Websites....

[Lee]

Thanks Anthony - like the design

@John - this is pretty costly though yes?

[John G]

Never paid to get on first page of google and will never will. Out of the 6 sites most appear on the first page depending on search critea, its all about keywords, domain name and how you market the site - think its called seo. Two of the sites are number one most of the time but it does depend on the search words you key in.

[Lee]

hmmm more things to leasrn about! Thanks John! Did you send the links so I can take a look?

[busybusybee]

I got burnt badly with my site, ordered a basic site with just info on, paid the money then the guy mysteriously went into hospital then my site which was only 10% built mysteriously dropped off the web then i never heard from him again! Then i did a google search which yes i know i should of done before and he had over 36 court cases against him from a previous business! Now i have a online store which im building slowly that was built for me in only hours and was very cheap! Just got to work out how to use the damn thing lmao!!!

[mugstar]

John,
be really interested to hear roughly how many hits you get with your site/s that are on google front page...my site is www.theengravedgiftshop.co.uk and is ok (I think) - needs a bit of jazzing up, but a get fairly low amount of hits..frustrating as I think my bounce rate is pretty good and conversion from browsers to buyers not bad-just need more people to see it! it is SEO'd by my web designer but I have no links-is this the key??

[John G]

What's your main selling item, Google that and if your not on the 1st page your not going to sell it. I typed in engraved pens and engraved gifts - your site didn't appear in the 1st two pages. Your customers won't trawl through until they find you - they'll use a company off the 1st or 2nd page.

Maybe the reason why my sites appear high is because the items are unusual, lack of competition, or because I've incorporated the item in the domain name itself.

[Andrew]

A blog is a great tool for SEO. On-site seo is all largely about content as long as all your internal links as set-up correctly. Fresh content that is added to a site through a blog keeps google coming back regularly and taking notice. Another aspect which can bump you up the ranking quickly is geo-locating. If your customer base is located in a certain area just heavily target that town name or area. You drastically cut down the competition your site goes up against. Incoming links are always good as long as they are of a decent quality but things like article submissions to places like google news are always good.

[Andrew]

What's your main selling item, Google that and if your not on the 1st page your not going to sell it. I typed in engraved pens and engraved gifts - your site didn't appear in the 1st two pages. Your customers won't trawl through until they find you - they'll use a company off the 1st or 2nd page.

Maybe the reason why my sites appear high is because the items are unusual, lack of competition, or because I've incorporated the item in the domain name itself.

It would take a lot of work to get on 1st page for key terms like engraved gifts. If it were "engraved gofts mytown" then it is far easier. Like you said John, your terms are possibly less competitive for people trying to get the 1st page so geo-locating does a similar thing for popular terms.

[AdamB]

It would take a lot of work to get on 1st page for key terms like engraved gifts. If it were "engraved gofts mytown" then it is far easier.

Hey Andrew - I doubt anyone will have keywords as 'engraved gofts' so you're bound to get on the front page with that one !!!!!

Sorry mate, couldn't resist and thought I'd quote and reply before you could edit your post!

[John G]

key terms like engraved gifts

Yes it would - but there are a few companies that appear on the first page for both of the searches mentioned - look at their sites, keywords, page names, site content & links etc to see how they are appearing higher than you!