How to Improve Your Google Ranking . . . Strategies for Achieving Website Success

You type your business’s name into Google’s search engine and hey presto it appears on your results screen . . . on page 12.

Ouch.

In the mind of your potential customers that might as well be somewhere in outer space because you’re definitely off their radar.
So what can you do about it?

It’s time to consider employing a Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) strategy.

Search Engine Optimisation might sound technical – the sort of thing only a web developer should be interested in – but in fact it’s based on a simple concept and use of a search engine company such as the Leicester SEO company could be beneficial or using a web marketing company.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN put the most relevant choices per search at the top of their results page, so their users don’t waste time weeding through thousands of entries to find what they’re looking for.

The search engine companies use bots (robots) or spiders to crawl the Internet examining the context of pages and the quality of their content and rank them accordingly.

For sound SEO, keywords are vital. A keyword is simply a word or term someone might type into the search box in order to find your website, or a single page from it. Have a brainstorming session: write down all the possible terms potential customers might use to find your business. You can test your findings using Google’s AdWords keyword tool.

AdWords reveals how popular your search terms are by listing the number of local and global searches during the past month. It will also offer you some alternatives similar to those you have come up with.

Keep the search engine ‘bots’ in mind, but write for humans!
Ever come across a web page or online article that has been stuffed with a particular keyword to the extent it makes you cringe at every sentence, because the word or phrase in question has been so over-used?

It used to be that unscrupulous web developers could saturate their sites with keywords and fool the bots into giving them a higher ranking. Only now the bots have got savvy and refuse to take the bait!

So build your website for your human visitors (not for bots) and make it as engaging and user-friendly as possible. Remember, ultimately it’s the quality of your content that will determine your website’s ranking.

Another thing to bear in mind is that ‘spiders’ are unable to see Flash-based content, JavaScript content and other so-called ‘rich media’, techie people seem to love.

SEO Copy is the Spice of Internet Life

In these digital times, it's all about the internet – plain and simple. Get your online offering really in gear and you'll reap the benefits when it comes to increasing traffic taking notice of your product or service.

With readable and exciting copy on your website, that also contains the relevant SEO, trending keywords – your 'authority' rating within the Google/search engine stratosphere will quickly begin to grow.

But, before you go any further it's a good idea to compare your business model to the following key points to see if you can really benefit from organic SEO:

1. Think about what your product, service or industry is and research as to whether users/customers actually use a search engine to look for it.
2. Consider the appeal of your website. Customers will be drawn to a well designed site that has good functionality and champions the virtues of the brand.
3. It is a competitive market out there. Double-check that the pricing of your product or service compares favourably with competitors.
4. In terms of a customers’ search engine input, is your site brought to their attention via the relevant phrases and keywords?

Right, so now you've decided SEO is definitely for you we can highlight a few sure-fire tips that will have your online presence really begin to pay dividends. It may take a fair amount of hard work and time but ultimately, organic SEO will prove more self-fulfilling long term than the immediacy of paying for your Google/search engine ranking.

Appeasing the almighty god that is the ranking algorithm, as hinted upon earlier, starts with the quality and regular updating of your content – add sound link building into the equation for good measure too. So ensure you have professionally written and, just as importantly, unique copy with your carefully selected primary keywords and key phrases from Google Adwords. Search engines find it impossible to resist tantalising, natural and fresh content.

Another good trick to consider is to make sure whenever you refer to yourself on your site, you always include your location as often as you can. For example, when you mention your head quarters use "London based office" or "our London store/office". This means you will begin to snare local searches of your product or service.

Of course, this is just the tip of the SEO iceberg and just the beginning of internet marketing – search online for a good SEO consultancy and see what else they can do for you and your business to climb those search engine rankings.

How to Find More Customers and Increase Your Online Business

If your business has an Internet presence (and let’s face it, for most businesses it’s an essential requirement these days), you should constantly be on the lookout for new and innovative ways to increase your customer base.

Here are some simple ideas for winning new customers:

Discover Your Target Customers’ Other Interests:

If you are selling health-related products, for example, you probably already market via health forums, health blogs and other places where ‘health’ is the main topic of conversation. This is all well and good, but remember this is where your competitors will be concentrating their main marketing efforts too. So this time ask yourself: “What might my ideal customers’ other interests be?”

Although your customers are interested in staying healthy, they could also be avid sports fans, or movie buffs, or pet lovers, or DIY enthusiasts, so it’s worth casting your net further afield so that other potential customers get to hear about you and your products or services. Bear in mind also that people with the same interests tend to group together, whether that’s in the real world or the virtual one!

