we have recently started to make a website..being complete pc dullards its very very very basic, how can we improve the occurance of it coming up through google etc when [eople are searching for what we offer.

if you fancy a laugh at our buffoonery its here

edit its still not finished!! photos etc coming soon

Its called ‘Search engine optimisation’ or SEO. Have a google for it as there are loads of top tips out there. You’ll find a lot of companies trying to sell SEO, avoid these unless you have some money you are struggling to get rid of.

I’m just going through a similar process so I’ve been doing some reading. I’ll share what i know but I’m no expert. You need content. A reasonable amount of text and a few named images. Keep updating it, too. Think about what people will be searching for and get that in there. Your customers will probably be local so will be search for “chiropody torquay” or “chiropody south devon”. You also need links, google likes links, links to other websites, links to your website. Again there are lots of people selling space in directories but there should be enough free ones out there for starters. Finally consider google ad-words. It can be very cheap and if you choose the right keywords very successful. I recently placed a 1p ad as an experiment and got 300 clicks in about 6 hours with about 25 people actually registering on the site I wad advertising.

You need content.

This.

The thing with SEO that people always forget is, everyone else is doing it as well. If there’s three chiropody websites in Devon, they can’t all be number one in the listings. To quote Mark Knopfler, “two men think they’re Jesus… one of them must be wrong.”

If you want to promote your website, the best way to do it IMHO is to have a good website with interesting or useful content, that people are going to want to visit. There’s little point being top of Google’s results if people take one look and then go “eurgh” *back* *next*.

Actually, if you want to promote your website, you’ve got it backwards. You want your website to promote your business. You don’t get a telephone installed and then go “how can I make people ring me” before investing in telephone directory optimisation.

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(there’s probably a reason that I don’t work in Marketing, mind you)

Make the content good quality and relevant to what you are doing, and update it fairly regularly. Whatever you do, don’t try to trick/game Google, they will catch you out and your site will be forever blacklisted.

You’ll find a lot of companies trying to sell SEO, avoid these unless you have some money you are struggling to get rid of

Why? Some people excel at looking after other people’s feet, others at improving search engine rankings.

But the first thing you need to do (if you haven’t yet done it) is submit it to Google so it is indexed. However, I see you created it using Google tools so it may even do that for you.

But yes content is god – and get the site link on free directories such as Yell and 192.

Web CEO is the answer. SEO for intermanerd dullards – works a treat as a good start on things.

Employing someone someone to improve your search engine rankings is expensive if done properly, mainly because it isn’t a one off exercise. They don’t turn up and do a few changes and hey presto you’re number 1. They’ll work on improving your site throughout the year.

But there are a few hints and tricks that you can follow yourself to improve your chances, just do a search for search engine optimisation tips – that should point you in the right direction.

You’ve made a good start though, having a domain name related to the service you provide and where you provide it is handy. If people are looking for a foot clinic in St Marychurch, it’s possible they’ll type in ‘st marychurch foot clinic’ in the browser. In that case you’re already number one in google.

Links from other sites like forums etc can help, but many forums will prevent search engine spiders from following links to avoid people spamming their site with links.

But in the end what has been said above is true…content is king.

many thanks for the help everyone, we are about to put some images etc in and will consider lots of links for information for our clients diabetes information/organisations and suchlike…
again, thanks.