Case Studies: Ineffective Optimization

We selected 10 of web sites (among 350 we studied) that scored worst in terms of search engine optimization. Here’s a closer look at what they may be doing wrong on their home pages (company names are removed).

Case Study No. 1
Keywords, Keywords, Keywords... Blah Blah Blah... establishing an internet presence is said to be all about controling hot keywords. But fact of matter is that establishing your company as an industry leader is much more important.

I did a little research on keywords used by large companies and found that keywords were really secondary to having a great brand identity.

Coke.com uses a total of 3 key words, Saddleback Church uses just 2. Can you guess what they are?

Building a great business and letting people know about it through traditional methods can drive business to your site and is far more cost effective than pay per click. Pay per click is like having a store on Main Street and being charged for everyone who looks in window of your shop. Would you let a city do that? What if newspapers charged you for everyone who read your ad in paper whether they purchased from you or not?

Focus on developing your business reputation and customer service, tell everyone you meet to check out your website, then give them services on site that are useful, entertaining, interesting and are updated frequently.

Why do you have a website? Internet customers are great but they are tremendously fickle. Not only that most are just surfers. What if you owned a business in a mall and mall charged you for everyone who entered your store would you bid against a similar store in mall to be charged a higher price for every person who walked by your window?