Google Algorithm Change - My Perspective

Who cares?

Yes, you heard me right - who cares?

The people who care are the ones who are very reliant on search engine rankings to create awareness for their organization.

I would characterize this situation as an OVER-RELIANCE on search engine rankings.

Here's why.

I'll pick on my own site for a minute - www.TheWebForBusiness.com.

I personally don't really care how many people find the site in the search engines. Why? Because it is not my primary marketing tool. I have relied on the "old-fashioned" methods of getting the word out. I focus on word-of-mouth and personal networking. It has kept me busy enough over the years and when I need more work, it arrives.

I also have a moderately-sized e-mail database so direct, targeted e-mail works for me as well.

The site is currently #21 in Google for "website design niagara", #20 for "niagara website design" (or #11 if you count the businessniagara.ca directory) and #1 under "niagara internet marketing". It's also #8 under "niagara seo" and #4 under the longer version.

I'm putting these stats here so I can go back in a future blog post and see how these have changed based on Google's algorithm change.

Why don't I sweat the algorithm change? Because in the big picture, my brand - the story I tell and people tend to believe - is fairly strong. People know who I am and I get referred a lot.

Now, this devil-may-care approach may not work for everyone. I have clients who are deeply concerned about their search engine positions. I'm still not stressed about Google's change - because the sites that have been around for a while at the top of the heap are probably still going to be there when the dust settles. There's always a chance that some of our client's sites will even improve their rankings when it's all over. One never really knows, does one...

The point is - if you've done your homework over the past several years you probably won't have much of a problem. What do I mean by homework?

• creating quality content for VISITORS to your site instead of merely creating spider-bait
• working on getting inbound links from quality resources instead of link-farms
• keeping your site up to newer technical standards to make it as search-engine-friendly as possible

Let's see how this shakes out.

The Way We See Ourselves

I purchased something a while back from a fellow with a good story. He's an internet marketer who had a tragedy befall his family and to help cover the resulting costs, he put together a really good information package at a very low price. I bought it because I thought the value of the package was great and I wanted to help out.

As time went on, I found the communication from this fellow started drifting from the core package of information originally promised. While it all had to do with internet marketing, I was starting to see it was all trying to sell me more stuff that I didn't particularly want. And to top it off, he made an income statement that made me feel like I'd been had.

So I e-mailed him, made my opinion known, asked to be unsubscribed and suggested he refund the original package price. He did those things, but took the time to strongly defend his actions. I accept his defense, but one thing surprised me.

Not once did he ask why I felt the way I did or what he might have done to make me feel that way. Everything was about him - why what he was doing was right and why I was wrong. If he had taken a slightly different approach to answering me, he'd still have my money (and a tad more respect) today.

Maybe we get a little wrapped up in what we're doing to notice that not everything we do is perceived the way we think it is.

It's possible we see ourselves in a different light than others do.

The people who support us 100% are not the most important voices we need to listen to. It's the people who DON'T that provide us with the feedback we need to improve.

Remember that the next time someone criticizes your product or service - it's an opportunity to make things better.

Social Media Marketing Seminar April 28

If you find yourself confused about how your business can effectively use social media marketing, consider attending our next seminar on this topic.

Being held at The Front™ Business Club on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, this seminar will show you how you can use tools such as blogs, Facebook, YouTube and other sites like them to reach your target audience and grow your business.

This is an afternoon seminar from 3 p.m. ~ 5 p.m. The cost is $20, but if you pre-register it's only $10 - and you can pay online through PayPal.

Learn more and register by clicking here.

Broken Chains

I called Rogers today to order a "rocket stick" wireless modem and a data plan.

The representative had the friendliest phone manner I've ever experienced and it was a pleasure to deal with her until . . .

. . . she put me on hold to finalize the order - then came back on the line to tell me they were out of stock and that I would have to go to a store that had the item in stock and order through the store. Their system didn't allow the order to be queued and fulfilled once new stock was available.

How sad. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with her learning all about the product and the data plan package details and placed an order to no avail. I feel more sorry for the sales rep who gets no commission on this work well done.

What chains are broken in your business? Those are the "pain points" for your customers. Designing your systems to delight customers sounds like a great way to run a very profitable business.

Can a stranger make a courtesy call?

"Courtesy: Adj. - done or performed as a matter of courtesy or protocol: a courtesy call on the mayor." (Source: Dictionary.com - definition #6)

"Courtesy: Noun - a courteous, respectful, or considerate act or expression." (Source: Dictionary.com - definition #2)

I answered the phone today and learned the CIBC was trying to reach my wife "as a courtesy call".

This seems to be the latest trendy excuse for marketers to call. "It's just a courtesy call, sir."

Given the definition of courtesy, I fail to see how these calls from companies we don't do business with are a courtesy.

They are actually a discourtesy as they call at the usual hours - dinnertime or when we're otherwise busy.

I'd appreciate them being honest about the reason for the call. I suppose that's too much to ask for, considering they were calling from a major Canadian bank.

Maybe their pitch would go better something like this:

"Hi - we don't have a relationship with you but we'd like to start one. Would you be interested in doing business with us if we could provide you with better banking or investment value than your current financial institution?"

Yes or no - just tell me the truth, accept my answer and move on. Just stop lying to me about why you're calling.

More Prima Donnas Needed

I remember getting raked over the coals in a past-work life about my attitude towards my job. I had just been transferred to a new department in which I had no experience and was expected to take on tasks that I had no training for. I refused to take on the responsibility of those tasks because I knew if something bad happened on my watch, the sh*t was REALLY going to hit the fan, so to speak.

Anyway, my boss was away when I refused this task and when he got back from his trip, he ranted and railed against my refusal to accept the new job position. Somewhere during this he said "we don't need prima-donnas like you around here". I was prepared for the overall berating of my attitude and I parted ways with the company that very day - much to my relief.

The thing is, we DO need more prima donnas - there should be at least one in every department. This is the person who stands up and says "NO - THIS CAN BE DONE BETTER AND I WON'T STAND BY WHILE THIS (project/department/company) GOES TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET".

Okay - maybe we can do without the ego and posturing traditionally associated with the "prima donna personality", but we all benefit from the people who are passionate enough about what they're doing who push us to do better - to go beyond the mediocre and really achieve something worth doing.