Are Those In Search Of The Success Enjoyed By Search Engines Misled?
By Dale Armin Miller
Posted Friday, October 22, 2004
Are you misled by the success of search engines?
Most webmasters seem to be.
Of course, several of the most-visited sites on the Internet are indeed search engines or directories.
"And what do engines and directories have? A zillion unrelated links to everything. Therefore, I'll do something like that."
Whoa!
People don't go to engines or directories to find a lot of links. Most often, a visit is to find the answer to one, single question.
Yet most of the websites I see are crammed with as much stuff as possible. A second problem is that much of it is unrelated.
I have half-a-dozen websites, including some that are among the most popular on the web. Not top 10%; not top 1%; but top 0.1%! I don't say that to brag (well, at least I hope not); I say that to to emphasize that part of their success is because each deals with one, single, narrowly defined topic.
Even two subjects is too many:
I'll pretend I understand why you want to promote, describe, and extoll the virtues of a particular long-distance telephone service. And I certainly understand the need for a webpage on the medieval history of Luxembourg. (Really.) But why are they on the same webpage? Why are they even in the same site?
"Well, my webpage on the medieval history of Luxembourg doesn't make me any money."
You don't know that! You don't know that because you don't have a webpage on the medieval history of Luxembourg. You have a webpage 'about' long-distance-telephone-service-and-medieval- Luxembourg.
Who exactly do you think wants to know about long-distance-telephone-service-and-medieval-Luxembourg?
I'm pretty sure that medieval Luxembourg did not even *have* telephone service.
A person usually visits a search engine to find the answer to one question.
People usually look for only one thing at a time.
They visit for one reason.
One thing.
Uno.
One.
1.
Learn from THAT, I suggest, if you're trying to emulate the success of search engines.
About the Author
Dale Armin Miller. The author has made his living exclusively online since 1998. He may be reached by phone in medieval Luxembourg. Better yet, get his free, detailed, online-marketing strategies at (http://www.SuccessArsenal.com)
