Search Engines
One of the first questions I am asked by clients is "How will my site be found in the search engines" or "How will I be number one in Google".
There is no simple answer to these questions, but there are a number of rules to follow to make sure your site has the best chance of a good result in Google and other searches.
Many search engines offer a 'priority listing' usually costing a lot of money, to give your site a high result. There are specialist companies out there who will claim to get you a high listing, for a fee. You are welcome to use any of these companies, but I cannot recommend any one specifically.
What I do is to follow the principals of good site design, coupled with recommending the way parts of your site are laid out in order to give your site a good chance. I will advise you that your opening page should contain text with as many key words and phrases relating to your business as possible, and not just a graphic or animation. I will make sure your page titles, Meta tags and image Alt tags are relevant to the content of the page and the code is set up to be search engine friendly.
In addition I will advise you that you should make an effort to achieve as many 'incoming links' to your website as possible. This means other websites linking to you. I give you two links from my own websites to get you started, but you need to find directories and friendly sites to link back to you (usually in exchange for a link back). Google, quite rightly, assesses that the more sites which link to your site, the more popular your site must be, and increases your ranking.
Search engine results depend on a vast number of factors. If your business or service is unusual, good results are likely. If you are in a highly competitive market it will be harder to fight your way to the top. In any case, search results can take anywhere up to two months to appear after publication.
Link Building
I have access to a program where 1000 quality, incoming, one way links are hand submitted for you for just £99!
This is a tremendous way to increase your site's perceived popularity in the eyes of the search engine, and you get a report to show you exactly from where your links are coming.