A web site is one of the most powerful ingredients for the success of your business marketing endeavours.  Ensuring that that web site is found on internet search engines is central to the success of this vital marketing ingredient.

Obviously, the Google search engine (www.google.com.au) is the most popular search engine used by most people and businesses alike, so it would make sense that having your website found in the first few results on Google is imperative and directly related to the success of your website - as it will lead to more people clicking through to your website.

You will have heard and read a lot about Google and search engine optimisation.  What you might not realise is that SEO is a long process and takes into account many factors to ensure that you receive the highest quality ranking possible.

What if there was a way that you could quickly get near the top of the Google  rankings? No black magic, no paid advertisements, no secret tricks, just a plain commonsense approach.

Read on to find out how....

To do this, we are going to take advantage of one of the many free tools Google makes available to business owners to assist you to get the results you need.

This FREE tool is the Google local business centre.

Think about the last time you searched for a service or business online using Google.  You typed in your search term into Google and received pages and pages of web sites matching your search criteria. The results on the right-hand side of the page are paid advertisements however at the very top of the page is a map and links to all businesses in the area you searched for.

What if I told you that you could quite quickly and easily have your business show in this map area without any costs?

Let's take an example.  If you type in the term Motor Mechanic in North Lakes, Google returns 25,900 results.  However at the very top of the first page in Google, the local business centre provides the details of motor mechanics near North Lakes.  There are in fact, seven listings with links to their websites, their telephone number and where they are on the map.

Obviously, this is of great advantage to users of Google, because they find a service provider in their local area.  It is a valuable service offering to Google themselves because they are able to provide their users with highly targeted results for their search.  However, as business people, we like to deal with people in the area where our business is located. This little tool is absolutely a must if you want to target users of your service or product in your location.

So how do we get your website into Google's Local Business Centre?

The first thing that you will need is a Google account and you will find a link to create one at the very top of your Google search engine. Once you set up your Google account, click on the link to local business at the home page and click new business.

Complete all of your basic information about your business including your registered business name, your address, your phone numbers and of course your website and then follow the prompts to complete other information about your business.

When you're happy with your listing, you will need to verify your listing with Google.  If you select verification by telephone you will receive an automated phone call within a matter of moments. Once verified, it should take no more than 12 to 24 hours for your web site to start showing in Google Local Business Centre.

Google offers many free tools to business owners and website designers alike to maximise the exposure of your web site.

Don't forget, if your website has not been created to market your business effectively to your customers using sound development practices, quality optimisation of your content and submitting your site and a site map of your website to Google and other search engines you will still struggle to reach your market.

Do you need to talk to us about ensuring the quality and visibility of your online presence?