Ken Yarmosh of Technosight surveys the online landscape that Fred Thompson will face as he runs for president, in this thoughtful piece at the American Thinker:
The former Senator from Tennessee shares commonalities with President Reagan but will campaign in a very different time. Google "fred thompson" and the first results you will see are from Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). The latter chronicles Mr. Thompson's T.V. and movie career. While it is great to known that Mr. Thompson starred in Die Hard 2, IMBD is not saying much about his views on the Iraq war or his stance on the immigration debate.
Of course, Mr. Thompson is yet to announce a presidential run and launch an official campaign website. And he has used the web to this point. For example, he recently responded to Michael Moore via YouTube and has a radio blog / podcast on the ABC Radio Networks website. Neither of these efforts show in the top five Google results. Without an official web presence in sight, those googling Mr. Thompson have to piecemeal what he states about his policy positions and agenda.
Interestingly enough, the rest of the field is very aware of Mr. Thompson and this vulnerability. Again, turn to Google and query "fred thompson". Take a peak at the "Sponsored Links" in the right-hand sidebar and you will likely see "Mitt Romney in 2008." The Romney campaign is utilizing Google's Pay-per-Click service, which allows them to bid on keywords of their choice, with the intent of winning (and paying for) Google traffic.
Buying competitor keywords is a common web strategy and one that other campaigns (and many businesses) are also employing (e.g., "John McCain for President" is a sponsored result for the search "mitt romney"). Yet it is one that, at a minimum, requires a definitive home on the web - something that Mr. Thompson still lacks.
While it is still early in the presidential season, if Mr. Thompson does proceed on the campaign trail, he is going to have some catching-up to do with his web initiatives. Google and other search engines, which act as the primary gatekeepers for information on the web, often must be convinced of the credibility and usefulness of newly launched websites. Even if his team launches an official site, it will take some time and effort to combat the present search results and gain a prominent position on the search engines (my advice would be to purchase and utilize the www.Fred08.com domain, which is now owned by the Draft Fred Thompson 2008 Committee and ranks second for "fred thompson" on Google).
My guess is the folks at Fred08.com would gladly sell it to him.
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