Business Search Engine Trends

Our office is buzzing with the news that our Philadelphia Phillies have won the 2008 World Series. Pitching rotations, infielding skill, and managerial moves have highlighted the conversations. Some have even arrived in team jerseys and red colored shirts.

I jumped on Google to confirm my hunch that many people we're searching for information about our beloved baseball team. I was right. Out of the Top 100 there were about 20 listings for Phillies, Philadelphia, team clothing, and Philly baseball. The #1 search term was "Mambo Cologne" and the last was "Phinally" (the Philadelphia way to now spell anything that begins with the "f" sound.) P.S. I don't know what Mambo cologne is...

Surprisingly, out of the Top 100 I quickly scanned, there were less than three entries that were business related. Most were about celebrities I'm assuming are pop culture icons, the presidential election, and web-related sites.

Maybe it's time for www.business.com to take seriously the web address they paid millions for many years ago. It looks like a glorified paid-per-click site. Until then business owners will have to utilize the "majors" such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN and dig deep into search results to find the best match to their business inquiries.

Search Engine Optimization

Many designers and webmasters think that "content is king." The truth is that the way to get better rankings for your website is to make sure that the coding of the site is properly utilized.

Here's a surprising fact: Many search engines will not read pages if the URL contains a question mark. This symbol may indicate that the site's content might be generated automatically which is a no-no with search engine technology.

Page linking and coding are also extremely important aspects to think about BEFORE you design a site. Make sure you code your menus dynamically because of changes to CSS properties and only use hyperlinks that are standard HTML < A > tags.

The bottom-line is that "coders" and designers are many times trying to accomplish two very different goals. Unfortunately, coders are brought in too late, after thousands of dollars have been squandered on an eye-catching website, but one that the search engines can't find.

Remember, website functionality (and better search engine optimization) is always more important than pretty colors, video snippets, and spinning logos.

Digital Media is a Must

All reports crossing my desk these days indicate that businesses must embrace digital media. Digital media is defined as those marketing tools that utilize the latest in technology such as e-mail, static web banners, pop-up banner ads, search engine optimization, and online video. Read and study about these five technologies as much as you can!

I'll comment on each medium in future blogs but want to stress the following statistics - close to 76% of marketers are using more e-mail, about 61% are using more online video, and 62% are jumping on the search engine optimization bandwagon (these stats are based on today's usage versus three years ago). The bottom-line is, if you're not part of the tech wave you better get going... and fast.

Next time... how an e-mail blast can triple your productivity at the push of a button.

PS. Don't discount print advertising as it still has an important role in generating awareness for your online presence.

"What's a Roll Fold?" and How You Can Succeed in Search Engines

This morning I read an article in DMNews that referred to a direct mail piece called a "roll fold". I didn't know what this referred to, so, as you might guess, I did a quick Google search for the phrase. The first result that Google listed directed me to International Paper's "Paper Glossary" index, where the page presented me with precise and helpful information, thus answering my question effectively.

I bring this up to you because there is a HUGE opportunity for industrial, scientific, and high-tech companies out there, or really any organization in any market with lots of jargon, complex terms, or unfamiliar phrasings. Any organization that can create a comprehensive glossary online has enormous potential to be listed first in a wide variety of search queries, as International Paper was in this particular one. That's because search engines love accurate and informative content (proof positive being Wikipedia's high rankings in countless searches). It's one of the pillars of search engine optimization (SEO).

The benefit to you is that once a visitor to your site's glossary page gets the information s/he is looking for, it is highly likely that this person will then either explore your site a little more, or at the very least appreciate the authoritative position you have in the industry and associate your company as a leader in your field. To wit:

Knowledge = Expert

Expert = Leader in your field.

Producing a sharp, meaningful glossary is relatively simple marketing project to undertake and the rewards might make you roll in some newfound cash.

By the way, a roll fold is: "A type of fold where the piece is folded inward at one end and then folded inward again one or more times. It is as if you are rolling the piece up."

When Misspelling (or, Perhaps, "Mispelling") is Okay

Today I passed by a fruit stand on the side of the road. The sign on the road said, "Watermellons." Ok, minor spelling error, but all in all it probably won't hurt business.

But if that same little stand were to have a web site, and spelled watermelons with two l's within the text on their site or in their meta tags, from a search engine optimization (SEO)standpoint, they'd probably be one of the top listings for that category if they had an otherwise good site. Think about how many people must do a search for "watermellons" every summer, and if you're the first one on that search engine results page, you might have a nice little business going there.

So, in effect, a misspelling of a word on the internet may not actually be the wurst thing in the wurld.