Some webmasters report that search engines account for 75% or more of their total website traffic. However, it's important not to become too dependent on search engines for new business. Achieving a top listing from a major search engine is becoming more and more difficult over time. The competition for top spots is intense and it's getting harder every day to get listed at all. Also more and more search engines are moving to a pay-per-click model, and paying for top listings may not be in your budget.
The major search engine companies tend to be secretive about the details of their ranking process, so you have to rely on trial and error when optimizing your site to get a higher ranking. Also, search engines change their algorithms every now and then, and when they do you might find your Web pages bumped down to a lower position. To keep up with the latest search engine ranking procedures you'll either need to spend considerable time on it yourself or pay for the services of an SEO specialist.
While search engines can be a great source of targeted traffic, the visitors they send are not always your best prospects. True, the traffic is targeted in the sense that the visitor has actively searched for keywords which your site is relevant to, but that searcher is also viewing (and presumably visiting) the links of some of your closest competitors who also appear in the search results. In other words, they're "shopping around", and your site is a contender but not the only choice. In contrast, someone who visits your website after reading your article, seeing your ad in a respected ezine, or being referred by a friend is interested in your site in particular.
For all of these reasons, your marketing plan should not rely too heavily on search engine placement. You should never become too dependent on any one source of website traffic, and search engine rankings are particularly vulnerable to sudden changes. Being bumped from the first page of results to the second, or going from the second page to the third, can mean a significant drop in traffic. You should diversify your marketing efforts and use a variety of promotional techniques to bring visitors to your site rather than putting all your time and effort into getting a search engine listing.
Here are ten other ways you can promote your online business:
1) Get your articles published in ezines and on websites. Find high quality ezines and websites that offer plenty of useful and relevant content that would appeal to your target market (but which are not your direct competitors). Contact the publisher or webmaster and offer free reprint rights to an article you've written which would be a good fit for their readers or site visitors. They get extra content and you get new leads - it's a win-win situation.
2) Exchange links with other webmasters. Go to your favorite search engine and search for other quality websites with content related to the theme of your site. Then contact the webmaster and offer swap links - you link to their site from a resource page on your website and in exchange they link to yours. You'll both benefit from the extra traffic, plus you'll be adding useful content to your site.
3) Participate in banner ad and link exchanges. Swap banner or text link ads with other webmasters who share your market. You could join a banner exchange network or just arrange swaps on your own, but either way make sure your banner will be displayed to a targeted audience (those most likely to be interested in your product or service).
4) Practice viral marketing. Encourage your site visitors and existing customers to tell their friends and colleagues about your business. Make it easy for them to email a recommendation by providing a link on your site and in your ezine that will fill in the URL and other information in a form which they can personalize and send.
5) Run ezine ads. Place your ad in an ezine that appeals to your potential customers. If your budget allows consider sponsoring a whole issue; you get several ads throughout a single issue, which increases the impact of your sales message.
6) Place print ads. Run a series of classified ads in your local newspaper or business publications. Also, seek out special interest publications and trade journals of interest to your potential customers - the cost is usually reasonable and you'll reach a highly targeted market.
7) Give away logoware. Print your URL and logo on t-shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs, mouse pads, keychains, pens, or other promotional giveaways. Include them with catalogs, slip them into order shipments, and give them away at public events.
8) Try mobile marketing. Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on the road? Putting your URL on a car window decal or on an ad panel in a bus or taxi reaches a broad audience for very little money. Put a decal or magnetic sign on your own car and ask your friends and family members to put your Web decal on their cars, too.
9) Distribute flyers and handouts. A flyer can usually be printed up and distributed for pennies. Just have a simple one page sheet printed up with a description of your business and your website URL and other contact information. Hand them out at a shopping center or supermarket or during a fair or special events, or pay a flyer distribution company to deliver them door-to-door for you.
10) Do a postcard mailing. Get some postcards printed up with a screenshot of your website's home page or photograph of your place of business on the front and a description of your business and website URL on the back. Bulk mail them yourself or pay to have them included in a "card pack" mailer that goes out in your community.
Search engines are clearly too important to ignore, but don't overlook the many other possibilities for driving traffic to your site. Even if you succeed in getting your website listed and ranking well, don't depend on search engines alone to bring you new customers. And if you've tried repeatedly to get indexed by major search engines only to find your site rejected or ignored, don't despair - you do have other options. Don't be afraid to try something new and different. Experiment with new marketing methods and track your results to find out which methods work best for you.
Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Beyond Search Engines
Some webmasters report that search engines account for 75% or more of their total website traffic. However, it's important not to become too dependent on search engines for new business. Achieving a top listing from a major search engine is becoming more and more difficult over time. The competition for top spots is intense and it's getting harder every day to get listed at all. Also more and more search engines are moving to a pay-per-click model, and paying for top listings may not be in your budget.
The major search engine companies tend to be secretive about the details of their ranking process, so you have to rely on trial and error when optimizing your site to get a higher ranking. Also, search engines change their algorithms every now and then, and when they do you might find your Web pages bumped down to a lower position. To keep up with the latest search engine ranking procedures you'll either need to spend considerable time on it yourself or pay for the services of an SEO specialist.
While search engines can be a great source of targeted traffic, the visitors they send are not always your best prospects. True, the traffic is targeted in the sense that the visitor has actively searched for keywords which your site is relevant to, but that searcher is also viewing (and presumably visiting) the links of some of your closest competitors who also appear in the search results. In other words, they're "shopping around", and your site is a contender but not the only choice. In contrast, someone who visits your website after reading your article, seeing your ad in a respected ezine, or being referred by a friend is interested in your site in particular.
