Have you ever received an email from a digital marketing company or consultant saying that your website isn’t performing well, or your site isn’t found in search engines or you “have to” redo your website…….or else?
When companies try to sell their digital marketing services by using fear-based email messages, I want to reach my hand through the computer screen and smack them.
Here is an example and what to do if you get a message like this to help spare you unnecessary marketing stress.
Dear James,
I noticed that your website is not mobile-friendly which is hurting your visibility on Google. In April, Google began penalizing websites for not optimizing for mobile devices. Since then, businesses without mobile-friendly websites have lost significant search traffic.
The email example (from a real email a client forwarded me) goes on to insist that without a new website, the client’s visibility is doomed then leads into a free call. These types of email serve to alarm you into taking action…prompting you to call or book a time to talk online.
It is healthy to have ongoing marketing discussions and always great to look at ways to optimize your digital marketing efforts, but never, ever start a conversation in a state of stress. Here is the debrief on messages like the example above.
As this email above said, Google unleashed a new search algorithm (that was often called “Moblegeddon” as it threatened to wipe out websites from the search engines, favoring websites built on newer responsive platforms). Read more about that here. Newer websites that are built to be mobile-friendly will earn search favoritism, but it doesn’t mean that you your non-mobile friendly site isn’t being listed and found. Always do an internet search to see if your site is being found.
There is a lot you can do to make sure your site is being searched if you don’t want to (or can’t afford to) overhaul your website to be fully mobile friendly, which sales email examples like the one above propose. Ongoing search marketing efforts like blogging are a good way to keep your ongoing search marketing on point.
Search ranking is based on a number of factors, mainly architecture, content and linking. The architecture is the coding of the site and can include factors like if it is responsive (meaning it adapts to a tablet and mobile device automatically) as well as your meta data code. If your blog is extremely search friendly and content is regularly posted, it creates a good foundation. Content is king with search – the more content you publish (blog posts, etc) the better. Search engines have robots that read and index websites, the more “food” you feed these bots, the better. Linking is also a big factor – links within page content and other sites linking to you are important.
When Google changed their search algorhythm, many of our clients invested in redesigning their websites as they wanted these new mobile-friendly responsive sites so users had the best mobile experience. But many did not want to spend the money and have been FINE. There is no wrong or right approach and there are tons of benefits to building responsive sites, I always want to make sure folks make their marketing decisions based on understanding their options…not based on a knee-jerk reaction from a scare-tactic sales email.
If you do decide to reach out to companies following one of their emails, be sure to take a close look at what they are selling. Some companies have very oppressive contracts. Also be leery of sales pitches that say they can redo your website with a very quick turnaround….quick doesn’t always mean good…
Healthy marketing is important. Keeping a close eye on ways you can improve your online presence is always a good practice, but don’t fall victim to alarmist emails. Set your path and readjust as necessary, based on your own experiences and research, or reach out to a reputable marketing firm who is willing to talk with you and educate you on ways you can improve your online presence.
It’s always best to make decisions based on options…never let digital marketing people stress you out. If they do that from the get-go, the relationship is off to a bad start…
