Google is Colour Blind!

Here in Australia, over 83% of all searches are done using Google which is a relevancy based search engine. In fact nearly all of the search engines that Australians use are relevancy based search engines. It is vitally important that you know this, so I’ll say it again.

 

Nearly all Search Engines that Aussies are using are relevancy based.

 

The key word here is relevancy!In other words, the search engines make an assessment of the value and the relevancy of your content and this effects the indexing, or position in the listing, of your website.

 

 

Google, Yahoo, MSN, Sensis and the other search engines that we use, just don’t care about your colours, your design or your cute Flash animations etc. In fact they can’t even see it. This is because their research shows that people don’t care about cute. They care about good quality information. Web Marketers call this content, and lots and lots of good quality information is vital to your website’s success. It is considered far more valuable by people and Search Engines then all the pretty designs that you can poke a stick at.

 

Now don’t misunderstand me. Good design has an important part to play. A website should look good and be easy to navigate. It needs to look professional, clean and uncluttered but don’t go over the top. Plain looking websites also work; in fact, often work better than some of those really fancy sites. In the end you want to have a site that makes money don’t you? The problem is that too many people put far too much emphasis on the cute design and they neglect the 2 other important elements.

 

It’s all about a balance. There are 3 main elements to an effective website.

 

Put you time and energy into the Content and Marketing for your best results because without pro-active marketing your website will become just another brochure style website gathering “Cyber Dust” just like the other 97% of Business Website.

 

Pro-Active Marketing features include

 

-         Google Juice. Making your website “Google Friendly” and also friendly to the other relevancy based search engines. This is some times called Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and it goes way beyond a few keywords to be truly effective.

-         Name Squeezing. This is a process of providing large amounts of good quality content that is so attractive and useful that the reader is prepared to volunteer their name and email address to access and receive even more information.

-         Sticky Web Pages. Reduce or eliminate bounces

-         Exchange of value. This is where both parties receive something worth having in a win/win situation which is good for both.

-         Community List Building. Building managing and utilizing an on-line database or list of people that are interested in your products or services.

-         Email Marketing. Messages and offers of value sent to your list without being a nuisance to the recipients.

-         Newsletter Generation with full readership and activity tracking.

-         Pay per Click. (PpC) Campaigns to deliver a steady stream of qualified prospects to your website.

-         Affiliate Marketing Programs

-         Reader Engagement

-         News and Articles Engine

-         Coupons Based Marketing Promotions.

-         Client Loyalty Initiatives and Members Section.

 

Content is King not because I made it that way, or because Google made it that way. Content is King because the people who use and search the Internet made it that way. When people search they are searching for knowledge and information. They aren’t searching for cute.

 

That's why Google is Colour Blind.