For all of these reasons, your marketing plan should not rely too heavily on search engine placement. You should never become too dependent on any one source of website traffic, and search engine rankings are particularly vulnerable to sudden changes. Being bumped from the first page of results to the second, or going from the second page to the third, can mean a significant drop in traffic. You should diversify your marketing efforts and use a variety of promotional techniques to bring visitors to your site rather than putting all your time and effort into getting a search engine listing.
Here are ten other ways you can promote your online business:
1) Get your articles published in ezines and on websites. Find high quality ezines and websites that offer plenty of useful and relevant content that would appeal to your target market (but which are not your direct competitors). Contact the publisher or webmaster and offer free reprint rights to an article you've written which would be a good fit for their readers or site visitors. They get extra content and you get new leads - it's a win-win situation.
2) Exchange links with other webmasters. Go to your favorite search engine and search for other quality websites with content related to the theme of your site. Then contact the webmaster and offer swap links - you link to their site from a resource page on your website and in exchange they link to yours. You'll both benefit from the extra traffic, plus you'll be adding useful content to your site.
3) Participate in banner ad and link exchanges. Swap banner or text link ads with other webmasters who share your market. You could join a banner exchange network or just arrange swaps on your own, but either way make sure your banner will be displayed to a targeted audience (those most likely to be interested in your product or service).
4) Practice viral marketing. Encourage your site visitors and existing customers to tell their friends and colleagues about your business. Make it easy for them to email a recommendation by providing a link on your site and in your ezine that will fill in the URL and other information in a form which they can personalize and send.
5) Run ezine ads. Place your ad in an ezine that appeals to your potential customers. If your budget allows consider sponsoring a whole issue; you get several ads throughout a single issue, which increases the impact of your sales message.
6) Place print ads. Run a series of classified ads in your local newspaper or business publications. Also, seek out special interest publications and trade journals of interest to your potential customers - the cost is usually reasonable and you'll reach a highly targeted market.
7) Give away logoware. Print your URL and logo on t-shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs, mouse pads, keychains, pens, or other promotional giveaways. Include them with catalogs, slip them into order shipments, and give them away at public events.
8) Try mobile marketing. Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on the road? Putting your URL on a car window decal or on an ad panel in a bus or taxi reaches a broad audience for very little money. Put a decal or magnetic sign on your own car and ask your friends and family members to put your Web decal on their cars, too.
9) Distribute flyers and handouts. A flyer can usually be printed up and distributed for pennies. Just have a simple one page sheet printed up with a description of your business and your website URL and other contact information. Hand them out at a shopping center or supermarket or during a fair or special events, or pay a flyer distribution company to deliver them door-to-door for you.
10) Do a postcard mailing. Get some postcards printed up with a screenshot of your website's home page or photograph of your place of business on the front and a description of your business and website URL on the back. Bulk mail them yourself or pay to have them included in a "card pack" mailer that goes out in your community.
Search engines are clearly too important to ignore, but don't overlook the many other possibilities for driving traffic to your site. Even if you succeed in getting your website listed and ranking well, don't depend on search engines alone to bring you new customers. And if you've tried repeatedly to get indexed by major search engines only to find your site rejected or ignored, don't despair - you do have other options. Don't be afraid to try something new and different. Experiment with new marketing methods and track your results to find out which methods work best for you.
Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.
The major search engine companies tend to be secretive about the details of their ranking process, so you have to rely on trial and error when optimizing your site to get a higher ranking. Also, search engines change their algorithms every now and then, and when they do you might find your Web pages bumped down to a lower position. To keep up with the latest search engine ranking procedures you'll either need to spend considerable time on it yourself or pay for the services of an SEO specialist.
While search engines can be a great source of targeted traffic, the visitors they send are not always your best prospects. True, the traffic is targeted in the sense that the visitor has actively searched for keywords which your site is relevant to, but that searcher is also viewing (and presumably visiting) the links of some of your closest competitors who also appear in the search results. In other words, they're "shopping around", and your site is a contender but not the only choice. In contrast, someone who visits your website after reading your article, seeing your ad in a respected ezine, or being referred by a friend is interested in your site in particular.
For all of these reasons, your marketing plan should not rely too heavily on search engine placement. You should never become too dependent on any one source of website traffic, and search engine rankings are particularly vulnerable to sudden changes. Being bumped from the first page of results to the second, or going from the second page to the third, can mean a significant drop in traffic. You should diversify your marketing efforts and use a variety of promotional techniques to bring visitors to your site rather than putting all your time and effort into getting a search engine listing.
Here are ten other ways you can promote your online business:
1) Get your articles published in ezines and on websites. Find high quality ezines and websites that offer plenty of useful and relevant content that would appeal to your target market (but which are not your direct competitors). Contact the publisher or webmaster and offer free reprint rights to an article you've written which would be a good fit for their readers or site visitors. They get extra content and you get new leads - it's a win-win situation.
2) Exchange links with other webmasters. Go to your favorite search engine and search for other quality websites with content related to the theme of your site. Then contact the webmaster and offer swap links - you link to their site from a resource page on your website and in exchange they link to yours. You'll both benefit from the extra traffic, plus you'll be adding useful content to your site.
