Web Site Marketing
Will Your Web Site Be Found?
The simple answer is: PROBABLY NOT, unless you have spent a lot of time researching the following:
1. How search engines work
2. Which keywords/phrases are most relevant to your site
3. Which keywords/phrases people are actually typing into the search engines
4. Where to place keywords/phrases in your web pages
5. How to avoid spamming the search engines and being blacklisted
6. Which Search Engines are the most important
The world wide web now has literally BILLIONS of web pages. Unless you have a SEARCH ENGINE STRATEGY that is well thought out and executed, you will lose out on visitors to your site. No matter what your site is selling or promoting, there are literally thousands of other sites promoting the same or similar products, services, or information.
If you thought that submitting your web site to hundreds of search engines would bring lots and lots of visitors, THINK AGAIN. Submitting is not enough!
Have you received emails or seen banner ads that promise to submit your web site to THOUSANDS of search engines for a small charge? The truth is that there are LESS THAN FIVE search engines that REALLY MATTER. Approximately 95% of all searches on the internet are performed on these top search engines. So what about all those other so-called search engines? The truth is that most of those other search engines exist solely to gather email addresses from sites that are submitted to them, so that you can be bombarded with yet more spam emails!!!
Will Your Site be in the First Page of Results?
Ask yourself this question: When you go to a search engine and type in a word or phrase and it gives you the results, how many pages of results do you look at? If you're like most, you choose something on the first page of results and go there, or you change your search word or phrase.
What does this mean for your site?
YOU MUST APPEAR IN THE FIRST 10 RESULTS (certainly the first 20) OR YOU WILL LOSE TRAFFIC.
EXAMPLE 1: Top Ranking Site on Google, Yahoo, and MSN
To see an example of one of our client sites that ranks well in the search engines, go to Google and type in the phrase "aluminum dog boxes" (with or without the quotes). As of this writing, Diamond Deluxe are coming up FIRST in Google's results--not bad when you consider that Google returns 2.7 MILLION web pages for that search phrase! The site also comes up FIRST on Yahoo and FOURTH on MSN. This kind of result brings a steady stream of visitors and customers to the Diamond Deluxe site.
EXAMPLE 2: Kingsley Press - Number 4 on Google
As well as designing web sites, we also operate an online Christian book store called Kingsley Press. Keyword research suggested that the phrase "Christian book distributors" would bring the most traffic to our site. Getting this site on to the first page of Google results has been somewhat of an effort, but finally our site is coming up FOURTH in Google for this highly competetive phrase (4.8 million results!). It also comes up 6th on MSN and 13th on Yahoo!.
Choosing the Right Tools
Most of the time, the tools and materials you choose for a project have a great influence on how that project turns out. That is no less true when it comes to promoting your web site. There are poor tools (site submission wizards, for example); then there are good tools; and then there are EXCELLENT TOOLS.
Although I can't guarantee I'll get your site a top-ten ranking on the major search engines (I know of at least one company that DOES offer a guarantee, but their prices start at $1500.00!--email me for further info), I can tell you that I have researched this matter very carefully, and am currently using what I believe to be the best tools out there for web site promotion and search engine optimization. It was through using a combination of techniques involving these tools that I was able to get a top-ten ranking on Google for the Diamond Deluxe site, noted above.
