Google Ranking

[Trinity]

I just had a phone call from a rep at askyourneighbour.co.uk and he advised me that I am not listed in the google rankings at all.

How do you go about getting listed in the google rankings and how much does it all cost? I seem to be paying out money and not getting very much back via the website.

I generate most of my income from jewellery parties and craft fairs but would love to be trading a bit more via the website but just can't seem to find the time to sit down and work out how to go about it. I know it is a case of if you put the effort you will be rewarded but I have looked at doing something at Google and then I just get completely bamboozled by it all.

He also mentioned something about Megatags! Anyone enlighten me as I have never heard this phrase before and that is something that my web designer should be able to sort out and that my titlebar is wrong.

I am getting all suspicious as he said that I should enroll with his site at a cost of £85 a year and that by doing that my google ranking will increase and I will get more sales by it, which is what I want.

So is the advice he is giving correct or was it just lip service in order to get me to shell out £85, which at the moment I just can't afford but at the same time I want to increase my web sales.

[Daffs]

Annoying person, wanting you to part with your money.

You might want to look at your meta tags as you do have them but just by looking at your home page, there are no keywords or description in them. However, it is far more important to concentrate on your main body text and getting keywords and phrases and making use of heading tags and links with appropriate keywords. (which I can see you have already done)

You have a PR of 3, so you are not unranked or whatever the phrase was. The thing is, it is SO difficult to get to the top of popular searches such as 'jewellery'.

I'm sure Sadie wrote an article on stuff like this. Have a browse or ask her :happy72: and good luck. It's hard work but I would never pay!

[NikiJ]

Hi Trinity
Do NOT sign up with this guy! He is trying to sell you a service that can easily be done by yourself.

Basically he is talking about search engine optimisation. SEO for short. It means you choose words and phrases that represent your products and what you business is about.

You will need to research your words carefully, these are known as keywords and keyphrases. You need to find out which words your customers are searching for so that you can add them to your site which will rank you in google.

To do that you can use: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
for free. Just type in words you think apply to your business like unique jewellery something like that and see what number of searches where done for that phrase in a month.

I think its better to go for lower numbers than really high ones because its harder to get ranked because there is so much competition.

Oh also there is a free guide you can read about it here:
http://www.truthabouttraffic.com/

It may seem tricky but it isnt really. Oh and he meant meta tags which is coding that goes into the web page which is to do with ranking.

As for your title same applies you need to include your keywords and phrases in there but only one or two!

Hope this helps, feel free to email me if you want to ask anything else, or post here.

Niki
xxx

[Daffs]

PS Promotion is the key! Get in wherever you can (for free). Try bartering with people to get featured on their sites or newsletter banner swaps are popular. I seem t be inunated with newsleter requests at the moment. Getting the word out is the hardest art. maybe do some leaflet/biz card swaps with people? I do have a promotion things to do list somewhere, when I get back into the swing of things I will hunt it out for you. ""cutey""b

[Daffs]

Fab reply Niki!

[NikiJ]

Thanks happy to help!

Niki
xxx

[Chell]

Thanks for the link:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/sear...ry/suggestion/

Its interesting, cheers,
Chell

[NikiJ]

Your welcome, I find it really useful and use it a lot.

Niki
xxx

[Trinity]

Thanks Nikki & Daffs! I know Sadie has said that done all the necessary things and I don't doubt her for a minute and I was just a little annoyed at this guy asking for £85!

I do a lot of promotion in the area I live and it has paid off as I have 7 jewellery parties booked from now until Christmas and I can now sell my jewellery at one of Scotland's biggest craft fairs as I can now say that I am an "artisan" (fab word isn't it?)

I know I should promote more but because I have been so busy organising things for the craft fairs and jewellery parties (in fact if I am honest I have been promoting this more), I have let the website side slip a little.

I am really happy with my website and loads of people have commented that it looks fab and I trust Sadie totally and I am just a bit miffed at someone having a pop at her. I have emailed her anyway.

I know there are hundreds of jewellery sites out there and even when I have listed stuff on ebay it can be difficult as there are so many on there too. And to be honest it's the same at craft fairs which is why I have tried to make my jewellery look a bit different and unique and at these places it works but the world wide web is just a different ball-game

Thank you girls, really appreciated!

""cutey""b

And if anyone would like to swap links, cards, flyers then please pm, email me as I would love to swap!

[NikiJ]

Wow 7 parties that is cool! I am considering doing parties, I do do an open house near christmas time but havent tried parties yet.

Any tips?
Thanks
Niki
xxx

[Daffs]

Oohhh parties! Fab idea. How does it work? Can people do them remotely or do you go there and show what you have done? Why don't we all meet up and have or own, eh? :cheesy: Excellent idea and great that it is working for you!

Here there will be me and katiequiggle selling cards and banners to each other as I know NOBODY :laugh:

[Trinity]

Wow 7 parties that is cool! I am considering doing parties, I do do an open house near christmas time but havent tried parties yet.

Any tips?
Thanks
Niki
xxx

Basically get all your friends to have parties for you!! No, seriously that's what I done to start with and then they brought along people and then one of them had a party and so it snowballed. It has taken time to feed through but out of the 7 I have lined up, one of them is a really good friend of mine who knows loads of people and she always has a few for me with a different crowd each time, so each party I will host will have brand new people at it and hopefully they will all spread the word too!

For the host I will make a hand-crafted gift for them in a colour of their choice and they will also receive 20% off their purchases. All the guests will receive 10%, the way I look it at is if I was doing a craft fair I would have to pay a hosting fee so I pass that onto the guests and it's a nice gesture from their point of view.

It's going to be bit nerve-wracking as as I have said previously I have always known the people but this time people I don't really know and I'll have to get my speech prepared and stay off the wine!!!

All in all though it is good fun and is guarnteed money plus it is great way for word of mouth.

[willowcat]

Don't pay ANYONE who says they can do this for you !
Keywords and content are what are most relevant to your ranking .This is the most important thing I have learned and it is more or less a full time job on it's own ! I work at it every single day !

It is so tempting when people offer you these things but it is like offering you the pot of gold at the rainbow .. you'll never get !

I find overture a good place to start and often use it.
It is also a good idea to try and think what you would search for yourself if you were looking for product range like yours

I have a range that I was calling sweetie jewellery but as soon as I changed them all individually to say for eg. Liquorice Allsorts Bracelet and Dolly Mixture Earrings .. it's amazing how many people found me through them ! I suppose lots of people like them and things associated with them !

Hope this is a bit of help.It's what was passed to me and has worked for me !

Sharon x