3) Participate in banner ad and link exchanges. Swap banner or text link ads with other webmasters who share your market. You could join a banner exchange network or just arrange swaps on your own, but either way make sure your banner will be displayed to a targeted audience (those most likely to be interested in your product or service).
4) Practice viral marketing. Encourage your site visitors and existing customers to tell their friends and colleagues about your business. Make it easy for them to email a recommendation by providing a link on your site and in your ezine that will fill in the URL and other information in a form which they can personalize and send.
5) Run ezine ads. Place your ad in an ezine that appeals to your potential customers. If your budget allows consider sponsoring a whole issue; you get several ads throughout a single issue, which increases the impact of your sales message.
6) Place print ads. Run a series of classified ads in your local newspaper or business publications. Also, seek out special interest publications and trade journals of interest to your potential customers - the cost is usually reasonable and you'll reach a highly targeted market.
7) Give away logoware. Print your URL and logo on t-shirts, baseball caps, coffee mugs, mouse pads, keychains, pens, or other promotional giveaways. Include them with catalogs, slip them into order shipments, and give them away at public events.
8) Try mobile marketing. Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on the road? Putting your URL on a car window decal or on an ad panel in a bus or taxi reaches a broad audience for very little money. Put a decal or magnetic sign on your own car and ask your friends and family members to put your Web decal on their cars, too.
9) Distribute flyers and handouts. A flyer can usually be printed up and distributed for pennies. Just have a simple one page sheet printed up with a description of your business and your website URL and other contact information. Hand them out at a shopping center or supermarket or during a fair or special events, or pay a flyer distribution company to deliver them door-to-door for you.
10) Do a postcard mailing. Get some postcards printed up with a screenshot of your website's home page or photograph of your place of business on the front and a description of your business and website URL on the back. Bulk mail them yourself or pay to have them included in a "card pack" mailer that goes out in your community.
Search engines are clearly too important to ignore, but don't overlook the many other possibilities for driving traffic to your site. Even if you succeed in getting your website listed and ranking well, don't depend on search engines alone to bring you new customers. And if you've tried repeatedly to get indexed by major search engines only to find your site rejected or ignored, don't despair - you do have other options. Don't be afraid to try something new and different. Experiment with new marketing methods and track your results to find out which methods work best for you.
Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Abandoned by Google! Googlebot, Wherefore Art Thou Googlebot?
As a search engine optimization specialist I often optimize existing web pages for small business clients, upload them to the site and see pages re-indexed by Google within a week. This only happens with existing business sites that have been online for a few years. Google seems to be updating their index as often as every other week at this point and older established sites that are already indexed seem to be re- crawled on that twice a month schedule on a fairly routine basis.
Two clients that hired me for recent work saw their rankings shoot to the top for a newly targeted search phrase in a weekend when I did optimization on a Thursday and they were ranked instantly by Saturday. Now keep in mind that this doesn't happen for everyone, only those that have been online for some period and already have significant content that simply needs tweaking and proper title and metatag information added. They usually have relatively good existing PageRank and do well for other RELEVANT search phrases already. I offer that warning only to avoid instilling false hopes in anyone hoping to achieve the same instant ranking boost overnight.
Those clients that do succeed in this way are often thrilled with the results accomplished in such short order. I'd love to be able to offer that type of ranking boosts to everyone, but some are more equal than others when it comes to easy, inexpensive SEO tune-ups that rev up your rankings overnight. Your mileage may vary.
WHY DO NEW SITES SUFFER?
What is going on with newer sites that don't get crawled for months? I've got a client, a newer attorney directory that offers tons of great information in the form of articles on specific areas of law, links to incredibly valuable and relevant legal sites and over 600,000 attorneys listed by practice area and state. Yet the site has not been re-crawled by Google for over 3 months! Now this would not be such a big issue for many sites, but this site is relatively new and we've optimized all the titles, tags & page text, created a complete site map and placed links to all these resources on the front page.
I know that the site is not being crawled because Google's cached copy of the front page shows it before we did the work four months ago, without the new links and without title tags. We've submitted the site by hand, (manually) once a month for three months via the Google Add URL page. http://www.google.com/addurl.html When the hand submission failed to get it re-indexed for four months, we submitted the sitemap page, which has not been crawled at all. Google shows only ONE page on this site, when in fact it has thousands of pages, a sitemap and dozens static pages!
Part of the problem is that this site must be dynamic, since a database of over 632,000 attorneys must be accessed, retrieved and served for any of those law firms searched for to be returned to the site visitor. Google warns owners of dynamic sites that Googlebot may not crawl dynamically generated pages with "?"" question marks in the URL. This is to avoid crashing the server with too many concurrent page requests from Google's spider. http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#A1
The solution to this dynamic URL problem has been discussed widely in search engine forums and solutions have been bandied about including software provided by SEO's, URL re-write techniques for dynamic pages on APACHE servers http://www.alistapart.com/articles/urls/ and PHP pages http://www.stargeek.com/php-seo.php to generate search engine friendly URL's. Others recommend simply adding static HTML sitemap pages as alternatives for the search engine spiders. In this instance the client's developer simply said "I can't do that (PHP solution) on this server". So we resorted to putting up the static HTML sitemap pages with hard-coded
URLS to the main 54 pages of the site at http://lawfirm411.com/Law-Firm-411-sitemap.html This should get at least those fifty pages crawled by Googlebot, but Googles' spider appears not to be crawling this site at all. How do we know this? See for yourself by using the following query in the search box at Google: allinurl:www.lawfirm411.com where the result page shows ONE page in the results. If you try that query on your own site (replace your own domain name for lawfirm411.com), you'll see the results lists ALL your pages.
