I have had my webhosting business for about 2 years now. I have always had terrible rankings in all search engines. This business has not made a lot of money for me but it does break even. I want to start increasing my customer base so I want to now increase my rankings in Google. I studied a lot of different webpages and re-optimized my website and re-submitted it to Google. Now for the last two weeks I have been visited by Googlebot every two days like clockwork.

Here are my questions:
1. Is this normal for Google to re-visit my website regularly every two days?
2. Will all these visits help raise my ranking in Google?
3. Since I am basically just starting with optimization, how can I tell my position in Google when all the Google ranking websites only go down to the first 1,000! I can't tell where I am yet.

Any help and/or advice will be appreciated!

Mod edit: Signature removed from post text

Hi!
Use http://pagerank.net.
It has some tools that may help you.

There are many other ways to be get higher search engine ranking and it is a big subject on its own. I am, unfortunately, not an expert in that hence I cannot give any suggestion. :(

The little I have learnt tells me that the page should be clean and should convey the message in under 10 seconds because people are lazy and do not like to read 4 pages to know what is the unique thing about the site is... :-)

Just my views

Regards
Amar

Dave,

You may want to find a couple more SEO resources online.. maybe check out the SitePoint Forums and WebmasterWorld forums...

I couldn't see any hints at optimization (even the most basic... keywords in the page title... headers...) on your webpages.

If you're not listed in the top 1000 for a search, consider yourself not even listed for those keywords.

1. Is this normal for Google to re-visit my website regularly every two days?
2. Will all these visits help raise my ranking in Google?
3. Since I am basically just starting with optimization, how can I tell my position in Google when all the Google ranking websites only go down to the first 1,000! I can't tell where I am yet.1. Not abnormal. As long as you have a decent set of links pointing to your site from other indexed sites, you should expect it to continue. The best way to make sure it does continue, and to take advantage of it, is to regularly change content on your pages. If the pages are determined to never change, Google may stop spidering so regularly.

2. No. How often you are spidered has no direct affect on rankings. But it does give you the opportunity to experiment with ongoing optimization and to see the results fairly quickly.

3. If you're not in the first 1,000, does it really matter exactly where you are? :)

You could check directly using Google: go to the advanced search, and select 100 results per page. Enter your query and search through the results to find your site. If you're, say, the fifth entry on the eleventh page, your rank is 1005.

3. If you're not in the first 1,000, does it really matter exactly where you are? :)This is a good point.
90% of commerce via search engines is done on the front page - 5% on the second page, and 5% for the rest of the pages. So unless you're on page 1 or 2 - statistically, it wont help you much. :)

JayC covered about everything.

Also, a place I like to use to check my google rankings is http://googlerankings.com/ they seem to be pretty accurate. :)

Thanks All for your feedback! Even though I have been doing this for two years I feel like I am just starting out since I have not done anything with my website all this time. I will try all of your suggestions! -Dave

If you want to be on the first few pages, prepare to spend big bucks on it.

If you don't have at least $30,000.00 a year budget for SEO of "web hosting related" mid-competiotion keywords - don't waster your time. Big players spend $15,000-$20,000 a MONTH on links and etc in order to be in TOP 10.

SEO cost money, plenty of money if you want to get good results and keep them over time...



I have had my webhosting business for about 2 years now. I have always had terrible rankings in all search engines. This business has not made a lot of money for me but it does break even. I want to start increasing my customer base so I want to now increase my rankings in Google. I studied a lot of different webpages and re-optimized my website and re-submitted it to Google. Now for the last two weeks I have been visited by Googlebot every two days like clockwork.

Here are my questions:
1. Is this normal for Google to re-visit my website regularly every two days?
2. Will all these visits help raise my ranking in Google?
3. Since I am basically just starting with optimization, how can I tell my position in Google when all the Google ranking websites only go down to the first 1,000! I can't tell where I am yet.

Any help and/or advice will be appreciated!

