Ask Patio11: How exactly did...

I'm not Patrick but I'll still reply since you posted it here on HN and I've used similar techniques to rank my software programs.

1) Exact Match Domain bonus: When your domain is a non-hyphnenated .com, .net, and .org, Google gives it a bonus as the domain is often highly relevant to the given keyword. This is why you often see undeveloped domains sell for such high prices.

2) Targeted Anchor Text: Since his product is called "Appointment Reminder", people will use that phrase in the link.

3) Quality, relevant links: Checking out Open Site Explorer (http://www.opensiteexplorer.org), you can see that he has some quality and relevant links.

4) Modest search volume: According to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal), there are about 720 searches a month for the exact term "appointment reminder" and 6,600 searches using the phrase.