Snakes lie in wait for Web mistakes

I have noticed a heartening trend – new media professionals are at last wising up to the advantages of organic text searching. This is happening because, as consultancies, we are paying more attention to the factors that really affect internet search patterns. This means a focus on good, logically searchable content.

People are reasonably simple: in both our business and personal lives, we are attracted to convincing arguments (what we in the www.world used to call compelling content). As a result, websites with interesting and well-constructed content are climbing the search-engine ladders while those with poor content are quickly sliding down the snakes. Just as a good poster, ad or brochure creates a powerful marketing environment by acting on varying emotions, so a site that excites sells more products.

Given the new media industry’s history of fads, it is good to see this focus on things that actually work online. History has seen too many failed consultancies that believed the Web is a world where viewers are influenced by completely different factors to those in every other marketing situation.

Tony Cavallo

New media manager

Houston Associates

London SE26