Typical webmaster: "Do I really need to promote?!"
OK, take a deep breath; it's going to be concise, but long.
In today's
online reality, it's not enough to have a website. As you
know,
search engines have become the official authority on 'who is hot and who is not'. Therefore, if you have a business/personal web
site, and you want your site to be at the top 10
result (when searching for specific words) – you must promote your site in the search engine.
2 facts before we continue:
1. 80% of the online searchers will not click on a site which is not on the top 10 results.
2. Promoting in the net is called SEM – Search Engine Marketing (and the biggest issue is SEO – Search Engine Optimization).
When starting the SEM campaign you can choose several methods:
1. Pay to advertise – you 'buy' words in Yahoo/Google/Msn and they'll put a
link to your site if someone searches for it. Your link will not be located with the rest of the result (research shows that most of the people would prefer an organic result rather then a pre-paid result).
2. SPAM – I don’t deal with it, I hate it (and most people think like me).
3. SEM&SEO – this is the only way, you can reach the top 10 in the organic search results.
SEM & SEO
First stage – Optimization: Google knows how to read. Yes! I know it sounds strange but he does. The problem is, he knows one language. Therefore, if you want Google to understand your site (and believe me – you want) – your site must 'speak' that language. You can write your site in English, German or whatever – but you must optimize it to fit the Google needs (it's called the site readability).
Second stage – Link link link: The site rank (you can check the rank in the Google bar and or with special online tools) is being set according to several parameters: Is the site really deals with the things he 'says'; is it full of useful content? Is it
easy to use? And maybe the most important – Is it well linked? PR – page rank (That’s how Google calls it) is like PR-personal Relationship. If many people know you, you will be easy to be found. If many sites know your site, it will be easy to be found.
This is the tip of the iceberg as for online marketing and site promotion. The optimization is not as easy as it sounds, and there is a difference between link from X to you and link from Y to you (fro example: a link from www.NeverMind.gov is much more then www.NeverMind.com).
Published: August 07, 2005
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