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Subject: Re: UKNM: Search Engines
From: Eric Ward -URLwire Web Launch News- Since 1994
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 17:35:46 +0100

A list member wrote...

>by hand, sometimes several times over. That's because 99% of your traffic is
>likely to come from these, 1% the rest, and most of the major search engines

As one of the very first members of the submission
industry, over 5 years ago, before Yahoo.com existed,
before any submission bots and any submission services, I
assure you that the above kind of thinking is exactly what
kills most web sites. In fact, if 99% of your traffic is
coming from the biggest 7-10 search engines, then this
means you have done a poor job marketing your site. It
also means that you are at the mercy of these engines to
keep that traffic flow coming. Which means if you lose
precious ranking at a couple of them, you just lost 30 or
40% or more of your traffic. Ouch. I've seen that
literally put people out of business who depended on a
Yahoo listing for nearly all traffic. Sure, be happy
while it lasts, but be building for the future, for it
*will* go away.

A more strategic approach is to methodically build an
ongoing network of inbound links at sites that represent
the most appropriate outlets where your desired site
visitors can be found. Sure, you need to be listed with
the big engines, but I would rather be getting 30% of my
traffic from the big engines and the remaining 70% from a
collection of inbound links at other sites that are a
match for my content. Then if I lose an engine, it isn't
a crisis.

Yes the portal engines matter a great deal, but you can
build a site's audience wihout ever submitting to any of
them, if you focus on your niche. Done it.

Best wishes, -Eric Ward
~~~~~~~~~~~~ The WardGroup - NetPOST & URLwire (Est 1994)
Site Announcement Planning, Submissions & Media Campaigns
. Content driven vertical URL submissions/announcements
. Online news sharing services for Web launches & events
. Strategic Web marketing reality checks
. Speaker, C|Net, iWorld, & Thunderlizard Conferences
~~~ http://www.netpost.com & http://www.urlwire.com ~~~
~~~~~ EricWardatnetpost [dot] com (mailto:EricWardatnetpost [dot] com) ~ 423.637.2438 (v) ~~~~
~~~~~ EricWardaturlwire [dot] com (mailto:EricWardaturlwire [dot] com) ~ 423.637.2438 (v) ~~~~

Named one of the world's 100 most influential people
on the Web by Websight Magazine, April, 1997



Replies
  Re: UKNM: Search Engines, etc, John Nugent
  Re: UKNM: Search Engines, Lard

Replies
  Re: UKNM: Search Engines, Ray Taylor

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