The site home page was crawled by Google four months ago, when they took their "Cached Snapshot" of the page. You can see this by visiting the Google cached page here: http://66.102.7.104/search?sourceid=navclient&;ie=UTF-8&q=cache:www.lawfirm411.com where the date of this snapshot is "Apr 20, 2004 07:42:19 GMT" and they haven't been back since. The page in that snapshot has none of the newly added links, an outdated title tag, and old content.
This problem is not unique to this site. One client we worked with two years ago had a dynamically generated, framed site! Those two site structures have always given search engines trouble. Their site was not crawled at all and only the front page showed up. Our solution was to create a second domain (owned by the client), which had static HTML pages that precisely mirrored the content of the client's framed, dynamically generated site. Guess what happened after Googlebot crawled the static site? Google indexed the framed site in full and then banned the static site from the index! Not an approach we advocate, but the one that worked for this client.
We're still searching for ways to get Googlebot back to LawFirm411.com before creating that new static site, but decided to share this odd experience with the SEO community before going to any extremes. Google provides over 70% of most search engine referred traffic to ALL of our clients and we realized we can't site idly by and see a major client languish because Googlebot didn't like what it found at the client site on the first visit four months ago. This issue dogs newer sites in other places as well. The Open Directory Project has also become notoriously slow in adding new sites to the directory and in this case, has not picked up this site even after 6 regular monthly submissions. The web playing field may have begun tilting toward older, established sites and away from new ones.
Mike Banks Valentine is the SEO for http://www.lawfirm411.com
Contact him at http://www.seoptimism.com/SEO_Contact.htm
Improve Your Small Business Online at our Ecommerce Tutorial
http://website101.com/Free-Tutorials/index.html
Two clients that hired me for recent work saw their rankings shoot to the top for a newly targeted search phrase in a weekend when I did optimization on a Thursday and they were ranked instantly by Saturday. Now keep in mind that this doesn't happen for everyone, only those that have been online for some period and already have significant content that simply needs tweaking and proper title and metatag information added. They usually have relatively good existing PageRank and do well for other RELEVANT search phrases already. I offer that warning only to avoid instilling false hopes in anyone hoping to achieve the same instant ranking boost overnight.
Those clients that do succeed in this way are often thrilled with the results accomplished in such short order. I'd love to be able to offer that type of ranking boosts to everyone, but some are more equal than others when it comes to easy, inexpensive SEO tune-ups that rev up your rankings overnight. Your mileage may vary.
WHY DO NEW SITES SUFFER?
What is going on with newer sites that don't get crawled for months? I've got a client, a newer attorney directory that offers tons of great information in the form of articles on specific areas of law, links to incredibly valuable and relevant legal sites and over 600,000 attorneys listed by practice area and state. Yet the site has not been re-crawled by Google for over 3 months! Now this would not be such a big issue for many sites, but this site is relatively new and we've optimized all the titles, tags & page text, created a complete site map and placed links to all these resources on the front page.
I know that the site is not being crawled because Google's cached copy of the front page shows it before we did the work four months ago, without the new links and without title tags. We've submitted the site by hand, (manually) once a month for three months via the Google Add URL page. http://www.google.com/addurl.html When the hand submission failed to get it re-indexed for four months, we submitted the sitemap page, which has not been crawled at all. Google shows only ONE page on this site, when in fact it has thousands of pages, a sitemap and dozens static pages!
Part of the problem is that this site must be dynamic, since a database of over 632,000 attorneys must be accessed, retrieved and served for any of those law firms searched for to be returned to the site visitor. Google warns owners of dynamic sites that Googlebot may not crawl dynamically generated pages with "?"" question marks in the URL. This is to avoid crashing the server with too many concurrent page requests from Google's spider. http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html#A1
The solution to this dynamic URL problem has been discussed widely in search engine forums and solutions have been bandied about including software provided by SEO's, URL re-write techniques for dynamic pages on APACHE servers http://www.alistapart.com/articles/urls/ and PHP pages http://www.stargeek.com/php-seo.php to generate search engine friendly URL's. Others recommend simply adding static HTML sitemap pages as alternatives for the search engine spiders. In this instance the client's developer simply said "I can't do that (PHP solution) on this server". So we resorted to putting up the static HTML sitemap pages with hard-coded
URLS to the main 54 pages of the site at http://lawfirm411.com/Law-Firm-411-sitemap.html This should get at least those fifty pages crawled by Googlebot, but Googles' spider appears not to be crawling this site at all. How do we know this? See for yourself by using the following query in the search box at Google: allinurl:www.lawfirm411.com where the result page shows ONE page in the results. If you try that query on your own site (replace your own domain name for lawfirm411.com), you'll see the results lists ALL your pages.
The site home page was crawled by Google four months ago, when they took their "Cached Snapshot" of the page. You can see this by visiting the Google cached page here: http://66.102.7.104/search?sourceid=navclient&;ie=UTF-8&q=cache:www.lawfirm411.com where the date of this snapshot is "Apr 20, 2004 07:42:19 GMT" and they haven't been back since. The page in that snapshot has none of the newly added links, an outdated title tag, and old content.
This problem is not unique to this site. One client we worked with two years ago had a dynamically generated, framed site! Those two site structures have always given search engines trouble. Their site was not crawled at all and only the front page showed up. Our solution was to create a second domain (owned by the client), which had static HTML pages that precisely mirrored the content of the client's framed, dynamically generated site. Guess what happened after Googlebot crawled the static site? Google indexed the framed site in full and then banned the static site from the index! Not an approach we advocate, but the one that worked for this client.
