Checked my Google ranking today for ‘wilmington nc website hosting and design’
Today, the 25th of May, a year and 3 months after I started Impulse Web Solutions, I am number one on Google, right above Sage Island.
In fact, I just did a Google search for ‘sage island wilmington nc’ and Sage came up one, my blog came up second.
Not bad for a local boy heh?
On 5/19/2007 we ranked #4 on Google for ‘wilmington nc web development’
#1 SageIsland.com
#2 NCFusion.com
#3 ModularMedia.com
#4 www.impulsewebdesigns.com
On 5/19/07 we ranked #7 on Google for ‘web design wilmington nc’
#1 InspireCreativeStudios.com
#2 CapeFearMuseum.com
#3 www.gosearch.com
#4 www.awarnerentertainment.com
#5 www.splashnewmedia.net
#6 www.freelancedesigners.com/dir/webdesign/North-Carolina
#7 www.impulsewebdesigns.com
Looking through my Google Webmaster Tools stats today and saw that my average top position for ‘sage island wilmington nc’ was 3!
In an earlier post, I had mentioned how I was ranked #2 on Google for ‘web hosting in wilmington nc’, Sage Island was number 1.
So, I went to Google and typed in ‘sage island wilmington nc’ and sure enough, there I was, number 3.
Also, yesterday I was talking to someone about how it is good SEO to place your competitors together in your web marketing campaign. “How’s that I asked?” The answer is simple – let’s take my situation as an example.
Someone looking for sage island using Google has obviously heard of them somehow right? Either through some other form of advertising that Sage may or may not have paid for. But, that same person may have never heard of me, Impulse Web Solutions, an alternative web company here in Wilmington. So, while they were looking for Sage Island, they may possibly see my link, wondering who I am and click on my link instead. I have to admit, Sage Island is the biggest web company in town right now and is my biggest competition. However, they also have a lot of overhead and expenses, therefore their prices are higher. I have also run into some of their past clients who stated that Sage had gotten so big that they were forgetting the little guys. Small site changes were taking weeks and the quality of work was suffering.
So, with that information, I think I might start mentioning my competitors more often in my blog posts. With that in mind, here are some of the people I consider worthy adversaries in Wilmington NC:
Sage Island
Venue Communications
Akira Media
SecureNet Information Technologies
Modular Media
Blue Tone Media
NC Fusion
Breakforth
We will begin an SEO campaign this month with Costa Rica Hideaways of Los Suenos, Costa Rica.
Link: Costa Rica Hideaways – A full service vacation travel resort in Los Suenos Costa Rica.
I was doing some SEO research the other day getting prepared for my SEO seminar at Specialty Engraving of Wilmington NC.
I came across Webconfs.com which has a ton of cool, free SEO tools. Here is a sample of what you will find on the site:
Similar Page Checker
Search Engine Spider Simulator
Backlink Anchor Text Analysis
Backlink Builder
Backlink Summary
Keyword Density Checker
Redirect Check
Reciprocal Link Check
Check Yahoo WebRank
Domain Stats Tool
Domain Age Tool
Website Keyword Suggestions
Keyword-Rich Domain Suggestion Tool
Link: Find out more info about our SEO/Search Engine Optimization Package in Wilmington NC
Link: Webconfs
Impulse will be doing an SEO seminar at Specialty Engraving, located in Wilmington NC. Specialty Engraving has just launched a new website and is looking to make expand their client base by reaching a broader audience via the world wide web.
Specialty Engraving provides employee recognition, motivation and retention programs to a wide array of clients throughout the nation such as Walmart, Cracker Barrel, Applebee’s, Chili’s and Target to name a few.
The SEO seminar will primarily be focused on ways to improve the new website and make it more search engine friendly for popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
For more information on our SEO services, please visit the main site at Wilmington NC SEO Firm.
Link: Employee Motivation, Recognition and Awards – Specialty Engraving
Was checking my stats this afternoon and saw that someone had come to my site after searching for ‘web hosting in wilmington, nc’ on Google.
I was ranked number 2 baby!! Right under the corporate giant that is Sage Island – the biggest web design firm in Wilmington NC.
Link: My Ranking as of 11:15 pm on 3/11/07
Just got a new e-newsletter from Wordtracker today. They have launched a free tool tha will allow you to see what the most popular searches have been in the last 90 days.
For example, I typed in Wilmington NC Web Design and here was the result:
316,456,828 searches ( last 90 days )
5 searches for wilmington nc web site hosting and design
So basically out of 316 million searches done on the web in the last 90 days, only 5 people were searching using this term. Now, there are about a gazillion web design firms in Wilmington right now, which means I have my work cut out for me. I currently offer a Basic SEO package – you can read all about it here: Impulse Web Solutions Basic SEO package
SEO (search engine optimization) is pretty huge right now. Just go to Google and type in SEO and you will get a gazillion companies promising to rank you number one on Google. Truth is, Google keeps their ranking formula a secret, so there is really no one that can promise you that. However, Google does provide some basic SEO best practices on their website.
SEO is a web marketing strategy designed to get your site ranked as high as possible on search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. So for example, I own a web design firm in Wilmington NC. When someone goes to Google and types in ‘Wilmington NC Web Design’, I want my website to come up first, right at the top. At Impulse Web Solutions, we follow the Google webmaster guidelines and implement industry standard techniques to help your site get noticed by your target audience.
Other options for SEO include Pay Per Click advertising and Ad Campaigns. Basically you tell Google what keywords you want to appear for. Then, when someone clicks on your site Google charges you. If you have ever done a search on Google (who hasn’t right?) you will notice some links appear at the top in a blue box, then some links appear right beneath that and then some links show up on the right. The ones on the top and right are paying to be there using pay per click advertising while the other ones are what we call organic links and are not paying to be there. Pay per click advertising is great for a new site to get some hits, but eventually that will get expensive and what you want is to be an organic link. You want to rank high because you have a great site, not because you paid to be there.
Less expensive methods include optimizing your page content and HTML code to be more search engine friendly. At Impulse, we provide a basic SEO package that includes the following and is a one time cost of $100.00:
-Site submission by hand to the top 3 search engines – Google, Yahoo and MSN
-Google Account and Webmaster tools so you can monitor your site’s progress
-Sitemap development and submission to Google and Yahoo
-Access to monthly reporting tools Google Analytics Account for monitoring site stats
-HTML code optimization and meta tag design for optimum visibility
(Note: Sites over 10 pages will be charged $10/page for HTML code optimization)
For an additional cost, I can also help you setup Adword and Pay Per Click campaigns with Google. Visit my site for more info.