Mod edit: Signature removed from post text

If you don't have at least $30,000.00 a year budget for SEO of "web hosting related" mid-competiotion keywords - don't waster your time. Big players spend $15,000-$20,000 a MONTH on links and etc in order to be in TOP 10.

SEO cost money, plenty of money if you want to get good results and keep them over time...


I don't fully agree with this. You may be spending that much if you want to target keywords such as 'web hosting' but thats not what SEO is about. It's about targeting a niche. If you want to really start seeing unique traffic converted to sales you want to target keywords that you think your site will sell. You might not be getting a TON of traffic, but the traffic you do get is GOOD traffic, traffic that has much higher chance of conversion. I have a few #1 search rankings on google, and I haven't spent a dime.

I do SEO for more then 3 years and know what I'm talking about.

If you need keywords like "web site hosting cheap new york" - it's it's will be easy to get it, but traffic will be 5 visitors a month. If you want to get "web hosting new york" - this will cost you like 100 times more, but at same time you will get 1000+ monthly visitors and as result several new orders.

Why waste time for "very targeted" keywords if they don't deliver any traffic ?

Regards

Steven

I do SEO for more then 3 years and know what I'm talking about.

If you need keywords like "web site hosting cheap new york" - it's it's will be easy to get it, but traffic will be 5 visitors a month. If you want to get "web hosting new york" - this will cost you like 100 times more, but at same time you will get 1000+ monthly visitors and as result several new orders.

Why waste time for "very targeted" keywords if they don't deliver any traffic ?

Regards

Steven

I don't target long keywords like "web site hosting cheap new york," thats just too long. One example of mine would be "dependable webhosting" and I surely don't receive only 5 visitors a month. All I'm saying is that I disagree with you when you say it will "cost you like 100 times more" to get super popular keywords. If you want to take the time and work hard at it yourself, you won't need to spend much at all.

Also, no need to get so emotional on me...."I do SEO for more then 3 years and know what I'm talking about." :liplick: I wasn't trying to insult your talent...

I don't target long keywords like "web site hosting cheap new york," thats just too long. One example of mine would be "dependable webhosting" and I surely don't receive only 5 visitors a month. All I'm saying is that I disagree with you when you say it will "cost you like 100 times more" to get super popular keywords. If you want to take the time and work hard at it yourself, you won't need to spend much at all.

Also, no need to get so emotional on me...."I do SEO for more then 3 years and know what I'm talking about." :liplick: I wasn't trying to insult your talent...

Time to set up a page targeting "dependable hosting" and pushing some of my sites' PR to it. Thanks for the tip!

lol, no problem Dan, thats a keyword I'm starting to let go of anyway ;)
And I tried your free VisitorBoost, wasn't sure how I felt about it.

Neil,

I'm 0 emotional :) Sorry if you take it this way - I think the difference between us is - both of us fishing for different fish ;)

Peace and good luck with your technique.

Regards

Steven


I don't target long keywords like "web site hosting cheap new york," thats just too long. One example of mine would be "dependable webhosting" and I surely don't receive only 5 visitors a month. All I'm saying is that I disagree with you when you say it will "cost you like 100 times more" to get super popular keywords. If you want to take the time and work hard at it yourself, you won't need to spend much at all.

Also, no need to get so emotional on me...."I do SEO for more then 3 years and know what I'm talking about." :liplick: I wasn't trying to insult your talent...

Optimizing pages is just a part of it. Write good appropriate content, and lots of it. Keeping your pages, especially index page, updated daily seems to help. However, never write with only the Search Engines in mind. If it does not read well to a HUMAN, then that high listing is just wasting everyone's time.Use appropriate titles to help get the attention of the user when they see you in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). There are a lot more ways. You can also get ideas from http://www.highrankings.com/forum/

If you don't have at least $30,000.00 a year budget for SEO of "web hosting related" mid-competiotion keywords - don't waster your time. Big players spend $15,000-$20,000 a MONTH on links and etc in order to be in TOP 10.

