Q&A: How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?

Q&A: How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?

Question:
How do you get your website to appear on the first page, at the top, of a Google search?

Answer:
Short answer, you don't. Most people when they think of searching will type in something very broad and very generic like "karate" or "training" or even a little more precise like "self defense" and see millions of results. Trying to tackle that amount of competition for the top spot is really a losing battle, unless you have very deep pockets. A better approach, and one that has a better chance of being successful for you is to focus your attention on specific search phrases.

For example, many of my martial arts clients are in the Western New York area. They aren't looking for someone in London England to hit their site, but for someone in the WNY area. So, a smart searcher will type in something like "Buffalo martial arts" (which results in 3 of my clients, and 5 of my sites on the 1st page) or "wny martial arts" (4 sites, 1 client on page 1), or "wny karate" (3 sites 1st page). Typing in something like "modern arnis seminar training" has 2 of my clients on the 1st page. Another example is "natural resource consulting" which has 1 of my clients on the 1st page of results.

It's important to think in terms of search phrases when you optimize your site, and focus on those. A combination of proper key words, solid descriptions, and appropriate text will greatly enhance your chances for high placement. Also, be certain all of your images are captioned using ALT tags. Those are an often overlooked place for extra optimization.

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Bob Hubbard, is the CEO of SilverStar WebDesigns Inc. and an Administrator at MartialTalk.com and KenpoTalk.com. He can be reached through those sites.

Conflicker Eye Chart

http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html

If you can see all the images, you're probably ok.

Conflicker

Make sure your firewall is up.
Try to manually run a windows update.

If both work, you're probably clean.

In the mean time, make sure that your antivirus is up to date, and actively running.
Spyware/Malware protection also is good to have running.

There's alot of hype about this one, but 3M out of 1B pc's isn't that big a deal.

There's over 100,000 worms, viruses, etc out there.

The same precautions count for all of them:
- Use a reliable antivirus, and keep it current
- use a reliable malware shield, and keep it current
- use an on system firewall, and verify it's on.
- use a hardware firewall and make sure it's working
- make sure your system is up to date software wise.

Also
- don't open strange email attachments
- scan your email
- use a spam blocker to cut down on your spam
- don't visit bad websites
- don't use bootleg software from crack sites that may open holes in your armor or install nasties. .

See also: iant Internet worm set to change tactics April 1