Our Story: The History of 1st on the List Promotion
Last Updated on August 18, 2020 by Keiran Griffiths
SEO company 1st on the list Promotion was started by Chris Genge in 1996. It was the year DVDs had just come out in Japan, Internet Explorer 3.0 was launched, eBay started their online auction and shopping website, and Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to successfully be cloned.
It was a time of rapid technological change and the US stock markets were gaining at an incredible pace. 1st on the List Promotion founder, Chris Genge started playing around with his own websites to figure out what it took to get them to rank well on the search engines.
Birth of SEO
The term “SEO” had only been coined the year before and the SEO industry was very green indeed. Google didn’t even exist and early Search Engines included AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos, and Yahoo, among others.
At that time you could make one small change on your website, hit refresh, and immediately see results (for better or worse). Using this method (and his engineering background), Chris started to reverse engineer the Search Engines to figure out what boosted rankings and what hurt rankings. Still working full time as an Engineer, Chris started to see the serious potential to turn this new hobby into a profitable business.
Very quickly, Chris felt more and more confident that he knew what it took to properly optimize websites and keep them ranking well. He completed all the necessary paperwork and in January 1997, 1st on the List Promotion Inc. was officially founded.
Essentially 1st on the List Promotion grew out of a one-man SEO operation, where Chris oversaw and did everything himself. Over the next few years, our SEO Company grew rapidly and Chris had to hire several new staff and train them to provide top-notch SEO services as well. In time, they outgrew their small basement office and leased office space in Abbotsford, BC.
1st on the List’s SEO Capabilities
In the fall of 2004, three staff travelled to Simi Valley, California to complete the Bruce Clay, Inc. SEOToolSet? Certification. At the start of 2005, 1st on the List became the first SEO Company to attain the SEOToolSet? Certification designation.
As a pioneering firm in the SEO industry, 1st on the List has since developed deep capabilities in analyzing a website and identifying underlying site design and server configuration issues. Even though making changes isn’t as instantaneous as hitting refresh (like it was in the early days), our clients experience long term improvement and growth in their websites. In fact, our oldest client started working with us in 1999. That’s longer than many SEO companies have even been in business!
Over the years 1st on the List Promotion has introduced new service offerings in order to keep up with our client’s needs and the ever-changing Search Engine requirements.
In the early 2010’s we identified a major service gap with many web developers and designers who could create beautiful websites but failed to integrate crucial Search Engine Friendly components. We had too many business owners come to us with a brand new website that looked great but because of limitations in the platform or how it was set up, it never had a chance of ranking well. Soon after, we launched our own SEO web design department and we now develop great looking, Search Engine friendly websites.
1st on the List SEO Best Practices
If there is one thing for certain in our industry it is that SEO is constantly evolving at a rapid rate. It is paramount that we help our clients keep up with SEO best practices because it’s impossible for them to do on their own.
1st on the List is now a full-service search engine optimization company committed to using only ethical, industry-accepted search engine optimization and search engine marketing best practices. Despite a number of things changing about our business and industry as we’ve grown up over the years, the one thing we haven’t compromised on is our stance on ethical SEO best practices. We protect the integrity of all our clients’ websites by adhering to industry-accepted strategies and Google Webmaster guidelines. As well, we anticipate as much as possible how these guidelines and search requirements will change in the future.
To this day Chris still continues to oversee all SEO projects. He stays current with the latest SEO technologies and is always pushing his highly skilled staff of SEO professionals to keep on top of any changes that come. Our objectives are simple – to keep our clients always prepared for shifts in the SEO Industry. All our SEO project leaders have over 12 years of experience in SEO. We are driven by helping clients increase their website visibility and online branding. When we help meet their goals, we all celebrate.
Now that we’ve shared how we got to where we are today, we’d love to hear your story. Whether you’re discovering us for the first time, have been referred to us by a colleague, or perhaps seen us featured on websites like Top SEO’s, we look forward to getting to know you and your business.
How Does 1st on the List Promotion Fit Into Your Story?
1st on the List Promotion has helped hundreds of other companies get their businesses found on the Internet. Put us to work for your website too!
Call us at 1-888-262-6687 or connect with us online.
