The Things Our Mothers Taught Us About Life and the Internet

In honour of Mother's Day, we'd like to share a little of mom's wisdom with a twist: it applies to our lives offline, and online.

Our mothers taught us patience:

"Just wait until your father comes home..."

Black Hat SEO practices will get you into trouble; Once Google unearths your trickery, you are in TROUBLE!!

Our mothers taught us the value of things:

"Wait 'til we get home; you're gonna get it!!"

Even if Google doesn't punish you now for your unscrupulous link building tricks, they will eventually. Just ask BMW and JC Penney

Our mothers taught us how to reason:

"Because I said so!"

Google's Algorithm always has the final say.

Our mothers taught us how to face life's challenges:

"What were you thinking? Answer me! Don't you say a word!"

A high bounce rate is a significant challenge. You don't want a visitor to leave your site after 10 seconds without hearing what you have to say.

Our mothers taught us about genetics:

"You are just like your father!"

Do not offer customers what you have to sell; offer them what they need to buy. Every month there are 3,500 searches for "Chevrolet car parts"; there are 7,500 searches for "Chevy car parts". Do you want to sell to 3,500 potential customers or 7,500 potential customers?

Our mothers taught us how to think logically:

"If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you won't be able to come to the store with me."

If your Web site contains errors, your visitors will surely encounter them and will not be able to learn about your products and services.

Our mothers taught us about appearances:

"If you don't stop making that face, you'll be stuck with it for the rest of your life."

If you don't update your Web site's design and content periodically, you run the risk of appearing stale and outdated.

Our mothers taught us about proper nutrition:

"If you don't eat your vegetables, you won't grow up to be big and strong."

If you don't invest in the basics for your Web site (user-friendly design, good content, attractive goods and services), you won't ever have a dominant online presence.

Our mothers taught us to respect the wisdom of our elders:

"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

Pay attention to Google Analytics. Identify your strengths and weaknesses - for example, if you have 100% bounce-out from your "About Us" page, something is wrong with that page.

Our mothers taught us to have faith:

"You'd better pray this stain on the carpet vanishes!"

You'd better pray that hackers don't prey on your site through a code glitch you've left for them to find.

Our mothers taught us about the weather:

"It looks like a tornado hit your room!"

If your Web site is a mess, visitors won't see how valuable your products and services are.

Our mothers taught us to plan for the future:

"If you don't pass that spelling test, you'll never get married!"

If you don't provide spectacular images and snappy descriptions of your products, they won't appeal to visitors.

Our mothers taught us to have a sixth sense:

"Take a sweater when you leave the house; you don't know if it's cold where you're going."

Participate in online/professional forums. You never know who might discover you and where.

And, finally, our mothers taught us to have a sense of humour:

"When you cut your feet running barefoot in the grass, don't come crying to me!"