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Reason/Excuse One: We can do it "in-house"
Do you have someone "in-house" who is good with computers? Perhaps your IT department manager or even the person who designed your website. You may think that because they "know about computers" that they can get your site designed and listed on search engines. The problem is that your website is a marketing tool, not a technology project. These people may be able to create a website that functions correctly, but will it close a sale?

Over the years search engines have gotten much smarter about website submissions and have changed how and when they will index your site. This makes it more difficult to get a site listed. They also change what they look for on a regular basis. Some tactics that worked a few years ago will actually hurt your rankings today.  
Search engine experts subscribe to several on-line newsletters, read the latest books, and have the experience of marketing several websites. Chances are your "in-house" expert already has a full-time job and more pressing duties. Do they really have time to not only do the actual submission and redesign but also to keep up with all the changes?  

Reason/Excuse Two: We purchased a program that will submit our site for us.  
Just like the saying says "If it's too good to be true, it probably is". Thinking that a low-cost program will take care of optimizing your site and then submitting it is a fairy tale.  You have most likely seen ads for software programs that claim to "submit your site to hundreds of engines". These claims simply are not true, or they submit to search engines that no one uses and only exist to collect contact information to sell.   

The major search engines (Yahoo!, Google, MSN) do not accept automatic submissions (which is what these programs do). They require you to either pay a fee to be listed or have a "ransom note" submission. Basically what that means is that when you submit your site you must type in a code that appears in the form of a graphic. Programs can't read these graphics so they never know the code is there. If the code is not typed in correctly the submission is never made. This  "ransom note" system exists for the sole reason of rejecting automated submissions.

Reason/Excuse Three: Too expensive to hire an experts
Optimization and site submission is generally far cheaper than other forms of marketing when you consider the number of people you can reach.   Let's say you run a half page ad in the newspaper for one day at a cost of $800.00. Sure 200,000 people read the paper, but how many of those people are interested in your services? Of those that are interested, how many will "stumble across" your ad? With on-line marketing, paying an expert will get your site listed on the top search engines, giving you exposure to millions of potential buyers - buyers who expressed an interest in your services. Plus by using your website logs, you will know the exact number of people that visited your site and "read your ad".    

Reason/Excuse Four: You can't figure the return on investment (ROI)
You can easily budget your on-line marketing and figure the ROI if you know a few key figures: 

After the sixth client asked me why their website traffic has dropped, I decided it was time to do some research. I also figured our readers may have the same concerns, so I decided to share what I found. What I found was that less people are searching the Internet, which translates into less traffic to your site, which translates into less sales. Here are some statistics I found on Overture.com concerning the number of searches that were done on a particular search term. 

From the chart above, you can see how much Internet traffic has dropped.  I believe that once the weather turns bad again (which here in Wisconsin will be sooner then we think) Internet traffic will increase, including traffic to your site.  

My recommendations to my clients have been to take this time and revisit your website design and purpose.  Update the information on the site and give it a fresh look.  This way when people are "surfing" again, your site will better catch their eye and their dollars.    

(920) 954-1923
(800) 474-7001
tammy@virtualtech.com
http://www.virtualtech.com

We will get results from your website!