Archived Articles - Historical Marketing and Web Development Topics
Volumes have been written about the subject of Internet search engines, as they are very complex and dynamic. Your writer spends an average of 1-2 hours a day perusing the literature. For the purposes of this newsletter however, it is important to understand their basic characteristics, with a view and ultimate objective of enabling benefits and added value from this insight. Accordingly, we will concentrate more attention on the latter.
A search engine is nothing more than a program designed to help users find information or sources of information, through their use of keywords or keyword phrases. One writer defines them as " electronic library card catalogs. " There are literally thousands of search engines on the Internet, often built to enable different kinds of searches and they accomplish their objectives by building an "index of information." The way they Index varies greatly; some categorize data from specific resource lists and others use automatic devices known as Robots, Crawlers or Worms. These crawl the Internet seeking sources of information to index.
Of the thousands of search engines available, there are a handful that enjoy the vast majority of all Internet user traffic and have become household words. To name a few, there's the giant of giants, YAHOO. It has always been regarded as a " quasi-engine " or Directory, as the original YAHOO does not use any crawlers.
Then there are others like HOTBOT, ALTAVISTA, EXCITE, FAST, INFOSEEK, AND LYCOS. With the exception of YAHOO (there is now a robot-based Google version of YAHOO), these crawl or deep crawl for indexing. Collectively they are often referred to as the Major Search Engines (MSE), inter alia, due to the size of their indexes and user popularity.
Let's focus on index size for a moment. Some MSE's exceed 200,000,000 pages and MSE indexes appear to be growing geometrically. While this volume of data is great news for persons searching the Internet to access resources, it is becoming a great obstacle to those desiring to have their individual or business web sites accessed. For example, if one enters the search phrase "real estate" on Alta Vista (www.altavista.com), almost 3,000,000 pages are found (2001 data). With only 10 web sites listed per page, the odds of locating a particular web site on any MSE, after the third or fourth page, becomes increasingly smaller. The science of getting web sites " placed near the top of the list " is known as Positioning or Ranking and this is a very complex art indeed.
Without defining any of the topics involved in MSE Positioning , any short list would include knowledge of and/or mastery of: algorithms analyses, Meta Tags, Alt Tags, hyper-links, link popularity, key word selection, web site design and construction, HTML, keyword phrase prominence, text content, number of words, Title Tags, competitive web site analyses, upper/lower cases, scheduled site position analyses and interpretation, web site maintenance, Pay-Per-Click, etc.
Your writer, a former country inn resort owner, an historic site (the Babe Ruth family inn) in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, learned Internet marketing in an effort to book inn rooms via the Internet. Ultimately, this expertise was used in an effort to sell the inn after eleven successful ownership/operator years. MSE's and specialty search engines and directories played a pivotal role in getting the " for sale web site " indexed and highly positioned. The following excerpt is taken from my copyrighted manuscript, Charming Duty, An Internet Guide: (soon to be a published book, hopefully)
" While our Internet marketing campaign came very close to being the source for the sale, (as luck would have it), a young couple just happened to drive in with a local realtor. This was on July 25, 1997. They toured the entire facility, fell in love with it and signed an offer, complete with check, that same afternoon. Previously, you recall, we had enjoyed only one or two realtor-generated property tours. The listing broker, on the other hand, from March '97 - offer date, was being inundated with email requests for information. This Internet - generated interest in our property was the sole product of our Internet marketing efforts. Of interest, during late May, the listing broker called to say:
I have just got to sell your inn. You are driving me crazy with all the inquiries and interest generated. I cannot keep up with the volume of Email letters. This has got to end. I have never seen anything like it!"
The administrative staff in the realty office also regularly echoed the same sentiments.
No one will ever convince me that the reason the inn sold so quickly was not the result of the increased exposure and the high pressure we created for local realtors to get the job done. The unusual ploy we adopted was to create a motivated Realtor. Motivated Buyers follow Motivated Realtors, so we theorized. We wanted to enjoy the undivided attention of our listing broker. In fact, we fully resolved to keep the real estate firm's attention on us alone.
As we saw it, the only thing superior to monopolizing eight hours per day of their time was to force them into working overtime! The Internet gave us that edge. The Internet was the only viable and affordable vehicle to attain that objective. "
When a web site is artistically designed and more importantly, able to be found on Major Search Engines, expect to receive the type of E-mail we received, as shown immediately below:
" Date sent: Sun, 22 June 1997 16:09:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: XXXXXXX@AOL.com
Subject: Your Inn For Sale
I've got to tell you, we've been searching for an inn for over a year, been here and there, seen a lot, searched the web regularly. Your "inn for sale" web site is without a doubt the most artfully composed, interesting (and, dare I say it, FUN) one we've seen. Good work!
That said, we're not exactly sure if what you have is what we're looking for. We're looking for a three season property and are very interested in occupancy rates, annualized. Can you share those with us? Also, you are 1.5 miles from N Conway, does that mean you are in the country or on the outskirts of town? How many rentable rooms do you have? All with private baths? More detail about the owner's quarters, please. We're looking for a nice one. "
As you might imagine, the selling realtor has been a client of mine since 1997.
Over thirty other North Conway-area business owners (including the Chamber of Commerce and Newspaper) became web site marketing clients as well, shortly after the inn sold.
Due to the success of of our Internet Marketing, we have launched a companion business to Webconsuls; namely helping property owners and real estate professionals list and sell hospitality properties. There are about ten properties displayed on a regular basis, ranging from Resorts, B & B's, Country Inns, Hotels, Motels, Lodges, Retreats and other types of hospitality themes. This information can be viewed at: Helfand Enterprises.
If you own, are seeking, want to improve or desire to sell an historic property, MSE,s should be regarded as a particularly crucial resource for you. Apart from the obvious benefits, few ever consider the cost savings MSE's represent. After a monthly connectivity fee is paid to an ISP, everything else is free. Even web sites can now be created cost-free from Templates. To get your property listed anywhere near or at the top of any Search Engine means high " view/hit potential." This exposure has a significant " paper value," both in terms of cost-savings and reduced sales time. Naturally, if you have a web site, created for the purpose of selling a product, service or property, Positioning is always of interest. Web sites are supposed to be found and viewed! You would probably be best served by consulting with and/or using a specialty Internet marketing firm. However, for those who have some familiarity with HTML or WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors such as FrontPage or DreamWeaver or who are adventurous, you could try Positioning on your own. Here's how:
- Go to any MSE.
- Type in a search phrase that you would like your site to be found under.
- Look at the HTML source codes of the top-listed 5-20 web site listings.
- Study what is different about those sites (versus your site) that might account for their high Position.
- Attempt to make enhancements to your site based upon what you have learned.
Naturally, this will take considerable time and study, so its discussion here is intended for very few readers. This is a project that's not-too-easy for most people to attempt, I'm afraid. Even worse, Search Engines change their rules (algorithms) quite frequently, so Positioning changes require frequent monitoring and HTML adjustments. Considering also that it may take weeks or months for sites to be indexed, there's no easy way to determine if your efforts have been successful.
It's a subject best left to the experts. However, the objective must not be overlooked; namely to gain benefit from the phenomenal potential that MSE's offer you and to use whatever affordable resources are available to achieve that objective.
As powerful as MSE's may be, they are only one small part of the total Internet universe. In coming articles, we will focus upon other resources available, resources that are quite affordable, understandable and viable.
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