INTUIT WEBSITES

Intuit Websites

*WebDuck Designs has no affiliation with Intuit or Homestead.

There has been a lot of advertising lately for Intuit Websites aka Homestead Websites. Intuit Websites are said to be able to get you to the top of the search engines, but is that really possible? After doing research into Intuit Websites I came to the conclusion that Intuit/Homestead Websites are not built search engine optimized and are likely to not get your website on top.

The Facts About Intuit Websites Powered By Homestead

Homestead will give you a 30 day free trial of their basic website creator and then advertises only $4.99 a month after that. There are many forums out there which discuss Intuit Websites. I have found numerous postings about people expecting to pay just $4.99 after their 30 day free trial but end up paying over $40 a month. And even after paying more than expected people’s Intuit websites are still not being found on Google.

Intuit also offers a $14.99 a month package that includes the ability to show up in search engines. I was shocked to find out how Homestead websites supposedly rank high…Intuit lists your website in Yahoo! Local, Google Maps, Super Pages and Yellow Pages, most of which are FREE! Of course you can “find your business on Google, Yahoo” and those other search engines, all you have to do is type in your company name and the zip code, state or city. You need searchers to find you under what you do, not just your company name. Google Local can be a great tool if used properly, but again it is FREE!

After signing up for an Intuit website you can choose from over 2,000 designs. Just because they provide you with a lot of website designs to choose from, doesn’t mean they are good designs. Intuit website designs are premade, that means they are not 100% customizable for your business. Premade Intuit Website designs are also not designed to be search engine optimized however there are some things you can do to the rest of the website to help you get the best possible raking for your website.

After you set up an account and choose an Intuit Website design, Homestead allows you to add your own website content. If you don’t want to add your own content to your Homestead website they allow you to keep the content they already created. Using Intuit website content sounds like a simple way to just get your website up, but if you use their content and someone else did too you will have duplicate content. Duplicate content can eliminate you from the search engines’ results. So while they offer you a quick way to finish your Intuit website, don’t do it! This is the biggest and worst mistake you can make when putting a new website on the internet. Duplicate content on a new website is an instant trip to the Google sandbox.

Problems With Intuit Websites

Many of the concerns discussed in the Intuit Website Creator Forum involve just being found under a domain name or business name and not being found for important keywords. If your business name is "WebDuck Designs" then you are almost 95% guaranteed to show up on the search engines for your business name. Beign found for your business name is great but what about being found for your services or the products you sell? That is the biggest problem with non search engine optimized websites, like the ones you get from Homestead, Web.com, GoDaddy and 1and1. Many different solutions were discussed, most of which will not help. Here is a list of some of the discussed solutions:

• Add a blog to your website. Blogs can be a great tool for some websites, but if your site can’t be found then there will be no one visiting your blog, so what good is it? Not to mention if your website does start getting traffic, most of the postings are likely to be spammers.
• Submit your website to Google. Bad idea! If Google can’t find your website on its own then they think your website is not important and will rank you down and not up. Most Intuit websites can not be found on their own, which is why people suggest submitting to Google, but that will do you no good.
• Use Pay Per Click. Using PPC may get your Intuit website to the top of the searches but once your money runs out your site will drop right back to where it started and you will be out a lot of money. Click Here to read more about PPC.
• Find sites to link to you. Locating sites like dmoz.org to link to your website can help your website but it is not the only solution to being found. While links can help your website ranking, they are becoming less important in Google’s algorithm. Links can help your Intuit website rank higher, but unless you get thousands of incoming links it won't be good enough to get your Intuit website to the top.
• List your business with Google Local. If someone is doing a local search for your business and you are listed with Google Local your business will show up above the organic Google listings. Google Local is a free listing and if done properly can get your Intuit website traffic, but it is not the thing that needs to be done in order to rank high. Click Here to learn more about Google Local.
• Content is the key to SEO. While content and keyword maximization is an important part of search engine optimization it is not the only factor used to rank websites. In order to get the best possible website ranking, hire an experienced SEO company.
• Seek a professional for SEO. Hiring an experienced search engine optimization company will help you get the best possible search engine ranking. Ultimately any experienced SEO company will tell you that your Intuit website will never get you the results you want. Click Here to read more about SEO.

If you try to make changes to increase the ranking of your Intuit website and don’t get the results you want after 60 days, Intuit will give you your money back. That is a great guarantee to offer, but 60 days is not always long enough to get a good ranking. It can take as long as 6 months for a website to rank to its fullest potential; while you can rank high sooner it is not always possible. The more search engine optimized your website is the quicker it will show up on top of the search engines (depending on your competition).

Bottom line is there are a few things you can do to get your Homestead website to rank higher, but in order to get the best possible search engine placement it is always a good idea to work with search engine optimization experts. If your Intuit Website is not getting the traffic you want, contact WebDuck Designs to see how we can help increase your traffic.

*WebDuck Designs has no affiliation with Intuit or Homestead.