Hopefully, the article's title has piqued your interest enough for you to get through the history lesson at the beginning of the article. I promise, if you can understand the historical parallels, you may gain new insights into your goal of successful online marketing.
The early ecommerce era of the mid 1990s had a flavor similar to the American "Gold Rush" commerce development in the mid 1800's. Back then, news of a gold strike led many to abandon their familiar lifestyles for unknown places to seek new riches. New towns suddenly appeared and populations exploded from a few hundred to several thousand almost overnight. Unfortunately, for the majority, the quick strike riches evaded them. However, surprisingly, two types of people became very successful. One was the gunslinger, the "fastest gun," we know that story, glorified in all the western movies. The other, a lesser told story, the merchants, selling supplies, from food to shovels, whom quickly became the richest people in the town.
Fast forward, to the mid 1990s, the story was unchanged. Online riches were the new gold rush; everyone was leaving their familiar lifestyles, rushing to create a new dot com. New websites appeared daily, some without any true plan or purpose. Everyone had to be on the Internet. Unfortunately, just like during the Gold Rush, many failed. Yet, merchants that created well defined (and well funded) ecommerce websites and were able to establish their online "image" proved successful. You are probably wondering, where is the gunslinger in this era? It's an AOL keyword.
AOL was the dominate supplier of Internet connectivity and many early users believed AOL "was" the Internet. In this pre-search engine period, they successfully sold businesses a "keyword", which their subscriber base used to quickly access a website. Image the delight of businesses, (those that could afford it) having what is akin to a Google, Yahoo or Bing keyword (search term) all to themselves, with millions of exclusive customers accessing it.
Now "back to the future", the Wild West was tamed and the dot com bust has occurred. Currently we have an online world dominated by the before mentioned search engines. Search engines are used to find websites over 250 million times daily. This dominant "tool" has provided parity in the online marketing world. All and I repeat All websites are equally at the mercy of their control. The search engine has become the new "Gold Rush." There are significant riches to gain, if you can successfully play the search engine game.
Online marketing is by far the least costly advertisement medium. The small town store can equally compete with larger chains, not just locally but globally. The secret to success is simple: attract the search engine, the modern day "gunslinger". Although, Yahoo and Bing are major players as search engines, Google has become the de facto standard, controlling an almost 85% of the market.
Now pay careful attention to this tip. In order for the small business owner to succeed in online marketing, you only have to do one thing, appeal to Google. I am not implying that the small business owner discard other marketing efforts, but change your spending mix and online strategy.
Contrary to popular practices, do not focus on attracting your customer through online marketing, focus on attracting the search. Consider this, you can have the world's greatest website, even award winning, but if the customer can't find it without knowing the direct URL, your strategy is flawed. I don't want to bore you with statistics but sometimes "the truth hurts". Statistically, 93% of all consumers use search engines to find websites. That same number holds true for ALL internet activity traffic; people use search engine.
The secret to attracting Google is simple; establish a search engine optimization (SEO) plan. A plan that should follow what I have termed as the "flamingo approach". The male flamingo spreads his colorful feathers as part of his mating ritual. The female is attracted to the most colorful male and the species continues. In the flamingo approach, your feathers are as simple as ABCD.
A - Authority - Your website's "story" should have relevance to your products and services. Make sure your content stays on topic and is narrowly focused. Your goal is to be considered an "expert" source based on your topic.
B - Building Relationships - Your goal is to collect as many "friends" or back links as possible. That is, other websites connecting with you. You can research and solicit back links from other website owners. The amount of back links is an indication of the internet popularity of your website.
C - Content - Your content is not limited to product and services, but also to what is called on-page optimization. This takes into consideration, keywords, keyword density and tagging. Some of these items are "under the hood", and addressed with the assistance of your website developer.
D - Displays - As in traffic, views, and hits. This item is not so complicated. If people are going to your site, the search engines know it. Your new found popularity will push you up the search engine result pages very quickly.
Remember to continually repeat the processes that have gotten you to the top. Your competitors are in "your rear view mirror" and they are gaining on you. They will see your success and work constantly to overtake your position.
That's the secret to get to the top of the search engine and successful online marketing. That's a major tip because 65% of online revenue (about $25 billion annually) is generated by websites in the first three positions of the search engine page.
Now that you know the secret, you have a decision to make. As a business owner, you can function in the "do-it-yourself" mode and be somewhat successful. However, I recommend hiring online marketing experts, not because I am in the business but because if SEO is not your forte, why risk your business success. Select and hire an expert just as you would any contractor to paint your house, repair your car or cut your hair. Use research and referrals to assist in your selection process.
Ask for referrals, there is a huge online community out there that is willing to offer an opinion.
Finding an expert via research (ahh... Google) is more reliable and now very easy. Use the search engine and search for an online marketing expert that is in the top three (at least top 10) of the search engine result page. Use simple search terms like "SEO", "get better search results"," online marketing experts" and "online marketing". Why? Here is the "Ah-hah"; if they can not position their website on top of the search engine (and that's their business), how can they perform that task for you. It's like the auto mechanic with a broken down car. A few warnings; you get what you pay for and look for credentials ( education / certifications) and never, never fall for a top 10 guarantee in 30 day scam. They may get you there, but Google will penalize you for what they deem as "suspicious" craftsmanship, a potential penalty of removal from Google for up to one year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Allen Jordan is Managing Partner of The Farpoint Alliance, a "Digital Technology" boutique specializing in search engine marketing. Allen enjoys working with entrepreneurs and small business owners to efficiently connect with their clientele via online marketing.
The Farpoint Alliance
http://www.farpointalliance.com
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