Written by Biz Photography Admin on February 19th, 2010

Search Engine Tips to Getting Your Local Business Website a First Page Ranking

Everyone with a website has the dream and goal of being listed on the first page of every search engine in existence. You can spend a lot of time and brain power trying, when you should really just think about it and approach the process in a much simpler way.

Too many Local businesses with websites, think that if they are not listed #1 on Google, that their website does not matter, that no one will ever find them, that they are wasting their efforts of even trying to be an online presence. The first phone call you get promising you top rankings for $395.00 per month (each and every month) to be listed on the first page of Google sounds like your only option, and you hope you can make enough sales to make that pay off.

I know – I have received those calls myself. Fortunately I have enough experience to realize that this is an exorbitant fee for this service. So reject that. There are other MUCH less costly, and more importantly – much more effective ways of being visible and accessible to the potential customers searching for what you offer. What I realized through friends who have local businesses, is that they are struggling to get an understanding of where they need to be listed, and how to best accomplish that listing.

There are some fairly simple things you can implement yourself. They are fairly basic steps to take that are not complicated. They will help your site rankings move up, and you should be able to accomplish them yourself – or ask your teenager to help you. None of these things alone will guarantee your rank, but they will help your chances.

Remember – most other local businesses are in the same boat as you are. Their knowledge levels and expertise are similar. Generally what you will find, is that you are competing against the large national chain Box stores that are taking over with larger volume buying capacity, and the ability to undercut on prices.

So, how can you begin? Let’s start with a few essentials that will give you the good base of information that search engines like.

1. Search engines are looking for content. Good, solid, keyword-rich content that is relevant to your product, information or service.
   A shift took over the Internet in the past couple of years. You can’t just put anything up on your website to attract visitors. You are required to give excellent content. That is a good thing. In the eye of your consumer, you gain respect and in the end, their business, which in turn relates to profits to sustain your business. Develop a plan for the information you will disperse. If you simply write about what you offer, and give detailed information on the hows and whys of the credibility of your product – your consumer wins, as do you.

Research the best keywords that pertain to your business. You probably already know them very well. As you write, be sure to use those keywords effectively as you deliver your content. It’s what the search engine spiders (the little robots that seek your information) are looking for. Incorporate the keyword terms so that they are logical and used to their best advantage. DO NOT just pepper them in where they don’t make sense. This will not help you. Quality information that includes your best search terms, its what will serve you well.

1. Being Consistent is Crucial to Your Exposure
   Search engines crawl your website nearly every day. What are they looking for? New content. In their algorithms, the consistency of fresh content being added to your website, is a highly ranked determining factor of your placement.
   
   

So – what is the easiest way to accomplish this part of the puzzle? Incorporate a blog into your website. This is a page where you can go in once a week or more, and make simple posts of new content. Once a week is crucial, three times a week is ideal. HubSpot, who keeps track of such things, reports that businesses with an active blog, receive 55% more customers that companies who do not.It isn’t important that it is you personally that is writing the posts. If you have a spouse, or an employee who can take the time to write short 300 to 400 word articles for you, then get them to do so. Give them a list of topics that they can write about. If they know the topic, it will be simple for them to accomplish. If they need to do a bit of research to get the facts straight, then have them do the research. You may have material from manufacturers and suppliers that will serve the need for you.

Don’t post 3 or 4 articles in one day. This isn’t going to be the best use of your
content. Either manually post 3 to 4 times a week, or learn how to pre-load the
articles to post themselves on the date you set. It is the constant flow of good
content rich and keyword effective information that the search engines want.

There are also very inexpensive place to have someone else write articles on the
topics you give them – an excellent way to fill your blog with good solid keyword
rich articles. I have used these services many times, and been extremely pleased
with the results.

These are a couple of steps you can take yourself to begin the process of
increasing your website ranking. Set these steps into motion before you spend
lots of money trying to get to the first page of Google. If you get there and don’t have any substance to offer, you will have just wasted your money. The people who would be your customers, and visit to only find that what they want to know isn’t there, are not going to become your loyal customers.

If you would like additional information on any of the Tips listed above – or where to find the article writing services, please feel free to email me with your questions.
I look forward to hearing from you. Mary Mazzullo Marketing Director for enLocal

enLocalMarketingDirector@gmail.com http://MarylandenLocal.com