We're still searching for ways to get Googlebot back to LawFirm411.com before creating that new static site, but decided to share this odd experience with the SEO community before going to any extremes. Google provides over 70% of most search engine referred traffic to ALL of our clients and we realized we can't site idly by and see a major client languish because Googlebot didn't like what it found at the client site on the first visit four months ago. This issue dogs newer sites in other places as well. The Open Directory Project has also become notoriously slow in adding new sites to the directory and in this case, has not picked up this site even after 6 regular monthly submissions. The web playing field may have begun tilting toward older, established sites and away from new ones.
Mike Banks Valentine is the SEO for http://www.lawfirm411.com
Contact him at http://www.seoptimism.com/SEO_Contact.htm
Improve Your Small Business Online at our Ecommerce Tutorial
http://website101.com/Free-Tutorials/index.html
Monday, October 5, 2009
Are Search Engines Worth It Any More?
The "Number One" Question - the question that I (and probably every other Internet marketing expert on the planet) am most frequently asked:
"How do I get to be Number One in the search engines for widgets? After all, my company is the world's leading provider of widgets - it's ridiculous that these other nobody companies are coming up in search engines ahead of us . . . "
My response is almost always along the lines of:
"Forget that right now, and get a life!"
OK, so I am a little more tactful than that - and I do occasionally encourage an in-depth search engine optimization strategy, but usually I'll encourage clients to spend their website promotional budget in other ways.
Here are the main reasons why I'm not generally enthusiastic about free search engines:
1. You have to be really careful in choosing keywords
Many people make the mistake of focusing on very generic keywords. Not only are these even more difficult to get top placement in, but they also won't generate you targeted traffic.
A prospect approached me recently for help with a coaching site. This site promotes teleseminars to help clients implement life changes described in various motivational books. This prospect initially said that he wanted to be "Number One" on a search for "books".
I'd suggest this would be a virtually impossible challenge for any search engine optimizer. But in addition, someone searching for "books" is probably really looking for Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, and not my client's teleclasses. He could spend a lot of money for very few qualified leads.
2. You need to speak the language of your visitors
We all talk "geekspeak" - it's often second nature to us within our industry or area of expertise. And it's easy to forget that our prospects don't always use the same terminology. One of the most difficult areas in copywriting that I see is when technology sales people are trying to describe their products to a non-technical market - the result is usually incomprehensible!
But there's also the jargon that we use as a matter of pride, or because we've lost touch with how our markets think of us.
I worked recently with an association of plastic surgeons. They had their member database on their Web site, and wanted to attract visitors there to find a local practitioner.
Their "Number One" target keyword for the search engines was "rhinoplasty". Well, I can only spell this because I just looked it up for this article - but usually you and I in the general public would never think of that - of course, we'd be searching for . . . "nose jobs"!
The surgeons didn't like this at all from an academic standpoint. But they had to concede the point when I presented evidence on most common searches from Overture's very handy Search Term Suggestion Tool at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion.
3. It's very passive marketing . . .
My most pressing argument for not spending too much time on free search engines is that it's a very passive form of marketing. You're relying on a prospective visitor waking up in the morning, and realizing that they need something that you might provide. Then, you're relying on them choosing the precise keywords that you've targeted for search engine optimization. It's a fairly hit or miss business.
When do I disagree with myself?
There are some exceptions to all this. I do believe that search engines are well worth it when you have a niche product or service with extremely unambiguous and well-defined keywords.
For example, an audience member in one of my recent programs was working on a Web site to sell some incredibly advanced yoyos. I did recommend a search engine strategy to him - after all, if someone puts in "yoyo" as a search term, they'd almost certainly be a qualified lead!
What do I do instead?
That's the subject of numerous other articles. To get you started, you can find twenty-three of my favourite techniques in my free tipsheet.
But in short, I much prefer aggressively seeking out sites where your target markets are likely to be reading, or searching for information. That way, you can proactively bring your ideas, products and services to them, in places where they are much more likely to be receptive and interested. And there are so many options for different budgets and campaign sizes, both online and offline.
So, are search engines worth it any more?
I'm not advocating ignoring search engines. And I do like the better paid models, such as Overture.
But I do suggest that you should be very clear about how much passive marketing you want to undertake, and whether the product or service that you're offering lends itself to this.
And if you do decide to optimize your site for search engines, pick the keywords that will be in the mindset of your customers . . . and be willing to settle for "Number Two" sometimes!
© 2003 Philippa Gamse. All rights reserved.
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy consultant and professional speaker. Check out her free tipsheet for 23 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317.
"How do I get to be Number One in the search engines for widgets? After all, my company is the world's leading provider of widgets - it's ridiculous that these other nobody companies are coming up in search engines ahead of us . . . "
My response is almost always along the lines of:
"Forget that right now, and get a life!"
OK, so I am a little more tactful than that - and I do occasionally encourage an in-depth search engine optimization strategy, but usually I'll encourage clients to spend their website promotional budget in other ways.
Here are the main reasons why I'm not generally enthusiastic about free search engines:
1. You have to be really careful in choosing keywords
Many people make the mistake of focusing on very generic keywords. Not only are these even more difficult to get top placement in, but they also won't generate you targeted traffic.
