By : Nidhi Gupta

Most of the frustration some Internet marketers feel when it comes to search engines stems from a lack of understanding of the role and objectives of their sites, and of what search engines can do for them. Some people expect organic search engine results to place their sites at the top, and deliver traffic and sales overnight. Organic search results, however, don’t work like that. They are a reflection of how relevant a site is to a certain topic.

Relevancy is not accomplished in a few days or weeks. With search engine technology evolving quickly, it is becoming increasingly difficult to use unnatural linking patterns to “fool” search engines into believing that a site is relevant.

Techniques like link exchanges or link renting are not very effective any more. Search engines now favor one way links developed over time. Links from guestbooks or blog comments are nowadays heavily discounted or not counted at all.

What this means is that achieving good organic search engine rankings is a long term proposition, usually performed by building a useful and content rich site that people want to link to. Content sites are basically narrowly-focused sites that offer a large number of useful resources or a unique perspective on a certain topic.

On the other hand, mini-sites, which are basically long sales letters with no outbound links except for a “Purchase Now” button, aren’t likely to get a lot of inbound links, and therefore are not well suited to achieve high organic search engine rankings. Mini-sites, however, are your best bet to achieve short term sales results using pay per click
advertising, like Google Adwords or Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture). To generate sales with this approach you just need to find a profitable niche or product, a well crafted ad that can deliver a high click through rate of targeted traffic, and a purposely designed well written mini-site landing page or sales letter to send that traffic to.

Many Internet marketers expect to get this kind of results from their content sites through organic search engine placement, without understanding that the role of a content site is not to sell but to “pre-sell”. By offering useful articles, reviews and resources, sprinkled with a few, well chosen affiliate products links, you will educate your customers, who will then buy your recommended products based on the trust and rapport you’ve been able to build.

It is not hard to infer that, while it may be possible to profit from a product or topic that you don’t necessarily care about by using pay per click advertising, it is virtually impossible to achieve high organic search results and effective pre-selling through a content site if you really don’t enjoy the subject. Building a content site just to achieve organic search results is a losing proposition, since it is people who will ultimately buy your products. If you don’t feel a strong connection with your topic and your site, you can’t expect your visitors to feel it either, which will make it difficult or impossible to forge with them the kind of bond that will make them trust your recommendations and buy your products.

In summary, build a content site about a topic you really enjoy, that addresses your readers’ needs, optimize it for the search engines, and be ready to hang in there for the long haul if you want to achieve success. If you want immediate results, rather than obsessing with organic search engine results, you will be better off by focusing your energies on finding a profitable product, building an effective mini-site landing page, and learning how to craft pay per click ads that produce high click through rates of targeted, profitable traffic.

Spread the word: related/bookmark it/readit