Affordable Lead Generating Websites

Recently I spoke to a webmaster that saw his good search engine rankings tanked and he wondered what happened. After all, for quite some time his website had enjoyed top rankings in the search engines, but all of the sudden his website was nowhere to be found. What could have happened?

First off, this webmaster had a niche website. The information presented was very unique and did not have much competition. This alone allowed his website to rise in the search engine rankings. Since he did not change his website much at all and there was no real competition for this business, he continued to stay there.

However, as business began to get more competitive, the webmaster began looking for new ways to set himself apart. He began working on a Viral Marketing peice that he intended to mass distribute from his website. In an effort to remain at the top of the search engines, he quickly added a variety of keywords and phrases at the bottom of his website to help his website be identified with his business. With the new increase in traffic, Google took notice and came back to visit… and then POOF! His website went away in the rankings. He got a Google Penalty!

This webmaster made the carnal sin of Keyword Stuffing. Keyword stuffing is the practice of placing a large amount of keyword text on a webpage for the sole purpose of getting ranked. Google does not like this practice and will “black ball” websites that try to use this technique (this is commonly referred to as the Google Penalty.)

Good SEO is built around the right keywords and phrases. However, the content of your pages should be more than just keywords. What happened to this webmaster was that a high percentage of his text was repetitive keywords. You should limit your keywords to fit within the context of your page’s text. If you are discussing “purple car widgets”, don’t just drop a ton of references about “purple car widgets” over and over.

A rule of thumb… you should be able to read your text fairly normally and it actually make sense!

Another thing to avoid in your quest for search engine rankings is “hidden keywords.” In other words, don’t add a bunch of keywords and make them the same color as the background. This is considered deceptive and will get you banned as well.

Have you been Google Banned?

Well, there is still hope. First off, correct the error. If this is a first offense and a rare occurence you may well be able to overcome it. However, if your ranking is of any importance to you, it would probably serve you best to contact a good SEO expert to help you out!

SEO is not difficult, if you know what you are doing. Trial and error will teach you, but can also cost you. You can study online for hours on end and you can learn it that way… but this takes a lot of time. A good website design and SEO strategy can help prevent these issues and allows you to focus on the more important aspects of your website!

Is Pay Per Click better than SEO?

Many people use Pay Per Click for their main internet based presence. With a PPC strategy you are almost guaranteed to be on the first page of the search results for any keyphrase you want. But that comes at a price.

For example, using Google Adwords Traffic Estimator, the following term for a mortgage related website would cost the following:

“refinance mortgage loans”  would average $19.82 - $29.73 everytime someone clicked on the ad. Google estimates that you would get roughly 12 - 20 costing you $240 - $590 per day! On a 30 day cycle that can easily top $10,000!

In my humble opinion that is CRAZY!

Sure, a PPC campaign can provide opportunities, but so can a carefully crafted and executed SEO strategy for “Organic” results. In other words, with the right strategy and technique, you can make Google fall in love with your website and be ranked at the top of the search results for your industry! All of that at a small fraction (sliver even) of $10,000!

So which is better? How much money do you have? My money is on the SEO strategy. We can offer suggestions and advice on a specific PPC campaign to help you maximize your returns, but nothing beats the power and strength of a solid Website Strategy designed with solid SEO techniques! Those that rely solely on PPC campaigns simply are not ranked high enough organically.

(If you know one of these people, offer to refer them to a solid solution like Found By Design.. they may give you a fee for helping them save so much money!)

Here at Found By Design, we talk a lot about a “ Web Presence.” With all that talk, you might ask yourself, what is a Web Presence? Let’s take a look at that.

A website alone does not give you a Web Presence. As a matter of fact, a website is only part of a Web Presence. The total internet strategy employed that makes your website and your service or business top the results is what takes you to a Web Presence.

Google is a strong example of a Web Presence. Google is everywhere. Not only is the Google home page one of the most widely used and visited, but no matter where you go it seems you will find Google. You see “Google Ads” and “Search powered by Google” almost everywhere. When it comes to internet search engines, Google is the best known website. That is called a Web Presence.

Sure, your website isn’t Google. As a matter of fact, your website and service is probably more specialized and regional than that. But even if you are a real estate agent, a tax advisor or a baby sitting service, you can have a Web Presence that makes your service the tops when searched online.

Take EdNailor.com for example. This website is a mortgage loan officer’s website. The area served is North and South Carolina, with a primary market of Charlotte, NC. If you were to do a search for “Charlotte Home Loans” or “Charlotte FHA Mortgage” in Google, you will see EdNailor.com ranked in the top of Google. (You will also see another website with Ed Nailor listed within the top 10.) As a matter of fact, there are approximately 14 phrases that are commonly searched by when someone in Charlotte NC is considering a mortgage. For these phrases, you will see EdNailor.com listed in the top of Google consistently.

That too is a Web Presence. Of course, if you did a simple search for say “mortgage” you will find different results. But that is ok. The EdNailor.com website was not geared to reach potential mortgage applicants in Billings, Montana. What about you? If you are a Realtor, what searches are you found under? “Realtors” in Google would most likely never find you. But how about your home town? Where do you rank? Would you like to have a Web Presence?

Contact Found By Design Now, or submit for a Free Website Evaluation.