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Title: Searching, Sort of Searching and Finding.
Author: Englesos on the Web
Article:
An alternative route to the SEO Holy Grail.
A Google search for the phrase "Property in Cyprus" at this time
yields 2,000,000 hits. A few months ago, it was 1,600,000. Thus,
we deduce (unsurprisingly) property in Cyprus is currently
booming, as is the demand for property websites. As a webmaster
working in Cyprus – this makes me happy.
Clients who commission websites do so in order to be found, with
the increasingly elusive "No 1 on Google" as their Holy Grail.
So how do we go about making them happy too?
A Little Background.
Google are responsible for about 40% of searches conducted on
line and so are good to have on board with any web-based
project. They offer pay per click (sponsored) results and free
(organic) results. Without analyzing the way in which Google
operates – as far as we can know – and the relative merits of
organic verses sponsored results, suffice it for now to say that
Google is highly volatile in terms of what sites rank highest in
their index regardless of how much you may pay.
Some argue that the search engine mega-giant is as reliable as
the English weather and as fickle as a leaf in the wind but this
is obviously anecdotal rather than evidence based.
Exaggeration aside, the point at issue here is that we cannot
control the performance of Google and thus how can we risk our
business by depending on it?
Available Options
So how do we get client number 200,000,001 found despite the
odds?
I would argue that searches fall into three categories.
1. The "pure search" This is when the individual searcher types
keywords or phrases into the search engine of their choice or
into a range of utilities that search a number of engines at the
same time. This will return varying numbers of results of which
research suggests the searcher will read the first page or two.
2. The "partial search" The searcher types in something he
remembers from your site or publicity material. It is not
necessarily a full web address but it is something intended to
stick in the memory of anyone who hears it. A memorable URL for
example is a big plus here. Example – my on-line name is
"Englesos", which means "Englishman" in Greek. This makes my
local clients laugh…and they remember it. A Google search for
"Englesos" always returns me in the first one or two places.
Obviously, this means that the searcher has to have heard of me
at least in order to perform such a search but if I back up my
on-line presence with traditional advertising, this is not so
hard a goal to achieve. My website is englesos.net and my e-mail
englesos@englesos.net. Someone else beat me to dot.com but rest
assured I am working on it.
3. The "Direct Hit" Admittedly this is not really a search, but
it is the best outcome of all. The searcher types your address
into the browser and navigates directly to your site without
side trips or distractions. The ""partial search" becomes a
"direct hit" if you choose the right name for your site and
advertise it effectively. The golden rules are memorable, short
and unambiguous in terms of meaning and spelling. Obviously
memorable is the big issue here and the quality of your
advertising will help with this issue.
The major plus with the "pure search" is that it is a minimal
outlay option - in fact, it can be done for free, but it takes a
good while for the search friendliest site to work its way up
the rankings. For a shorter-term return on investment (ROI) for
the client, the fact needs to be faced that you will need an
advertising budget of some sort. On line we speak of "push and
pull", pushing browsers to the site with advertising and pulling
them in by means of your good design. Options include banners,
handouts of all sorts (pens, mugs and the like), newspaper
advertising, e-mail campaigns and the like.
Do not overlook the low cost but effective approach of every
single scrap of paper that passes through your company's hands
carrying your e-mail and web address, and the use of e-mail as
much as possible on any pretext so your website can be
advertised on every mailing and subsequent reply. It all gets
you seen and helps you to the ultimate goal of the direct hit.
The Final Word.
In terms of short-term return on investment (ROI), a website
requires an advertising budget of some sort. The money can be
spent on improving your performance artificially on one specific
search engine or on advertising your site by what may be
described as "traditional" means.
Given time, a well-designed website will improve in terms of
visibility. Regardless of promises to the contrary, there are no
dependable ways of improving your organic positioning assuming
your site is reasonably well designed – HTML, non-dynamic and
with appropriate meta-tags.
You can throw as much money at this issue as you wish – it will
make no significant difference. In the hands of a poor-quality
or unscrupulous webmaster it may even do harm.
About the author:
Englesos is a Web and Graphic Designer working out of the
Famagusta area of Cyprus. See more of his work on
http://www.englesos.net or else at http://www.lookerscy.com
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