In a recent New York Times story that qualifies as an instant classic, reporter David Segal chronicled the adventures of a shameless ecommerce entrepreneur who was profiting from poor customer service.
In a nutshell, the operator of the eyeglasses site Decor My Eyes (!) found that the more people complained about his site and service, the more site backlinks it generated…which in turn boosted his Page Rank in Google, sending the site to the top of Google’s results for key search terms! The result? More traffic and more sales. If you don’t have time to read the full article, check out this summary, which features the money quotes from the story.
Of course, the backlash was swift, and it seems that Google has manually intervened to put an end to this particular individual’s nonsense.
Nevertheless, the story is a vivid testament to the power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and how continually fresh content combined with favorable backlinks can boost your online visibility to generate added sales or to meet other objectives. And you don’t have to be a jerk to enjoy the benefits.
One related example from our portfolio is the Official Santa Maria Valley Barbecue Blog that we created and continue to manage for the Santa Maria Valley Visitor & Convention Bureau. This blog has been praised by Sunset Magazine as a “Best Web Find” along with other accolades, and it today ranks highly in all search terms related to Santa Maria Style Barbecue, enabling the bureau to take online ownership of one of the valley’s top visitor attractions—specifically, the 150-year-old regional culinary tradition of Santa Maria Style Barbecue. The blog also serves as a critical ongoing chronicle and resource for the history, traditions, news and events surrounding Santa Maria Style Barbecue.
If you are serious about raising your search rankings, or if you simply want to boost your brand image with fresh and thoughtful content, you should consider a dedicated blog with a corresponding keyword strategy. A blog can also add juice to your social media efforts, bringing added credibility and authenticity to your community outreach while generating added traffic back to your web site.
The caveat is that, as with any marketing tool, an effective blog requires a measure of commitment, which means applying the necessary resources to generate frequent posts with meaningful content. And if you are ready to do that, we are ready to help.
