When I started Search Engine Marketing in 1998, there were 10 to 20 key players, instant search engine updates, Google was in beta, GoTo (a new pay per click search engine) had penny bids, banner ads were overpriced, and black hat techniques of hidden text and tag manipulation were all the rage. Today there are 3 main players in the search engine world, content is king and offsite factors are a greater influence in your online success.
How It Has Changed
Web site promotion has grown from achieving high rankings in the search engines and outbidding the competition in pay per click, to include blogging, social network sites, expert pages, podcasting, press releases, videos, user reviews, and much more.
Now people are focusing on the "Brand Experience” and how well it reflects your image and the user's expectation. The idea of just getting tons of traffic to your site is being influenced by whether or not the user is getting the results that they wanted or if they feel betrayed or tricked.
If they feel disappointed by the content, they will leave. If the pricing disappoints them, they will leave. If they are disappointed by the overall service and experience then they will blog or tweet about it online. We have come to a point where site users play a growing role of the success of your website. So companies looking for long-term success need to make sure that the message, delivery and execution of services are always at the highest levels.
What to Do
In order to be successful online, you’re going to have to work harder. It is just the plain facts. Search engines, such as Google, are taking into account many factors in a website and their presence around the web. By consistently blogging, ensuring your citations are correct, and engaging your community on social media you are more likely to rank better in the search engines. These are things that wouldn’t have affected your search engine optimization before.
At Sales & Marketing Technologies, we know what it takes to make your business thrive online. Contact our Orlando Digital marketing specialists today to talk about setting up your online strategy.