A prospect approached me recently for help with a coaching site. This site promotes teleseminars to help clients implement life changes described in various motivational books. This prospect initially said that he wanted to be "Number One" on a search for "books".
I'd suggest this would be a virtually impossible challenge for any search engine optimizer. But in addition, someone searching for "books" is probably really looking for Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, and not my client's teleclasses. He could spend a lot of money for very few qualified leads.
2. You need to speak the language of your visitors
We all talk "geekspeak" - it's often second nature to us within our industry or area of expertise. And it's easy to forget that our prospects don't always use the same terminology. One of the most difficult areas in copywriting that I see is when technology sales people are trying to describe their products to a non-technical market - the result is usually incomprehensible!
But there's also the jargon that we use as a matter of pride, or because we've lost touch with how our markets think of us.
I worked recently with an association of plastic surgeons. They had their member database on their Web site, and wanted to attract visitors there to find a local practitioner.
Their "Number One" target keyword for the search engines was "rhinoplasty". Well, I can only spell this because I just looked it up for this article - but usually you and I in the general public would never think of that - of course, we'd be searching for . . . "nose jobs"!
The surgeons didn't like this at all from an academic standpoint. But they had to concede the point when I presented evidence on most common searches from Overture's very handy Search Term Suggestion Tool at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion.
3. It's very passive marketing . . .
My most pressing argument for not spending too much time on free search engines is that it's a very passive form of marketing. You're relying on a prospective visitor waking up in the morning, and realizing that they need something that you might provide. Then, you're relying on them choosing the precise keywords that you've targeted for search engine optimization. It's a fairly hit or miss business.
When do I disagree with myself?
There are some exceptions to all this. I do believe that search engines are well worth it when you have a niche product or service with extremely unambiguous and well-defined keywords.
For example, an audience member in one of my recent programs was working on a Web site to sell some incredibly advanced yoyos. I did recommend a search engine strategy to him - after all, if someone puts in "yoyo" as a search term, they'd almost certainly be a qualified lead!
What do I do instead?
That's the subject of numerous other articles. To get you started, you can find twenty-three of my favourite techniques in my free tipsheet.
But in short, I much prefer aggressively seeking out sites where your target markets are likely to be reading, or searching for information. That way, you can proactively bring your ideas, products and services to them, in places where they are much more likely to be receptive and interested. And there are so many options for different budgets and campaign sizes, both online and offline.
So, are search engines worth it any more?
I'm not advocating ignoring search engines. And I do like the better paid models, such as Overture.
But I do suggest that you should be very clear about how much passive marketing you want to undertake, and whether the product or service that you're offering lends itself to this.
And if you do decide to optimize your site for search engines, pick the keywords that will be in the mindset of your customers . . . and be willing to settle for "Number Two" sometimes!
© 2003 Philippa Gamse. All rights reserved.
Philippa Gamse, CyberSpeaker, is a Web strategy consultant and professional speaker. Check out her free tipsheet for 23 ideas to promote your Website: http://www.CyberSpeaker.com/tipsheet.html Philippa can be reached at (831) 465-0317.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Owning Your Category Online - Is Our Website Broken?
"Owning your business category online is more than just a few keywords... Is your website broken?"
Let's face it, the Internet is a crowded place... and it's becoming even more crowded as you read this. Your business can't stand still online, and you can't afford to look backwards. Qualified, targeted traffic generation is what we all desire. Owning your category online goes a long way in providing just that.
It's not about just looking forward, but moving forward and taking some ownership. Every business online today is worried about being found in the Top 10 Search Engines and Directories for their products or services - and they should be! Statistics still make them (search engines) the number one stop for all surfers.
But, just for a moment let's imagine that these search engines and directories provide the most relevant results. That's right, let's just say for the sake of this article, that they all work extremely well. O.K?
Now, since we believe that our products or services are way more relevant than those companies listed above us in (today's) search engines results - we have to admit something is wrong... but remember, the search engines are perfect.
We all know you can buy your keywords in Google? and Overture? right? Does that make you the best? (not.) Do surfers know this? (Yes.) Does it make your business (your website) any more relevant? (No.) It does put businesses with a larger budget at the top of the pile again, that's all. Is this why many of us don't click on sponsored links? (Ahem...)
If the search engines were (are) perfect, then let's get back to something else being wrong. Hmmm, my website must be broken! Wow, somebody is actually staying with me here.. My website must be broken?
Why else would all those "other" websites be showing up ahead of my business when people search for my products/services/information? Don't these people know we are the experts? (nope.) Don't they know our products are superior? (nope.) Can't they see the skill we employ and our dedication to employee and customer service? (nope.) Haven't they read the reviews? (probably...)
So, in an effort to help you "own your category online", here's some suggestions to assist your business in getting ahead of those "other" websites and putting your business where it rightly belongs! If you already employ all these practices, we commend you. But if you find yourself behind, these tips can help your company without having to become a Webmaster or a Search Engine Marketing Professional. Pass these on to your Marketing Team and get better results and recognition starting today!
Do: Research the search terms (keywords) that people would use in seeking out your offerings. You can start with Wordtracker? and the search terms you first come up with.
Wordtracker? will help you locate terms that are similar to your terms in meaning and search. It is a tool that gives you an *idea of what the general terms people are using, and how many searches are taking place on these terms... * that's another book though. This is a great starting point and the trial really is free!
