Search Engine Optimisation
Essential? Or just a “nice to have”?
There are over a billion websites in the world now, and this number is growing every day.
This is like each website being one single tree in a massive forest the size of England’s biggest county, Yorkshire (i.e. 2.9 MILLION acres, about the equivalent of the state of Delaware, for our American cousins.)
That is a LOT of trees. And when you’re launching a new website, that’s the equivalent of planting a sapling right in the middle of them.
But isn’t it Google’s job to just point people to my site?
Yes, this is certainly their aim – to connect people with what they are looking for.
However – have you seen the number of results for each search term you type into Google? It normally runs into the hundreds, sometimes thousands. And almost nobody scrolls past the first page of results.
That explains this scary statistic: over 90% of websites get no search traffic to them at all.
It’s our job to help Google understand WHY they should direct people to YOUR site instead of any of those hundreds or thousands of others. Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to do this.
What can I do to make sure my website gets found?
The good news is that just by reading this article and understanding the scale of the challenge, you’ve made a great start. A huge number of people simply trust that, once built, their website will attract traffic from search engines without doing anything else. This really isn’t the case! Here’s a short, easy-to-understand list of the things you need to do – that are all proven to work.
That sounds like a lot of work!
It doesn’t have to be!
Your first option – partnering with an agency that can do some or all of those tasks (like us!) is very easy indeed. Enterprising IT do the first four as part of every standard build, and have great value add-on services (MyContentCreator, MyTrustBuilder, MySitePromoter) for the other elements that you might prefer not to spend time and effort on yourself. Contact us today to find out how we can help!
Your second option – doing it all yourself – is certainly also possible, and doesn’t even have to be too time-consuming. It’s more about setting aside a moderate amount of time regularly, and having a clear idea of what you want to achieve, than it is about having a large amount of time to invest right away. Whether you’re a current customer or not, we’re very happy to provide FREE advice on how to plan your work and the tools you can use for all these things, including where to look for the best free instructional videos. Just contact us today with any questions!
And finally, a few things to avoid
The Internet is awash with people making outlandish promises about what they can do for your Google results. But picking the wrong people can not only be expensive but also severely damage your standing with Google. So here are some red flags to avoid.
In summary
Don’t panic! Getting seen by search engines is actually easier than you think, and is certainly the most cost-effective thing you can do to promote your business online. Whether you choose to do it yourself, or get help to do it, do something – and don’t put it off. As they say, “the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time… is today.”
Good luck with promoting your website, and please let us know if we can help!
