SEF, or Search Engine Friendly, URLs are just that: website addresses that are easily indexed by search engines such as Google.  These URLs cannot contain special characters, such as a question mark, and so website URLs that contain those characters will not be indexed by search engines such as Google…that means Google won’t know the site is there, and so it won’t bring it up in a list of results, even if the search keyword matches the website.

Why do people use URLs that aren’t search engine friendly?  Query strings are a good way for pages within a website to “speak” to one another, and share information by passing it along to other pages within that particular website.  Because of the ease query strings bring to website URLs, some webmasters may be reluctant to give query strings the boot.  However, if they continue to use special characters in their website URLs, inclusion by search engines will be rare, if at all.

If you’ve noticed that your website doesn’t show up in Google, even after you’ve typed in the exact title of your website, there are a couple of possibilities as to why your website isn’t showing up.  You might have made a typographical error.  Although Google Suggest would likely prevent that from hampering your search, you might want to just verify that both your search keywords, and the information on your website, are spelled properly.  If your website is brand new, Google may not have gotten around to indexing it, in which case you can do little else but to be patient.

If, however, your site has been around for awhile, and you’re not making any typographical errors, look at the URL of the webpage you are trying to search for.  Look for any special characters, such as any of the following:

!@#$%^&*+=.

Characters such as those likely mean that your URL is not search engine friendly.  How do you get your URL to be SEF?  Your internet marketing agency can help you to change your URL so that it is SEF, and then your website should be able to be crawled and indexed by search engines such as Google.  After that it’s only a matter of time (shouldn’t be much time either) before your web pages are crawling with real prospects.

One of the most popular ideals of Cuil, a recently released (and unfortunately failed) search engine was that it provided a comprehensive related search that went a little beyond already related searches found on other search engines by including content value.  While Google Suggest might not go that far, it is doing its part to make searches more convenient and efficient, while providing the functioning element of Google in that it returns search results that are relavent to the terms entered.

How does Google Suggest work?  Consider the following example.  If I enter the word “apple” into Google, Google Suggest will seek to narrow my search by determining whether I’m searching for apple juice, apple cider, apple pie or something else apple-related.  From there it presents results and shows the connection between those results and the entered search terms. 

What does this mean for your business?  Google Suggest means that searchers will be able to search to a finer degree, with more detail, so that if they’re searching for products or services offered by your company, they’re more likely to find your company.  If you sell apple cider, prospects searching for apple cider will be led to your website.  Searchers looking for apple pie or apple juice can still see your website in the results, but the search will direct your prospects to you without them having to sort through many possibly unrelated search results.

Have you ever been to a rock concert?  Has the lead singer ever made a comment or greeted your town by name?  The common result is that the crowd goes wild with applause and even though they already liked the performing band, they now like them more, because an instant relationship formed between the band and every member of the audience when the lead singer greeted the town by name.  This seemingly small act shows the audience that the band cares enough about them to remember precisely which city they are visiting on that night of their tour.

Whether or not you believe that the lead singer sincerely cared about which town he or she was performing in doesn’t change the fact that people appreciate some personalization.  Even when everyone in the world is trying to increase their privacy…showing a prospect you care enough about where they’re coming from geographically, demographically or culturally can go a long way.  How can your business accomplish this?  Unfortunately, hopping up on stage at a rock concert to announce the nature of your business and that you care about your prospects will likely earn you nothing more than a one-way ticket out of the arena, concert hall or stadium.

Don’t despair…with regional internet marketing, you’ll not only notice success in reaching prospects who are most likely to be interested in your products or services, but you will find that an instant relationship is built off of the common ground shared by your company and your prospect.  That instant relationship can then be nurtured and strengthened, and before you know it, you’ll have a loyal customer on your hands that will let friends and family know just how wonderful your company is.

Just like a friend inviting you to a rock concert featuring their favorite band in hope that you too will enjoy the music and become a fan, so will your customers lead new prospects to your website to partake in the value found therein.

No one would really disagree that kittens are adorable, but people may be reluctant to sit through, or endure in some other facet, an ad on your home video of Fluffy chasing a catnip-filled toy.  Yet, they will view commercials aired during the Kitty Superbowl and Puppy Half-Time Show (alternates to the annual game day).  Does this mean your Fluffy isn’t as cute as those cats?  Of course not!  The willingness of a viewer to endure ads depends on  the degree of professionalism with which the content is made, so says a recent report compiled by Ipsos and reported in the New York Times.

So what does this mean for your business?  It proves that the quality of video content directly influences the viewers’ perceptions of the worth of that content.  You wouldn’t paint your message on poster boards and just film people holding them up because that won’t look professional.  However, not everyone can be an animation or advertising expert, and that is why there are internet marketing experts.  Your business has an important message to deliver to potential prospects, and that message deserves professional presentation.

That’s not to say your video has to be elaborate and glitzy in order for viewers to assign it value.  Look at Keith Harrington’s art, for example.  What makes his work different from an ordinary and rudamentary stick figure?  Why will someone pay thousands for his art, but a six-line stick figure I might draw won’t earn six cents?  His art isn’t particularly glamorous, but it boils down to that same sense of professionalism.  Harrington uses a unique quality of line and colors that pop, as well as aesthetically successful compositions that create a unique representation, albeit as abstract as a standard stick-figure, that is based upon education, practice and professional knowledge.