« Better Rankings with Heading Tags | AOL Search Explained »
October 15, 1999
New Study: Search Engine Positioning Rated #1
A new survey was released on September 8th by ActivMedia Research that found search engine positioning was rated the #1 Website promotional method by Web site owners. This continues the trend first identified in the July 1998 survey by WebCMO. The WebCMO study also noted that search engines were the most favored method for driving traffic to a Web site.
The results of the 1999 ActivMedia Research survey are as follows:
Web Site Promotional Methods
Rated as Excellent / Very Good
------------------------------
Search Engine Positioning 66%
Email 54%
Print Brochures / Collateral 42%
Print Catalogs 40%
Trade Shows 37%
The results of the survey should be no surprise to readers of this newsletter and users of WebPosition Gold. Search Engine Positioning simply works. Is it the be-all and end-all of Web marketing? Of course not. However, most Web marketers find search engine positioning to be the most effective means to advertise a Web site:
http://www.activmedia.com/
Note how the study does not cite "search engine submission" as the most effective technique. That's because successful Website owners know that submitting alone will not gain you significant traffic despite the false propaganda repeated on the Web and in the press.
The participants in the ActivMedia survey understood that submitting to hundreds of link lists, award sites, and no-name search engines would not drive traffic to your site. It's your POSITION in the major search engines that will reap the greatest rewards.
It should be noted that a majority of the Web masters surveyed had relatively small Web promotional budgets: $5,000 or less per year. This demonstrates that search engine positioning is perfect for the business on a limited budget. Does this mean that the big corporations don't care how they rank on the search engines? Of course not. Many of the fortune 500 are starting to wake up and realize that it's embarrassing if someone searches for say "IBM computers" and IBM does not rank near the top. The brand recognition and prestige achieved when your name appears at the top can be more valuable than the traffic it generates.
In summary, make use of opt-in Email, print brochures, trade shows, etc. However, do not overlook the method that has consistently been reported as the #1 most successful method for promoting a Web site: Search Engine Positioning.
To learn more about how WebPosition Gold takes the work out of search engine positioning and gives you a true competitive advantage see:
http://www.webposition.com
← What is this?
