Re: usefulness of search erngines, was: need a nav column...

Barbara:

As Jeff and others touched on, we (web builders) are forced to become--more
and more--advertising agencies. We do that as we take over more of the total
advertising package for our clients.

And--locally at least--therein lies one of the many answers. We can make
sure that the client's web site is tied in to all the other forms of
advertising they do.

It is hard for me to imagine this but I see it all the time in this local
area where most --not some, MOST--of the local merchants are public
relations blind. They will spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on a
web site and not even put that site, www.whatever.com/ on their letterheads
and envelopes. Nor is it mentioned in their newspaper adds or on radio or
TV. And of course it should be.

You are correct in your assumption that search engines are losing their
value as a means of advertising a site. Obviously, they are beyond that
point right now and getting worse every day. There are just too darn many
sites for every subject. And while some strut around, claiming they have the
answer to always being on the first page of every search engine,
CONTINUALLY, the more honest reluctantly admit that such things are more
pipe dream than fact.

Several suggestions have been made and some are very good. Some of them may
come to pass, but first we must spend the time it will take to see the
methods used at present, run their course. Banners, mutual linking, hubs and
many others all work to a very limited degree. But FIRST potential customers
have to know your site exists.

I tell--and have always told--my clients, that web site are NOT
advertising--they are one of the best ways to dispense information. And--the
only way to tell the world about their nice new web site, is the old
fashioned way. Advertising. I remind them that Amazon.Com did not "get
there" with search engines--they got there with millions of dollars worth of
advertising.

If you were a small business, in a small town, would you want to pay out two
to three thousand dollars to search engines or spend the money on TV spots
that contained your URL ??

Best wishes
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
www.temercraft.com/
www.newsredding.com/


> If search engines usefulness is fading fast, what is one to do? I have a
> few clients that keep telling me that their site is not showing up in
> searches, and I keep telling them, be patient, it takes time, there's 6
> zillion other sites you are competing for listings with, etc. Many of
> these clients are small businesses that can't afford to compete with the
> big guys on "keyword bidding", so the free listings are their only
> recourse.
>
> I'm wondering what will be the future of search placement, or if a whole
> new system will come about. Anyone care to expound on this thread? I
> suspect I know of a couple that might... :-)
>
> Barbara Money
> The Essential Image
>
>

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