web site marketing

A web site isn't much good if people aren't finding it and one of the main ways that people find web sites are through search engines and directories.

What's the difference?

A search engine employs software known as "robots" or "spiders" to "crawl" links and store all manner of information as it does. Different search engines use different algorithms to determine how results for a search will be displayed. Examples are Google, MSN, etc.

A directory employs human beings to actually look at and evaluate a site before including it in the directory. One notable example is the Open Directory.

Content is king....

More than ever, it's all about content, and who thinks enough of your content to link to you. But that content thing is the #1 criteria. Without it, you might as well forget about coming up in the search engines. Show a spider a Flash page with nothing but graphics or a plain html page with a lot of content and it's a no brainer as to which one the spider will favor.

Your content should be seamlessly geared toward both human and non-human site visitors. Good content is key.

Design at a price

A representative from a company that will remain nameless called me recently saying "you've got to help me out". I'd worked with this person when they were at another firm and had the success we were aiming for with that project.

In his new position, he had a gorgeous site - just beautiful to look at. Unfortunately, like in real life, beauty is only skin deep. There was limited real content, it was difficult to navigate, and no basic search engine optimization techniques were employed. Essentially, this firm had spent tens of thousands of dollars to develop a web site that was lovely to look at and hard to find. Worse yet, once found, it was hard to find what you were looking for.

The point? The web is still largely a text event (though video is really ramping up and the changes we'll be s, and content is more important than ever. Yes, you want your site to look nice, but at what expense? Sometimes less is more, and content, and the logical organization of it are the two most crucial things you can address when it comes to optimizing your site for search engines.

This isn't to say that conventions like Flash, Quicktime, etc., have no place - you just don't want to build and entire site out of them.