Life without Google

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RC in Dayton and Cincinnati

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Mar 21, 2004
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Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus
www.oberers.com
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Life without Google

Right before the Valentine’s Day holiday on the evening of Jan 31st, we realized Google had banned our website for hidden text. We had intentionally, but not maliciously, hidden a small amount of text behind the main image of our home page that included our name, addresses and the three metros we served.

We immediately removed the text and resubmitted the site. According to Google, the site would be banned for 30 days then possibly reinstated if it didn’t violate any Google guidelines.

But this meant the site would be invisible for Valentine’s Day, completely invisible. For example if someone searched for “Oberer’s Flowers” or “oberers.com” the site would not appear as if it didn’t exist.

We were braced for the worst, a plummet in page views and a plummet in online orders, but it didn’t happen, no noticeable drop in traffic, no decrease in orders. Traffic from Google went to zero, but traffic from yahoo, msn, yellow page directories, insiderpages, etc. went up. It was amazing to see the crazy ways people found our site, but they did.

After five days the Google gods must have been smiling because our site reappeared in the Google search. I don’t know what the long-term affect might have been, but it did confirm my strong belief of staying independent and always avoiding too much reliance and dependence on anyone.

It is much more valuable for a customer to seek you out rather than relying on them to stumble across you or find you by default. I’m not a big believer in spending too much effort in being on top of the search engine results for orders, nor do I believe in relying on directories for orders, nor wire services for orders for that matter. Instead I want people to seek us out because they heard we are the best. Thankfully our customers think enough about us to be willing to go the extra step in finding us.


RC
 
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RC in Dayton and Cincinnati said:
Life without Google

It is much more valuable for a customer to seek you out rather than relying on them to stumble across you or find you by default. I’m not a big believer in spending too much effort in being on top of the search engine results for orders, nor do I believe in relying on directories for orders, nor wire services for orders for that matter. Instead I want people to seek us out because they heard we are the best. Thankfully our customers think enough about us to be willing to go the extra step in finding us.

RC
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Wise words those - you can spend a whole lot of time chasing your tail trying to be at the top that would be better spent servicing your existing customers to death.

I also am now of the opinion that useability is more important than good listings, or at least of equal importance.

I made some very minor changes in the last month and my internet orders for VD were up 37% after watching them decline for several years in a row now.

After this test I now think useability is king.
 
RC in Dayton and Cincinnati said:
Life without Google

It is much more valuable for a customer to seek you out rather than relying on them to stumble across you or find you by default. I’m not a big believer in spending too much effort in being on top of the search engine results for orders, nor do I believe in relying on directories for orders, nor wire services for orders for that matter. Instead I want people to seek us out because they heard we are the best. Thankfully our customers think enough about us to be willing to go the extra step in finding us.


RC
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I have cut back on ppc 70%.(Also paused it for six days over V.D. period) I completed pulled out of Verizon on line, eliminated Yellow book on line and print. Pulled out of Tel find a florist. My business has continued to grow. Your posts have helped me pull the plug. Although I don't think I could take not showing up on Google. Glad you kept doing well.
 
There are good and bad ways to hide text ... and good and bad reasons for it.

RC and JB make an excellent point: usability is just as important as being found! In past, we've refused to do SEO work for clients who refused to adjust the content and layout of their sites. I consider usability to be a basic element of SEO, since the purpose is to increase sales and ROI.

The neat thing is that usability often helps with search rankings. The easier it is to access your desirable content, the more likely the SE's will spider it frequently. (The preceding was an overly simplified statement for the sake of brevity.) Of course, having a lot of incoming links and a strong brand (i.e. Oberer's) is a big help, too.

Bottom line: it does no good to be #1 for your search term if people hate using your site. If does no good to have a great site that no one can find. A porperly designed site that is easy to use will do you well.

Ryan
 
RC in Dayton and Cincinnati said:
After five days the Google gods must have been smiling because our site reappeared in the Google search. I don’t know what the long-term affect might have been, but it did confirm my strong belief of staying independent and always avoiding too much reliance and dependence on anyone.
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Randy -

I totally agree that heavy reliance on random traffic from Google is a serious mistake for any company. The Denver Flowers guy's issue during Christmas shows what can happen to a company that doesn't have a strong local customer base.

It's fortunate your site was only gone for five days including lowest traffic days Saturday and Sunday.

