Google hates me. Well, not me personally. Just my Website. I’ve barely started this journey, or treasure hunt, into cyberspace, and that’s the thing every “guide” (Web developer) I talk to keeps pounding into my brains. Google hates my Website.

“But, it’s so pretty,” I argue. “I love how it looks.”

“Doesn’t matter,” they say. “Google couldn’t care less how your site looks.”

At first, I gasped in shock over that, but I’m learning not to take it personal, because, well, Google isn’t a person. It’s a search engine. It just happens to be the most powerful search engine on the planet! Did you know something like 70% of all Internet searches are done through Google? That’s a pretty strong argument for reasons to make Google love you—uh, I mean, your Website.

This is a HUGE topic, so I’m going to break it down into several dispatches. First…

Why does Google hate my site?

I’m learning search engines can’t see graphics, no matter how fabulous they are. They also don’t care that my bio is riveting, or that I happen to write heartwarming romance novels that reviewers and readers love.

What does Google love?

Keywords. Tags. Strong supporting content (text that repeats keywords and tags). And activity generated from blogs, links-to, links-back, tweets, pings, and on and on… Ugh! Make it stop. I don’t understand any of this stuff!

Okay, deep breath. I can do this. Baby steps.

First step, What is Wrong with My Home Page?

At first glance, to a neophyte like me, nothing is wrong with this home page. It’s pretty. And it has links to all my secondary pages. What’s wrong with it?

Sadly, from an Internet marketing standpoint, nearly everything.

For one thing, it’s a “Welcome Mat.” You don’t really know what you’ll find inside until you step over the threshold and enter the site. It’s also specific to one book, rather than working as a “hub” for my entire Web presence. In my Web designer’s defense, it’s gorgeous, and it was supposed to be temporary. Instead, it stayed up for two years, which is my fault, not hers.

Rule #1) Failure to keep your website current is a HUGE no-no!

I plan to fix this by:

Switching to WordPress
Making My Site Active, Not Stagnate
Changing My eNewsletter Subscription Provider

Oh man, there is so much – so very much! – I plan to do. I can’t wait to share it all. Let’s watch and learn together what works, what doesn’t, and how each step I take impacts my Web presence.

Other Post on this Topic:

• Web Developer vs Web Designer
• What’s Wrong with My Bookshelf

UPDATE:

I wrote this blog post months ago, and boy have I come a long way since this! I now have a wonderful newsletter service — Mad Mimi — which I love. (Don’t forget to subscribe.) It’s very affordable, starting with FREE, and does everything I need. I’ve also mastered Facebook and Twitter, so click on the links to check out my pages there. Most importantly, I have a spiffy new Website at JulieOrtolon.com.

As always, if you found this post helpful, please share. It’s always sweet to tweet!