“With an estimated 2 Billion websites now what is the real chance of SEO marketing companies really ranking anyone on page 1 of Google consistently with organic marketing?”

That’s a great question…

(But I think when the reader said “2 billion websites,” he was actually providing a ballpark estimate of the number of web pages on the ‘Net. The most recent stats we found said the number of websites was just over 182 million. But one website can have hundreds or even thousands of different pages to it.)

Despite the huge number of web pages out there, the answer is, yes — you CAN get a top ranking with Google through purely organic SEO. But your success at hitting the top position depends on which keywords you’re trying to rank for.

For example, say you want to build a site selling natural health products… If you’re just starting out, how easy do you think it would be to get top ranking for the term, “natural health products?” Well, with 705 million web pages competing for that term, your chances aren’t so hot.

… But if you drill down into your area of interest and find more specific keywords such as,
“herbal remedies sinus,” which has 198,000 competing results — or “psoriasis herbal remedies,” which has 165,000 competing results, your chances of getting a decent ranking just got a whole lot better.

But how do you discover the best keywords to rank for?

That one’s easy: keyword research.

(Yes, we’re going on about keywords again! But they really are the “key” to a successful business.)

Our inaugural issue of StartUp, our new online business guide, has a number of articles that explain exactly how to do proper keyword research to uncover hidden streams of traffic for your site. It’s even got some hot new niche ideas for your business that we uncovered using the exact method we talk about.

If you need a refresher course on how to find the keywords that are best for your business, check out this month’s free issue.

Even if you plan on outsourcing your SEO work, we strongly urge you to become familiar with the principles of keyword research.

That way you’ll have the basic knowledge you need to discover whether the SEO company you’re thinking about hiring actually knows what they’re doing — or whether they’re just out to drain your bank account and leave you with nothing to show for it.