October 19 2009
Signs you have a quality Web site
Signs you have a quality Web site – “Quality” is a completely, totally subjective concept. It has nothing to do with who knows more than who, who is right about anything, or who is better. It just means people associate value with your work.
- People search on your Website’s name and click through to your site.
- People who find your site by searching on its name visit more than 1 page.
- People search for the titles of articles you wrote 1-2 years ago.
- People link to your site without you asking for links.
- People tweet about your site without you asking for tweets.
- People link, tweet, or visit your site even if they disagree with you.
- You wake up every morning and think, “What can I do to make my site better?”
I’m going to paraphrase a question several people have asked me over the past few months. It goes something like this: “When I look at all the sites that [a well respected SEO] recommends for linking, I get a sick feeling in my stomach (because they are so plain and ugly). Are they really worth getting links from?”
I swear, at least four people have raised this issue with me over the past 2-3 months. My answer has been different every time but I’ve been searching for the best way to make my point. I think I now have it.
Ask yourself this: Would you create your personal flagship Website on blogger?
Most people in the SEO community would say “No”. You don’t have to tell me why you wouldn’t do it. All that matters is that you know deep down in your heart that you would not create your personal flagship Website, your brand value site that represents you, on Blogger.
But you know what? Millions of other people DO create their brand sites on Blogger. Furthermore, many of those sites are very successful and they accrue links and they do very, very well in the search results.
Why? Because quality really has nothing to do with aesthetics except for people who care about aesthetics — and most people DON’T care about aesthetics on the Web.
It’s that simple and anyone who offers an “if”, “and”, or “but” just doesn’t get it. There are NO “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts”. It’s all personal, subjective, and completely internalized. Your uncle’s best friend’s sister may hate your site and never link to it but the guy down the street will. That’s just the way it goes. The best you can do is choose which demographic you want to appeal to the most. And good luck with that strategy because it doesn’t always work.
If you don’t believe in your site, why should anyone else? Everything else follows from there.
Written by Michael Martinez
