Re: UKNM: Search Engines

[Eric Ward -URLwire Web Launch News- Since 1994]

A list member wrote...


>by hand, sometimes several times over. That's because 99% of your traffic is

>likely to come from these, 1% the rest, and most of the major search engines


As one of the very first members of the submission

industry, over 5 years ago, before Yahoo.com existed,

before any submission bots and any submission services, I

assure you that the above kind of thinking is exactly what

kills most web sites.  In fact, if 99% of your traffic is

coming from the biggest 7-10 search engines, then this

means you have done a poor job marketing your site. It

also means that you are at the mercy of these engines to

keep that traffic flow coming.  Which means if you lose

precious ranking at a couple of them, you just lost 30 or

40% or more of your traffic.  Ouch.  I've seen that

literally put people out of business who depended on a

Yahoo listing for nearly all traffic.  Sure, be happy

while it lasts, but be building for the future, for it

*will* go away. 


A more strategic approach is to methodically build an

ongoing network of inbound links at sites that represent

the most appropriate outlets where your desired site

visitors can be found.  Sure, you need to be listed with

the big engines, but I would rather be getting 30% of my

traffic from the big engines and the remaining 70% from a

collection of inbound links at other sites that are a

match for my content.  Then if I lose an engine, it isn't

a crisis. 


Yes the portal engines matter a great deal, but you can

build a site's audience wihout ever submitting to any of

them, if you focus on your niche.  Done it.


Best wishes, -Eric Ward

~~~~~~~~~~~~ The WardGroup - NetPOST & URLwire (Est 1994)

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