SEO Blog

We all know that you can’t buy your way to the top of a search engine, or at least that is the perceived wisdom at any rate. You have to be prepared to work for your place and really earn the right to gain a ranking. There really is no such thing as a free lunch, even in SEO.

So you’re setting a website. What domain are you going to get? Google will rank a website higher if the keyword that they’re targeting is in the domain. That said, most of the major ones have now been purchased, plus you need to find something that really fits your brand - most likely the name of your company.

If you’re a UK company, get a .co.uk domain. Whilst you might lose out on some global traffic, you will at least have the opportunity to highlight where you are to the search engines. These domains are cheaper and you don’t need to go out and buy dozens either. Just get one and develop that.

In terms of hosting, this will really be dependent on what you can afford and what you need. There are numerous web hosting companies out there, all more than happy to get your website up online for you. But some are more reputable than others.

If you have an ecommerce site, find an ecommerce host. It sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many people get it wrong. Also, if you are expecting high volumes of traffic or don’t want your site getting tainted by being in a bad ‘neighbourhood’ (i.e. sites from your host have done some naughty things and are ruining your reputation as a consequence) then you might have to consider having your site hosted independently. This isn’t cheap, but it does eliminate the aforementioned problems.

Assuming that you have your content management and design in place, if you’re going to make a splash on Google, you really need to start getting into some SEO best practices. This is where you can save yourself some money.

However, for the money that you save, there will be a time cost. Because, if you’re not SEO proficient then you have to first learn what to do and then implement it. Even if you do understand SEO, it will still take a fair amount of time to plan, structure and implement it all. This might be ‘free’, but it certainly isn’t without a cost.

The best results require the biggest input. This is even truer if you are only just starting out now. With the level of competition that is already out there, you have to play catch up. SEO takes time to implement and to take effect, so you might also want to consider more immediate sources of targeted traffic. This might include Paid Search, which of course will work alongside all of your SEO efforts - appearing in the SERPs.

So don’t try to take the easy route with your website. To succeed in the long-term, you need to implement efforts that will have a long-term bearing on the strength of your site. This takes investment of both time and money in the right places and in an appropriate quantity. Don’t get carried away, but don’t be too frugal either.