About Search Engine Optimization

Why Search Engines Exist :

     When an Internet user wants to find a product similar to the one that your company sells, the individual types the product name into a search engine and has the search engine find companies that advertise the product. There currently exist approximately 160 million websites with about 9 billion web pages on the Internet. It is very unlikely that a new customer might find your website without a search engine. Businesses have no choice but to rely on search engines to make the company's website findable.

Why Your Company Needs a High Search Engine Ranking :

     The primary purpose of a business website is to advertise your business online. Advertising a business is for the purpose of drawing new customers and/or keeping existing customers informed of your company's services. When searching for a product or service, Internet users typically click on the top links given by search engines. The company that has the highest ranked websites will receive the most customers. It is good business sense to have your website ranked higher than your competitors'.

How to Test Your Website :

     Use a search engine to search for the name of the product that your company sells. If your business is for customers in your region, type in the product name and your city. Is your website listed in the top 10? Top 20? Top 100? Top 200? Type the name of your business into a search engine. Can your website be found at all? Most Internet users will not search beyond the second page of a search engine. If your website is not listed in the top 20 of a search engine, the site will receive very little traffic, if any.

Most Common Search Engine Mistakes :

     The top five mistakes that business owners frequently make are (1) the business owners believe that potential customers know the business exists, (2) the business owners believe that Internet users will magically know the business owner's domain name, (3) the business owners believe that merely having a website will somehow make the site findable by search engines, (4) the business owners believe that Internet users will spend up to an hour or more searching for a website that the users do not know exists, and (5) the business owner does not believe that having a website is important.

     A good example of search engine effectiveness is that here in Amarillo there are four different businesses competing for the same customers, and the company that has the most employees is the only one that has a website findable on search engines. The other businesses did pay an advertising company to list the business names on the Internet, but the listings are useless because potential customers do not know the companies' names nor the products that the companies sell. It is common for a company to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars of income due to the company not wanting to invest a few hundred dollars in a website designed for search engine optimization.

Search Engines :

     The top three search engines are Google®, Yahoo®, and MSN®. Popularity rates Google at about 50%, Yahoo at about 25%, and MSN at about 10%. Since roughly 75% of all Internet users use Google and Yahoo, it is very important for the customer's website to be found on both search engines. It appears that MSN has recently been experimenting with its search engine by providing a variety of links that Google and Yahoo might not list. MSN is a good search engine that is steadily improving, and it is important for a website to be found on MSN as well, but the main emphasis should be aimed at achieving high rankings on Google and Yahoo first, and then later do the work to build MSN ranking. (Update 07-06-2010: This page was originally created about two years ago, and since that time the changes that we were witnessing in MSN are now completed in MSN's Bing.)

A high search engine ranking can get ten times more traffic than a paid ad.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Search Engine Internet Marketing Services :

     Major search engines sell advertising by charging the customer each time a user clicks on the customer's advertisement. A normal low cost is about ten cents per click. In highly competitive markets a customer can bid on how much the customer will pay per click. Many advertisers are paying well over $1.00 per click. PPC is a good choice for customers whose business is new to the Internet and needs immediate exposure. It is true that PPC often helps to promote and increase a website's search engine ranking simply because the website gets more visitors, but a properly designed website will achieve a high ranking on its own without the expense of PPC, although usually at a slower pace. An unoptimized website might achieve a higher rank while paying for PPC, but then fall quickly when the advertising stops. It is far more economical to pay for a search engine optimized website that will retain its high ranking than to continue paying hundreds of dollars each month for PPC. When useful for the customer, we can manage and guide search engine promotion through PPC.

Search Engine Optimization Services (Optimisation for our European friends) :

      There are several different methods of optimization. Some optimization methods work, and some do not work. The best and only long-term solution is to first build a search engine optimized website. We design and program all of our websites to achieve high search engine rankings. We can also optimize a customer's current website without unduly changing the website's appearances.

Search Engine Submission Service :

     We can submit a customer's website to the many search engines, but there are times that it is best to not submit a website. Our search engine optimization service places the customer's website in the best position for being accepted by search engines, and we then guide the rankings one step at a time.

Improve High Search Engine Ranking and Positioning :

      There is much more to improving a website's ranking than merely adding keywords, search engine advertising, and submitting to search engines. As previously mentioned, our main web design page dropped six spots within a couple weeks after we made a small change to the website. We did not measurably change the wording, nor the meta tags, nor anything SEO related that would be easily noticed, but the small change made a large difference in rankings. It is by our continual experimenting with our own websites that we have been able to best judge what will likely work best for a customer's website. Our techniques are confidential, but we know that the techniques work because all of our optimized websites have pages in the top ten listings of major search engines. It is not uncommon for one of our new websites to reach the top five within one week. Two sites were regionally ranked #1 within one week. We are confident that we can earn our customer's website a top ten listing.

Why This Site May Not Be In The Top Ten :

     At present there is no need to have this page in the top ten listings. As odd as it may appear, this web page has not yet received optimization. While our customers' optimized websites are in the top ten on all major search engines, our own website is used for experimentation and for illustration to customers why some websites earn top listings and why some websites do not. Nevertheless, during a recent test of keywords it was found that this page was number one on a major search engine.

Please call or email us if you have any questions.

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Basic Website Home Page Optimization - $100.00

     The basic search engine optimization service will get your website listed in search engines and make the website search engine friendly.

Full Website Optimization - $50.00 per page (four page minimum)

     The full search engine optimization service applies similar techniques as the basic optimization service to all of the website's pages.

Hourly Website Optimization - $60.00

     Many websites were not designed with search engine optimization in mind. Normal optimization can overcome many design flaws, but not all. When a website's design requires a major overhaul, we discuss the problems with the customer and offer solutions that are effective and cost efficient.

Miscellaneous Payments - $1.00

     Please use this payment method for miscellaneous charges. Choose the number of items to match the total dollar charge (i.e. choose 97 quantity to pay for a $97.00 charge).