters.
By sharing press releases on platforms such as PR Newswire and getting mentioned in various articles, they have significantly boosted the website's domain authority. As a result, their keyword rankings, indexing speed, and overall traffic have improved.
In two years’ time, The Word Counter has achieved great success by ranking for over 300,000 keywords and generating more than 2,400 domain referrals. The website's domain authority now stands at 52, highlighting the enduring value of its investments in SEO.
While profit was not their goal from the start, Miller envisions an opportunity in affiliate marketing to sustain the availability of their tools while also increasing revenue. Their plan involves partnering with businesses involved in English language education.
In conclusion, Kevin Miller's journey from SEO expert to the founder of The Word Counter is a testament to the power of recognizing opportunities investing in quality, and harnessing the potential of SEO for growth. His story serves as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.