You've got a great website, and you're happy with the design. Your products or services are all listed, and you're ready to take payment. Everything is set up beautifully, and the doors of your online store are well and truly lodged open. 

But just like a real store, if nobody knows that you are there, how will they find you? You may pick up the odd passing customer, but nobody will go out of their way for you if they don't know you exist. 

You need to market your website and work hard to draw the customers in. There are billions of websites on the internet, and each Google search will return more hits than you'd be able to open in a lifetime. And, how often did you find what you were looking for on the second page of the search results? The answer is probably 'never.' 

Getting Higher Up The Search Rankings

One of the main aims of internet marketing is to get your website higher up the search rankings. If you are not on the first page, you may as well not be on the list at all. Search Engine Optimisation is a way of achieving this aim. You may want to attempt to manage your SEO, or you could hire the services of an SEO company. 

Google looks for several things from websites before it selects where it should sit you in the rankings. 

Be An Authority

Firstly, your website should be an authority in its field. That means that you need to appear to be trusted by lots of other internet users. If your site is being linked to by lots of other sites, then this will help, as Google sees a link as a referral. 

One way of improving this area is through blogger outreach or affiliate marketing. If bloggers are sharing links to your website, then this will help Google realise that you are an official website. 

Optimise Your Content

Secondly, the page load speed is significant, as is the ability for your site to open effortlessly on mobile phones and tablets. Nobody wants to wait around for a page to load, and if it's taking too long, they will go to the next link. Google rewards sites that are optimised for performance as they know instant access is essential to users. 

Write For Discerning Human Readers

The third and most significant point is that you need to have original, good quality content on your site. You should be writing for humans; however, with many websites trying to appeal to the bots that sort out the rankings, this leads to a lot of content that doesn't make sense. The quality of the search results needs to be high, or people will begin using alternative search engines. If your content does not pass muster, your site will be penalised. 

Local SEO 

If you run a business, the next point to consider is making sure you are linked to by every listings site, and that Google Maps has your address and contact details correct. Making sure you can be found physically can help you greatly.