I listened to part 1 of the Acquired Podcast on the history of Google.

Outstanding and nostalgic.

I was a super early google user, thanks to a mention on slashdot on the late 90s.

It got me thinking: what if…

What if I travelled back to 2005 with my current knowledge, what would I do? What online business would I build?

I was thinking about SEO and authority sites, based on the Acquired podcast episode on google.

I had created a few websites in the late 90s and a few websites in the early 2000s both for myself and clients. In 2005, I was on a summer scholarship and starting my phd program. But I also had a blog with adsense. I was writing technical content, but I had zero idea of business.

I could have been so incredibly rich :) But I was a super poor student.

So what would I do?

I’d like to stay, go and start a SaaS, but that’s not me.

I’d rather do what I already know well, just do it a whole lot earlier.

I’d build a massive authority site for a technical audience.

Probably something like w3schools, which did exist back then, but for more verticals. Maybe pick the best/biggest vertical (web dev? java? .net?) and nail it, then expand.

What would be different from other 2005 era sites?

  • Great internal linking (you may also like…)
  • Great offsite linking
  • Monster guides (10k+ words, skyscrapers)
  • Cover the entire long tail (keyword planner + spreadsheets)
  • Hub pages (hub and spoke)
  • And on.

Yes, ads, but that would be just to cover the server/dev costs initially.

Then landing pages, email lists, to capture and nurture leads leads.

  • Free irresistible PDF guides
  • Free irresistible email course

Then sales pages and checkouts.

But I’d go hard on information marketing for tech people. Irresistible offers comprised of digital and physical products for tech people (that are paid well and likely to pay for things online, thanks to amazon)

  • Books
  • Ebooks
  • Video courses
  • Bundles

I’d probably have to lean harder on physical media (Books, Folders, DVDs, CDs, etc.) as ebooks and video courses were less popular back then.

I’d probably have to roll my own simple email automation tooling, but that’s fine. I’d also probably have to roll my own shopping cart pages (upsells, cross-sells, etc.) and landing pages and more.

One mega site or many smaller sites per vertical?

Both. Own the market and have space to experiment.

Once it’s covering costs and then profitable, I could layer in other things:

  • Forums (stackoverflow)
  • Job boards
  • Paid memberships

Maybe build a high-quality tech press brand, e.g. no starch press, pragmatic press, etc.

(I know I am thinking too small, why not go after leads for credit cards or doctors or whatever… I’m a simple human)

But, this is 5-10 years before niche sites were doing amazingly well. So I could create a massive network of niche sites with adsense that could fund larger experiments and cover the costs of writers and editors.

It would be amazing.

This would all be capitalizing on a less competitive market online and two decades of knowledge and experiments. It would probably make a dent in the market leading to copy cats and changes to google’s ranking years ahead of time.

Also, it would be way harder than I think. No Cloud. No Wordpress. Lots of DIY servers/software required.

The basis for this thought experiment is that there was an amazing opportunity right there, ripe for the taking, where many people were already going after it, but I was completely ignorant.

The same kinds of things exist right now. What are they?

There will be broad opportunities right now with a vast number of specific solutions. You don’t need it all, just a fun/interesting slice.

And you know what they are. It’s AI. Crypo. SaaS.

But it’s more than that. There was a community circa 2010-2011 that was figuring out micro niche sites + SEO + AdSense and later Amazon Associates and sharing knowledge, helping the target audience,and making money, and it was all very exciting.

What is the 2025 version of that?

Probably information products on: how to use [chatgpt/AI] for [industry/vertical].

Narrow tech support for niche.

Maybe.