Top Search Engine Ranking Doesn’t Matter For Your Small Business

Reaching the #1 search engine ranking in most cases isn’t an effective use of your time or money.

Unless the #1 spot to rank for isn’t competitive (small market) or is easy to rank for, you’ll be wasting your time.

For me to rank at the top of the search term web design it would take a lot of time and money.

The resources it would take to get my website at the top are only available to larger corporations with deep pockets. That is unless we’re talking localized search terms which are a different ballgame that’s doable by many smaller organization IF done right.

Not only that but a search term like web design is relative to the location you’re at. Not everyone sees the same search results.

Maybe saying the top search engine ranking doesn’t matter is an overstatement. That’s because everyone sees such customized search results. It does help emphasize that purely focusing on the top spot for your desired keyword isn’t always a good way to spend your time.

Why Ranking #1 Isn’t Always Economical

What happens when you rank in the #1 spot for your preferred keyword?

Let’s take me as an example.

It would be a waste of time for me to rank #1 for web design.

Why?

People are trying to find a lot of different things when they search web design.

Are they trying to learn about web design? Maybe they’re trying to find out what a web designer does.

Google tries the best it can to predict what the searchers intent is but it’s not always accurate.

My solutions will rarely be what searches are actually searching. That means people searching get poor results and I get poorly qualified visitors.

Lots of visitors that I don’t help meet their goal means I’m spending money running a website that doesn’t bring me any valuable leads.

The reason ranking #1 in search results isn’t necessary is because those visits you receive are rarely the people you need to be in front of.

There are better things you can do than to reach the top search engine ranking.

You need to know two pieces of information before you can have effective search engine rankings.

What You Need To Know

Focusing solely on ranking at the top spot for general search terms can be a losing battle.

You need to have something else to focus on.

There sure is something better to focus on when trying to optimize your website for search engines.

Before we get to that though, you need to know two very important things.

These two things are actually important to know for every aspect of your small business.

1. Who your primary target audience is.
2. Your goal for your website.

Armed with those two important pieces of information, content you get ranked in search engines will achieve better results.

You’ll receive valuable targeted leads that mean something to your business rather than general visitors that will never amount to a sale.

Once you know your primary target audience and the goal of your website for each page on your website you’re ready to fine-tune your focus.

What You Should Focus On

As a small business trying to get meaningful leads on the internet, there are two things you should focus on.

1. Create helpful content for potential & current customers.
2. Fine tune current titles and meta descriptions.

Helpful Content

Creating helpful content for potential & current customers helps you bring in valuable leads.

Yes, even creating content for your current customers as long as it’s available to everyone will help bring in new customers.

The right content can help bring people to your small business website.

Once you have them on your website you can offer premium content in exchange for their email address.

Good blog content paired with a lead magnet that makes sense to the content will lead to a high conversion rate.

Fine Tuning

Fine tuning current page titles and meta descriptions can increase how many people click to your website from search results.

The first sales pitch you have for your website happens before a visitor even gets to your website.

Search results and social media shares often contain a message that convinces people to click to your content.

The following image shows what people see in Google search results.

The title (in purple) influences whether someone is interested in learning more from the meta description (in black) or clicking the article.

If there is generic text in your website’s title and meta description, people aren’t likely to click it. You aren’t selling your content, therefore, people won’t care about your content.

For social media, you get to include a message in addition to the content included with search engines.

The image below shows how people see a shared blog post on Facebook.

If you don’t include a link or image, Facebook pulls the main image from your page (if any), the title, and the description.

All this information helps sell your share and determines if someone clicks through or not.

Partner With A Professional

Working with a professional web designer makes it easier on your part in several different ways.

It will make it easier by helping you:

• Find the right topics to write about.
• Decide a good call to action on each page.
• Determine what the best lead magnet is on relevant content.

You need to find the right content that ranks for search terms that are useful for your small business.

A professional will help you work towards a lead generating website instead of churning out meaningless page views.