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Will Your Website Let You Down Or Carry You On Its Shoulders?

So, your business plan has been approved by the bank and the letterheads and business cards are back from the printers. Now it's time to think about a website and you have two choices:

1) Buy a cheap website or get your mate to build you one just to get you started and invest in a better one once the money starts rolling in.

Or..

2) Do the research and find a website company that take the trouble to understand my business and are experts in optimising websites for Google and invest in a website that works.

So, what is the difference between #1 and #2 and what does it mean for your business? It could mean the difference between whether you go out of business in the first year or stay afloat. Such is the importance of your web presence in the Internet Age.

Here are a few facts:

* Over 90% of all internet searches are done using Google
* The Top 3 results on Google Page One get two thirds of all the business
* Less than 20% of people read down to Position 7 on Google Page One
* Websites not on Google Page One get no visitors at all.

If your website is not optimised for Google then you will not appear on the top page of Google, your website will get little or no traffic and your most important revenue stream will run as dry as the desert. It is as simple as that.
This is what Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all about. It is, among other things, the practice of optimising your website to ensure you reach Google Page One.

A Google Optimised website is a site that has been built around your most important keywords. These lucrative words will have been embedded right into the very fabric of your website. What are these mysterious keywords? Well, here is a general rule of thumb:

Potential clients will type in the service they are looking for, and the name of the nearest town (e.g. accountants Bristol) or they will type in the name of the product they are looking for (e.g. garden furniture). If you are just starting off, you wont be able to appear on Google Page One for the keyword Garden Furniture as it is too competitive. You will need to come up with some longer keywords (e.g. rustic oak garden furniture or wrought iron garden furniture sets) and build pages on your website around these words.

Over three quarters of all websites are not optimised for Google and of the other 25% only about 5% have got it completely right. Even websites designed by big digital agencies often fail to measure up. Sure, they may deliver a glossy looking, well-designed website, but if it isnt properly optimised then it is the equivalent of an expensive advertising billboard in the middle of the Gobi desert.

Your website should be a powerful workhorse, bringing in new business and helping the company grow. By choosing the cheap made by my mate website, or one that is not properly Google optimised, you are shooting yourself in the foot; making it almost impossible for potential new clients to find you.
Dont set up your business on the World Wide Web equivalent of a deep dark forest surrounded by a wall of thorny brambles (Google Page Two, or worse), set it up on a very busy virtual high street with hundreds of customers walking by every day (Google Page One - Positions 1 to 3).

The Big Yellow Book is obsolete now. Today, its all about succeeding online. Word of mouth and networking are only part of the success equation. The most important tool in your arsenal is your website and the World Wide Web, so make sure you make the most of it.

Barnaby Kirsen is a Director at Free Range Websites Ltd. For the last 14 years he has been helping SMEs, Charities and Not For Profit Organisations succeed online, through optimised web design, SEO and Social Media Marketing.

Barnaby Kirsen BA (Hons) M.Ed
Free Range Web

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