VOLUME 3d. MAY 23 1999 - Advertising on the Internet:

Search Engines: Rating - The Final Word

By Ian Clayton, AXSES SCL
 

There is lot more to say about designing a website for the Search Engines. There are special tags for Search engines, and issues relating to where words are placed, (top of page, headings and titles get special billing), tables that mix up positions and pictures which to a SE are not worth a single word. But I am bored with SE and so is Kathylyn our webmaster. That must mean you are also. So we going to wrap it up and move on. If you want to know more or subscribe to our Search Engine Watch, please write to us.

In this final word, the good news is that, as the web matures, SE's are getting to be less important. The bad news is that SE's still account for 50% of Barbados.org traffic even with 20,000 other sites referring business to us. We have to take them seriously.

It is a constant battle to keep a website on top of the search listing. Sometimes when you think you have just got it, a rule will change and your site will slip. Website designers are asking, what is it that we are trying to do, get good exposure on the net or build a compelling website. It sometimes seems that you cannot do both well. It is obvious that good webdesign must build a balance between these objectives. Good impact is only effective if the page is found, and pages get found on the Internet to a large extent by being well placed on SE's.

Conclusion: Page Design and Marketing for Internet Rating.

I think I finally know what Marshall McLuhan meant by "The Medium is The Message". I recall an undergraduate class on marketing where we discussed the topic for some time. At the end we all agreed that we were not exactly sure what it meant. It was an abstract notion dealing with the concept of the market and the medium's interaction with its audience. Today the message is clearer, we are constantly changing our concept of design and communication to accommodate and use a rapidly changing technology. This is especially true with the Internet where SE listing, and access to new methods for communications are causing us to change they way we think about and design the message. In this New World the "medium is technology" and technology will configure how we market and advertise everything.

NEXT - Keep tuned for more on Internet advertising. We are going to take a summer recess and then be back with more on advertising on the net.

PREVIOUS:

INTERNET MARKETING NEWSLETTER AND TUTORIAL

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Internet Marketing -Intro mch 8
vol 1. Travel on net mch 12
vol 2a. Promo on the net mch 21
vol 2b. Features of the net mch 29
vol 2c. The new marketing mix Apr 8
vol 3. iNet Advertising-SE Apr20
vol 3a. Keywords May 2
vol 3b. Popularity May 9
vol 3c. Java & Databases etc May 16