Are you one? There are many out there, according to one Search Engine tracking system over 50,000 searches per day are made for terms related to home based business opportunities. That’s a lot of people looking for information.
My curiosity was peeked by that number so I began checking out some of the web sites that ranked highest in Google for the most searched for terms and I have to say I’m a bit disappointed by some of the garbage that’s offered as “most relevant” in the search results.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about affiliate sites or anything else that at-least offers current and useful information or resources related to the searched for term, buy if I search for information on government assistance for small businesses I shouldn’t be sent to a MFA (made for adsense) page about small business checking that contains badly outdated information on securing business checking accounts as a sole proprietor.
And some of the search results that are actually relevant, still amaze me that they rank so high when often they’re nothing more than commercial sales pages for industry-specific organizations. Again, I don’t have a problem with sales pages at all (I have many of my own), but if I specifically include the word “information” in a search term I kind of think the search results should be filtered to pages that are related to my search term and text-heavy. Not commercial landing pages that are 90% images and designed to make you click the flashing “Buy Now!” button.
Landing pages/sales pages are fine if I search for a product or service, but shouldn’t be returned as results when I search for information on a product or service.
A home business opportunity seeker is most likely searching for information on starting a home business, and there’s plenty of great information out there on both commercial and personal sites. There are a ton of blogs being kept by folks who own and operate home businesses, and you’ll find real gems contained in some of them, but unfortunately you’re likely to never find those sites or pages depending on what search terms you use, or if you only scan the first page or two of search results you’re given. Sadly, the best information is often lost on page 14 of the search results, and most people never go past page 3.
My point is that search engines are seeming to become more and more irrelevant for anyone seeking information on a subject these days, and my advice for home business opportunity seekers is to keep their eyes open on blogs and some of the article directories out there. Search engines are powerful tools, but they should only be one tool of many in your tool-box. You can’t build a house with just a hammer, you need a saw to cut the wood, a drill to make the holes and so on…
So if you find a good blog (I hope my own counts), keep a skeptical eye but check out some of the resource sites and other blogs that the blogger mentions in posts, you may find some great tools or information to help you launch and grow your web business from them.
On article directories, like ezinearticles.com, many knowledgeable people publish interesting and informative pieces there. You’ll also find some lesser quality postings, so be selective and skeptical. But again, if you find an article that really helps you or enlightens you, check the author’s bio at the end and see if he or she has a blog or web site. You may find some more good stuff there as well.
Social bookmarking sites are a decent resource too. By and large if a site or page ranks highly on these it is because actual humans (your peers) found that site or page to be of value or interest. I’ve heard that some manipulations are possible by marketers, but it doesn’t seem to be wide-spread, so again just be skeptical as you go and you may find some gems here too.
The bottom line is that if you’re really serious about starting your own home business, or anything else for that matter, you’re going to have to be willing to dig deeper than the average Google search to find the best help.
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