How Good A Ranker Are You?

If you rank - you grow!

 

Being a ranker these days can really aid in your businesses growth, no matter what industry you operate in or what size your business is.

 

Even if you are a full on ranker at the moment, you shouldn’t get complacent, you always need to be working on your ranking activities. Bottom Line – ranking is great for business.

 

(For anyone not sure what being a good ranker means - basically it means that your web site comes up on the first page of the search results when someone searches for a term that relates to your business activities.)

So for example - someone goes to Google and types in ‘accountant in Essex’ - the search results are then displayed. You will have some paid advertising at the top and along the side - but the main page displays sites that Google feels are relevant to the search query.

 

These are known as natural listings (not paid for adverts) – this is where you want your site to appear for peoples searches that relate to your business. You want to rank highly for specific search terms that are relevant to your business.

 

What would people that are interested in your products or services search for online? What would they type in?

 

Now imagine your web site being one of the first things people see when they went to Google, Yahoo or MSN to search out the products or services that you offer. That’s free leads – free sales!

 

No matter how obscure your business or localised - people will still be searching for your products or services. If they find you, then you are generating free leads or free sales. You are not spending any money on advertising.

 

These people are active buyers. They are actively looking for you; they need or want what you have to offer. They have the cash; they have the desire to part with their money.

 

Being a ranker is just such an amazingly powerful thing, it literally transforms businesses. A business we worked with a not so long ago, had no web site to start with - the owner was against it, saying ‘we only need a couple of pages on the web, that tells people what we do and who we are. We are local and we don’t need the global presence a web site brings, it’s a waste of time and money.’

 

This business owner just presumed that you have to be a large company with nationwide coverage in order for a web site to work for you. This is not the case at all. Even if you are a small shop in the middle of nowhere, a good internet marketing strategy will bring you in business. Fact!

 

Long storey short - this business went from a couple of hundred thousand turnover, to over a million pound turnover in a year - and was even more profitable than it previously was.

 

The majority of this businesses growth was achieved through good ranking. To start with the owner was an ignorant ranker, now he is an enlightened ranker – a huge advocate of ranking and the results it can bring.

 

Companies (big or small) that see, understand and embrace this new era of marketing will bullet proof their business, those that dismiss it as a fad or passing trend will not grow or possibly even not survive long term.

 

In our experience those that dismiss the importance of online marketing are generally those that don’t really understand it, can’t see its potential and are stuck in old school mindsets that traditional media and sales tactics are king.

 

We strongly disagree, balance is king. A blend of traditional media and new media works so, so well. Ranking is a key part of the blend.

 

So How Do You Get To Be At The Top Of The Search Engines?

 

This is done through something known as Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO). SEO is something that you can outsource or do in house, it just depends on you and your business.

 

Be very careful if you are outsourcing your SEO work, a high percentage of businesses we know have been ripped off by marketing agencies.

 

We are preparing some more info on SEO - so please watch out for it.

 

Until next time,

 

Tim & Chris