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Local Directory Advertising in Myrtle Beach and Elsewhere
The Myth and the Danger
In years past, one of the easiest and rather costly ways of promoting a local business was
by the local "Online Guides". It seemed that every city had one...these mysterious
"directories" that seemed to be at the top of the search engines, especially in resort areas.
Hotels, Condo Rentals, even restaurants flocked to pay out hundreds a month for a banner
advertisement or flashy ad on a guide like this. And in those days nobody knew
how to optimize a website...indeed, all that was required was alot of "doorway" mini-sites and
keyword spamming to be the top dog in the Yahoo and MSN searches. Of course,
few people had the know-how to create an internet empire like that and succeed at it.
It was easier to put an ad on a website like that than it was to use the pop-up ads and banner
promotions that proliferated the internet. And it was usually locally handled, so you could
pick up the phone and call when an ad needed updating or there was a problem. They
were useful in their day...but what about now?
There are still hundreds of these directory sites for every city, and every type of business. Now that the technology has expanded, programmers
have found many deceitful ways to sell links and advertising without the average customer
being able to tell that they've done anything wrong. They have devised ways to add
javascript to the links, redirecting the user to a duplicate page created on the advertising site,
and recently, a new tag has been created that tells the search engines not to follow the link at all!
The redirects can cause your website to be banned for duplicate content, and if the tag is used,
you have wasted money that could have purchased you a link as well as an advertisement.
There are some legitimate directories and guides available, and many of the new advertising sites will place your website link in a banner, or even give
you a free "reciprocal" link sometimes. You need to be very careful which of
these directories you allow to list you, however. Very few of them
will give you a regular HTML anchor link anymore...which is the only thing that
will help your website with the search engines. There are more of the bad ones out there
than there are directories that are worth the cost and will actually help you.
For this reason, it is unwise to advertise your website in a directory unless
you know what to look for, and can tell, yourself, that the link
is valid. It should go TO your homepage, without any programming or extra javascript
added on to trick the spiders and possibly damage your own placement in the
search engines. Again, this is why it is so necessary to consult a reputable
SEO expert before you decide to take the easy way out and hand the wrong person
hundreds of dollars just to get your ad seen by a few people. And remember,
these people want to market THEIR OWN SITES, not yours! They may try to
convince you that a banner ad is better than hiring someone to optimize your site or learning to do it yourself.
This could not be more untrue. Advertising should only be an EXTRA service that you purchase. Your first, and best advertising should be your own website.
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