Several years ago I started a web site called John's Modern Cabins News as a personal project. The purpose of this site is to help along historic preservation efforts on Route 66, on of my personal passions. To that end, the site contains preservation news, suggested actions, a directory of promotional resources, and a free directory for historic businesses on Route 66 to help them get more exposure and thus stay vital and open.
I've recently relaunched the site because I have added an online form provided by Webinar Resources to make it easier for business owners to send me their information if they want to be in the directory. To promote the relaunch one of the things I'm doing is sending postcards to businesses that I think would be appropriate for inclusion. For some of the businesses I've have to search online for their street address - while doing that I noticed something interesting.
Quite a few of the businesses I searched for have web sites, but their web sites did not always come up first in the search results. In many cases review web sites such as Trip Advisor were the first result shown. Why would review web sites be first in the search results over the businesses' own web site?
One possible reason is that the nature of review sites is that they have a lot of content that is frequently updated. Search engines are known to favor such sites. Also, the more incoming links a site has, the more search engines will like it. A high profile site such as Trip Advisor is likely to have a lot of incoming links, so in order for a site to rank above it, a number of incoming links are needed to stay competitive. You don't necessarily need more links than Trip Advisor, but you need enough for your incoming links plus other factors such as your title tags and site content to lift your site above the review sites.
Why is this important? Well, some of the reviews I read of the businesses I was searching for were not favorable. If someone reads a negative review before they even get to see your web site, that is bad news. There is no guarantee that the reviews are fair either. I read some reviews of businesses that I've patronized myself that in no way reflect my own experience.
Because you can't control what other people say about you, you have to take charge of your own online reputation. Search for your own business name if you haven't for awhile to see what people are saying about you. Be visible in as many channels as possible by strategically planning your multi channel mix. Make use of social network applications in addition to your own web site. Take advantage of every free link you can get. Push those review sites farther down the page so that people can at least get a good first impression of you before they read something negative!
I've recently relaunched the site because I have added an online form provided by Webinar Resources to make it easier for business owners to send me their information if they want to be in the directory. To promote the relaunch one of the things I'm doing is sending postcards to businesses that I think would be appropriate for inclusion. For some of the businesses I've have to search online for their street address - while doing that I noticed something interesting.
Quite a few of the businesses I searched for have web sites, but their web sites did not always come up first in the search results. In many cases review web sites such as Trip Advisor were the first result shown. Why would review web sites be first in the search results over the businesses' own web site?
One possible reason is that the nature of review sites is that they have a lot of content that is frequently updated. Search engines are known to favor such sites. Also, the more incoming links a site has, the more search engines will like it. A high profile site such as Trip Advisor is likely to have a lot of incoming links, so in order for a site to rank above it, a number of incoming links are needed to stay competitive. You don't necessarily need more links than Trip Advisor, but you need enough for your incoming links plus other factors such as your title tags and site content to lift your site above the review sites.
Why is this important? Well, some of the reviews I read of the businesses I was searching for were not favorable. If someone reads a negative review before they even get to see your web site, that is bad news. There is no guarantee that the reviews are fair either. I read some reviews of businesses that I've patronized myself that in no way reflect my own experience.
Because you can't control what other people say about you, you have to take charge of your own online reputation. Search for your own business name if you haven't for awhile to see what people are saying about you. Be visible in as many channels as possible by strategically planning your multi channel mix. Make use of social network applications in addition to your own web site. Take advantage of every free link you can get. Push those review sites farther down the page so that people can at least get a good first impression of you before they read something negative!
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