Using your website as an advertising tool - part 6/6

Having a website that works - How do I do it?

You would by now have noticed the term that I used - fully optimized website. Let's take a closer look at what this means.

There are two types of web site designers in South Africa. The ones that are purely graphic designers, and the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Specialists. If you know a little about how the internet works, and particularly how search engines work, you will be better armed with knowledge that will enable you to choose wisely.

In SA there are only a small handfull of companies /individuals who can really call themselves SEO specialists. Most are graphic designers or simply someone with sufficient skills to allow them to do a website - ranging from pretty decent to What a Mess. Graphic designers in particular are skilled enough to make websites that are really eye catching and aeshetically pleasing.

Unfortunately the level of skill as far as optimising websites is concerned ranges from knowing a little to downright dangerous! Of course there are always those who THINK they know, and as is usually the case, they can be the most dangerous to your website. Hence a very large proportion of websites are simply lost on the information superhighway. Just another website. So what!

By having your website designed by someone who does not posess the skill to optimise correctly and as per the most up to date methods, the nett effect will probably be the same as keeping your lovely new full colour brochures in your drawer somewhere - only you will know about it...

Who to ask then? To ensure that you get a website that works means you need to know more about how the search engines work.

Example - say you enter a search term in Google or Yahoo for "wedding photographers Gauteng" - Google will return, on date, results for about 57 000 possible sites, with 10 results per page.

Almost 90% of internet users will NOT look further than page 2 or MAYBE page 3 of the results pages. This means that, if your website does not appear in the first few pages of the results, it is literally a DEAD DUCK.

The question is - can YOU afford to have a website like that? I should reckon not, if you are serious about your business.Your site must appear in those first few pages for your type of service or product if it wants any chance of generating additional business.

In order for this to happen - we call it generically ranking in the search engines - the site needs to be properly optimized for the search engines. This is where you need the services of a specialist. Someone who knows what algoriths the search engines use when returning results for your search.

These search algorithms are based on various factors such as the correct use of meta tags and keywords, the correct amount of text and relevancy to a search, the amount of relevant inbound links to your site and more, up to and including certain design factors. Bottom line - you do not necessarily need the best looking site on the internet in order to have a web site that works, as long as it is correctly optimized.

So, before you decide to have your website designed by a "friend of your cousin's girlfriend" simply because it saves you the hassle of finding a website designer, rather contact the specialsits and be certain you pay for a website that works for you.

Using your website as an advertising tool - part 5/6

Why organic ranking remains the best way



Organic ranking is the method where your website "ranks" on the first pages of the results pages due to the website being properly optimised.



Fact: There are over FOUR HUNDRED MILLION searches performed via search engines on any given day! It is a mind boggling amount.



Quantities of internet users by region:

As for South Africa , even if we cannot - yet - boast the same quantities of internet users as the rest of the first world we are certainly doing a tremendous job of catching up! We are talking enourmous potential here.

In South Africa alone the amount of internet users have gone up by a staggering 112,5% in the period 2000 to 2006. Yes, 112 percent! From 2,4 million to 5,1 million.

And this is the important part that YOU need be aware of - by far the largest amount of all these internet users are using search engines to find what they want.

Search engines are responsible for driving half of all the traffic on the internet. Online shoppers use the search engines to find services and products they require.

Products and services just like yours!!!

Interesting fact - Organic (also known as natural or free) search engine results get 250% MORE clicks than Paid or Sponsor ads on Google!

When last have you done a search for your OWN products or services? Where do YOUR website rank?

Conclusion- if your website is NOT on the first couple of results pages listed in search results....

You are effectively delivering Tons of traffic to the websites of your competitors - 24 hours out of every single day.

Now picture this little scenarion happening over and over and over, 365 days per year. Are you having nightmares yet?

Let's say I am an ideal business prospect for your business. I decide it is time for me to do a bit of shopping around on the internet. So I go to Google or Yahoo or MSN and I type in the best matching word - also known as keyword - for your type of service or product. I am totally ready to buy what you have on offer, I have already made up my mind. If I like what you have and the price is right, I am a buyer! The search results come up, and...

