Is your website a killer?
I often get approached by potential clients who are concerned because their website can’t be found on Google (or indeed any other search engine). As a result, it is not getting enough visitors. Unfortunately the solution is not as simple as people think.
The first thing I always do in these situations is to take a look at the website concerned. Nine times out of ten we find that the site is badly designed. So the first thing I tell the potential client is that there is absolutely no point in spending money to get people to find the website if the first thing they do is to click away.
You should be thinking in terms of how much business the site will generate not how many visitors it gets. This means that the site should be designed such that visitors will stay on the site, read it and take action depending on what the site has been designed to do. For example, this could be to make an enquiry via phone or email or to buy something online if the site has an online shop.
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When is a Website not a Website?
The answer, of course, is… when it’s a blog.
OK. Now at this point I should back up and talk a little bit about what I mean by the term “blog”.
What is a Blog?
The word blog is short for weblog. Weblogs or blogs started out a few years ago as simple web pages that users could easily edit to add information. They were usually simple in design and the content management behind them was very simple to use. The reader had the option of adding comments to articles that were posted.
A number of blogging systems sprang up to allow people to create and maintain their blogs. Blogger is an example which was initially provided by a private company and subsequently bought by Google who continue to provide the Blogger service to date. WordPress is another example that started small and has grown into a fairly sophisticated system.
Read MoreGoogle AdWords (Sponsored Links)
AdWords ads are displayed along with search results when someone searches Google using one of your keywords. Ads appear under ‘Sponsored links’ in the side column of a search page, and may also appear in additional positions above the free search results. That way, you’ll be advertising to an audience that’s already interested in your business.
In order for your ad to appear, you bid on the keywords you expect people will use to find you. The amount you bid determines the position where your ad will appear in the listing. Each time someone clicks through from your ad to your website, you pay Google the amount you’ve bid.
The amount you need to bid for each keyword is determined by the amounts your competitors are bidding. For some types of business, the amount could run into a number of £s for popular keywords, for other types of business it could be a few pence.
Read MoreSearch Engines – Facts & Myths
In this article I am going to look at some of the key factors involve in getting your website ranked on search engines such as Google. In fact, the examples and information I give below specifically relate to Google, however, since most search engines work in a similar way, the information is largely applicable across the board. So here goes.
Keywords
Your customers find your website by typing keywords (e.g. plumbers) or keyword phrases (e.g. plumbers in Hereford) into Google. If your site has been optimized for those keywords then the likelihood is that the site will be found. If it’s been optimized for some other keywords then it’s unlikely to be found.
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