Question for webmasters regarding search engines and traffic

[NightWatcher]

Do any of you kind, wonderful people know if there is anything that I can do to get my website ranked higher when people search for it?

Also, how long does it take for a new website to become 'searchable'?

I'm trying to drum up some traffic so that people who need me can find me.

Thanks in advance,

[matcom]

1. I do SEO for a living

organic results after the site is marked and posted? 3 months on average to become stable.

if you have a budget, PPC is the way to go. Look up google ad words. you can manage your own accounts with a little practice. if your keywords aren't too competetive it won't cost too much per click.

if however, you are competing for something like "web design", good luck. that gets expensive really quickly.

good luck!

[NightWatcher]

2. I live in a medium sized town and my main keywords are "savannah private investigator"

there are only 3 or 4 others in my field.My web guy told me something about registries taking 72 hours to be up and running, but I still cannot find my biz page, even using my company name.

Eh, maybe in a while......

Looks like I'll be spending my down time clicking up my nmbers once I'm searchable

[Redstone]

5. You also have to structure your keywords in all the ways you think people will

use them; for example I'd also use "private investigator in Savannah," "Private detective" and its variations as well.

Redstone

[NightWatcher]

6. I've got all kinds of variations of the services that I offer

"Savannah Georgia Private Investigators - Savannah Detective Agency
Full service private investigators serving Savannah and the State of Georgia"


yippie....waiting for the business and tons of free money that'll surely be coming my way. :sarcasm:

[Redstone]

3. Go to Google's "Webmaster Tools" section; there's great advice there. Also, (just my

opinion), do NOT get suckered by companies who offer to get you good rankings in return for sending them money; you have to take the time to structure your website properly. Google Webmaster Tools will tell you pretty much all you need to know, but you have to do the work yourself.

Redstone

[NightWatcher]

4. thanks redstone,

My web guy guaranteed that it'd be in the top 3 or 4 for my little city. I already paid him enough to design and host the webpage. someone told me about firms that will 'guarantee traffic' for a fee. I know that no one can guarantee traffic, but I just want some access. I am not about to pay anyone to do anything else for my site.

[Redstone]

7. PM me the address of your website, and I'll take a quick look at the code.

My customers don't rely on search engines for traffic as much as yours does, so I'm not an "expert" at this, but I'll tell you if I see anything obvious that you could do.

Redstone

[NightWatcher]

8. PM nothing. it's www.savannahpi.com

that's www.savannahpi.com for all of your PI needs. :)

ANyone need to rent a spook?

[Redstone]

9. Looks pretty good; I don't see anything obvious that your web people missed;

one important thing that many people overlook is making sure the "key words" are in the page text as well as in the header "keywords," and you page has that covered.

I think you mey just need to be patient; there are a LOT of pages for the the search engines' spiders to crawl, so it's not instant.

Redstone