Priceless

Priceless.

That's the value of having a top ranked website at Google. And let's not forget Yahoo! and MSN.

So the question dancing around in my head today is:

"What's a top ranked website likely to produce in revenue?"

"What's a realistic return-on-investment?"

A top ranked website has many benefits. Sure, there's traffic. More traffic. But there is also a "credibility" issue. People searching trust top ranked websites. I know, I know, there's no reason to, but the fact is they do. Frankly, that fact makes my skin crawl.

And make no mistake, they ARE the first sites people click on (the first five site listed probably take 80% of the clicks). The majority of people click on organic links (left side of page) vs. sponsored listings, around 80-20%.

How much does it cost to get top ranked?

Probably, somewhere between $3000 and $10,000 - depending on the competition.

How long will it take?

Chances are six to eight months - in any competitive category. That assumes a VERY well optimized website.

Will it pay for itself or better? Only you can answer that based on your margins?

I'm comfortable saying a wedding vendor that is top ranked should book 50 to 100 more jobs per year as a result of a top ten position. That assumes your website can convert a bride/visitor into an inquiry and you can turn an appointment into a sale.

Take your average sale: _________________ x 50 (the low end of my estimate).

Those are some pretty nice numbers if you're a wedding photographer, wedding caterer, limousine service, a wedding consultant, or a wedding minister.

AND IF YOU ARE NOT TOP RANKED...

Take the same calculation and that's what you're losing to your competition (or a portion of those sales).

There are a few assumptions here:

Assumption #1) There are people searching for you and lots of them. There are two ways to find out if people are searching for your keywords/phrases and approximately how many: Google Adwords.

Assumption #2) Your website can convert a visiting bride/groom into an inquiry. Most can't. Most don't.

Assumption #3) Again, you, or your sale staff, can turn appointments into sales.

FLASH and SEO

I get a lot of questions about FLASH and how it fits into, or doesn't fit into, search engine friendly sites. Here's my .02 cents worth (and the truth!).

1) Search engines DO NOT see FLASH code. So anything at your website that uses FLASH, will not be indexed or crawled by a search engine spider.

This means:

Menus
Navigation
All FLASH "Enter Here" Pages (the KISS of death, trust me..)
Anything... that is created using FLASH

Does this mean if your site is ALL FLASH search engines won't see it and be able to index it?

YES

Does this mean your ALL FLASH website doesn't have a chance of being top ranked at Google, Yahoo!, or MSN?

YES

Does this mean your ALL FLASH website will be harder for brides to find?

YES

Does this mean your FLASH navigation system is invisible to search engine spiders and therefore they can't follow and index those pages?

YES

Are there workarounds to an all FLASH site that I can use to solve this problem?

NO

Are there workarounds that I can use if I use some FLASH to get the FLASH elements of my website indexed and ranked?

NO. If it's FLASH... it doensn't get indexed, plain and simple.

Can I use some FLASH on my home page (or web pages)?

SURE, as long as you don't mind that ANYTHING in FLASH will not be crawled and therefore stands little or no chance of being indexed or ranked well at Google, Yahoo!, or MSN.

I've heard there are things you can do to fix this problem and that FLASH isn't that bad?

Oh yes, and I heard the moon is made out of cheese, too.

Any of your competitors, who create easy to crawl, well optimized pages, without FLASH, and using a full suite of search engine optimization techniques, both on-page and off-page, is going to beat you - and their website will be easier for brides to find at Google, Yahoo!, and MSN for any competitive keyword/phrase.