I hear it all the time ” I want to be first in Google, how much will this cost me”?  The question should be how much is it worth to you if your website is on the first page of Google?

You can’t make money unless you spend some money for advertising. We all know this, this is why the yellow pages are so thick.  What if I told you it would cost half of what you earn from it?  Your next question might be how much can I earn?

Well how much is one paying customer worth to y0u? It would depend on your product or service.  Some businesses would see more profit per customer than others. An attorney might make many thousands from just one customer while someone selling costume jewelry would make a couple of dollars.  Because of this the pricing is usually different according to the industry you’re in.

Another variable might be how many people are searching for your product or service using various keywords.  Another would be what kind of competition there is and how strong they are.

Being first on Google is not the best way to look at marketing your website on Google and the other major search engines.  You should be looking at how many targeted customers are you going to get by being on the first page.  Targeted meaning, how many of those surfers are looking for exactly what you have. And then how many are looking to buy just what you’re offering.  After all wouldn’t it be better to be on the first page for a keyword that brings in 5 good paying customers or for a keyword that brings in 100 lookers.