Search engines, SEO and Internet Marketing | Myth and Reality
By Chris Thomas
There are many myths and realities about search engines that business owners need to know before they begin developing a website, re-developing an active website or marketing their website and web presence. Many business owners think that having a website is all they need to be “visible on the search engines.”
These days business owners are getting so much information thrown at them that they don’t know what to believe and what not to believe. In over 14 years of marketing, I have met with hundreds of business owners.
The myths and realities below aren’t opinions; these are based on actual websites that we have created and statistics that we have tracked. Experience is king when it comes to Internet Marketing and we have it!
Myth 1: I heard my neighbors, brothers cousin does websites so I’ll have him put a website together for me. It will be cheap.
Reality: Having someone who “does websites” put together your website is a terrible idea.
The Internet is the most powerful advertising medium ever! Were talking about something that could be the difference between your businesses success and failure! Even having a “web design company” develop a website for you might not be the best decision. If you want to develop an effective website and a dominating web presence that generates traffic to your website and leads to your business, you need to have a professional Internet Marketing/SEO Company develop your website and web presence. Bottom line; if you want it done right, use an experienced professional that can show you proven results!
Myth 2: I’ll just do the PPC (pay-per-click) and pay to be on the first page.
Reality: Approximately 25% of people click on the PPC, sponsored listings.
Although there are benefits to PPC if done right, there are a couple things wrong with this way of thinking. 1. You have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad. 2. The natural/organic results on the search page get approximately 70% of the clicks. Why waste hundreds or thousands of dollars month after month when you can create an optimized web presence in the Natural/Organic section that gets more clicks? There are many different ways to create online visibility and first page visibility.
Myth 3: Links have a lot to do with my success on Google.
Reality: This is true!
Yes, incoming links are important for determining your ranking on search engines such as Google, but it's not a quick route to the top. Link building is something that is done over time with online article submissions, online press releases, local directory listings, blogs, online videos and more. Paying for links and link farms are not the way to go. A strong link building campaign done right by a professional SEO Company will generate higher visibility on Google.
Myth 4: I have a website so now people can find my business online.
Reality: Just having a website doesn’t create a web presence or visibility.
You can have the coolest website in the world but if your potential customers can’t find it when they search for your products and service in the areas you provide them, what good does it do? None! You want to be in front of these potential customers so they will click into your website and convert into clients. Over 90% of consumers don’t go past the first page of a search so if you’re not visible on the first page, they can’t find you. First page visibility on the major search engines is key!
Myth 5: “I’m going to submit my website to the search engines so they are indexed right away.”
Reality: This is a bad idea.
Why? Because when you submit your site to a search engine it can take weeks or months before they get around to actually crawling your website and listing it. Instead of submitting your website to a search engine, let the search engines find your site naturally. How do you do this? You simply make sure that there are links pointing to your website on other websites that frequently get crawled by search engine bots. We have a proven system that gets your website indexed and on the major search engines within days.
Myth 6: The Internet is going to surpass other media in the future.
Reality: It’s already passed them by!
In 2006, less than 30% of consumers used search engines to find local businesses. Now, in 2010, over 82% of consumers used search engines to find local businesses. Notice how newspapers are shrinking and disappearing? Notice how your local Yellow Pages keeps getting smaller and smaller every year? There are over 13 BILLION local searches every month online. There are only approximately 1 BILLION references to Yellow Pages every month. Traditional media ad spending is down on average of -12%. Internet ad spending rose 15% in 2009. The reason; this is where the consumers are! Enough said.
Myth 7: It takes 3-6 months before optimization takes effect and your website is on the first page.
Reality: It can take as little 3-4 days.
See the answer to Myth 5.
Myth 8: My competitors that are on the first page of Google are getting all the leads from the Internet.
Reality: This is true.
Consumers and potential customers are searching for your products and services online every day. If you aren’t getting these leads, your competitors are!
At Web Traffic Partners we have one goal… To develop effective websites and a dominating web presence for our clients that generate pre-qualified traffic to their websites and leads to their businesses. Take the first step and contact us today for your free consultation and website evaluation. We look forward to working with you! Call us today for a free website and web presence evaluation at: 1-866-737-0297 or contact us here!
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