Search Engine Optimising

Even today’s construction companies are more net-savvy than ever before. A strong percentage will know that SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. It is almost common for any business to have a website advertising their products and services. Most people know that you gain an 80% advantage over the competition if you make it to the first ‘result page’ of any major search engine and believe me you will need that advantage competition being what it is today. Don’t get me wrong, you still have your die-hards that refuse to accept the fact that we went from a nation that used the Yellow Pages primarily, to a global community searching for what we need on their home computer.

Having said that let me point out that thousands of (old and new) businesses not only have websites, but they are engaging in some level of optimizing their websites.

Website owners pretty much understand first page status is almost impossible to get on the major search engines and a daily chore to keep it. Optimization is like brushing your teeth. You have to do it religiously and consistently. It’s very noticeable when you skip brushing. I this analogy the brushing is doing your work on you site and off your site promoting yourself blogging commenting on forums and all the other stuff off site that’s so important. Skip doing it and you will find yourselves here today, gone tomorrow.

If you want to blow the competition out of the water you have to strive to be on the first page. You’ve heard of being the king of the mountain. The truth is that not only do you need to be on the first page of search results but you will need to develop a broader strategy to excel on the internet.

Did you know that 80% of the searches don't go beyond that point? I could go on for weeks about what can be done to gain the status you desire as a business owner online, but for the purposes of this article let’s just say it is a lot of work and has to be maintaining for the life of the site.

Like brushing your teeth and flossing, it has to be done daily in order to be here today and here tomorrow. I don't discourage business owners from having an optimized website, it certainly has its benefits. It takes time to see the results of your efforts. It can take 3 to 6 months (in most cases) to get to the top of the heap (if you are fortunate). If I am consulting a business owner I tell them to go for it particularly if they are doing the work themselves. I caution them it has to be maintained daily and I always suggest that they include a PPC campaign in their marketing strategy. So that you have both of your bases covered (organically and sponsored).

Ok so what is a PPC campaign or sponsored listing? PPC (Pay per Click) services are provided through the Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo & Bing. It’s like being at an auction without the fun stuff. You get to bid on being on the first page. Here you get to figure out how people search when they are looking for someone with your products or services. They search by entering key words or key phrases. For example if someone were searching for a plumber ...how would they phrase it? Sometimes it's obvious, but you would be amazed how people think and how they research. Let’s say in this case they use the most obvious description “plumber” . Plumber would be a keyword.

Now anyone running a PPC campaign that shared an interest in that keyword would put in a bid for that keyword and successfully getting on page one simply boils down to being the highest bidder.

All major search engines have a tool available that professionals and amateurs use to determine what people are searching for and they also provide tools that will suggest keywords to bid on. This increases the quality and quantity of traffic flow to your website through the Search Engines. One thing to point out here is you only pay when your ad is clicked on and you will want the pages that visitors land on to be set up in a way that instantly makes a great impression. Having a phone number and contact form on that page is a must.

So to recap SEO is one way of getting on the first page of Google, Yahoo and Bing. While it is free in some sense it is also labor intensive and maybe not so free in that sense. The other method of getting on the first page of a major Search Engine is to pay for an ad and it is called a sponsored listing. You can set it up yourself and run an ad campaign fairly easy but I recommend you hire a professional; there are many companies and individuals that provide that type of service.

I stay fairly busyworking from home as a professional who's services include but are not limited to SEO and SEM (search engine marketing) . When I get too busy I recommend people I have come across a few companies that will provide excellent SEO services at competitive rate for both SEO work and PPC campaigns. They have made it so affordable you have to wonder if you can afford not to use them. Whatever you decide to do be sure to do a little of both if you can.

If you have a website and you want to know where it stands on a grading scale of 1% to 100% (100% obviously being excellent) contact me and I will grade your site and provide a free report and at least the initial consultation free as well.

You know everyone thinks that being in their own business is great but few really count the cost. Anything worth having will cost you something and in order to succeed you have to have a passion for what you do and have a winner’s work ethic.

Thanks for reading me,

Joe Garcia

ps.

You will also benefit from viewing this video Dital PR the convergence of using online technology as a method of discovery and a method publishing news and information to the consumer,analyst, journalist or even bloggers. Highly respected Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing

Length: 50 minutes