Website marketing / search engine promotion
This differs from search engine optimisation (SEO) in the fact that marketing is about getting your website ranked well. SEO builds a fundamentally sound website which is tuned for the market; website marketing is about getting listed, getting ranked and getting business.
The importance of links
Whichever way you look at it, search engines love links. Links are how they find websites, links are how they navigate websites and links are how they rank websites. Your job as a website owner is to make sure your website has as many links pointing to it as possible.
You don’t need to submit to a search engine
Search engines follow links so if you create a trail of links from other internet resources such as other peoples websites and directories, they’ll find you. In fact you never have to submit to a search engine, ever. Even when already listed, resubmission has no benefit whatsoever. If you’re already in a search engine, that’s it, they’ll keep coming back to reindex new or amended content every now and again.
Don’t pay for links
There are too many free internet directories out there to warrant paying any money for a link. One way to find appropriate directories is to analyse the competition and see who links to them. This usually exposes the kind of sites you need that will potentially link to you.
Types of links
This is where links make and break success and there are a few golden rules that must be adhered to.
- Links must be text only and keyphrase descriptive of the resource they point to. This means no "click here" or "more info" link text. Link text must describe it’s destination and be very concise.
- Links must be proper hyperlinks, not redirects, JavaScript, Flash or Java. If your website is linked to from a site that uses any of the previously mentioned methods to link to you, it’s worthless as search engines cannot follow it.
- Links shouldn’t be reciprocated. If you swap links with another site then the search engines know you’re just marketing your site and won’t allow much ranking benefit due to this.
- Links need to vary in how they describe your website. If 100 websites all link to you saying the same thing, for example "Johns Pet Shop", then it’s deemed a marketing exercise and the rank won’t reflect the number of links.
This does make things extremely difficult to get ahead in the search engines. That’s the idea though, as search engines look for more and more ways to eliminate the rubbish that populates half the World Wide Web, but there are techniques to raise your websites profile in the eyes of the search engines which is something we have experience in.
How can TN38 Consulting help?
We can run comprehensive competition analysis and see how the top guys are doing business. We then measure your current position and start to set a path. Once we know the start and set the goals, we get to work.
Our experience means we don’t waste time on something that will offer little benefit to you but focus on what drives people to your business. This is different from hits or visitors as we go for potential clients, an area many other companies fail to aim for.
Please feel free to contact us to discuss a marketing campaign for your website. Don’t pay for pay-per-clicks without knowing the returns. Get your site impressed on the world and focused on the customer.