DOI, a Proven Marketing Tool for Driving Traffic and Increasing Search Engine Rankings

The Digital Object Identifier otherwise known as the DOI is not new. The history of the DOI started when a group of major book publishers realized that the digital age was imminent. They needed an online cataloging system for books on the Internet, not just on book shelves. The ISBN had taken them as far as they could go and was a great bar coding/cataloging system for physical books, but it was not practical for "virtual shelves" where ebooks or digital media live in databases and hard drives. Publishers who use the DOI call it the "digital ISBN." Because of this need, the DOI was born. Now, the versatility of the DOIs are finding their way to other industries.

In structure the DOI is very much like the URL, except it is permanent. However, when you update a DOI link or page, your information is updated through the DOI handler and all the links that are linked to the DOI (including web sites) are updated within 24 hours. Not bad. Think about the concept of updating your links from a traditional web site perspective or even the dead links that can lead you to "error - page not found." That is not the reality when using a DOI. There are no such things as dead links for a DOI.

Another plus for the DOI, it's search engine friendly. Very friendly. Search engines eat up DOIs. In a world where SEO is a buzz word and driving traffic to your site is a 24 hour job in itself, depending on the DOI's configuration, can populate links by as much as 1400%. So why haven't more businesses adopted DOI's on that basis alone? Probably because the vast majority of individuals and businesses are still getting used to the traditional URL, and when you think of how fast technology is emerging it can make your head spin. Just think of the DOI as the efficient, much improved, technologically-advanced prototype of what is to come, "the next generation URL." Is there a catch? If you look under the hood of how a DOI was developed you'll see some advanced java scripts. Some programmers may think, hey, that's no big deal. But if you think of the impact Microsoft made on PCs, then you begin to realize how such a simple techno-tool as the the DOI helps individuals, small business owners or companies optimize their links so that their search engine rankings soar. How much does it cost? All this for about $35 bucks annually. Really.

There are so many uses for the DOI it is hard to list, but I will try. Besides linking a DOI to your web site, PDFs, ebooks, ezines, evideo, and audio files, a company that sells products or services on the Internet can keep track of inventory, sales and update the information across the web with a few key strokes. When you think of intellectual property and ownership of a virtual product, think about the time consuming factor of just updating that information on your web site, let alone changing all the links worldwide. You will be happy the DOI came along. Want to see a DOI in action? Just enter my name in Google's search, Coretta Herod, and see the DOI link ranks #7 on Google's first page after only 8 weeks. Get the idea?

The technical side of the DOI, case studies, and white papers are beyond the scope of this ezine, but here are links to learn more: DOI Foundation. There are many new and exciting changes to come, so stay tuned for future ezines.

Coretta Herod is a managing member and creative director of Multimedia and Development llc, MandD.org. A full service web design and development agency focused on helping small businesses, nonprofits and individuals promote, brand and advertise their products and services.

If interested in obtaining a white paper or additional info on DOIs please send us a request via email from the web site.

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