A
site Google will NEVER add to its listings
By
Mitch Tarr
A reader named Jack recently wrote us to ask the following:
Currently, I am an affiliate for a large network
company which provides websites for its affiliates.
However, the URL required to reach the website is too
long and cumbersome. Accordingly, I use my own short
domain name to forward my domain name to the website
provided by the network company.
My question is: Is it possible to submit my own
domain name to any search engine and get the same results
as if it were my own website? Or will the search engines
recognize that the URL is masked and will either ignore
or reject the URL?
Jack, I'm sorry to tell you that the answer is no --
the search engines will
not recognize your
domain as a valid page to rank in their listings.
Why? Because your domain is what we call a "redirect."
A redirect has no content of its own. Its only purpose
is to send people to another web page. And the search
engines absolutely HATE web pages with no content in
them -- because providing searchers with useful content
is what they're all about.
It's important to remember that search engines aren't
simply providers of a free service. They're
businesses.
And their business is to get as many users as possible,
so they can convince companies to spend big money placing
advertisements where all those users will see them.
However, in order to get those users, the search engines
have to make sure they give searchers what they're looking
for -- useful information!
Obviously, a site that has no content won't be able
to offer much in the way of useful information.
When you're running a business, it's all too easy to
assume that the search engines have an obligation to
include your site in their listings. But the search
engines don't exist to serve webmasters who want to
get their site listed in the search results -- they
exist to provide searchers with the most meaningful
search results possible.
That's why they pay such careful attention to a site's
content and to the network of links pointing to that
site. They want to make sure the sites they list contain
relevant content that other sites recognize as being
valuable enough to link to.
But Jack, just because you can't submit a redirect site
to the search engines, it doesn't mean you can't use
proven search marketing techniques to drive traffic
to your affiliate site.
Here are two ways you can use the search engines to
get more visitors -- and more sales:
1. Build a content-rich page that points visitors
to your affiliate site
Instead of using a redirect, Jack, I recommend you build
a content-rich information site that drives people to
your affiliate site.
The main advantage to this approach is that you WILL
be able to optimize your content site for the search
engines -- which means a lot more people will be able
to find it.
And the more people who arrive on this content page
and find your information valuable, the more people
you'll get clicking through to your affiliate site to
see what you're offering there.
Not only that, you can include an opt-in form right
on that site so you can start building a list of subscribers
you can market to in the future. Simply offer a valuable
free report -- or some other useful information -- in
exchange for people's email addresses, and you'll be
amazed at how quickly your opt-in list will grow.
The great thing about having a large opt-in list is,
you won't have to limit yourself just to the affiliate
product you're currently trying to sell.
In fact, you'll be able to promote a wide range of different
products to your list -- that way, you can test to see
which products sell best so you can focus your marketing
efforts on them instead of the ones no one's interested
in buying!
2. Become active on relevant community sites
-- and build a solid link structure
One of the best ways to drive a site up to the top of
the search engine listings is to build an extensive
structure of links pointing to it. An effective way
of doing this is to become active on industry forums
and blogs and include a link in your signature block
that points back to your site.
You could also set up pages on social networking sites
such as Facebook and MySpace and include links on them
that point back to your site.
I strongly recommend that these links all point to a
content page -- like the one I described above -- rather
than to your actual affiliate site.
That's because you'll find it far easier to sell to
your opt-in list -- people who have shown strong interest
in what you have to say and have actually given you
their email address -- than to first-time visitors with
whom you haven't yet formed a strong relationship. And
you'll find it easier to grow your list with an opt-in
form on an info-rich content page than on a site that's
clearly advertising a product.
I hope that answers your question, Jack, and gives you
some new strategies to try out! Please keep in touch
and let us know how your marketing efforts go from here.
If you are interested in learning more about the proven
search engine marketing techniques you can use to boost
your visitor count (and your sales!), please pay a visit
to our exclusive Search Marketing Lab. There you'll
discover all the latest tips and strategies that are
absolutely essential to your success with the search
engines.
For more info, please go to:
www.marketingtips.com/searchmarketinglab
[Ed. note: Mitch Tarr is IMC's
Vice President of Marketing.] 
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