Paying for Search Engines to Find You
Answer by Mary Beth Guard, BOL Guru BIO AND CONTACT INFO
Question: The company that is doing our bank's Web page is trying to get us to also pay them for getting our site indexed in the search engines. We are located in a fairly small community and have only one office. Do you think there's really any benefit to being in the search engines?
Answer: Before you have a Web site created for your bank, you undoubtedly (I hope) thought strategically about why you were taking such action. You should ask:
Why are we establishing a Web page? (For example, do you just want an online brochure? It is going to be the entry-way to your online banking? Do you want to use it to attract new customers? Will you have interactive content?)
What is the goal of our Web site? Provide basic information about the bank? Advertise our products and services? Serve as a tool for gathering feedback from customers and prospective customers? Connect our customers to third parties with whom we have link share arrangements or other affiliations? Get loan applicants or new accounts?
Who are we targeting with our Web site's content? Do we merely want to provide a convenient way for our customers to access information, or are we hoping to capture new customers? Are we attempting to broaden our geographic reach with this Web site?
Do we have a niche or a specialty that crosses geographic boundaries? Something that makes us uniquely able to compete in a global marketplace? (For example, your bank may have expertise in aircraft financing. Or maybe you offer virtual safe deposit services.)
Once you have answered these questions, you're in a position to determine not only how important search engines might be to your strategy, but you'll also have a clearer idea of how -- and with what words or phrases -- you want people to find you, or would expect them to find you. If you want to be depicted as the world's friendliest bank in Podunkville, serving the greater Podunkville area with pride, it will be important for you to have the name of the town, the county, and the state as part of your search engine "bait" -- for example, placing those words in your meta tags and title tags.
On the other hand, if you want to exploit your niche, make sure your Web pages are optimized in such a way that the search engines readily pick up on your niche. If someone is searching for financing for rare artworks and that's your speciality, you'll want to choose the right keywords and phrases.
Search engine optimization can require significant expertise and can take time. Make sure the company soliciting you can demonstrate -- through their work for other entities -- that they can deliver. Want to see the results of bad search engine optimization? Make a list of banks in your area and search for them in the search engines various ways. You'll be amazed to see that some of them can't be found! They're lost in cyberspace because no one knows they're there.
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