SEO cost money, plenty of money if you want to get good results and keep them over time...

I agree with some of the people on here. It usually goes for around 3500 a month from top SEO's.

We trained under one of the leading SEO's for a week (SEO pro conference put on by Brad Fallon - only 10 companies were allowed to attend.).

You can achieve top 10 in some of the lower hanging fruit IE discount web hosting, afforable hosting, dependable hosting, linux web hosting, etc, etc, etc. Not trying to advertise our site or anything but in yahoo we reached number 3 for a term "web hosting provider" which overture says gets 300,000+ searches a month - with a budget that is fairly tight for SEO.

All that to say - if you focus and know what you're doing, you can get to the top without killing yourself in fees.

The previous poster to me has a good point.

Hey VolkNet, I'm just learning about Brad and his works. One of my friends has been giving me his DVD's and CD's. Very great stuff. By the way guys, search for "coolest guy" and you'll find Brad, haha.

Hahahaha yea - I remember seeing that.

Have you listened to his "search engine stomper"? Thats a good one!

VolkNet, I haven't listened to it yet. I have heard of it though. Is it well worth it?

I remember back on yahoo in '96 I was #1 for the search phrase, "milhouse". Ahh, the good old simple days. As long as yahoo accepted your link, you got decent traffic.

Also, a place I like to use to check my google rankings is http://googlerankings.com/ they seem to be pretty accurate. :)
You can also download a cool (free) product Free Monitor for Google from www.cleverstat.com . Nice tool to monitor your G ranking for specific keywords. And they have some other interesting tools on the site as well.

If you need keywords like "web site hosting cheap new york" - it's it's will be easy to get it, but traffic will be 5 visitors a month. If you want to get "web hosting new york" - this will cost you like 100 times more, but at same time you will get 1000+ monthly visitors and as result several new orders.

Why waste time for "very targeted" keywords if they don't deliver any traffic ?
While I understand your point, I tend to disagree. There is nothing like a well selected targetted group of Adword keywords. As you know, the more targetted they are, generally the cheaper they are. Which is a bonus. But aside from that, targetting a very specific market can be very beneficial.

Let me give you an example. I have a local customer for whom I designed and am hosting his retail site. He started analyzing Google Adwords as an effective way to drive targetted traffic to his site. At this point, his Adwords campaign is marvellously inexpensive every month. But that's because he carefully picks his keywords. As a result, he gets about 80 visitors a day from Google. And here's the kicker. Due to the fact that he has used such specific keywords, he has an astounding 10% conversion rate. :eek: Given that the average Internet retail site hovers around 1% conversion, this is a true testament to how using Google Adwords effectively and selectively can be a real benefit.

Vito

I agree with some of the people on here. It usually goes for around 3500 a month from top SEO's.
Wow, that's a lot of cash per month. Once they get you to a certain position, does that fee go down to a "maintenance" fee level?

Vito

I only have around $300-$500 to spend on adwords a month, is it worth doing?

There is nothing like a well selected targetted group of Adword keywords. While I don't think this thread is about AdWords, the same is often true in targeting keywords for organic rankings. Of course it's true that given the same rankings a less-often searched term will bring less traffic than a commonly searched one, but that doesn't mean you can't get a sufficient level of search engine traffic with that approach. What often seems to be missed in these discussions is that you don't target just one phrase. A typical well-optimized hosting site would probably be targeting at least 15 but ideally more.

I only have around $300-$500 to spend on adwords a month, is it worth doing?

I wouldn't mind hearing the answer to this one too. I just started my site and have been using adwords for a couple weeks. While I have had "clicks" to my site, I have yet to see a purchase from adwords. To be honest, I never really paid attention to the paid advertisements on google or even Web sites, until I wanted to start a business of my own.

So how much success has someone had with Adwords?

-Bryan

Very interesting information , im sorry i cannot contribute in this post but i have some nifty hint's , thank you. :)