8 replies to this topic

[photographerinHull]

Hello
my name is Darren and I am new here. I did not find an introduction page so here I am. sorry if this is in the wrong place, anyways:

I recently put up a new website with a new domain last week. Within 2 hours it was on page one for my search terms, which I was happy about. I put up a blog and moved fifty posts into the new site through wordpress and the site vanished from google search. I removed the posts and it went back to page one. I started to put the posts back in one by one and the site went down to top of page two for three days nad stayed in the smae position. all was well i thought. i then got up this morning and the site had vanished again. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. i get most of my business enquirires through the position of my website. Should i put my blog on another url?

Thankyou in advance

[chrishirst]

Nope, that's how things work with newly discovered URLs and rank checking.

They appear to rank high for you purely because they are new, and it only lasts a few days and the drop to where the algorithm has decided they belong.

i get most of my business enquirires through the position of my website

Well you shouldn't! Relying on something you CANNOT control leaves your Internet promotion TOTALLY at the mercy of search engines.
Internet marketing and promotion should be about getting useful traffic DIRECTLY not chasing rankings in the vague hope of search referrals

[Jill]

You'll need links to your site to get it to stick.

[photographerinHull]

Thanks for the comments
Chris if you are not relying on the search engines for business then what else are you supposed to do? I thought targetting people with your SEO was the whole point of having a website advertising your skills. in the old days we used to use yellow pages and newspapers paid adds. But everything has changed now. So basicly - I should not worry about the ranking, but attract targetted customers in other ways. Any advice would be appreciated regarding this topic.
Thankyou

Jill, Thanks for replying how do I get links?

[Jill]

Thanks for replying how do I get links?

Have something worth linking to and get the word out about it to those who would be in a position to do so.

Social media is a great way to get the word out about your link-worthy content these days.

Also, you'll want to read our tips for newbies.

[chrishirst]

You do your promotion to PEOPLE not search engines.

The idea is to get links that send visitors, then it becomes MUCH easier to decide which are the best places to promote your URLs.

[torka]

I think you've got it a little backwards. You don't create a website so you can target people with SEO. You target people with SEO to help them find your website. There are, in fact, lots of excellent business reasons to have a website that have nothing to do with SEO. Having a website would still be a good idea even if Google and Bing and Yahoo and all the other search engines disappeared overnight.

Beyond that, being in a position where you depend on the kindness of strangers for the bulk of your business inquiries is pretty darned scary. What do you do if the search engines have a glitch (it happens!) or change their algorigthm and your site disappears from the top results for days, or even weeks or months?

You've got to develop other significant sources of traffic. Participate in online communities. Network in person with local business leaders. Join the Chamber of Commerce or your local business development association. Write high-quality, informative guest blog posts or articles. Develop relationships with local news reporters (print and broadcast). Buy advertising. If you can't afford advertising on your own, co-op with other related (non-competitor) businesses and advertise both of your businesses together. Encourage satisfied customers to write online reviews. Even "old fashioned" print ads and billboards might work, depending on the nature of your business.

In short, anything that you would have done to promote your business before the web is potentially still on the table, along with a whole ton of new things that are now possible because of the web. And as a bonus, many of these things may also help with SEO.

SEO has simply added another weapon to your marketing arsenal. It is not (and never was) intended to replace everything else.

--Torka

[photographerinHull]

Thankyou Jill and Chris I have done a lot of thinking over the last couple of days. I will read the [url=http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php/topic/833-tips-for-new-seos/]Tips for Newbies[/url]. I have been relying on page 1 for too many years it is time for a change of tactics. No wonder my phone isnt ringing. I can see where you are coming from Torks and am definately going to make some changes. I have made a very simple tutorial on you tube and am intending to do many more.... I am going to put the page 1 hassle to the back of my mind and concentrate on getting people to my site through other means.
I guess the new way of doing things has scared me somewhat and I have become a bit of a recluse, relying on the engine rankings. I see the error of my ways i just hope I can change with the times, things have changed so much it is a little sacry I guess. Thanks for taking the time to reply to me. Need to do more thinking and be more sociable.

[torka]

That's the spirit!

--Torka