For most people that have a business website and are concerned about their online presence, the acronym SEO has some meaning although they might be a bit blurry on the details.

All of us see the daily barrage of emails and spam from SEO companies claiming they will get your website on the first page of Google in 30 days or less. And most of us promptly delete these emails as we clean up our daily collection of digital junk mail.

As a web developer, I wonder if anyone actually falls for these claims. In fact, SEO spam emails represent a large portion of the 100 billion spam emails that are auto-generated on a daily basis.

In this article, I would like to shed a little light on the SEO world, not as an expert by any means, but as simply someone who works with clients that need help getting their website ranked as well as possible in Google. Yes, there are other search engines, but let’s face it… there is really only Google.

For those that may not be aware, SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. Sounds straight forward enough, but what this really boils down to is how well does your website rank in Google during Organic Searches. Rank is determined by the page you show up on, the first page is an excellent ranking. Showing up on page 10 is not so good.

Organic search results mean that you’re not paying Google to promote your website. You can tell the difference between an organic listing versus a paid listing as the paid listing will say that it is an Ad or… Sponsored!

As far as what processes are involved in getting your website optimized for search engines is a lengthy topic well beyond the scope of this article. However, I will say that to do it correctly will take a lot longer than 30 days! And of course, the idea that everyone’s website can be on the first page of Google for their particular niche is obviously not realistic.

Generally speaking, the process can take 6 – 12 months to get momentum going depending on how much competition there is within your niche and the geographic area your targeting. Obviously larger metro areas present a greater SEO challenge than rural areas with smaller towns.

Even if your business is in a large city, and your niche is highly competitive it is still very important to make sure that your website has been SEO Optimized so that over time the investment you have made in your Website will eventually bear fruit in the form of Passive Lead Generation.

After all for most business owners, one of the main reasons for having a website is to create more business opportunities… more revenue!

One of the primary aspects of maintaining a good ranking in Google Search engines is content. In real estate, the mantra is Location, Location, Location. In the SEO world, the same could be said with the mantra Content, Content and more Content.

Although it can’t be just any content, the content needs to be original and relevant to your niche. You see Google can tell if your content has been duplicated or scraped off other websites and sources, so there is no way to trick Google’s algorithms. This is one of the differences between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO.

However, when you take the time to do SEO correctly and with integrity, your website will be a valuable asset to your business and allow your web presence to grow over time.

Here at WebWorm, we understand that content is king when it comes to maintaining your website, which is why we encourage business owners to make a habit of continually adding fresh content to their website on a monthly basis… forever!

Having more content creates more potential landing pages for your target audience to find your services or products and has the additional benefit of increasing your ranking in Google.

Here at WebWorm, we recommend a monthly plan for adding a  steady stream of high quality, original content to your website on a regular basis, along with the knowledge of how to optimize that content for SEO purposes. This is the recipe for a solid foundation to build your web presence.

Keep in mind that building your web presence should be the highest priority when thinking about where to invest your advertising budget.

Remember, unlike traditional advertising that ends when the ad campaign ends, the investment you make in your web presence is an actual investment.

It is an investment in your digital property, that you own,  and will continue to benefit you long after the SEO work is completed.

Tony Culjis
Director Of Web Development
tony@webworm.biz