Yes the internet is your field of dreams but you are not Kevin Costner. 49 million websites were created in 2009 bringing the number up to 234 million websites … and this is only USA.
So how do you get people to come to your site over another? Imagine the internet like a large mall. How do you find a store in a mall? You look at the directories. In virtual world, directories are Google, Yahoo and Bing. Here, millions of people search for items from neon figurines of the virgin mary to local midget escort services.
Getting listed on these directories is only one of the battles in Search Wars, another battle is getting listed correctly.
Now imagine you sold Miley Sirus the bong she used to smoke. You along with the rest of the sheep herding Americans see the youtube video on every news outlet. You excitedly wait for the orders to start pouring in on your website but suddenly realize you told no facebook or twitter friend of your sale. You don’t even have a blog to say it on. Worse, your online store sells the bong but you describe yourself as a tobacco supplier. AND to pour more salt on the wound, your 2 min flash intro of cat eyes in a haze of smoke doesn’t even show a bong much less allow Google, Yahoo or Bing to correctly index (categorize) your site since all they can “read” on your homepage is “please wait while loading”.
At this point you definitely feel like your striking out. But here are ways to get a home-run.
First Base Let go of Flash. Believe me, it hurts me too because I have my own fetish with animated interactive 3 minute pre-loaders. But not only does flash compress your site into one unreadable movie, it has also been shot down by Steve Jobs when he decided for the Ipad to not show flash movies. Much like your first love, you got to keep it moving.
Second Base Do a little foreplay with words. Make a list of words that describe your site. Now go to thesaurus.com and see what other words describe the same thing. Next go to Google Keyword Tool and see which ones are mostly search. The ones mostly used, don’t choose … competition is too high. Just like when you tried to go after the hottest girl in school, your efforts will be drowned out by the jocks. Go with the second highest. There are enough searching somebodies for everybody.
Third Base What do you do with this list of words? Other then verbally masturbate when describing your site on directories also use them through out your non-flash site (your bio, press, product descriptions, homepage welcome) Don’t stop there, use this list in your blog, tumblr, twitter, facebook as additional opportunities to cop a word feel.
Finally, a home-run is creating a constant stream of content that makes your customer come to your site over and over again. (NO PUN INTENDED … I SWEAR) Content can be considered online viagra. It doesn’t matter if your selling a small product or short service. Constantly updating your non-flash site will keep individuals coming back for more. How many times should you update your site you ask … well check out the most visited sites online from Perez Hilton to NYtimes – twice a day and 3 times on Sunday …