On the web, you’re in, then you’re oüt.

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Last year, your site was the hot new thing. Now, it’s fading and so is the interest of your current interactive agency.

So, what happened?

While other agencies might offer you a silly, “eye-catching” design that claims to be the latest thing, the question you have to be asking yourself is “will my company’s web presence stand the test of time?”

It’s not a matter of just being hip and trendy; it’s a matter of employing techniques that carry your business for many years. You need to transition from being a one trick pony to being an internet stallion.

It's Better to Grow Solidly Than Burn Out Gloriously

We don’t want you to rank #1 for 3 months when you can rank #3 for 10 years.

Do you remember Boo.com? 

Neither does most of the world. That’s because Boo was only around from 1998 to 2000. Some consider it to be the biggest dot com failure in history.

Boo’s plan was to sell clothes online. They thought they were going to rival all of the major department stores around the globe. However, in just two years, Boo blew through $160 million and then went straight into liquidation. Boo’s big problems had to do with its site design, navigability, a poor search feature, and many more. 

The worst mistake of all – assumption.

Boo assumed that with such a large investment and a solid idea that they would make a profit. Creating a profitable total online presence is a skilled art form. Never underestimate.

The JC Penney Story: Black Hat Bites Back

Sometimes being nearsighted about your presence online even happens to huge companies. Take JC Penney for example.

In early 2011, JC Penney found themselves in hot water when “SEO experts” advised them to perform what is known as black hat SEO techniques. These techniques are not illegal, but neither is Google punishing you for using them. 

What JC Penney did was highly ambitious and really worked…for a while. The company employed an SEO agency to improve their rankings and the agency placed thousands of links to relevant JC Penney pages. The links were places on strange websites that didn’t even have anything to do with JC Penney.

Some of the 2,015 pages are on sites related, at least nominally, to clothing. But most are not. The phrase “black dresses” and a Penney link were tacked to the bottom of a site called nuclear.engineeringaddict.com. “Evening dresses” appeared on a site called casino-focus.com. “Cocktail dresses” showed up on bulgariapropertyportal.com. ”Casual dresses” was on a site called elistofbanks.com. “Semi-formal dresses” was pasted, rather incongruously, on usclettermen.org.

– The New York Times

The result was that JC Penney was number one for hundreds of relevant keywords, but after Google found out about it Penney took a significant hit in search.

Google and eHow Get a Divorce

At times, businesses start out soaring high and even stay there for a little while, but unless they have long-term plans, a crash and burn is inevitable. For instance, eHow was a darling of a search engine in a symbiotic relationship with Google. 

eHow took commonly searched questions and answered them – simple, useful, and effective. 

Google fell in love with this company because eHow had such a wealth of articles addressing so many different issues.

You want to find out how to change a tire? eHow had an article for that.

So, Google began referring people to the site more and more, and placing their ads on their site more and more. For a brief period of time, their relationship was magical…

Until…

People got fed up seeing unsubstantiated articles that Google referred them to. eHow didn’t put much thought into what they were producing, just as long as they were producing. Writers were forced to write articles on subjects they had no knowledge of.

You want to find out how to cure cancer? eHow had a really bad article for that.

Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt (responsible for eHow’s "content farm") stated:

This is why our partnership with Google makes sense. 1) We help them fill the gaps in their index, where they don’t have quality content. 2) We’re the largest supplier of all video to YouTube, over two billion views and 3) we’re a large AdSense partner. So our relationship is synergistic, and it’s a great partnership. And it’s a partnership that we’re excited to continue to expand.

But Google’s search quality team started seeing eHow as damaging to their core business. So, after Google Panda expansion was implemented, eHow suffered a 66% drop in visibility.

Its-Your-Internet works with you to establish a five, ten, and even twenty-year plan. We want your business to last, and can advise you accordingly.

Don’t buy the hype. Buy what’s been proven to work.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have all the latest and greatest – it means that when we build your online presence, we plan ahead in the following ways:

  • Technology: Do you remember when HTML5 was new? As new technologies replace old ones we’re here to help you adapt.
  • Social Media: If there’s a new social network gaining ground – you’ve already got your own page. Our social media experts invest part of their day, every day, just researching new social media outlets and assessing whether they are right for your company.
  • Design: If blue is the new black, what’s the new blue? Our graphic designers know, and we can help you stay looking current and fresh.
  • Content/SEO: Not only are our SEO writers experts at getting your pages ranking high, they are actual published writers! The majority of our writing staff has or is pursuing MFA degrees in writing. There’s just no one better at keeping your content fresh and engaging.
  • Functionality: Why should your online presence only advertise for your company, when it can function as an essential part of your company? Our innovative team of programmers creates customer gateways, databases, and more that make your client’s online experience with your business just as comfortable as his real life experience.

Keep you on top – long-term. It’s a simple philosophy, but it’s one that most agencies ignore because they’re only concerned with providing you quick-fix solutions.

  • Go to Alexa’s top 500 sites. Are you surprised by who makes the list?
  • Make a list of what you feel drives those sites. Do the items on your list apply to your own online presence? This will be your point A.
  • Next, compose five long-term goals. This will be your point Z.

Finally, set up a meeting where we can review these lists. Our goal will to work with you to connect point A to point Z – create a hit site and profitable online presence that will last longer than a few months.