The research carried out by Fasthosts, the UK’s largest independent hosting
provider, shows that 68 per cent of companies are missing out on potential
sales since consumers use search engines as a first point of call to search
for products and services. Giving out a web address is not enough –
enterprises must submit to search engines to advertise their online presence.
In 2005 online sales are forecast to reach £19.6bn, up 35 per cent from the
previous year (£14.5m) and accounting for 7 per cent of all retail spending
(Internet Advertising Bureau). According to Fasthosts, online spending in
2006 could increase even more substantially if trading outlets improve
their visibility online.
“Companies that believe it’s enough to register a site and stick the web
address on business cards are naive. If you are not listed on Google or
Yahoo, your web site might as well not be online,” said Andrew Michael,
CEO, Fasthosts. “The search engines are the first port of call for most of
the consumers, and the higher the ranking the bigger the chance of a sell.”
To ensure its visibility online, companies should submit their web sites to
search engines immediately after web site registration and continue
submission updates on a regular basis. To achieve the best results,
relevant keywords need to be included on the homepage, in meta tags, in the
coding pages and, if possible, in the domain name.
Fasthosts’ TrafficDriver offers a free search engine submission service
with its business web hosting package. The package includes an easy to use
site creation tool and automated monthly search engine submissions –
furthermore it has integrated advanced search engine optimisation to
establish and improve sites search rankings. By using these Fasthosts
tools companies can create an online presence and generate traffic within
days.
With TrafficDriver, web sites are automatically submitted to more than 100
search engines each month, and they appear in searches within six weeks.
In addition, TrafficDriver offers monthly reporting on the submissions
listing to the search engines and directories. Other features include a
personal control panel, meta tag generator and 24×7 customer support.
511 businesses participated in the online survey carried out in June 2005
by Fasthosts. 68 percent of respondents admitted that they do not submit
their website to search engines, which accounted for 348 votes.
About Fasthosts
Fasthosts is the UK’s largest independent hosting company. Based in the
UK, and operating 24×7 from their dedicated UK data centres, Fasthosts
keeps over 1 million domains running smoothly and ensures over 6 million
emails are delivered safely each day. All Fasthosts services can be
self-managed through the award winning Fasthosts web-based control panel,
enabling customers to set up and manage new websites, email accounts,
databases, and other hosted services online.
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