Your website is nowhere in sight!

Instead of your website, I find those of your competitors. Right at the top of my screen. And I proceed to do business with them.

Pause for a second here and listen..... Can you hear them laughing? All the way to the bank!

So you argue that your site is there - yes, right there on page 5! So exactly WHAT are you going on about dude!?

Bad news - nobody looks further than those first couple of pages. Do you? Of course you don't, like almost 90% of internet users.

If your website is ranked on page 5 it is as lost as it would be on page 105.

I always use the example of a brochure. Let's say you have just spent thousands on having a really stunning brochure designed and then printed. And then you put it in the 3rd drawer of your table. But you desperately want me to see it! How will that happen? Well, either you must tell me to have a look in the 3rd drawer or I must find it totally by accident.

The same principle applies here - if browsers cannot find your website via a search engine the only way they will get to see it is to find it by accident or you need to tell them to have a look - give them a business card etc.

If browsers cannot find your website - it is as good as dead!

Q. Why is Organic Ranking still the BEST method to having a website that works?

A. It is the ONLY way to ensure that your website is TOTALLY targeted for your specific type of service and/or product.

Using your website as an advertsing tool - part 4/6

Paid advertisement on another website

If you are in the accommodation industry, you are in some luck here. There are some really good sites on which to advertise, which in general gives good return on interest. Generally we hear good things about sites such as wheretostay.co.za. There are also a couple of others.

In nutshell, you pay someone else to advertise your product on their website, pretty much like placing an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine.

Be very careful when making these choices though! Most of the time, you are convinced how worth your while it will be for you to advertise by spectacular amounts of hits or visitors to that specific website. Ads are often done as pop-ups. Those annoying things that open up just when you open a webpage or try to close it. Ask yourself - how often have you opened such a pop-up ad? Or do you simply close the damn thing!

The catch lies herein - irrespective of how many hits the site you want to advertise on gets - if it is not targeted for your type of business, product or service you are wasting your money! Site visitors may not necesseraly be looking for what you offer. They may be on the lookout for jokes, or video clips etc. And what do they get in the process? A virtual bombardement of pop-up and/or flash ads - often having NOTHING to do with what they are looking for! The result? They get annoyed and simply can't close your advertisement fast enough.

Website that generate a very large hit rate are often joke sites and sites where you can download video clips etc. Not to mention online cassino's and of course pornography sites. Problem is, you do not necessarily want to be linked to them, now do you. If the site is structured for your type of business - like the accommodation booking sites mentioned earlier, at least you will have the advantage that site visitors are already on the lookout for accommodation somewhere.

So make very certain about this fact - that the site you want to advertise on, focuses on YOUR type of business or product. Example - in the case of a small town like Machadodorp for instance, a website can easily focus on the town and immediate surrounds, and in the process boost the town as a whole. Thus it may be worth the while of any business in that town to advertise on it - or at least if the site is properly optimised and can be found in the search engines.

Using your website as an advertising tool - part 3/6

Banner ads on certain smaller search engines and e-mail service providers.

Here you enter into an agreement with the specific company or service provider and pay them a certain fixed amount for a banner ad for your business. Whilst these ads are for the most part linked to a specific keyword of your choosing, our biggest problem with this form of advertising is that browsers simply do not want to click on these banners when using a search engine or when they want to view their e-mails. Even if banner ads are very visible!

Rather, they use a search engine or e-mail facility for a very specific reason, which normally has nothing to do with viewing your banner ad. Thus the return on investment may well be very low, notwithstanding the amazing figures with regard to hits to the "parent" site or service as those hits are for another purpose than searching for your type of business. We have heard too many stories of unsatisfied customers who forked out sometimes large amounts and got nothing in return.

Typically, a browser searches for a product or type of service on the specific search engine, or you go to your email facility to view your emails. As the relevant page opens - normally the "homepage" of the relevant service, you get all these banner ads that start flashing somewhere on your screen. It flashes for a couple of seconds, then changes to the next ad etc.

The problem with this is that it tends to put browsers off rather than attract them, as it is irritating to have this thing pop up when you only want to view your emails.