There is a lot of confusion about websites, Google and the online marketing in general. Many people think that all it takes to have a solid online presence is to make a website. Build it, and they will come.
I am not sure why many people think the online world is any different from the bricks and mortar world. Does the fact that you have started a restaurant guarantee visitors, sales, and, most important, profits?
The simple fact is that online marketing is difficult.
Here are three reasons you might not find your website online:
- There is no content. By content I mean words. The search engines are, for the most part, just massive text databases. They look at your website, index the text, and, if you’re lucky, give your website back as a search result when someone searches for words on your page. If you don’t have “papaya seeds from Hawaii” on your website, there is absolutely 0% probability that someone searching for “papaya seeds from Hawaii” will find your website.
- Your expectations about what you should be found for are realistic. If you want to be found for “Waikiki hotels” and you have those words on your website, what makes your website page more important and useful than the 15,600,000 (yes, I checked) pages online already that have those words on them? If Google does not view your website as more important and relevant relative to all the other websites out there, you will not be found. You need to be better than everyone else to be #1—a very daunting and near impossible task for valuable and common keywords.
- You’re trying to cheat. Google and Bing/Yahoo are very clear about what constitute quality. Most of the SPAM email solicitations you receive for online marketing services will not follow these guidelines and either deliver no results or only temporary results. Even if you don’t use the services of a marketing company, you still might have made some grave mistakes with your website’s design and content.
Google, the most popular English language search engine, has hundreds of indices in its algorithm, the equation that it uses to connect searches to websites. No one knows all of the criteria, but a professional online marketer will know the most important and help businesses have the best opportunities to be found online. He or she will also have tools that can help you make a reasonable online marketing plan, one that looks for opportunities that are attainable. If you need some help, give us a call at 329-6077 or visit us online at Kona Impact.
