You've opened your brand-new spa and commissioned a beautifully designed website to go with it (hopefully a SpaBoom Dynamic Website). An obvious way for somebody to find out about your new business is to search on Google, maybe for "Albuquerque spa". There's only one problem: chances are very good that your brand-new website won't show up on the search pages, or will be buried so deep that no one will ever see it.

You're stuck in what many search engine experts are calling the Google sandbox. Your time in this Internet penalty box can last several months.

There's a simple explanation for this purgatory-on-earth: Google's goal is to return the most relevant results for searches. And they've decided that brand-new websites tend not to be the most relevant. It's part of the search engine's fight against "spam" websites. You've probably clicked on them after running a search: a website filled with junk surrounded by ads. Well, your brand-new website is caught right in the middle of this battle between Google and spam websites.

Note that we're not talking about a redesign of an existing website. Don't worry about updating the look of your existing site — you won't have this problem. This is only an issue for a brand-new website, or more accurately, a brand-new domain, e.g. "yourspa.com".

You only have one solution: wait it out. In the meantime, focus on the core marketing that will turn your website into a great asset for your spa:

• Include your website on every piece of printed material that you put out: your service menu, business cards, advertisements, etc.
• Direct clients to your website on your voice mail. Tell them they can buy Instant Gift Certificates and schedule appointments online. Consider custom hold "music" that includes your website.
• Ask relevant organizations and businesses to link to your site: the local Chamber of Commerce, the tourism department, the bed and breakfast down the street.
• Get listed in Discover Spas.
• Collect e-mail addresses on your new client forms and when you sell anything at retail. Then, put them in SpaBoom under Clients (we don't have e-mail marketing yet — but will soon!).
• Consider using Google AdWords to buy text ads for search terms that prospective clients are likely to use when looking for a spa. Yes, there is some serious irony here in paying Google for text ads to help compensate for Google penalizing you.

Posted in Spa Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Spa Marketing, Spa Website Design, Starting a Spa • Share • Trackback

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