One of the main paradoxes when it comes to making sense of how Google improves businesses is that there are websites that make profit, maintain their monthly sales and are able to expand, even without appearing as number 1 in Google searches.

We are not talking about large conglomerates here like Ford or Toyota- we’re talking about old “mom and pop” websites and even older websites that are still faring better than highly optimized websites.

SEO consultants and experts are often one-sided when it comes to valuing “top rankings” in Google- after all, this is the aim of search engine optimization. But what makes a website profitable, and what can ruin it?

Faulty keywords

There was once a company in North America that wanted to find a niche in the burgeoning online mass market. This small company however, sold expensive commodities.

Since would-be SEO clients are always encouraged to “think for themselves,” the company decided that they wanted to appear in searches where descriptors or modifiers like “cheap” and “inexpensive” appeared.

It worked like a charm alright – visitors poured into their new website. What would ideally follow is a rise in profit and general well-being for the company. This was not the case. Because of so many visitors (a.k.a. “leads”), they were literally “flooded,” unable to attend to so many queries at the same time. This means that they have probably lost many real leads as well.

The company also started losing money from unscrupulous individuals who, after having products shipped, claimed that the products never reached them.

Branded searches

It is true that Google is responsible for traffic generated through searches- it’s the easiest way for people to find what they think they need out on the Internet. But what many new webmasters and novice online merchants fail to see is that branding is as vital to the business as “keyword density” or other tricks of the SEO trade.

According to a recent study of how a certain set of ads fare in a high-traffic website, the branded group of ads, though having the least number of clicks (240 clicks as compared to the highest which was 795) had the highest conversion rate. Compares to those who had so many visitors (but nobody is buying!).

If you’re depending on Google for income, make sure that Google gives you the right kind of visitors. Those who have a particular brand in mind are often the ones who already have a card ready for purchasing online. Keep this in mind when you want to optimize your website.

Trust means more money

Uniqueness, better content than the other fellows and ease of website use are three important facets of a successful website. However, these three would be useless if no one cares about your website, if no one is talking about it.

Make people talk about your website. Make people share the link to your website in forums and social networking sites. This “social” approach to website optimization would give you a group of loyal customers who would come back again and again, because you are already trusted.