What Did Businesses Do Before Google? Back To Basics 101

[sem-seo-pro]

Hi there

Before tossing yourself out of a window because Google suddenly hates you and wishes to persecute you for every unjust deed you have ever done..

STOP and THINK......Move away from the keyword ranking report....

Ask yourself a few questions...

1. Do you know what profits are??

2. Do you know what a profit margin is?

3. Do you know what a profit & loss statement is??

4. Do you know your average basket price??

5. Do you know what is costs for you to acquire one new lead, or one new customer?

Over 60% of the webmasters I have worked with did not...

So why are they in business, if they don't know those basic issues??

My guess is that someone told them Google front page rankings would make them rich.....

Next Question

6. What did businessmen and women do to drive traffic (shoppers) to their business before the Internet and Google??

7. What do many businessmen & women still do to drive traffic (shoppers) to their business??

Answer: ADVERTISE

8. Do you think the advertising they used was free???

9. If so, do you think it was the only form of advertising they did??

10. If you think that Google will build your business, how soon do you think it will be before you are out of business??

11. Who told you Google is the search engine where your website should be found??

For most e-commerce sites Google is NOT the search engine you should be focusing your optimization efforts for.

If you are marketing to kids and teens again Google is NOT the engine for you.

My point is. you can build a viable long term business online that spans the globe (I've reached 23 countries and 5 continents in 2.5 years) without ever being found on the front page of Googles search engine results.

Yes, you may have to reach in that pocket and part with a few dollars, but so did almost every business you see everyday of you life (Real Life not the Virtual kind)

You might need to think a bit more, about where to find the people looking for you and your business....(Hint.. free classified ad sites.... besides the free ads they display they usually feature a section of people looking for what you sell)

For those with a service offering, look to freelance bid sites.

For those still stuck on the idea of Google.. please take preventive measures and do a search (on Google if you must) for "professional counseling"

You may need it someday soon...

Clint

[greeneagle]

LOL - You do raise some significant value questions though- I have a few pages (a mini-tutorial) on Website value based toward Web Professionals and Executives here:
http://www.mountaineagleweb.com/Exec...ve-Express.htm

We really should periodically discuss the depths of Creating Website value, value management, ROI (Return on Investment), etc.

Nice Topic,

Ken

[sem-seo-pro]

Hi Ken

Thank you for the compliment.

I too would like to see more of the business end used to educate people, as opposed to the constant rehash of why google doesn't like john doe's website.

Clint

[DMC_34]

Originally Posted by sem-seo-pro

For those still stuck on the idea of Google.. please take preventive measures and do a search (on Google if you must) for "professional counseling"

You may need it someday soon...

Clint

LOL.

Great post. Most are lost in Google and other SE's when they only supply 20% of the traffic out there. Any business that lives and dies by the organic grace is not a business at all but a charity.

Advertising and Marketing as you suggested is key. No one should ever put their business at the mercy of the SE's.

DMC

[sem-seo-pro]

DMC

Any insites as to why then that so many do not see the value of a proper pay per click campaign at the least??

And you're right the engines usually drive only 20 to 25% of traffic to a website.

Google images sends more traffic at times to clients sites than Googles free results listings.....

Actually I'm thinking of having my clients take 100's of pictures of each one of their products, and sending them to Google images,

hehehehe


Clint

[DMC_34]

I am glad you brought that up. We currently run MSN Featured Ads, Overture, Adwords, Business.com, and a few others. Not only does this traffic convert better, it also provides traffic on our terms and not by the grace of an algo. I have often wondered why more do not do it. But as long as my competitors dont..more for me, I guess. One of our advertisements actually send us more traffic and branding than Yahoo does.

As for image searches. We have a few in Yahoo but I would love to get more as they were a great source of traffic during the holiday season in Nov-Dec.

[DMC_34]

The first post should actually be a sticky. Next time someone comes crying about losing their business they can be referred it. Great insight for those totally dependant on SE's.

DMC

[cyanide]

nice post, Clint

we're all still brain-washed with the "get-rich-quick scheme"

[greeneagle]

Quote:
"Google images sends more traffic at times to clients sites than Googles free results listings..... "

I have one like that:

Images slaughters their normal SE SERPs!

LOL
Ken

[brian.mark]

The only thing I see missing from here is shopping engines. I find it amazing how many people that aren't found in Google haven't even taken the time to get a feed sent to Froogle. We get a huge amount of traffic from Google searches that show Froogle results. That's a no-brainer since it's free.

The other shopping engines sure take a lot more careful planning and tracking, but they're resulting in so much business for us now that we'd be lost without them. They do a lot of PPC advertising on the search engines, as well as rank well for many product related searches for you in the majors. Can't get a whole lot simpler if you ask me.

I've talked to many people that didn't realize that it was possible to do 6 figures monthly in sales from a shopping engine. It's not that tough. You just need a good mix of products and a decent feed. We're looking to get that up to 7 figures monthly here pretty soon. Very valuable, and it doesn't cost all that much.

One final thing worth mentioning: eBay. Creating an eBay store can not only get you in front of a huge number of people looking for your product, but can also help build brand awareness and make some sales for you. One of our competitors had an article published that says they do more than $8M/year in sales from eBay alone. We used that information to start tracking what's selling well for them and make some changes to our product line. It can work both ways... you can spy on competitors as well as sell your own stuff.

This post is indeed valuable, and I will enjoy pointing all those people who are crying about Google ruining their business with an algo change to this post. I'm looking forward to the next one of those posts now.

Brian.

[sem-seo-pro]

Hi again

Thank you for the compliments.

If I missed the part about the value of shopping engines in this post, it is done several times somewhere else here or other forums.

Doea anyone know of a good primer for starting an internet business that combines the financial aspect as well as the internet aspects, that are needed in order to have any chance of suscess?

There was a lengthy post yesterday about websites victimized by Google.....

I had to respond that if you build a website for Google free results rankings..then you joined the game,,,how then could you be victimized ??

Not like Google held a gun to their head.....

I closed it with people play football voluntarily just like people build websites for Google voluntarily......and just like in football one sharp turn and your left paralyzed....

But a victim??? No not ever.....

Thank you again

Clint