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"Search in Vain?"
By Kai Marriott
Flick through any marketing book, and they will have long sections on search engines. Surf
the Internet, and you will find millions of sites devoted to the subject.
It is commonly agreed that Search Engines have their uses. Browsers can find your site,
if, say, for some reason they have an incomplete URL. You can also get traffic from the
odd surfer that taps in a keyword relating to your product or service, providing your site
is listed high.
As every online marketer knows, only the first twenty or so sites listed will experience
any traffic. It's a harsh reality that the thousands of other sites relating to the
specified keyword get little or no traffic from this activity.
Therefore, instead of advising people to focus their efforts on more productive marketing
activities, many so-called marketers tell you devote your energies on this one process.
Cue long paragraphs on META tags, keywords, Search Engine "loopholes" and
optimisation.
I also think that search engines work more effectively for some businesses than it does
others. Obscure businesses that sell "Five Legged Androids from Mars" would
probably benefit from this activity, since the keywords would be so unusual. Therefore,
the number of listings will be minimal.
However, if you work in "Advertising", then the likelihood of your businesses
featuring high in the Search Engines from such a popular keyword is marginal.
I think that Search Engine submission is a huge paradox, and it's unusual for so many
marketers to be so preoccupied with it.
So how is it a paradox?
1) If you are a massive online multi-national corporation that everyone recognises, then
you may have the resources to spend a lot of time on search engine submission.
But I think; if you are a well-known name, why would you bother? The chances are, people
will enter the company name in the major Search engines, and whizz straight to your site.
2) If you are a mid-sized company selling a non-unique product online, then it is likely
that, unless you have spent all your time concentrating on Search engines (which is
unproductive in the long term), you will feature somewhere beyond the "top
twenty" ranking.
It generally makes little difference if you are featured at #100, or at #1000 - the
traffic generated with these listings will be practically nil.
3) If you are a small company with limited resources, then you may be under the false
assumption that this is the cheapest and most effective way to get hits. Forget it!
Firstly, you will have no chance against the large corporations who employ people to
maximise their ranking.
Secondly, it takes a lot of time to research each search engine, and find the best way to
be listed high on each one. Also, don't believe the Web sites that appear to have done
this work for you. As time progresses, search engines get wise to their techniques, so
this information tends to date very quickly.
Therefore, for small and mid-sized businesses, it is far better to be proactive and
maximise your promotional efforts into strategies that really generate traffic.
Even if, for some reason or another, you do manage to get your site listed at the top of
the rankings, you can guarantee it will be short-term. There will always be a company who
will eventually knock you off the "top spot".
Also, if you think of Search Engines in terms of numbers, again you can determine their
uselessness:
There are around 50 search engines that have any fraction of worth. Which means, if you
add the top twenty listings of each search engine together, you have 1000 companies.
Do you think your company will feature anywhere near this "top 1000" companies
in the world? Unless your name happens to be Bill Gates, then I doubt it very much.
I think we should take away the importance that is so heavily laid on Search Engines.
Instead, concentrate on:
1) Promoting your brand name.
2) Making your Web site fast, professional-looking and easy-to-navigate.
3) Finding your customers; don't wait for them to find you.
By being heavily involved in these basic activities instead of wasting valuable time
trying to feature at the top of the search engines, you'll find quality traffic pouring
into your site.
Kai Merriott
Internet Marketing Programs plc
"The Most Comprehensive Business and Marketing Program on the
Internet"
http://www.internetmarketprogram.com
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