Vary Your Offering:

You know you provide a great product or service, but getting more people to try it can be a challenge, even for larger companies. Every now and then, a ‘household name’ will change the look of a product’s packaging (even though the product itself hasn’t changed) to appeal to a wider audience, or a different market sector. You could do the same.

If you are selling an ebook, you could turn it into a downloadable podcast for those who would rather listen to the spoken word than read your content. Again if you use video as a marketing tool, you could enable your site visitors to upload it to their MP3s so they can listen to it anywhere they want. By providing these additional options, people can choose how they connect with you.

Offer Free Stuff

Whilst you might not be ready to launch your own Freemium (free premium magazine) as seen on a recent episode of The Apprentice! giving away free content is a time-proven marketing tool for pulling in more customers.

If used correctly, this strategy may be all you need to get people to pick up that phone
and call you, or subscribe to your online newsletter.

If you are an estate agent, you could create a free report about "How to get more value from your home sale."

By creating content around a specific title like in the above example, you will primarily attract people who are considering selling their property. In building a rapport with your target audience, while establishing yourself as an expert in your field, who do you think your followers are going to ask to market their home for them?

Other freebies you could offer depending on the nature of your business:

 Free shipping
 Free sample of your products
 Free trials
 Free estimates
 Free DVD tutorials
 Free personalised stuff (with your company name on, naturally).


Use Social Networking to Attract More Customers:

There’s nothing more tedious than companies banging on about themselves and their achievements all the time. Savvy social networkers on the other hand provide entertainment without the hard sell. Innocent smoothies, with their amusing anecdotes and off-the-wall humour, are a prime example of how to do social networking right.

Think about how powerful these social networks are in spreading news and information. So be the source that influences other people. How do you do it? Look for the "in thing" or the "hottest trends" that could interest your potential customers and share it with them. Use Google Reader to glean this information.

Website

Most importantly you should have a website which matches or over delivers your potential customer's expectations. Using a professional Lutterworth Website Design team could help you to increase your web presence and sales.

Making the Most of Internet Marketing

To gain as much exposure for your business as possible you will need to consider internet marketing. This article provides you with information on a few key areas that you might like to consider.

Marketing a home business has never been easier, with so many different options for advertising available. Internet marketing has helped many small businesses become successful and profitable in their own right and provides a quick and easy way to speak to your target audience no matter where they live. If you do not have the budget for a more costly, larger marketing campaign such as TV and radio, then you may wish to try internet marketing. There are a number of different options available so pick the one which is most suited to your type of business and budget and that will help you reach your customers.

1.Google AdSense

This is simply a program that will let you generate income by placing text or image ads from other companies onto your website and in turn you advertise on the pages of other sites. Be sure to choose sites that are related to the products or service that you offer. It will also allow you to filter out ads from your competition which could otherwise hinder your success.

AdSense will place your ads over the web and will then generate back links to your site to help improve your search engine ranking. You should be aware that these are not the annoying pop up ads that often appear when you visit a website but are actually placed on the site itself.

2. Banner Ads

This type of internet marketing often takes the form of animated or visually appealing graphics that appear across the top of a web page. These ads will be linked back to your website so that if someone clicks on them they will be taken straight there. Be sure to make them eye catching and offer an incentive for them to click; however be warned that many find these annoying so keep them relatively simple.

3. Online magazines

This type of internet marketing will offer you ad space, normally for a fee but this will depend upon how popular the magazine is and the cost will vary depending on how big your ad is. This can be a great way to advertise since you can find a magazine related to your business area so you know that those reading will have an interest in what it is you do.

How to make Banner Ads work for you!

Banner ads are a great way to gain attention for your website by attracting people to click on your ad links. This short article will give you some areas to consider in order to get started.

These days advertising your business using internet marketing is not only incredibly popular but is also one of the best ways to find new custom. One method of marketing that has been around for some time and still proves popular is using banner ads or web banners. This type of marketing is still amongst the most efficient ways of advertising when it comes to internet marketing.

You will no doubt have seen the many banner ads at the top of websites and forums that you have visited and you may have even clicked on these yourself. They can really help to catch people’s attention and once they are clicked on they will quickly and simply take you straight to that company’s website. Many businesses add special offers and discounts on their ads to help encourage people to click and visit so this could be worth considering.

