Now that your new website is up on the internet, you probably want people to find it.
There are tons of articles you can find on the web on this subject, with practical steps involved, such as submitting your site to Google, Bing and Yahoo, but most of these are technical.
My purpose in this series of posts is to talk about some of the issues that are not so technical, but are extremely vital.
You probably already know that Google is the “Mothership” and “Where Google goeth, everyone else follows”, so if you pay attention to what Google wants you’re set for all the other search engines.
WHAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE:
What very few people who are not in the business are aware of is that KEYWORDS don’t matter that much anymore! Yes, they are important and you need to pay attention to them and use the right ones properly, but Google has become ridiculously sophisticated in recent years, and here is what Google really cares about and here is why your website is not getting found:
YOUR CONTENT IS NOT RELEVANT:
“What?! But my keywords are in there and my site says what I offer!” Yes, but Google has become so able to tell exactly what you are saying on your site that they are now judging whether or not your content is RELEVANT AND USEFUL to someone coming to your site to find what they are looking for.
THE MISTAKE YOU ARE MAKING:
Most of us are very keen to talk about how we can help someone, what makes us special or different, how effective our methods are and things like this… and you should be!… but…
Remember that unless I, your website viewer, know right away WHAT you can do for me, I don’t really care HOW you do it. I just want to know that you are WHAT I am looking for. If you do, then I may well be interested in knowing how you do it.
THE SECRET:
Tell people, right away, WHAT you can do for them. Leave the HOW for later.
Here’s an example. A client of 21Thirteen Design is an internationally successful business woman and artist. She is now embarking on a career as a speaker and was very eager to say on her website how she can help people become successful in business by using both sides of their brain, unleashing their creativity, thinking outside the box, etc. All true and all very interesting, but what she had to say FIRST was that she can HELP IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE IN THE WORKPLACE. That is WHAT she is truly selling. HOW she does it comes after that.
PUT YOUR WEBSITE TO THE TEST
1) Open up the home page of your site and look at it as if you had never seen it before and never heard of you.
2) Do you say, right away, WHAT you are, WHAT you have to offer, WHAT you can do for someone?
3) If not, fix it fast. If so, can you say it more directly? More succinctly? Sooner (higher on the page)?
Need help figuring this out? Need help fixing it? Need help with those other technical factors Google is looking for? Need help getting found on the web? That’s what we’re here for. Call us at 646-808-0249 or email us at hello@thirteen.com.
Part 2 is coming up next week, and it’s about PAIN. Don’t miss it.
