If There Were No Search Engines....

by 48 replies
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What creative methods would you use to generate traffic for your site if, say, you were in a competition to build traffic to your site without the use of any search engine whatsoever? What would be your top online and offline marketing methods if you weren't allowed to use google, yahoo, bing, ask, and others?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #engines #search
  • I would get a really hot girl and have her write my domain on her butt and boobs and then streak naked across the field at the super bowl.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
    • [2] replies

    • Good Luck with that!

      I already tried this and she's still in jail...
      • [1] reply
    • Nice suggestion ... LOL ,

      Anyway maybe you can print out your business in a business card, and give it away for free to other people you find.
  • I would use the social networking and bookmarking sites more extensively.
  • I guess I would be more into social bookmarketing sites like Stumbleupon. Really social sites are the SE only competition.

    Also guest posting on high traffic sites would work well. But in all honesty It would be very hard to actually make a living online without them.

    What people don't realize is that if there were no search engines then the majority of your traffic from other backlinks would dry up, so using other methods like guest posting and writing for Wiki's would have no value whatsoever. After all they are not getting any traffic to send you.

    That leaves us with social sites, Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, etc. And other methods to get extremely untargeted traffic. It would suck, 10 times the work for 1/10 the result.
  • Social networking would be ideal. It would really be difficult to get traffic to your site without search engines. Advertisements would cost much just to get your site out there. So the next best thing would be to social media.
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    • I would forget internet marketing and invent the world's first search engine. Then I'd retire a billionaire.
  • Social media (social bookmarking, social networking) can always be good replacements for SEO -- not only that they're too easy to implement and handle, by having wide array of networks, nonstop opportunities will come your way automatically without even starting from the search engines since SEO stays tricky as ever.
    • [1] reply
    • I'd look at targeted forum posting. You can get a flood of traffic that way. Also local leaflets, lamp post signs etc. Facebook fan pages as well. And affiliates of course.
  • Many are the way to market online without using the search engines.We have been controlled by search engines that is why we are depending on them many times but below are some of the ways that you can use to generate traffic online and offline:

    Online
    Yahoo answers
    answer bag
    Forum/ group commenting

    Offline
    restaurant flayers
    shopping mall flayers
    car stickers
  • I agree social networking and social bookmarking, sometimes it really can drive traffic more than search engines
    for example one of my sites was on stumble upon top sites for about a week i got over 40 thousands hits, that's way more that what i got from google for the whole year
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  • If there were no search engines....
    ...I would invent them....
    For real: I would deflect my acitivties to forums and Offline Marketing. Flyers, other acitivities...
    • [1] reply
    • Folks, think about this for a second.

      If there were NO search engines, how would you find ANYTHING?

      How would you know about Twitter or Digg or whatever?

      Where would you look them up?

      The only way to even get a URL of any site would be via word of mouth
      from your friends.

      Somebody, eventually, would say, "Sh*t...I can't frickin find anything on
      the Internet (assuming we even know it exists)...Hey, I got it! I'll go
      invent this thing-a-ma-bob that lists all the sites that are out there. All
      you need to do is plug in a few words for what you're looking for and
      any relevant site will come up."

      No search engines?

      The question is so unrealistic that answering it is nothing more than a
      waste of time.

      So yes, this is 5 minutes of my life that I'm never getting back.

      :rolleyes:
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
  • Steven, yes, this question sounds unrealistic but think about it other way.. Maybe Calamaroo is marketing in very competitive niche with huge competition and has no chances to rank well in about 5-10 years. He then start to think about other creative ways to drive traffic, while doing seo and backlinking for his site.

    If there are no SE's, I'd use social networking sites, submit tons of articles in article dir's, exchange banners with related sites and so on...
    • [1] reply
    • I've just explained the situation in the above post. Near zero searches. Extremely heavy competition.

      Using exact phrase on Market Samurai for three super relevant key phrases:

      Search = 24 daily; Competition = 154,000
      Search = 0 daily; Competition = 13,000
      Search = 145 daily; Competition = 50,000

      Here are the forum numbers (the numbers on the left are the responses, the ones on the right are the views):



      1 51


      4 257


      11 388


      14 760

      9 449

      15 244


      12 331


      6 163

      15 374


      4 107


      7 537


      5 97


      10 483


      41 2,157


      40 661


      24 438


      26 1,455


      8 667


      4 254

      12 540


      22 926


      2 184


      15 672


      3 214
  • It's an absurd hypothetical because the Internet would be worthless without search engines, but...

    I would probably get publicity for myself in the real world and use that to direct people to my sites if there were no search engines. I would also blast articles and links all over the 'net.
  • Facebook advertising is not too dissimilar to Google in that you can instantly target your ads to a mass amount of traffic and I like the way you can set your demographics with Facebook so that would certainly be my main traffic source if the search engines didnt exist.
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    • Without search engines I doubt that any of us would be here. It's because it's been made easy to find information by the search engines that the internet has become so popular and so many have gone online.

      But, I would market offline, advertise in publications in my niche, TV, radio. Direct mail, postcards, mail share services, locally and nationwide. Get business cards printed and hand them out whenever anybody is interested, leave them in public places.