It is much more valuable for a customer to seek you out rather than relying on them to stumble across you or find you by default.
Click to expand...
Shops should track and compare traffic & conversions from 1) email campaigns, 2) customers seeking them out by name and 3) customers choosing them based on a search engine keyword or IYP query. #1 & #2 are direct results from marketing and brand identity. #3 is an opportunity gain a new, long-term customer.

I’m not a big believer in spending too much effort in being on top of the search engine results for orders, nor do I believe in relying on directories for orders, nor wire services for orders for that matter. Instead I want people to seek us out because they heard we are the best. Thankfully our customers think enough about us to be willing to go the extra step in finding us.
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IIRC you do newspaper, TV and email marketing and have the largest operation in your area - by far. Your relationship with and dominance of your community is to be envied, but is far from typical for most local florists.

Search engine positioning is just another way to reach new customers and is far, far more economical than newspapers or TV for most shops, especially for those of us in major metro areas.

Dependence on any single source for business is unhealthy; be it a search engine, WS, Yellow Page ad or large customer. But each of those sources can contribute to profits if managed properly.

In the end, you are right. The best source of sales are the customers seeking you out because they trust your brand.
 
gloriosaflorist said:
Can I ask what method you were using to hide text? - e.g. CSS layers, positioning, size, colour etc
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gloriosa,

Division tag layering. The text was behind the layer that had the picture.

I did this because I felt the text was unneeded and somewhat redundant as much of the information was already presented in picture form or on information pages, but I felt it was needed for the search engines.

RC
 
CHR said:
IIRC you do newspaper, TV and email marketing and have the largest operation in your area - by far. Your relationship with and dominance of your community is to be envied, but is far from typical for most local florists.

Search engine positioning is just another way to reach new customers and is far, far more economical than newspapers or TV for most shops, especially for those of us in major metro areas.

Dependence on any single source for business is unhealthy; be it a search engine, WS, Yellow Page ad or large customer. But each of those sources can contribute to profits if managed properly.

In the end, you are right. The best source of sales are the customers seeking you out because they trust your brand.
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Cathy,

IMO florists spend too much time seeking out orders and not enough time cultivating customers. It is much more difficult cultivating a customer who chooses you because you happened to be on top, than cultivating a customer who chooses you because you were recommended be a friend or family member.

RC
 
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RC,

The banner on FC is just flash, not sIFR. Since FC is password-protected there isn't any need to be SE friendly.

As far as cultivating customers, what you say is true ... but not many shops are in the position to have people flocking to them via word of mouth. Even after 110 years, Martin's needs to recruit new customers while maintaining the ones we have AND grabbing the low-hanging fruit of referred clients. In the case of a referral, someone has done much of the selling for you. In the case of a search engine shopper you have an editorial endorsement from being at the top of the rankings ... useful for branding and selling. If someone is searching they likely haven't got a friend who can recommend a shop, otherwise they would be going to that shop. I know you aren't saying that you want to ignore the poor friendless masses :)

Ryan
 
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Infinite said:
I know you aren't saying that you want to ignore the poor friendless masses :)

Ryan
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Actually that is what I'm saying_______ ...to a point anyway.

The poor friendless masses or the poor convenience buyer -
  • Tends to have little loyalty. If you want repeat business from him you better be on top of the list he's using to search.
  • Tends to have little passion for what he's purchasing. Convenience trumps quality or value with him. He may be unhappy with his convenience purchase but is unwilling to do any research so he doesn't have a repeat bad experience.
  • Tends to be an infrequent purchaser. He will show up mostly at Holidays such as Valentine's Day.
  • Tends to have no expectations. This makes it difficult to impress him with quality or service.

So what's wrong with going after this type of customer? Nothing, except he tends to be expensive because he-

  • Tends to buy from the florist with the largest Yellow Page ad.
  • Tends to buy from the florist who pays the highest price for pay-per-clicks.
  • Tends not to be able to distinguish between a real florist and a ordergatherer, nor does he care.
  • Tends to gravitate towards national companies such as FTD.COM and Proflowers.



RC
 
Or, he's new in town, or is new to buying flowers, or has had a poor experiece somewhere else and is casting around for a new florist.

Getting a top listing is a chance to get that introduction you need to wow a customer with your product. A top listing won't bring them back, that's up to you - and we know you do it well. A top listing is an opportunity to do your do on more people and create more loyal customers who will refer more people.

Ryan
 
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