15 Feb Website Goals and Lousy Haircuts
Welcome to our Google PageRank PR6 website that has absolutely has no useful rank for any phrases that matter. We are well respected in the SEO (search engine optimization) world and long ago lost count of all our successful campaigns. People often come to us and point out that our website does not rank prominently for any phrases related to SEO and have the nerve to ask us why.
We’re Great Barbers with Lousy Haircuts
If you use Google, we barely make it to the first page even for the phrase “Port Washington SEO” (our home town). Does this mean there are a handful of other SEO firms in Port Washington? Did tiny little Port Washington suddenly become the SEO capital of the world? How did this travesty come to pass?
Understanding SEARCH Goals
If we chose to actively pursue search traffic and rely on that (instead of referrals as we do now), we would alter the SEO footprint of our website and present the content very differently than we do right now. Some of the changes might be noticeable, and others would be quite subtle. The noticeable changes would focus on our inventory of pages and the content found on those pages. The more subtle changes would include page titles, the use of heading and image tags, and other non-visible elements.
The overall goal would be to make a more optimized presentation to the search engines and scream at them that we are the SEO SPECIALISTS in PORT WASHINGTON (and don’t ever forget it)!
With our impressive PageRank (generated from all the wonderful inbound links we have from our clients) we could greatly enhance the organic rank of the entire site and certainly bring new traffic to the website. But to what end?
Understanding OUR Goals
The goals of our website are actually quite simple and only include the following:
- Provide useful relevant information to prospective clients about the services we offer (basically everything related to web presence)
- Share our extensive client list with prospective clients (so they can see how wonderful we are)
- Store a glossary of phrases that we use in our proposals and agreements as well as throughout the site (makes us seem smart)
- Provide several means of contact information
- Offer a repository of my personal musings and observations about the web world
Aside from the fifth clearly egotistical element, all the other elements are directed at content and conversion. None of our goals include actually bringing new visitors to the website. We simply do not do business that way. As a kind and generous person, when the phone rings, I like to offer up my opinion and advice regardless of whether the person on the other end might actually become a client. With more traffic, I would certainly become completely useless to my existing clients and would spend all my time impressing people with my vast knowledge of the web. I would certainly feel better about myself, but paying the bills might become difficult.
Understanding YOUR Goals
Everyone needs a strategy, but many business owners and decision makers come to us without a clear understanding of what it will take to achieve their goals. They know they want more traffic and more conversion and ask for our help to lead them to the promised land. I cringe every time someone asks exactly how long it will take and how much more traffic will they get. Those are NOT the right questions! These are:
- Who is our audience and what content are they looking for?
- How should we present our content to our audience?
- How often should we publish new content?
- How much content do we really need?
- How should we present our content to the search engines?
The common theme for all these questions is CONTENT (yes, I am screaming this at you the same way my mother sends SKYPE messages to me – caps lock on). Only the last question (which is too often the first question asked) addresses search.
My point in this prolonged rant is quite simple; an effective web presence is not about Google PageRank or inbound links. An effective web presence focuses on content. Great content will always be successful and is the cornerstone for building effective organic rank.
If you call me to learn more, and the phone is busy, hopefully I will be helping someone focus on their content, rather than showing them how smart I am…