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Creating and ranking a website to prove my point to current employer
Posted by on October 30, 2025 at 5:56 pmIm in sales for a software company in a niche market. Our company is 15+ years old and has done well. However, their web presence is almost non existent. When searching any of the industry key words, we are not able to be found within the first 10 pages of Google.
I had my own business before this sales gig and built/ranked my site on Google in a matter of 3-4 months above my competitorswho had been in business over 10 years. Different industry but the principles are the same.
Ive tried and tried to relay to marketing, VP of sales, and just about everyone else that I can that showing up amongst our competitors will make a massive difference. Im done trying to tell them for the sake of… thats not really my job.
So to my point… im thinking avout building a website for a fake company, doing exactly what we do, and ranking above where we are currently and see how far I can get compared to the competitors.
Now, this would all be done in my own time, away from work, but I want to do this to prove a point (if it works).
It's petty, its dumb, and a waste of time. Ultimately I enjoy my role and the company and im just trying to make them more successful. Selfishly, if for some reason this would resonate with them and they fix it, that means more money for me (more leads = more sales)
What do you all think of this ridiculous idea and any thoughts suggestions??
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1 Reply
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Honestly, it’s not ridiculous, it’s a power move. Proving your SEO chops by outranking your own company might be the wake-up call they need (and a great portfolio piece if they still don’t get it).
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This will backfire especially if it works. Don’t do it. That’s not the way.
If You were you boss and an employee would do this, even in his free time, how would you feel?
I would consider firing him and I’m sure Ivwould get HR to find some legal grounds for that.
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You plan on wasting your own time and money for what? How are you going to acquire backlinks?
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If your company isn’t listening to solid advice, use it yourself. If you are in the new business side of the rev ops, it can at least be a TOFU channel for you. 🤷🏻♂️
Perhaps one day you leverage it to actually become the competition.
Build an asset = options in my book. That’s all I’m saying.
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I would steer clear of that idea, personally. if this fake company is in direct competition with your employer in the SERPs then there’s a chance they might take it the wrong way (especially if they’ve already told you umpteen times that they’re not interested)
if you’ve truly exhausted all your options at work trying to convince them, then I would bet on yourself and use those skills to make your own website on the side, away from your job, and see if you can make some money out of it
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I’ve had to do this before – absolutely its the way to go.
1) People are afraid to experiment and use Get of jail excuses like “brand”, resources, but it wont work, “Google wants” BS
2) Go for it
I heard another SEO talk about this on a podcast with Edward Sturm – about building a keyword-match-domain (effectively an EMD) and how they were told by their boss NOT to post content about solving some techy softwarte problem (for an AWS or Microsoft cloud thing I think)
Anyway – they build a $100 domain with WP and a theme that matched their brand I guess and landed a massive $50k ARR sale or something
The thing is that brands (have to I guess) spend like$10k to$30k to $100k on a site design – then their marketing team, then an executive leadership committee, then a brand content police officer has to inspect it…
Meanwhile a clever domain an a WP site will rank fine….
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This is feasible, of course, but it may also end in resentment between peers, not to mention C-level. I mean, some people act in a logical way, as I think you’re expecting. Some people feel threatened.
As an anecdote, I was fired from a job only once in close to 30 years of working. That was the time when, as a young and enthusiastic mid-level manager, I presented a plan to improve sales and brand awareness to the company CEO. After that, my life became a living hell for a couple of months because the division director felt threatened (he was dumb as a rock and had no studies) until he managed to lay me off. When I asked HR why, she said I wasn’t a team player and that I jumped over my direct boss, (which was true, but I didn’t know it was an issue at that time, I also thought “it’s pure benefit for the company, who could be against it?”). Long story short: my business plan was implemented to the A, only that I was no longer working for them.
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This is mental tbh. I would only do it if I actually plan to run a competing business against them and leave when it ranks well and makes money. I mean, youre trying to make them richer at no benefit to you.. just to prove a point. This seems like an ego thing.
If you are bored and want to build a website, do something for yourself. Don’t waste your time and money making other people rich, especially if they are rude and dismissive or ignorant to your ideas.
Make the website if you really want, but make it for yourself privately – not for them.
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If you try it ill will give you from my personal website a mention telling that is the best service of your city
I could give you a backlink if you want ofc (but i dont know if my website has bad link juice)
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Outrank then offer to sell for $50k
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if you want to spend the time to do that, nothing stopping you from trying
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That’s honestly a great idea. Especially if you can provide proof, how could they ignore that? Just out of curiosity, how would you think about doing this?
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How does a SOFTWARE company thats been around for 15 years not have an online presence?
There’s some businesses I can imagine being around that long and not having any online presence but a software company…that just doesn’t make sense to me.
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You’re in sales. Straight up, all you can do is pass along the idea — it’s not your job. Socialize the idea all you like, but definitely don’t compete against your own organization.
If you reach out to somebody in marketing, they will care. Get connected with the team whose job it actually falls under.
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