Myth #1: If You Build It They Will Come
Building a website is no guarantee of online success. If you build it, don’t assume people will find it. This is a guaranteed losing strategy. For your Internet marketing to succeed your website will need quality traffic (i.e. visitor sessions) and then convert those visitors into phone calls and online inquiries.
Myth #2: Search Engines Are All You’ll Need
It is a very common misconception, and costly mistake, to think that search engines and organic search engine positioning is all you need for online success. While a top ranked website is a very valuable asset, and it can drive a lot of qualified traffic to your website, it can take months, or years, to achieve that positioning — if you can get it at all. You’ll need a multi-pronged approach to building traffic, including buying advertising, pay-per-click advertising (PPC), integration of your offline marketing with your online marketing, blogging, social media, and of course, search engine optimization (SEO).
Myth #3: All Traffic Is Good
Not true! To get real results from your website, inquiries, phone calls, and sales, you’ll need to find and attract QUALIFIED traffic – people who are actually interested in and ideally ready to purchase your products and services.
Myth #4: Hits Are A Good Measure Of Success
Wrong! If you are measuring “hits” you’re not even in the game. A “hit” is a technical term that describes activity on a hosting server. Unfortunately, most webmasters use this term casually and it is interpreted to mean you have lots of traffic. Hits are not real people. Real people who visit your website are logged as “visitor sessions.”
Myth #5: You Can Do This All Yourself
If you are in any competitive category of products or services, or in a geographically competitive marketplace, the chances that you can build a website, develop the traffic, and manage your ongoing online marketing ALL BY YOURSELF are less than one in ten. Put another way, DIY has a 90% chance of FAILURE.
Myth #6: It’s Easy To Get Traffic From Search Engines
In today’s competitive marketplace it is more difficult than ever to get top ranking with Google, Yahoo!, or Bing. It is very likely going to take six to twelve months to see your website achieve a top ranked position for any competitive keyword/keyword phrase that people are searching for – and that’s only if you have SEO expertise. If your website is new it will take longer.
Myth #7: Submitting Your Website To Search Engines Actually Works
Not true! Submitting your website to the search engines each month is USELESS. Companies or individuals that provide this service will gladly take your money and it is unlikely you’ll see any benefit. The best way to get your website indexed in the search engines is for them to find your website link at another regularly crawled, thematically-similar website. A Google Sitemap will also help you get your website indexed and crawled more effectively.
Myth #8: Search Engine Optimization Is Easy
Search engine optimization is not difficult but there is a lot to it. There are dozens of different variables that must be perfectly managed. Each of these falls into one of two categories: “on-page” variables or “off-page” variables. Add to this hundreds of so-called “experts” and their advice (which is incorrect, incomplete, or misleading), and it’s pretty hard to call the search engine optimization process easy. Getting top ranked is even more challenging when a competitor has hired a reputable SEO expert to help them with their website and Internet marketing strategy.
Myth #9: Meta-Tags Are The Key To A Top Ranked Website
Meta-tags are specific lines of programming code that appear behind-the-scenes at your website. Search engines see them but your visitors do not. Search engines use meta-tags as one of the factors in determining page relevancy. Google’s algorithm tries to show the most relevant pages for a search on a search engine results page (SERP). Meta-tags are still important, but only one of more than two dozen factors related to the overall search engine optimization of your website.
Myth #10: Your Programmer or “Webmaster” Can Help You With Your Internet Marketing
Graphics design, programming code, and page layout are very different from Internet marketing. In most cases, (95% of the time) a webmaster / programmer / designer will not be able to give you the appropriate advice or support to effectively promote and market your website online.
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There are more than a dozen different variables to manage when it comes to your overall Internet marketing strategy.