How Do You Make Your Website Appear On Google?

If you’re not on Google, you don’t exist. What’s the point of building a website anyway if no one can find it? Lately, we’ve talked about banner advertising and educated you on how to get more bang for your buck. Well, this time you’ll learn why visitors from Google are a hundred times more valuable than those brought by banners.

Place Your Lemonade Stand Where People Are Thirsty

If you were to pick one single advantage for your “Lemonade Business,” what would it be? The best taste? The cheapest price? Maybe a well-known brand? I’d definitely pick a crowd of people who are really thirsty! Unfortunately, that’s not possible in “real life”.

But not on the Internet…

Google is a magical place where people shamelessly share all of their intentions.

• When you want ice cream delivered to your doorstep, you search for “ice cream delivery in Dallas.”
• When you need to book a hotel in Barcelona – you search for “hotel booking Barcelona.”
• When you need to know how much wood a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood – you obviously search for “how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” (no kidding, people search for that stuff)

Since you’re reading this post, you might understand that there are tons of people on Google “thirsty” for what you have to offer. This is totally different from banner advertising, where random people see your banner, and you can’t tell if they are “thirsty” or not.

So the question is – “How to get yourself in front of your audience on Google?”

To Pay, Or Not To Pay: Not A Question

Looking at the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), you can see that there are only two ways to get your business there: “natural search results” and “paid listing.” “Natural search results” are considered free as you don’t have to pay Google to get there, while with a “paid listing,” you pay Google a certain sum each time someone clicks your link.

But let’s take a closer look…

Natural Search Results

Google uses a sophisticated algorithm to rank web pages depending on the searched keyword. The process of optimizing your website by this algorithm is called SEO – Search Engine Optimization. Do it right, and you will rank higher.

In fact, SEO is simple, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get to the front page of Google, which is why most people prefer to pay an SEO agency to do it for them. So, it looks like “natural search results” are not really free.

Paid Listing

Now, this one sounds easy, but it’s not! The whole system reminds me of an auction, where you bid the highest price you can pay when someone clicks your listing. But the trick is—you can’t see what other bids are. Confusing? Totally!

Many people will blindly burn $100-$500 in Google Adwords just to become convinced it’s ineffective, which is not true. I really don’t want you to get into this trap as well so please do a thorough research on SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and learn the Google Adwords system before spending any money on it.

What’s Next?

This post is the very top of the iceberg, titled “SEO & SEM.” I know I didn’t share any specifics about getting your site on Google’s page 1, but at least now you have two roads you may take to get potential customers to visit your website.

I’d love to educate you further and help you get your website in front of your customers, but I really need your feedback to move forward. Please post your questions in the comments below, and I will build further posts around the topics that bother you most.