Tip: Do not just 'look-up' your company name, - prospective customers or vendors or partners are not looking you up by your 'company name' in Google? - they don't know it yet...? Surfer's have become quite good at 'searching'. Be specific and general. You can also learn who you have to beat online! - Who's kicking your butt when people search for your product or service online? That first page of results is your market share online!
Do: Make sure you have a *keyword specific "Title" for every webpage that's relevant to the content on that page (*keyword specific, not keyword stuffed).
Page Title; Top of the screen, blue 'title' bar (in explorer). I still see thousands of websites with "Homepage" in the title bar, or "MyOneHotBusiness.com" and just that phrase or 'Title' is repeated throughout every page on their website! Each page in your website is (content) unique - make it's 'Title' unique too! Or call your webmaster with new "titles" for each of your website pages. Different values are placed on this "page title" from the different search engines and directories.
Tip: Add "Chicago, Chicagoland, Illinois" to the end of your Title (your city, state). This helps in regional search queries.
Do: Have at least 200 words of (content specific) text on the pages of importance (homepage, category pages, etc.). This is what the engines and directories DO read, these words and links are how the engines interpret what's on this page. Images or pictures of words or "ads" are not "read" so-to-speak. Make this text content highly relevant to the topic (product or service) on this page.
Tip: Put your fancy Flash commercial on a link from your homepage and put up a content relevant page of your best text instead! Visitors will still look at your commercial if you tell us it's cool, but don't force us to watch it! - That's not what we came for. This Flash file does almost nothing for search engines and directories.
Do: Have yourself or your professional staff write articles on their specific area of expertise in product or service. Make these articles a webpage with relevant links to the product or service directly.
Short of hiring a Search Engine Marketing Consultant or a Professional Copywriter, these detailed articles if rich and full of relevant content, are the exact pages that will generate you the most qualified and targeted visitor to your business! Once these 'article pages' are crawled (indexed) by the search engines you will be pleasantly surprised to see that (now) you are a more relevant search result.
(Not to be confused with 'links' or 'reciprocal linking programs' - your (article) webpages are much more "read" and effective in sending the reader to your site, or keeping them there, not to mention the branding opportunities)
These articles not only show your business as an authority, they prove it in words and information for the reader, me, a human. These concise type articles are an excellent way to gain exposure, recognition (branding), traffic, and yes, even sales. You said you were an authority, now prove it.
Tip: Submit these articles to other online and offline publications and Ezine's. You make them available to other websites just for leaving your Author and link intact. There are businesses craving this type of content for their website's success! Your business website will begin receiving quality traffic from every website that posts your company's article(s)! Now there's a strong statement.
Do: Include your URL (www.) in every piece of material you print - every piece of traditional advertising you already pay for!
Every week I read through different newspapers and magazines - I can't believe how many businesses forget to put their web address in that Advertisement they paid for. You pay big bucks for a quarter page ad or whatever, and then never mention your website!?! Which is open 24/7/365 - and that Tribune is just around for two days! Start your marketing return on investment right there!
Tip: Offer a website only promotion or coupon in your Ads to generate further interest and traffic to your specific offer web pages!
Do: Ask visitors to "Bookmark your site" or "Tell a friend" or "Send this article to a friend"...
Your visitors don't always think of it, so just ask them? Bookmarks not only increase return visitors, but they also give you a vote of confidence in providing something worthwhile... even if that's a return trip! This does not have to be bold and obnoxious either, a simple button saying "Bookmark Us" will do on any business website.
Do: Be Patient. All search engines and directories have different timeframes for updates, changes and new submissions. After making changes or additions to your site, allow 90 days after initial submission for realistic results to begin showing in the major search engines and search directories. Owning your category online is more than just a few keywords. Don't just say you do all these things!
Do: Go and check!
Tip: Go and check again!
Because if you do your best with these few suggestions - your website will show up higher in the search results for those relevant terms you selected. You'll be hundreds of websites ahead, and getting more qualified visitors too. There's much more to owning your category online, but every business should be employing these "level one" marketing concepts.
There, now we can stop imagining that the search engines are perfect.
Good Luck.
Written by and Copyright © Scott Sedwick http://www.hyperformancemedia.com
About The Author
Scott is the Founder and Sr. Project Manager for Hyperformance Media, Inc. a website marketing company since 1996. His 24+ years experience in the computer industry can help your business succeed online!
Copyright SS ss@hyperformancemedia.com http://www.hyperformancemedia.com
Let's face it, the Internet is a crowded place... and it's becoming even more crowded as you read this. Your business can't stand still online, and you can't afford to look backwards. Qualified, targeted traffic generation is what we all desire. Owning your category online goes a long way in providing just that.
It's not about just looking forward, but moving forward and taking some ownership. Every business online today is worried about being found in the Top 10 Search Engines and Directories for their products or services - and they should be! Statistics still make them (search engines) the number one stop for all surfers.
But, just for a moment let's imagine that these search engines and directories provide the most relevant results. That's right, let's just say for the sake of this article, that they all work extremely well. O.K?
Now, since we believe that our products or services are way more relevant than those companies listed above us in (today's) search engines results - we have to admit something is wrong... but remember, the search engines are perfect.
We all know you can buy your keywords in Google? and Overture? right? Does that make you the best? (not.) Do surfers know this? (Yes.) Does it make your business (your website) any more relevant? (No.) It does put businesses with a larger budget at the top of the pile again, that's all. Is this why many of us don't click on sponsored links? (Ahem...)
If the search engines were (are) perfect, then let's get back to something else being wrong. Hmmm, my website must be broken! Wow, somebody is actually staying with me here.. My website must be broken?
