Does your web site have visibility?

29 Mar Does your web site have visibility?

There are three locations on an Internet search page: top, middle and down. A search engine report sometime fits onto a single page and other times it’s 100 feet long. Today, e-commerce is like a deep ocean: If your Web site’s identity is successful, only then will it will float on the surface and be visible to potential customers. However, if it’s submerged like a submarine, it will stay caught in some mysterious undercurrents or worse, rest at the bottom, near the Titanic. At this second, thousands of the world’s best-designed Web sites, despite fancy graphics, simply lie at the bottom, lost like Nemo. This is when customers give up, resulting in no hits, no sales and no profits.
Search Optimization
So here comes search engine optimization (SEO) as the next big thing. The real search engine wars are about to commence — just watch out and be fully prepared, it will get very rough out there at the ocean.
Tips to stay afloat
Become aware of your position on search results and develop a monitoring strategy.
Base this strategy on how many different ways your customers are going to search for you by a generic term, by city, by price or your very specific name. Test each one, plotting and counting your positions, and then modify each to see the differences. Find the right formula for better visibility. Remember web sites are now created by high school students and techies manage SEO; what you have to look for is the e-commerce expertise within e-marketing with an emphasis on name positioning.
Is your URL a sinking you?
If your site is not showing on page one or two of the search results, your URL is not the right name, but rather a dead weight, sinking your e-commerce dreams. Figure out why the name is not working and how it can be fixed. If there are too many identical or look-a-like names, ask why? Why was the mimicry allowed in the first place? Also seek SEO expertise on Web-design strategies with far more emphasis on URL alpha-structures than flashy graphic layouts. Award-winning Web sites don’t guarantee buoyancy.
Qualities of SEO-friendly names:
Uniqueness: Names should be simple, cute but unique, without dashes, slashes or any numbers. They should be easy to type and easy to remember, with short and clear alpha-structure and a direct relationship to what the name is selling. This feature helps take the name to the top of search results. The true powers of a domain name have yet to be appreciated by senior management and, to this day, have left to Web masters to sort out.
Alpha-connect-ability: Names based in common language developed with common sense match better to the search query. Searching is often based on phonetics therefore common word sounds can play a key role. Yet this is a double-edged sword as overly simple names based on common words are sometimes completely lost. Names barely connected to common words will also connect easily to search query words. This can be very tricky to balance. Naming is a science and not a wildly creative exercise.
Proprietary: One-of-a-kind names that acquire a position in the general market place shut out all the other copycats. The best position to be in is protected by global trademarks and matching dot-coms.
High visibility: Only star-quality names are capable of taking you to the top of the page. It is easy to have a global name with trademark and matching URL. All you need is the right expertise. Check the Web for corporate image and naming experts and bring Web seminars into your corporation so you have an internal understanding of cyber-branding issues. These seminars are now the most cost-effective medium to bring in cutting-edge expertise for an entire corporation.
E-commerce names are the key. It is the only device that controls the access to the portal and Web site of a corporation. Nothing else matters: not logos, not designs and not fancy colors. It is still early in Internet time and a lot can be fixed, modified and adjusted before it is too late.
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Naseem Javed author Naming for Power, recognized as world authority on Business Name Identities and Global Domain Issues, founded ABC Namebank International in New York & Toronto a quarter century ago… www.abcnamebank.com
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The opinions expressed herein or statements made in the above column are solely those of the author, & do not necessarily reflect the views of Wisconsin Technology Network, LLC. (WTN). WTN, LLC accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein.))