Re: UKNM: Search Engines

[Lard]

I've recommended Eric to UKNM before - he did great stuff for me on


www.bbc.co.uk/worldcup


>>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)

>Site Announcement Planning, Submissions & Media Campaigns

>. Content driven vertical URL submissions/announcements

>. Online news sharing services for Web launches & events

>. Strategic Web marketing reality checks

>. Speaker, C|Net, iWorld, & Thunderlizard Conferences

>~~~ http://www.netpost.com  & http://www.urlwire.com  ~~~

>

~~~~~ EricWardnetpost [dot] com (mailto:EricWardnetpost [dot] com) ~ 423.637.2438 (v) ~~~~

>

~~~~~ EricWardurlwire [dot] com (mailto:EricWardurlwire [dot] com) ~ 423.637.2438 (v) ~~~~

>

>Named one of the world's 100 most influential people

>on the  Web by Websight Magazine, April, 1997

>