I don't put a lot of effort into getting high rank, but I have had that position benefit me often just doing what comes naturally. My favorite example is many years ago I was very active on a Forum that did not allow referral links anywhere, so I registered the .info for my username (at that time I couldn't afford the .com) and in a very short time I had the #1 spot for that domain. It has drifted down the results a little, but still is on the first page with my photo and that has made many contacts for me over the years.
Even further back I wanted to have a domain for some articles I wanted to write, so I bought ByWC.com (WC is my initials) and posted a few articles with my byline. Almost instantly it was #1 for that search, but didn't gain me much benefit. What it did do is put me in contact with a man who talked me into selling the domain to him for $1,500 and that was more than I ever made writing articles. The funny thing was I watched for several years and never saw anyone post anything there except ads that had nothing to do with the name. In fact I checked today and GoDaddy has it for sale. Go Figure?