There are 10 organic search result spots on first page Google and everyone wants to be there. A good social media strategy along with a good SEO strategy can help get your business website first page Google. But getting there is only the start. Staying there is a long-term process. Everyone wants to sell you their services to get there, but how do you actually stay there?

Nick Stamoulis wrote a great piece on understanding SEO for new website owners. We have all gotten the emails and phone calls for so-called SEO experts promising first page Google results. Nick shared a great email, pictured above, that had been sent to him. (You can read Nick’s comments and his great article here.) There are so many businesses promising us the world, and there is so little understanding of what it really takes to get first page Google and stay there. Getting there is one thing. Staying there is another.

I did a social media and SEO experiment a while back that allowed me to dominate the first 3 pages on Google for quite a long period of time: read it here. As I slacked off my activities, more and more of those links began to fall off from the search results. I was experimenting with the keywords “social media training Halifax and Dartmouth“. What I learned was this, if I wanted to have as many search engine first page results as possible, I needed to develop a long-term SEO strategy. Nick Stamoulis says it best when he says that “SEO is a long-term”.

So I dominated the first 3 pages of Google search, so what? It certainly gained me a lot of attention and it provided me with a great learning experience. Once I had a listing on first page, I wondered how far I could take it. It was amazing to see how far I could take it. I learned that I could get first page Google fairly easy; but staying there required effort as well. If you want your business to be first page Google, you should also have a plan for staying there. Remember that there are only 10 organic search spots on the first page of Google, and everyone wants to be first page.

Social media can definitely assist you in getting  first page Google. But it’s not the only thing you need to do. Social media can get (1) eyes on your site, get (2) others talking about it, get (3) others linking to it and it can get (4) others referring it to their friends. These are not bad at all. But they are only part of the entire process. You should think of your social media in this way…”It enhances what you are already doing.”

To stay first page, you need to be feeding Google and your audience great content that is worth reading and sharing. Sharing is a key part of staying first page Google. Social media can create sharing, but you have to create the great fresh content that’s worthy of being shared. Creating good fresh and interesting content is going to take effort. A long-term SEO strategy understands this and accepts this in its long-term goal. You need to be prepared to do this.

And sure you can get help with all this, but it is still going to take effort on your part in some form. There is no quick fix to getting first page Google and staying there. It’s takes time and effort to get there and stay there. You need to settle this once and for all in your mind and develop a long-term plan. Forget the quick fix. Prepare for the long haul. When you understand this process, you will build this into your daily life. SEO is a lifestyle you might say, and not a hundred yard sprint. Prepare yourself for the road ahead. Business is work. Don’t always be looking for the easy way out. Work smart and wisely. But don’t go at it half heartily. Don’t be fooled by others who promise you the world with little effort on your part.