I was looking up the Google Page Ranks of some of our competitors on my favorite page rank checker, and found something quite encouraging. As of Tuesday, May 1st, JasonBartholme.com has a Page Rank of 5! I was really amped and yelled out in the office. Most people don’t know of the ranking or honestly care.

It means a lot to me. I purchased the domain name in late December 2006 and missed that toolbar update that occurred shortly after. There was nowhere near enough indexed pages or inbound links that would even warrant a PR1. In the time since then, I have had a few posts that have helped get the backlinks and traffic. These are the most popular posts to date:

• 101 CSS Resources to Add to Your Toolbelt of Awesomeness
• 7 Steps to a Quicker Firefox on Broadband
• 21 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons
• StumbleUpon traffic is great for a new site

Personally, I was expecting a Page Rank of 4 according to iwebtool.com’s Page Rank Prediction Tool. PR5 is certainly a pleasant surprise.

Also, my article directory, ArticleOnRamp.com went from a PR4 to PR5. The bump will make the directory more attractive to authors seeking a high PR site to submit their articles.

What’s next? How about a PR6 for the next time around. One thing that I have learned doing SEO is to never be satisfied and always strive to do better. This gives me the motivation to post more useful and relevant content.

I hope the last toolbar update was generous to your sites as well!