Frequently Asked Questions
Internet Marketing for Wedding Professionals May 23, 2006

More Frequently Asked Questions

Disappeared at Google

Q: Chris, our site fell out of Google recently. It's completely gone. What do you think happened? Thankfully, we're still listed with MSN and Yahoo!.

A: A lot of things could have happened and cheating is the number one reason this occurs. The first step is to take a long, hard look at your website with your webmaster. Is there hidden text, hidden links, or cloaking on your site, especially on the front page? Are there doorway pages that do a JavaScript or some other redirect to a different page? Make sure you're not doing anything that smacks of cheating [Advantage Members Link: http://www.bookmoreweddings.com/members/138.cfm].

Are you following the guidelines set forth by Google, as well as the other search engines (MSN, Yahoo!).

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=8521.

If you're not cheating and if everything is in good shape you can file a formal "reinclusion request" with Google.

To do this go to: http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py. Select "I'm a webmaster inquiring about my website" and then select "Why my site disappeared from the search results or dropped in ranking". Click Continue, and on the page that shows up, make sure to type "Reinclusion Request" in the Subject: line of the resulting form. Make sure you use the words "reinclusion request" in the subject line so it gets routed to the right place.

Competitors Cheating in Search Engines

Q: One of our competitors is always showing up higher than us at Google. Our webmaster says they are cheating. Do you think there is anything we can do about it?

A: Yes, you can. But I'd make absolutely sure they cheating. You can report cheating and other SPAM related issues to Google at: http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

If they are NOT cheating there is a great opportunity to analyze their website, both their on-page and off-page search engine optimization techniques. Find the weak link in their strategy, copy everything right that they're doing AND capitalize on any weaknesses.

Hiring A Search Engine Optimization Firm

Q: We're thinking about hiring a SEO firm. Can you give us some ideas on how to choose one?

A: Sure. Get three references and call them all. Ask what kind of service, support, and results they've received. Then go look for them and the keywords they've targeted - at Google, MSN, and Yahoo!.

Google has a page with great ideas and some of the basics. Visit: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291

Selecting an Auto-Responder (or Broadcast EMAIL System)

Q: Chris, we'd like to start using an auto-responder with our website inquiry form. Can you give us some heads up on what's involved?

A: Hands down the best auto-responder system I've ever used is AWeber. They offer unlimited auto-responders, broadcast messaging, and dozens of other bells and whistles that make managing auto-responders and outbound email newsletter campaigns much easier. The other thing even MORE important than all the functionality of ANY system is: does the email sent actually get delivered!

That sounds almost ridiculous, doesn't it?

But it's a huge problem that no one in the "email marketing" industry talks about.

An autoresponder is useless if your email never reaches it's destination because some ISP has filtered it out as SPAM. More information can be found at AWeber's website http://www.aweber.com.

A (growing) list of the services and products I've tested, reviewed, and usually recommend can be found here: http://www.bookmoreweddings.com/members/department45.cfm

Google Page Rank

Q: Chris, we're not getting many inquiries from our website and I'm not sure what the problem is. Can you take a look and does anything stick out as a red flag?

A: One problem is using an EMAIL link as your only contact option.

Simple EMAIL links at a website work but rarely are they as effective as using an online form. If you use an email link most of your inquiries will come in with missing information, I guarantee it. You might not get a phone number, a full name, a wedding date, or probably most of the other information you really need to appropriately follow-up and pre-qualify your prospect. A simple web-based form solves that problem. Add an inquiry form to your website and make sure brides can find it. Look at your logs and find your most popular page. Add the form directly to that page (not just a link from it). That should help immediately, if you have quality traffic visiting your website.

Q: Chris, should we be concerned about our Google Page Rank? Does it impact our position in other search engines?

A: I wouldn't lose sleep over Google Page Rank, but I wouldn't ignore it either. PR is an indication of the importance and popularity of your website. It's a Google term and measurement but the fundamentals behind it apply the big three search engines: MSN, Yahoo!, and All The Web.

Improving your PR should be part of your overall search engine optimization strategy. More information about Google Page Rank can be found here: [Advantage Members Link: http://www.bookmoreweddings.com/members/department64.cfm].

Free Google Page Rank Report

For those of you who don't know your website's Google Page Rank you can request a free report here: http://www.bookmoreweddings.com/public/172.cfm