A good website will always be an investment, either in time, or money, or both. However, your business might have a stunning website with all the bells and whistles, but if no one is visiting your website, it’s not offering you any return on your investment.
If you’ve spent money on your site, it should be bringing money back into the business by attracting new customers. When people need to search for the services and products you offer, they’re going to turn to Google. Chances are they’ll pick a website or two from the first page, and go with that company. If you’re on page ten, then it’s very unlikely you’ll ever be clicked.
The process of making changes to your website to improve your ranking in Google is called search engine optimisation, or SEO. There are numerous businesses out there that offer an SEO service, but here are a few things you need to know about improving your website’s rankings.
It’s important to realise that all the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.) are always trying to improve the experience of their users. That way people will come back and keep using that search engine.
In order to offer the best experience, they use complicated algorithms that make sure the best websites are presented for any given search. So take some time to think about the services and products you offer, and what kind of things people might type into Google to find someone who offers those services.
Does your website meet that criteria? Is it likely, based on the content of your site, that Google’s going to present your site when people search for things related to your business? If not, then you need to do some work on your content to change that. Make sure you talk about what you do and what you offer. Use keywords and phrases throughout your content that match the types of searches people are going to be typing into Google.
To improve your rankings, you’ve got two options. One is to do it organically, as described above. The other is to pay for advertising. This pushes an ad about your site to the top of the page, so people are more likely to click to your site. You can decide how much you want to spend per day or month, and only get charged once someone clicks your ad.
Both options have their positives and negatives. Organic SEO takes time. You can’t make a change to your website and then expect it to go from page ten to page one overnight. Again, it’s an investment of time, but it’s worth it once you’re there. Paid advertising is handy in that it gets an advertisement to the top of the page instantly. The downside is it costs, and once you stop paying or your budget is exhausted, your ad will disappear.
One thing to consider is using an SEO company to help you. Often these companies have the experience and technical skills to get your website ranking well. While this can be a big decision to make, the benefits can be significant. An experienced SEO company will be able to provide you with a wealth of information on your website, and suggest simple changes that’ll help boost your rankings.
However, it’s also worth noting that there are no guarantees in SEO. There’s no way someone can offer you a concrete promise that they will get your website to the number one ranking, mainly because it’s likely your competitors are going to be trying the same thing. If they’re one step ahead of you, they’re more likely to claim that number one spot.
So, take a quick moment to search for your website in Google. Does it come up when you search for words and phrases related to your business? If not, it’s definitely time to start thinking about SEO.
