Marketing Magic and Unrealistic Expectations

One of the most frustrating parts of creating a web presence for new business owners is dealing with the unrealistic expectations that many people have for their web site. While people say they are seeking a web presence, what they’re really wanting is marketing magic.

Don’t get me wrong, a web presence can act as a powerful marketing tool, but it’s just that: a tool. Just as a rake is a GREAT tool for moving leaves, it does require effort to put it to use.

One common misconception many people have is that the search engine Google is anxiously awaiting the arrival of YOUR web site to the internet. Once your site is published, the internet search engine giant will automatically deliver up your web site’s content in the number one position of every one of your desired keywords. If this is your thinking, then this may act as your reality check.

Now, you may wonder how good I am at creating web site marketing magic for small businesses. Are my comments here just sour grapes…. the rantings of a wanna be…. someone who tried but wasn’t able to make it? After all, you’ve probably never heard of me. If you search for me or my business on Google, you’ll see that I come up first for both my name and my business name. While you make think ANY web site can achieve that… well, unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of clients sign up and fixing their web sites so they could achieve this very low level of search engine success.

The reason I consider this a “low level of success” is this: most people don’t search for my name or my business name. Since my business has a unique spelling, I’m virtually assured a number one position. That is “cheap” SEO. It doesn’t take much to get highly ranked on a virtually unheard of search term or keyword. As I said earlier, I have been involved in revamping some web sites that weren’t even able to achieve being found on their business name and many of those web site owners paid BIG bucks for the design of a virtually invisible web site.

If instead you were to search for Web Site Marketing or Web Development or even Small Business Web Site Marketing Magic, I won’t come up first in your search. The reason is that I haven’t optimized my web site for any frequently searched keywords. As a matter of fact, from 2004-2007 I intentionally coded this web site so it couldn’t be indexed. (I hid my navigation bar inside a javascript and didn’t provide a site map. The main part of my web site was virtually invisible to the search engines.)

I did it on purpose. At one point, I was getting phone calls day and night from people seeking “marketing magic”. Some of these were people who didn’t have a product or service to sell and who just wanted to make money. I don’t trade in empty promises. Since my business was flourishing through referrals, I closed my virtual shop to the search engines.

While I didn’t want to attract clients, I knew I needed to know how to optimize web site pages for optimal web traffic. So I created a site that lives INSIDE my Virtual Impax web site called “A Dog for the Family.”

Here’s a screen shot from Google on how that site does in the search engines.

YEAH! I’m able to create a web site that does well with chosen (but not highly competitive) keywords. Yippee for me! I’m a top 10 result in almost ALL of my keywords for the web site!

Note: I RUINED my site’s “reputation” with the search engines as a result. Sigh. It’s now a dog site as far as Google is concerned…. live and learn.

Last year, I wrote a book and even before I finished writing it, I knew I had to begin planning on how to promote my book. You might think I was set. After all, I know how to optimize a web site page to get a number one ranking on my preferred search terms. In addition, I’ve done everything a new author should do:

• I purchased a domain name (www.beyondnichemarketing.com) in May 2006.
• I started a blog on the site to promote the book.
• I put a site map in written in xml on the site so Google could index it.

Since Google gets approximately half of all search engine queries, and drives up to 80% of search engine traffic, so I want to be sure to pay attention to what THEY like! Since I know all this, I’m set, right?

Unfortunately, the answer is NO!

While I’ve used all my marketing magic skills for my book’s web site, during the first 9 months of that site’s life, when you typed in the site’s URL (http://www.beyondnichemarketing.com) into Google, here is what you would see.

Despite all my marketing magic skills, when it comes to creating small business web site marketing magic for my new blog site, it STILL wasn’t indexed in Google for the first 9 months.

Web Developers refer to the phenomenon as the Google Sandbox. In a nutshell, Google is reluctant to index new web sites. It makes sense when you think about it. Spam marketers love to put up a site, send spam and collect money and then close the site quickly once “the jig” is up! The only way for Google to make certain they don’t send you to one of those sites is to eliminate those sleaze balls. As a result, when you launch your new web site, (especially one with highly prized keywords in the domain name) you’ll spend up to two years confined to what SEO experts have dubbed “the sandbox.” Think of it as paying your web site dues.

However, even after spending time in the sandbox, your struggle won’t end. You’ll still have to work like crazy to create enough small business web site marketing magic to compete with older, more established sites.

So to promote my new book, I decided to “open” my Virtual Impax web site to the search engines. Remember when I said that I consciously tanked my search engine visibility? At least I knew what I was doing. I also knew how to “unlock” the door when I was ready to create my own small business marketing magic.

Now, one thing that I’ve learned first hand by launching my book’s blog is this: The search engines LOVE WordPress self hosted blogs. As a matter of fact, it’s my book’s blog that is the reason I converted this, my main web site, to a blog in May of 2007.

While my book’s blog was spending time languishing in the Google Sandbox, I got to work finding other ways of attracting visitor traffic to my blog. Which is another advantage of blogs: creating links with other sites is INFINTELY easier.

Yes, links make the web go ’round. It’s one of the many criteria the search engine spiders us to determine how they’ll deliver your web site (or blogs) content in the search engines.

So if you’ve been reading this, and you’ve made it this far, the secret to Creating Marketing Magic For Your Small Business Web Site would have to begin with a WordPress self hosted blog.

Notice I said the marketing magic begins with… because once you’ve launched your blog, then you get to begin creating content. If there’s any magic in a web site or blog, it’s a function of the site’s content!

As you create your posts and pages, you have to be CERTAIN to keep your target audience in mind. What do they want? What do they need? What solutions are they seeking?

Creating Marketing Magic for your Small Business begins with communicating that you can provide the solutions your target audience is seeking! A blog is a WONDERFUL way for the independent service professional to share his/her expertise in his/her chosen field.