If you’ve asked other small business website providers this question, you might feel like you’ve gotten the run-around. So here’s the truth…
We don’t know how high your website will come up on Google.
What We Know About Your Website’s Google Rank
What we do know are two things. First, your new or updated website will rank higher than the website you have now. Secondly, you shouldn’t worry about it.
Most likely that got your attention because that’s a pretty unusual answer. We’re not baiting you. This is what we honestly believe is true for 99% of micro-businesses.
Two Promises For This Article
Before you decide that this is a “gotcha” article, let us promise you two things.
- Your new or improved website will rank higher on Google than your current one. Click here to skip to that section.
- We really, truly, honestly, wholely believe that you shouldn’t worry about it, and we’ll explain exactly why.
Why Your Google Rank Shouldn’t Matter To You
Have you honestly ever met a website company that says this? Here’s why we say this.
- Anything less than a top-five spot is a complete waste. (According to this 2019 study, click-thru rates below position 5 were less than 7%.)
- In most industries, ranking in the top-five on Google is extremely competitive, time-consuming, and expensive. Most small web design agencies don’t charge enough to get you there quickly.
- Most micro-business websites do a terrible job of turning search engine visitors into paying customers, and most “SEO experts” don’t charge enough or have the completely different skill sets required to solve that problem for you too.
- Micro-businesses (like yours) get 80%+ their business from word-of-mouth referrals, and not from cold advertising.
There Are Two Types of Websites
When deciding what to do about your small business website, you have two basic options. We like to call them the “marketing system” and the “relationship website.”
Option One: A Complex Marketing System
When a small business has a marketing strategy and system in place, the website becomes one piece of the larger puzzle. In a robust marketing system, a business has many other tools and tactics hard at work such as Google Ads, radio ads, Facebook ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), door hangers, signs, mailers, postcards. Many of those tools will exist primarily to drive large numbers of people to the website or social media to engage with the business.
As a result, that company’s website will usually have a minimum of 25 pages and often well over 100. Each page serves a specific and varied purpose in your overall strategy. When using a marketing system like these micro-businesses are usually spending between $2,000 and $10,000 per month on their marketing.
If that’s what you’re looking for, please reach out to us. We know an impressive digital marketing agency that specializes in this type of marketing and would be happy to make an introduction for you.
Option Two: A Relationship Website
However, if your business is based primarily on word-of-mouth and referrals, you have very different goals for your website. You need something different.
The reality is that in most micro-businesses, people don’t “stumble across” you and “land” on your website. They aren’t pushed there in droves by digital marketing or paid Google Ads. In fact, your small business’s website is rarely the first time they’ve heard of you, but it is very often the first time your business makes a personal impression.
What we have found is that most often, someone is coming to your website because they already “heard” of you from someone they know. They were referred to you by their coworker. They saw your sign in their neighbor’s yard. Your truck drove by their house three times this week. They asked their hairdresser who they recommend, and she gave them your name.
When this is the case, your website serves an entirely different purpose. Your website’s purpose is to help you establish and maintain a relationship with your customers. It typically consists of about five to fifteen pages. It needs to be kept current. It needs to reflect your business professionally. It needs to be simple and easy to use. And it typically costs between $2,000 and $5,000.
The relationship website is where we can help! You can learn more about these types of websites in these blog articles we have written:
If a relationship website sounds right for your small business and you’re ready to talk please click here and send us a message.
Your Updated Website Will Rank Much Higher
Even though believe your website’s Google rank should be the least of your concerns, it’s still important. It should never be ignored completely. Here’s everything we do to improve the search engine rank for every new website client, plus a few optional services.
- Every website we build is mobile-friendly (responsive.) This is an absolute must, but lots of older sites don’t have this!
- We build your website using up-to-date technology.
- We keep your website’s code constantly up-to-date thanks to the comprehensive back end updates included in Advanced Support.
- Part of our launch process is completing “Foundational SEO” where we write and set the Titles and Descriptions for every page.
- Our website hosting is super fast and hyper-optimized for WordPress. You will not find faster hosting for micro-businesses like yours.
- We launch every website with properly configured SSL. Security is a big deal to Google (and your customers!)
- Google will see that you just did a massive update on your website and correctly assume that the information is very current!
- You can send us changes to your website content any time you want and we’ll make them for you at no additional charge (see Advanced Support which is included in every plan). The more you keep your website current, the better your rank
- If you’ve chosen our Google Starter package, we’re getting your info correct and in-sync across 50+ business listing websites. We also set about getting real reviews added online for your business. Google loves both of these things!
- If you’ve chosen our Relationship Builder package, we’ll be adding blog articles to your site every month! Those regular, unique, informative updates to your website add up to a higher search engine rank over time.
- If you’ve chosen our Social Media package, we’re posting for you three times a week. Google will see that consistent presence!