How to be first at Google!

Everybody wants to be at the top of the list in search engines. There are no quick fixes or guarantees. Over the past several years, the ranking process has become increasingly more complex. Web developers eventually figure out how to ‘trick’ search engines into choosing their site. This forces the search engine companies to make their ranking algorithm additionally complex.

I believe that today there is less ‘trick’ to the process. Meta and title tags, site navigation and reciprocal links are important, but the emerging trend is towards focusing more on a site’s content. Website owners with outstanding content that serves their clients will eventually get ranked highly and attract new visitors.

If content is king, how do you build content into your site?

1. Write and post articles related to your website.
2. Offer these articles to other website owners.
3. Find syndicated content from 3rd party sources.
4. Create an environment on your website where your visitors can contribute to the site – discussion boards, blogs, guestbooks, frequently asked questions or a knowledge base.
5. Post latest news to your site regularly.

Content is often one of the most difficult aspects of site management. With the correct back-end administrative tools you can make the content on your site live and breathe with minimal daily investment on your part. Visit http://georgeandcandy.com  for an example of simple active content delivery.

Finally, as promised, the guaranteed way appear first at Google: Google AdWords. Searches conducted at Google.com will result in a list of both ranked websites and a list of sponsored links. The positions on the right are based on sold keywords. Placing your website in this list is affordable and very strategic. Explore http://adwords.google.com  to see if it fits with your web promotion strategy.

Have a great Christmas season – and as you shop online to find the best deals, be cautious when you submit your credit card details. Christmas is the Internet scammer’s season of good cheer. For example, never submit sensitive information if there is no padlock symbol in the lower right corner of the browser window. Check http://bizrate.com  for customer reviews of online merchants. If the deal seems too good to be true – it probably is.

Doug DeVries and Mark Lee run Equine-Design. Equine-Design serves the equine community with print and web design services. They can be reached by email at: info@equine-design.com  or on the web at: www.equine-design.com