“How do I get my site to the top of Google?”

by Dyon Swanborough - Octyl.com.au

This is the number one question I get asked by business owners everywhere, whether it be at
a one on one meeting, a 10 minute talk, or a workshop we’re running.  And its a fair enough question on the surface, because as business owners and marketing managers, we want as many potential clients and customers as possible to visit our website.

The problem is this: Most people think that getting found in the Top 10 (preferably top 3) search results on Google means that the bank account suddenly begins overflowing.

The Stark reality is that this rarely happens unless... you do everything else right as well.  Or at least ‘mostly’ right, as results also depend on how much competition you have and how seriously you take your business.

Perhaps Ironically, or as I prefer to think of it, ‘logically’, once you have everything else (reasonably) right, search engines in general are more likely to move your site up in their search results naturally over time. However this is not a rule, this is a pattern we have observed consistently over years of working with business websites.
The ‘Rules’ themselves (i.e. ‘best practice guidelines’) are available in a more in depth article on the Octyl website detailing what are generally considered by industry professionals as ‘SEO essentials’.

You see, like anything worth achieving in this life, there is no ‘silver bullet’ - there is no one big secret ‘magic’ thing that just works, not even a handful of them. Recently when Interviewing a friend for a new site launching late 2010 called InternetBusinessHeroes.com, (his name is Brad Walker, and he has quite a successful Internet Business), he noted there was no one thing he did that made his business successful, but 1000 little things - over 9 years!   Naturally, there has been an ever growing degree of success in Brad’s business since he started selling a few books from a one page website almost a decade ago, but still, Brad’s example lends some insight into both what it takes, and what’s possible when you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve, and begin doing lots of little things right, consistently.

Doing Everything Else Right (at least ‘mostly, kinda, sorta’)

Here’s a question for you:
Let’s say you were able to instantly have your site appearing ‘number one on Google’, and let’s just assume for a minute that it was appearing in a top 3 position for word phrases that people are actually searching on. So in theory, you’ll probably get a lot more traffic from Google ‘organic’ search (natural, un-paid).

So someone clicks through from a Search Engine and lands on your home page. Now what?  How and what is it communicating to that person. Are they getting information that they are looking for and are you giving them easy to find options to take some sort of responsive action?

For many people, even those who’ve ‘just had their website done’, this is an afterthought, if even a thought at all.

Lets check reality for a moment. There’s only a handful of response actions that people can really take on the average business website that help make you money, they can:

1. Sign up for a Newsletter, VIP program or Updates - assuming your communications strategy is clear, and well planned ahead. 
2. Enquire about a potential purchase or book a consultation or quote - usually done via a webform.
3. Place an Order and ideally pay for it right then and there if you have products or services you can sell online.
4. Get your phone number and call you, check the map location page to visit your store/office, or read up on your product to self-educate.  Either way, its the first 3 where the Return On Investment in your Internet Business Systems begin to become apparent. Sadly, many websites are only using one of these 4 response mechanisms - and often doing that quite poorly as well.

Lets face it, if you’ve only got $1500, $4000, even $7500 to invest in your Website and Internet Systems - assuming the whole point is for it to help make you money, doesn’t it make the most sense to focus on using it as a marketing tool - one that communicates really well with your customers and prospects, rather than just having a ‘pretty digital brochure’ as your ‘website’?

So you need to decide how to invest your hard-earned cash in overly ‘pretty’ graphics that don’t sell, or Strategic planning and generating traffic of qualified buyers looking to spend money with your business.

By now, I’m sure you’ve got the point “Being at the top of Google” is the last step in the process, not the first. When Stephen Covey penned his best-seller “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, the second habit listed is: “Begin with the End in Mind”. This is never more important than when planning your marketing - especially on the Internet.  Some have said that ‘everything happens 7 times faster on the internet’ - which means you can make or lose your money 7 times faster!  So before you go giving money to that ‘SEO specialist’ or “Link Building Company”, my personal recommendation is to invest a little time in educating yourself - and at least learn the basics, and the fundamental principles of how it all works.  And you know what, You don’t even need ‘technical skills’ - there’s really no ‘nerd stuff’ involved (well, not in learning the fundamentals anyway). 

So, before you go seeking ‘number one on Google’ status, here’s a small guide to help you plan for success - some of which probably will, over time, assist with increasing your listing rank in search engine results (assuming you do it properly).

Lets Get Started - First Steps

1. Consider the process your ‘ideal buyer’ goes through from their ‘googling’ through to making some kind of purchase with you. Begin with thinking about what ‘affirmative action’ steps you want your visitors who are both current and potential new customers - to take?  e.g. a Free email Signup, a Membership Sign Up, an Enquiry/Quote request or make a Purchase?

2. Next, have your site built to maximum ‘Search Engine Friendliness’ standards, hosted and maintained on high speed managed servers (in reputable data centres in Australia for Australian businesses). Use a .au domain if you mainly do business in Australia, ensure the site has lots of good, relevant content, and keep it to one key topic focus per page, and Do NOT ‘keyphrase seed’ your pages! and Do NOT put anything in your ‘Meta Tags’! - Do Put a ‘Human Friendly’ description of 1-2 short sentences in your ‘meta Description’ for each page, make it highly relevant to the page, and again, Do NOT ‘keyword-seed’ your meta descriptions either! It is not necessary.

3. Make each page flow onto the next logical action with multiple access points to the key actions you want people to take.

4. Work with your Search Marketing Professional to configure Goals within your Analytics - especially for paid campaigns, and do track ads through to goals pages!

5. Get someone who truly understands how to get your maximum qualified buyers per dollar spent with Google (and other engines), to set up an Ad campaign for you, and to keep adjusting it every week or 2 until it is optimised. That means getting you profitable new business by the way.
Different Ad Campaigns should have dedicated ‘landing pages’ on your site and not all just going to the home page (in most cases), but any Digital Marketing strategist worth talking to will explain this up front and develop a plan for making it work for you.

6. Get some inbound links to the exact URL (page address) on your site, from as many relevant, highly trafficked pages on the web as you can. The Key here is “relevant” - no point having a link to your site that sells shoes from a site that sells plant fertiliser - it’s not credible because it’s out of context.

Over 15,000 Software Engineers at Google are way smarter collectively (and possibly even individually) than you!  ...So don’t try to beat the system or figure it out yourself. It will be expensive, and short-lived, costing you dearly in the long run.

‘Moving Forward’ (thanks Julia Gillard ;)

What next?  Where would you like to go from here?

May we suggest you should:

• Download the latest comprehensive Free report from octyl.com.au
  or, if you want to just get someone to handle it for you, visit the home site of Octyl’s creators “Swanski & Hutch” and see if you and your business qualifies for the ‘PIMP’ program - although there’s only ever 19 positions available on the program at any one time, and it’s not for everyone.
  or take the Free (for now) 90 day e-Course to DIY Internet Marketing.

Remember, Always keep going! Do 1000 little things right over 1000 days and you’ll be well on your way to Successfully and Profitably using the Internet for Business.

Best Regards til next time,

Dyon Swanborough.

Co-Founder of Swanski and Hutch - creators of
Octyl Internet Business Systems.