Surviving In The Web Without Google
Google is the king of search engines today and it is almost
certain that your website will not get decent traffic if it does
not appear in the first few pages of Google search results. The
converse is also true. If your site is ranked well in google,
you will enjoy tremendous amount of free traffic.
The Problem Other than banning sites that uses illegal Search
Engine Optimization Techniques, Google also put new websites
into hibernation (also known as Google sandbox effect). Famous
SEO techniques such as keywords optimization and linking
strategies will not work on new domain names, ie new websites
will not appear in Google search results for at least a few
months. Instead of trying to outsmart the Google sandbox, why
not focus your effort in getting leads without using Google
Search Results?
As a webmaster and SEO researcher, I have created numerous
websites and many of them are affected by the Google sandbox as
well. This article outlines the techniques that I found useful
in getting hits for my new websites without using Google SERPs.
Forums A good way to start is to post questions or comments in
forums. You will want to include your website address in your
signature so that people can visit your website after reading
your posts. The more busy the forum is, the more your signature
will be exposed and the chances of your urls being clicked will
also be higher. The catch is that you must be friendly and abide
by the forum rules, else your post might be deleted by the
moderator.
Write Articles If you do a google search for "Submit Articles",
you will find many websites that are looking for articles to
host. Write articles that are related to the keywords of your
website and submit to their sites. Make your articles
interesting and original. Visit the library, do research....etc.
Writing good articles is hardwork but your effort will be well
rewarded. Copying other articles wholesale will only get you
into trouble. This is the most popular SEO technique now but the
problem is many people are spamming links in their articles. My
suggestion is that you do not provide any outgoing links in your
body but make sure you have 1 clickable url of your website in
the author biography section.
Impress Your Visitor During Their First Visit If you can make
your website unique so that your first time visitors remember
you, they will return to your site again in the future. They
might also spread your url around for free. A website can be
unique in 2 ways, either the content or design. Always ask
yourself what makes your website special? There are millions of
websites around, what makes people remember your site?
I personally hate websites that have a 1 column layout and start
off with a header in red:
"Let me tell you a secret, I made 50000 thousand dollars this
month and I want to share with you the secret...."
Websites like these were long out-dated because there are
millions of them appearing everyday in the internet. It only
gives people the impression that the author is thirsty for money
and nothing else. That is the problem if you advertise too much
in your site.
One of the tips in creating effective websites is to make your
index page fit within the window with minimal scrolling. Make
your menu obvious. People are lazy. Make them click on your
links and browse through your site rather than making them
scroll. Use images and design elements to break the monotony of
your web pages. Many websites are ranked very well in Google but
they do not sell. People usually do not stay more than 30 secs
after entering the index page.
Submit Your Site For Competition or Reviews If your website is
very well designed or has really great content, submit it for
reviews. You will get free exposure, recognition and prestige if
your site wins the "Site of the Day", "Best Web Design Award" or
something similiar. Putting the award on your site gives your
visitor confidence in you and your services.
Remember MSN and Yahoo Many traditional SEO techniques still
works for MSN, Yahoo and other search engines. You should not
stop optimizing your pages even if Google does not like you. Of
all the techniques, I found quality 1 way links to be the most
effective. This is not an article about effective linking
strategies so I will not go into details. Always think of ways
to built up back links. It works for all search engines.
Advertising This is the most expensive option but might also be
the most effective in getting hits for your site. Look for sites
that are ranked well in Google and provide similiar services as
you. Visit their site and see if they provide an advertising
section. If you can, advertise on their index page but be
prepare to pay a few hundred dollars per month at least.
Another proven advertising technique is google adwords. Sign up
for an adwords account at adwords.google.com. Your advertisement
will appear in many websites across the google network, giving
you great exposure immediately. The bad news is that you might
need to pay alot every month.
Blogging I am putting this option last because it is the hotest
topic nowsadays and definitely worth investing. Getting leads
from blogs is an effective technique, no doubt about that. By
actively posting blogs and participating in conversations, you
are exposing your website especially to people who share the
same interests or are in the same industry as you, giving you
quality leads. However, it is also interesting to note that
statistics shows that most blogs just sit there and do nothing.
Therefore, marketing your blog becomes another issue to worry
about.
Conclusion I have only covered a few important tips here but
they are alll valid optimization techniques and will make you
visible to Google in time to come while waiting for the Sandbox
to disappear. There are of course other ways to get hits without
depending on Google. One popular technique is to buy guaranteed
hits. Just search for "get hits" and you know what I mean.
Sometimes, I think that being too dependent on Google is a bad
thing. This gives Google the power to do what they want.