tedster - 10:26 pm on Aug 16, 2000 (gmt 0)

I have one client whose website pays for itself many times over every month, and they get 3 uniques a day from the Search Engines. Because that traffic is tightly targeted, it's all they need -- it's even all they can handle! In fact, I work to keep them OUT of the top for more generalized searches, so they don't end up wasting resources responding to idle curiosity.

I have another client with great rankings, big traffic -- and a terrible conversion rate. They'll be lucky to cover their site development costs within a year, the way it's going now. Profits may never come unless something more basic gets changed.

What's the difference? A solid business plan. No amount of top rankings will ever replace this need. Thinking that a few positions in the Ink results is a life and death matter is something people do, but how short-sighted!

I feel a site should put the bulk of their effort toward doing more for the traffic they DO have. Chasing after traffic they MIGHT have should be a secondary, but supporting, issue. Site traffic alone is not black ink.

More and more, I find myself in the role of an overall business consultant. Clients who will work WITH the website process -- continually adapting their business model to the rapidly shifting terrain -- such clients still seem to be rare. But that is the game, and it will continue to be the game. Only the speed of change will vary. It will get even faster.

Sometime in the near future, the entire search engine situation as we know it will be a short chapter in history. The site owner who plans for this now is going to be the winner -- it's coming faster than any of us may realize.

Until then, I certainly play the game as it is, and I enjoy it. It's the only game I know where the rules get made up fresh as it goes along. Changes at the SEs are prompted by huge market realities that are way beyond any concern for a few handfuls of pages.

I just try to ride the waves, and remember to take in the whole landscape. It will be there long after today's little waves are gone.