      Advertising on the internet woiuld be useless because nobody would find your ad, social bookmarking sites wouldn't exist because nobody would know about them unless they did extensive, expensive offline advertising.
      • [1] reply
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  • I would go with Joint Ventures on that. But if you'd be really newbie than I would choose guest posting on relevant blogs. The traffic can be huge if you target the right market.

  • This question is VERY valid.

    It sure makes you think about how to market your website. There are plenty of ways to do that as shown above. In fact, there are many people who do very well with really crappy search engine ranking.

    In the old days (2003 and before) people depended a lot more on banner advertising. They did it the old fashioned way. They spent money.
    • [1] reply
    • Here's the problem and why the question is meaningless.

      Pick any way to market your site. I don't care. Twitter, Facebook, Digg,
      YouTube, whatever. I don't care.

      Without search engines indexing what's out there...

      How is anybody going to get the URLs of any of these sites?

      Word of mouth?

      From who?

      Besides the person who actually put the site up, who is going to know
      about it?

      The only marketing methods that will work without search engines are
      pure off line sending cards, letters, TV advertising and so on in order to
      get YOUR URL out to the public since there are no online avenues to do
      this.

      That is why the question is pointless.

      Without search engines, nobody knows anything exists.

      Having said that, nowhere did I say I rely only on search engine traffic.

      I use many avenues to promote my site such as the ones I mentioned
      above and many more.

      But those avenues only work because the search engines are there for
      people to find these sites.
      • [1] reply
  • Well, if there were no search engines SEO would get reduced for me, and i would not be working so hard for it. LOL.....

    Definitely then social networking would a giant of its time and people would be involved more into direct sales.
  • In 1998, I paid something like $800 to get sticky chrome URLs for my car like used car dealers put on everything they sell.

    I'd do that again.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • That's a good one

      I guess you could also call that word of mouth...

      But seriously, how did you track your results? I mean were there any tracking tools like today's Google Analytics or something like that?

      Cheers, Remi

      • [1] reply
    • ha - do you remember how well that worked out for you?
      • [2] replies
  • Back in the '80's....Yes...Before Google.

    It was Bulletin Boards from Colleges and Universities. Back then the social network was a bulletin board(think craigslist watered down) and an email addy.

    So..I would focus on many of the diverse social networks.
  • Social Media (social networks & social bookmarking)
    Directories & maybe some banner advertising and ad blocks
    Email marketing
    I might even go back to the days of regular mail marketing, sign posting, fliers, etc.
    DEF WOM - referrals
  • If there were no search engines, there would be no internet (and not genuine online strategy to create traffic). Without a catalogue, a library is just a pile of books in a stuffy room. You might go in and pick one up if know where it is, but otherwise you would get bored and walk out. Every other strategy is built on the foundation Google et. al. created for you.

    Your only choice would be real world advertising.
  • Wish I could contribute something to this, but I'm here to say I think this question is very valid!

    Regardless, the question forces you to think creatively.

    I'm shocked at the ignorance of some above. If you can't think outside the box and let go of logic for a *second*, then don't say anything because this is evidently aimed at abstract thinkers.
    • [1] reply
    • The hypnosis of SEO could box people inside the SEO box.

      But yeah...this is a "what if" thread like that History Channel show about what would happen if all human beings suddenly disappeared from the Earth.

      Offline networking with real human beings would probably play a big role. Remarkable content would find a way to be viral no matter what.
  • If there were no search engines, how would anyone know what sites existed? All of these suggestions about posting on forums, directories, etc..... HOW? How would you know where they were? What URL are you going to? I guess you could just type in ********.com and hope you land on a page. How long would that take????

    Like terrapurus said, there would be no internet. Offline advertising would be your only choice.

    Tony
  • Without search engines the internet would not have become as useful and popular as it is. I very much doubt that sites like Facebook and twitter would have evolved.

    If they a did they wouldn't be anywhere like as popular as they are today without search engine i doubt there would be much commerce on the internet at all.
  • I will submit my products to Amazon. It is a large search engine for almost all products.
    And I will try video marketing by making and submitting videos to YouTube, which is currently the second large search engine in USA.
  • back when I was first coding pages by hand, search engines werent' what they are today, they were pretty weak, I think yahoo was the best at that time..
    To get traffic we relied on webrings (Basically link exchanges) , and posting on usnet, telling out friends etc.
    I would probably stick my site on my car for people to see while I'm driving. And stick it up on posters all over the place..
    • [1] reply
    • If there are no SE's, people will most likely search information and tips at social media sites and article directories. Therefore, I would focus on submitting articles to as many article directories as i can, then submit it to social bookmarking sites. I would also use Facebook and Twitter to gain more traffic.
  • Just in case you haven't started working on your business plan for 2020...
    The Internet in 2020 - What the Experts Predict

    Dave
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    If There Were No Search Engines....

    What creative methods would you use to generate traffic for your site if, say, you were in a competition to build traffic to your site without the use of any search engine whatsoever? What would be your top online and offline marketing methods if you weren't allowed to use google, yahoo, bing, ask, and others?