In 2010 more and more small businesses have learned that being found is way more important than chasing sales. What I mean by this is that more and more end users, or clients (or whatever you want to call them) are using Google, Yahoo and Bing to find the products and services that they want instead of using the Yellow Pages.

In fact, ask around. When was the last time you or somebody you know actually used the Yellow Pages? I can’t seem to remember the last time I did. I use whatever computer that I’m closest to or my phone.

How DO You Get Found?

So if that’s how people are finding your competitors, then how do you get found? There are lots of tips and tricks you can read in this blog, but I’m going to present a case study of how we got a local client, Air Control, on the first page of Google in under a month.

Note: I highly recommend Air Control as an air conditioning company and hope that you will too. If you do use them, please be sure to let them know that Chris Hunter at Web Unlimited sent you!

Step One – Website

This is kind of the obvious one, but you really need a website to rank high in Google. There are obviously a lot of other variables, but this is the main ingredient our special recipe for ranking high.

We launched Air Control’s website on October 4, 2010. At the time of this writing it has been exactly a month.

Step Two – Optimized Page

The second step is to create a page that is optimized for your search term. This simply means that you actually put the keyword you want to be ranked for throughout the page.

In Air Control’s case, the keyword was “College Station Air Conditioning” as at the time of our initial keyword research it received around 400 searches per month and was the most obtainable of the list of other possible keywords.

Step Three – Backlinks

The next step is really our secret ingredient – backlinks. Google places a high importance on relevant keywords. So once the page was created and optimized, we started building backlinks. Our research told us that we would need 50 or more backlinks to get onto the front page.

So we did exactly that in a very organic way. This just means not to purchase those link packs of 1,000s of links that are generated in one day. That will just raise red flags with Google. So we generated around 100 backlinks in one month in a very slow fashion so as to stay under the Google radar.

Step Four – Wait

This is the hardest step – Wait. As a society, we are all used to immediate gratification so it’s hard to just sit back and wait and see how it goes. BUT – that’s what we did. You see it just flat out takes a while to get ranked. If you get sold something by other SEO firms saying that they can guarantee top rankings in less than a month – run the other way.

Getting ranked is to me very like watching a branch float out to the ocean – it’s not going to just float right out. There will be a lot of give and take until it gets past the breakers and then it will slowly keep going.

SEO is very similar to this. A page will win some and lose some in the first six months, but if the underlying SEO principles are sound, then Google, Yahoo and Bing will rank the page high.

The bottom line for Air Control? Right now they are ranked number 9 on Google. Tomorrow they might be 12, the next 8. Who knows? Nobody really, but I have a strong feeling that within three months, they will be in the top three for “College Station Air Conditioning”. And that just means one thing – more leads.

From Chris Ivey – Air Control Owner

“I have spent $2500 on web sites for marketing with what I thought was great web design. That’s until I was referred to Web Unlimited who offered me by far the best design and affordability. If you’re not with Web Unlimited you are Limited!”

Do You Need College Station SEO Help?

If you own a small business and are struggling to find clients, maybe Web Unlimited can help. Web Unlimited is a College Station SEO expert business and has been in business for over 7 years and has created hundreds of websites.

Start Now