Opening up to the search engines
With the upcoming release of my book, I've forced myself to open my site back up to the search engines.
About three years ago, I reached an enviable place in my practice. My best clients were coming from referrals and I made a conscious decision to set up my web development web site so that it wasn't search engine friendly. I did this by "hiding" the navigation bar inside a javascript. The search engines would reach the opening page of my web site, find a little bit of content and nothing more, then move on.
Like I said, I did this on purpose. Well, about six months ago, as the book publishing process moved from the writing phase to the publishing phase, I began to look forward to the phase which follows the publishing phase... which is known as the marketing phase. To be honest, in my eyes, the marketing phase is the BEST part!! It's fun and exciting.
So I launched a web site for the book. I launched it in blog format because the search engines LOVE blogs.
OOPS!!!! While the search engines love blogs, they HATE new urls. Well, I had a solution for that. My original web site is OLD SCHOOL in the search engines. I just needed to uncloak the inner pages and begin the linkage!
Well, opening up my site to the search engine has had positive and negative effects.
On the negative side, on Friday night at around 8:00 PM the phone in my home office began ringing. The caller called three times in rapid succession, each time reaching my answering machine. The fourth time, I picked up the phone. I found myself on the phone with a gentleman with a heavy accent.
The call began with the caller asking whether I did web sites or marketing.
"Both," I replied.
"How much do you charge for hosting," he asked.
"What type of site are we talking about hosting?" I asked.
"Does it make a difference?"
"Yes. If you're wanting to host video or audio, it takes a lot more diskspace and bandwidth."
"Is video better? Is that what I want?" he asked.
"Wow! Video is great for almost any business, but I still don't know what kind of business you have," I replied. I could hear the Christmas music wafting in from the family room where my children were decorating the Christmas tree.
"Well, how much do you charge for a web site?" he asked.
At this point, I was getting annoyed. Was this guy for real or was he a competitor price checking me?
"Sir," I began, "it's impossible for me to answer your questions without more information from you. Right now, it's like you're calling me asking to buy a house. I don't know where you want to buy the house, let alone how many bedrooms and bathrooms you need."
In the end, the guy had bought into some "get rich quick" web site programs. You know, the kinds advertised on late night television . Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but $2500 up front and $75 per month later, this gentleman wasn't seeing ANY results from his investment.
I ended the conversation by explaining to the gentleman that I worked with people who had real businesses. He announced he wasn't ready for that yet, and we ended our conversation. He's off trying to find a quick and easy way to earn money on the internet. He wants to pay someone to put up a web site for him that will make him money without any effort on his part.
Phone calls like this are the reason I closed my site to the search engines.... but then, then next day... I got an email which made me glad I did open my site up....
About three years ago, I reached an enviable place in my practice. My best clients were coming from referrals and I made a conscious decision to set up my web development web site so that it wasn't search engine friendly. I did this by "hiding" the navigation bar inside a javascript. The search engines would reach the opening page of my web site, find a little bit of content and nothing more, then move on.
Like I said, I did this on purpose. Well, about six months ago, as the book publishing process moved from the writing phase to the publishing phase, I began to look forward to the phase which follows the publishing phase... which is known as the marketing phase. To be honest, in my eyes, the marketing phase is the BEST part!! It's fun and exciting.
So I launched a web site for the book. I launched it in blog format because the search engines LOVE blogs.
OOPS!!!! While the search engines love blogs, they HATE new urls. Well, I had a solution for that. My original web site is OLD SCHOOL in the search engines. I just needed to uncloak the inner pages and begin the linkage!
Well, opening up my site to the search engine has had positive and negative effects.
On the negative side, on Friday night at around 8:00 PM the phone in my home office began ringing. The caller called three times in rapid succession, each time reaching my answering machine. The fourth time, I picked up the phone. I found myself on the phone with a gentleman with a heavy accent.
The call began with the caller asking whether I did web sites or marketing.
"Both," I replied.
"How much do you charge for hosting," he asked.
"What type of site are we talking about hosting?" I asked.
"Does it make a difference?"
"Yes. If you're wanting to host video or audio, it takes a lot more diskspace and bandwidth."
"Is video better? Is that what I want?" he asked.
"Wow! Video is great for almost any business, but I still don't know what kind of business you have," I replied. I could hear the Christmas music wafting in from the family room where my children were decorating the Christmas tree.
"Well, how much do you charge for a web site?" he asked.
At this point, I was getting annoyed. Was this guy for real or was he a competitor price checking me?
"Sir," I began, "it's impossible for me to answer your questions without more information from you. Right now, it's like you're calling me asking to buy a house. I don't know where you want to buy the house, let alone how many bedrooms and bathrooms you need."
In the end, the guy had bought into some "get rich quick" web site programs. You know, the kinds advertised on late night television . Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but $2500 up front and $75 per month later, this gentleman wasn't seeing ANY results from his investment.
I ended the conversation by explaining to the gentleman that I worked with people who had real businesses. He announced he wasn't ready for that yet, and we ended our conversation. He's off trying to find a quick and easy way to earn money on the internet. He wants to pay someone to put up a web site for him that will make him money without any effort on his part.
Phone calls like this are the reason I closed my site to the search engines.... but then, then next day... I got an email which made me glad I did open my site up....
posted by Kathy at 8:14 AM
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