The new Web site Accountability It was the best. It was dodgiest of time. I'm sorry Mr. Dickens but the birth pains of the Internet revolution, like the French, also require expression in the superlative. It was unbelievable, inexplicable, indescribable and dubious as hell. Good price following bad through the S-curve of e-commerce. These are the days, but have they changed for the better?
It was about this time to the dawn of the new century that I have heard the phrase Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Although the time it was simple and had a tendency to say a bit more stuffing keywords in meta tags page. This meta-information are the initial lines of HTML code used to define and describe the function and format web page. This SEO was more oriented towards early getting eyes to the site at any price rather than pre-qualification references. It was the era of dot com companies go to market with inflated values based on traffic numbers artificially inflated. When the snake oil salesmen could reel off estimates of $ 100 per member in line, and always keep a straight face.
In the race to the IPO things are swept under the carpet. I bent the rules. Ethics sprained. It was not uncommon to enter a profile name of company or brand high in a search engine and be presented with a selection of competitors and sites like porn webmasters rival attempted to manipulate the system with keywords inappropriate. The traffic was God. large numbers means big ratings. Learn how to float, cash, then get the hell out of Dodge.
The parameters have been flawed as well. Fund managers do not understand the technology and have been taken for a ride. Advertising revenue was based on statistics and was easily handled properly tapped. The biggest rort was using hits as a measuring stick. Even today, who should know better still refer to success as somehow significant in terms of judging a site's performance without realizing what it really means. A hit is registered each time the server host is "touched" to a request for a specific item. Most web pages display a range of components so that for any given page displayed on the server will hit several times. It is therefore very simple for a webmaster fun deliberately to distort this figure.
I still remember to analyze a competitor's site to see their great header image of Nice had been cut into 100 pieces and then recorded at least 100 hits every time he was in charge, which distorts performance data and thus advertising revenue for their advertising banners. Other techniques involved the use of transparent gifs and JavaScript code continuously refresh page elements. Creative agencies either do not know or have closed their eyes that the money rolled in all until it reaches the fan in the middle of 2000. Many of the slick talkers returned to the sale of Gold Coast wetlands, but in many ways the industry's reputation never recovered.
This truism about damned lies and statistics could have been written specifically for the Web. If it can be measured can be deceived. Stats mean everything and nothing. The stat that matters for a business website is the effect on the bottom line. Either your site is you can save money or it is put in, directly or indirectly. Intangibles such as brand benefits are good, but if this is the only reason you're online, then you are in difficulty. The web is a technology not pull a boost. Find out what people are looking for in your area, and then target these keywords. It is not just about getting traffic, it's about getting the right traffic. Attracting people who are in a mood to buy and direct them to your sales team. It involves building specific calls to action in your site, then follow these.
The thing is that times have changed. It is now not just about stuffing your meta tags to each key term you think might relate to your business. Internet search has grown.
Posted on April 27, 2010.