Why else would all those "other" websites be showing up ahead of my business when people search for my products/services/information? Don't these people know we are the experts? (nope.) Don't they know our products are superior? (nope.) Can't they see the skill we employ and our dedication to employee and customer service? (nope.) Haven't they read the reviews? (probably...)
So, in an effort to help you "own your category online", here's some suggestions to assist your business in getting ahead of those "other" websites and putting your business where it rightly belongs! If you already employ all these practices, we commend you. But if you find yourself behind, these tips can help your company without having to become a Webmaster or a Search Engine Marketing Professional. Pass these on to your Marketing Team and get better results and recognition starting today!
Do: Research the search terms (keywords) that people would use in seeking out your offerings. You can start with Wordtracker? and the search terms you first come up with.
Wordtracker? will help you locate terms that are similar to your terms in meaning and search. It is a tool that gives you an *idea of what the general terms people are using, and how many searches are taking place on these terms... * that's another book though. This is a great starting point and the trial really is free!
Tip: Do not just 'look-up' your company name, - prospective customers or vendors or partners are not looking you up by your 'company name' in Google? - they don't know it yet...? Surfer's have become quite good at 'searching'. Be specific and general. You can also learn who you have to beat online! - Who's kicking your butt when people search for your product or service online? That first page of results is your market share online!
Do: Make sure you have a *keyword specific "Title" for every webpage that's relevant to the content on that page (*keyword specific, not keyword stuffed).
Page Title; Top of the screen, blue 'title' bar (in explorer). I still see thousands of websites with "Homepage" in the title bar, or "MyOneHotBusiness.com" and just that phrase or 'Title' is repeated throughout every page on their website! Each page in your website is (content) unique - make it's 'Title' unique too! Or call your webmaster with new "titles" for each of your website pages. Different values are placed on this "page title" from the different search engines and directories.
Tip: Add "Chicago, Chicagoland, Illinois" to the end of your Title (your city, state). This helps in regional search queries.
Do: Have at least 200 words of (content specific) text on the pages of importance (homepage, category pages, etc.). This is what the engines and directories DO read, these words and links are how the engines interpret what's on this page. Images or pictures of words or "ads" are not "read" so-to-speak. Make this text content highly relevant to the topic (product or service) on this page.
Tip: Put your fancy Flash commercial on a link from your homepage and put up a content relevant page of your best text instead! Visitors will still look at your commercial if you tell us it's cool, but don't force us to watch it! - That's not what we came for. This Flash file does almost nothing for search engines and directories.
Do: Have yourself or your professional staff write articles on their specific area of expertise in product or service. Make these articles a webpage with relevant links to the product or service directly.
Short of hiring a Search Engine Marketing Consultant or a Professional Copywriter, these detailed articles if rich and full of relevant content, are the exact pages that will generate you the most qualified and targeted visitor to your business! Once these 'article pages' are crawled (indexed) by the search engines you will be pleasantly surprised to see that (now) you are a more relevant search result.
(Not to be confused with 'links' or 'reciprocal linking programs' - your (article) webpages are much more "read" and effective in sending the reader to your site, or keeping them there, not to mention the branding opportunities)
These articles not only show your business as an authority, they prove it in words and information for the reader, me, a human. These concise type articles are an excellent way to gain exposure, recognition (branding), traffic, and yes, even sales. You said you were an authority, now prove it.
Tip: Submit these articles to other online and offline publications and Ezine's. You make them available to other websites just for leaving your Author and link intact. There are businesses craving this type of content for their website's success! Your business website will begin receiving quality traffic from every website that posts your company's article(s)! Now there's a strong statement.
Do: Include your URL (www.) in every piece of material you print - every piece of traditional advertising you already pay for!
Every week I read through different newspapers and magazines - I can't believe how many businesses forget to put their web address in that Advertisement they paid for. You pay big bucks for a quarter page ad or whatever, and then never mention your website!?! Which is open 24/7/365 - and that Tribune is just around for two days! Start your marketing return on investment right there!
Tip: Offer a website only promotion or coupon in your Ads to generate further interest and traffic to your specific offer web pages!
Do: Ask visitors to "Bookmark your site" or "Tell a friend" or "Send this article to a friend"...
Your visitors don't always think of it, so just ask them? Bookmarks not only increase return visitors, but they also give you a vote of confidence in providing something worthwhile... even if that's a return trip! This does not have to be bold and obnoxious either, a simple button saying "Bookmark Us" will do on any business website.
Do: Be Patient. All search engines and directories have different timeframes for updates, changes and new submissions. After making changes or additions to your site, allow 90 days after initial submission for realistic results to begin showing in the major search engines and search directories. Owning your category online is more than just a few keywords. Don't just say you do all these things!
Do: Go and check!
Tip: Go and check again!
Because if you do your best with these few suggestions - your website will show up higher in the search results for those relevant terms you selected. You'll be hundreds of websites ahead, and getting more qualified visitors too. There's much more to owning your category online, but every business should be employing these "level one" marketing concepts.
There, now we can stop imagining that the search engines are perfect.
Good Luck.
Written by and Copyright © Scott Sedwick http://www.hyperformancemedia.com
About The Author
Scott is the Founder and Sr. Project Manager for Hyperformance Media, Inc. a website marketing company since 1996. His 24+ years experience in the computer industry can help your business succeed online!
Copyright SS ss@hyperformancemedia.com http://www.hyperformancemedia.com
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