Part 6 of 10
RISMEDIA, July 17, 2007–This series of articles is a detail of key reasons Web sites fail to rank in search engine results. Portion six of this series covers the topic:
“You rely on a family friend to update it, and the last time they answered the phone was six months ago.”
In the real estate industry we all understand the need for a professional consultant, an individual or team of professionals that assists buyers and sellers in making the right decisions with very complex processes.
Yet the very fast-paced nature of the business world often makes us leverage the individuals around us who have basic experience in what we need. Sometimes we fix our own pipe leaks or do our own landscaping, and sometimes we build our own patio or even work on our own car. When the obstacles become important, most of us step back and seek the help of a professional.
The problem: many of us turn to personal friends and family members who have entry level experience and claim to be a “professional”
There are some business categories this causes severe problems in. Online business development is one of them. Web sites promote your business and are not trivial things. They are fundamental cornerstones of competitive business in the market today. To relinquish the task to family or personal friends is comparable to asking them to perform your business financials… if they make an error they are playing with core elements of your business success.
Successful search engine work is not “extreme rocket science,” it is very repetitive and consistent work with a niche specialty that is fine-tuned with technological aptitude, marketing know-how, and business savvy. It is essential that that timely updates to your site go out on a consistent and scheduled basis, with every line of code properly checked to make sure that there isn’t a simple error that makes your entire site invisible to the search engines.
Another important element of your online marketing campaign is to make sure that the person doing your technical work is up-to-date. The web evolves at amazing speed. Search engine standards and competitive advantages change almost monthly, and if your goal is to have a top ranking site for specific keywords you need to double-check that your online marketing guru is properly combining the technical and business development you need.
If you would like to see your rankings improve, simply develop a routine that places it on your priority list. Well developed search engine campaigns will drive business and convert into new clients, but you need to be asking yourself “what did you do this month, this week, or even today to help improve your search engine rankings?”
About the author:
Barry Hurd is president of Social Media Systems, an online marketing and advertising consultant group working with search engine marketing and leveraging social media communities. He has over 15 years of entrepreneurial Internet and online marketing experience. As an author and prolific blogger, he has reached online audiences around the world. Since the mid nineties, Barry has been involved in numerous efforts to bring forth technical innovation through online business models. Past projects have included NIKE, REI, TMP Worldwide, Monster.com, Verizon Superpages, Intuit, and RISMedia.
For more information, visit www.socialmediasystems.com.
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