1. Areas to Consider

If you want to get the best out of your internet marketing then you need to think carefully about exactly where and how you place you ads and which websites to use. It is vital that the site you choose to place your ad on has a similar target audience so that they will be likely to have an interest in what it is you do or sell.

Make sure that when you work out the budget for your business you also factor in the costs of internet marketing as this is an important consideration. Placing one of your ads in a prime position at the top of a popular website is not going to be cheap, but it may well help you gain a large number of customers which will in turn increase your income. Remember that every time a visitor clicks to your website it greatly improves your chances of a sale.

2. Getting the most from your Banner Ads

By creating and using banner ads effectively you should find that you enhance traffic, sales, and profits from your site. However you will need to make sure that the content of your ad provides the correct information and really helps to encourage visitors to use your business but without being annoying! Be sure to spend your marketing budget wisely and choose sites that attract a lot of visitors already and are likely to be used by your target audience to increase your exposure. Also make sure that your ad fits in with the style and image of the website that you have chosen

Different Methods of Online Marketing

With so many different options for marketing online it is important that you choose the one that is right for your business. This short article outlines a few of the main types that you may like to consider.

There are a huge number of options available to you regarding the marketing of your business. To begin with you might like to try some of the free methods alongside the paying options to allow you to put your money into other areas of the business. Listed below are just some of the marketing options that are available to you along with a brief explanation of how these will work.

1.Article Marketing

With this method of marketing you need to write and then submit articles to various online web article directories. This allows you to talk about what it is you do and related areas that others may find interesting. Within the article you will often find a box allowing you to write a little about yourself in which you can also include a back link to your website. This allows you to promote your website and drive traffic to it quickly and easily as well as increasing your search engine ranking. The majority of sites are free to use although some may require payment.

2.Forum Marketing

Another great free method of marketing is using forums related to your line of business. These allow you to join in discussions, talk about what it is you do with like minded people and also promote your website. Be sure to integrate yourself into the community first to avoid alienating people. This can be a great way to generate traffic towards your website.

3.Pay Per Click Advertising

This type of marketing is a paid service in which you pay the service provider when your link is clicked. It has proved to be very popular and effective and there are a number of sites to choose from including Google and Yahoo.

4.Viral Marketing

With viral marketing you are required to have something useful or interesting that can be passed onto others via email. This could be something like an e-book or a piece of software; as long as it is something that others will want. By doing this it can help to spread links to your website as well as promoting your business with minimum effort.

5.Press Releases

This is a similar method of marketing to writing articles as you are required to create a press release to promote and inform others of your business. You can then submit them to one or more press release sites online, many of which are free to use. This can be a great way to really explain to potential customers what it is you do as well as promoting any offers you are running and creating back links to your website.

All of these can be time consuming and so it may be something you cold look to outsource to a business consultant to manage for you.

How to get the most out of Forum Marketing

Forum marketing is a great way to speak directly to those most interested in what it is your offer or sell. However you need to make sure that you approach this type of marketing with care.

Marketing your business is an important consideration if you want it to be as successful and profitable as possible. There are a number of different ways that you can approach this but just one of the more modern methods is using forums as a platform for your marketing. Forum marketing can be an incredibly profitable exercise for those that have just set up their business as they allow you to attract traffic to your website for free! For those just starting out this is a key factor as it means you can invest more money into other areas. Once you begin to make a profit you can then consider other methods of marketing that may require some sort of payment.

1.Making Forum Marketing Work

It is vital that you do adequate research as to which forums you should use as if you target the wrong forums you could be wasting a lot of time and effort. Spend some time trying to find those that are related to what it is you do or sell so that you are attracting the right people who may be interested. Some simple research which could be useful to you can be outsourced to a marketing consultant.

Once you have found several forums it is important that you do not launch straight into marketing yourself and your business. In order to make this type of marketing work for you it is vital to first become an established member and build up your credibility. If you tend to just spam the forum you will either be ignored or deleted so try to post on a regular basis and provide useful information and responses to other members in order to establish a good reputation.

You will no doubt discover that many forums allow you to have a signature of some sort that appears after your posts. This is crucial for your successful marketing as it lets others know about your website and what you do. Spend some time making one that is eye catching and appealing but that will not annoy others or take a long time to load as you may be asked to remove it. Be sure to include a link that will take the person straight to your website as the easier it is for them the more likely they are to visit. By having links on a number of forums you should find that it helps to boost your search engine rankings. Try to post regularly on different forums and you should soon be able to drive targeted visitors to your site!