There are search engines, like Google, and Search Engine Optimisation experts who will give you advice on how to possibly get to the top of search engine results pages. The truth is that there is no magic wand to wave to get you to the top of Google’s listings.

Google explains its search algorithms and techniques used for pushing results to the tops of their pages. It’s clear, that there are so many different factors that go into their algorithms there is only one way to really get noticed: Earn It.

When first setting out to build the site, ask the following questions:

• Why do I need a website for my business?
• What are my goals for the website?
• Who is going to use the website?
• What are people going to do once they’re there?

You might just be building a website to tell people about your business. Is that enough? Should a website just replace an ad in the yellow pages? If so then you might need to invest in online advertising to get people to your site. The content is what will ultimately bring people to your website and if all you have is a photo of some of your products and an address and phone number, you will be overlooked.

Website content is a lot more than just an “About Us” page. You need to work out ways and reasons for other people to link to your site. A large part of how search engines measure the importance of your site is how many other sites link to yours and in what context.

What you need to concentrate on first, though, is building the content to make sure your business gets the most out of the website. Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft Live Search all have content guidelines to help you start thinking about what you should include and exclude.

Building a website for your business is one of the best ways to learn more about how your business works and where it’s going. In the coming weeks we’ll start answering the questions raised in this post and then we’ll move on to other ways to put your website in the best position possible.