Guaranteed Search Engine Placement?
There are a countless number of companies that promise top 10 or even top 5 placement in the search engines and larger indexes such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc. if you pay them “x” amount of dollars. Let me dispel this myth: no one can promise and deliver those types of results. Don’t get me wrong – it is possible to achieve good search engine placement for new and existing sites – we do it every month for our clients. But to guarantee this type of thing is wrong, and that’s how you can tell the difference between those that just want your money and honest web developers that know how to perform this service, and are willing to sit down and take the time to do it.
Search Engine Placement Must be Done on Purpose
I once took over a site that another local company did, and they did a great job. The programming wasn’t bad, and the design of the site was excellent in my opinion. The site was very organized, and was easy to take over because I instantly saw how everything was setup. One thing was missing, however. When I began looking into each page (this site was over 100 pages; a pretty large site), I noticed that nothing had been done to optimize the site for the search engines that would give the site a half fighting chance at showing up at all for any kind of relevant local search. So, I contacted the company that did the initial development of the site, and asked them about it. Their response was, “Yeah, we just ran out of time. The search engines will pick it up, though. That stuff isn’t all that big of a deal.”
Not that big of a deal? Not taking the time to do the homework necessary to optimize a Web site for the search engines is amateur and lazy. It took me 5 solid days of work, but within 4 months, the site was aggressively competing in the major indexes and search engines with other companies in the same industry 10 times its size that were nationally based, have been in business twice as long, and have had Web sites for years. This Web site that we took over now brings in approximately 20-30% of the company’s leads every year.
What if this work had never been done? Well, first of all, hundreds, even thousands of leads would have been thrown out of the window. Secondly, the money spent on the initial development of the site would have been a waste. The only way that people would have found the site is if they knew the actual URL address of the site itself.
Be leery of internet marketing companies that “guarantee” top 5 placement in the search engines. If you are getting those types of marketing e-mails, just delete them because they are junk. I recommend contacting a local web design firm that can come into your place of business and learn more about what you do and allow them access to some of your promotional materials and knowledge of who you market to so they can do the necessary homework. From there, it’s a piece of cake; it just takes a little elbow grease to get into the site and make some minor changes. If you have a small site, it may not take that long at all.
If you live in the greater Tulsa area, any of the surrounding regions, or North Texas, contact us, and we can come to you to perform this type of service.
Do you already have good search engine placement but are looking for more traffic to your site?
Contact us, and we can help.
