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The road to online success is crowded with companies aggressively competing for the prize, coveted positions in the first two pages of search engine keyword results. For many small companies, achieving those positions can mean the difference between success and failure, making a living online or not.
It's obvious that money can play an important role in getting to the top, as evidenced by the big company names occupying a majority of popular keyword positions. Brand name companies with large budgets have the resources to employ extensive marketing departments, outsource to experts, and acquire online properties in their effort to dominate the search results.
Is it realistic to think small business owners can succeed against big companies online? Although the playing field is financially uneven, some small companies have been able to establish positions in highly competitive keywords, without the benefit of a large budget.
For example, www.crhome.com is a small business which has consistently been in the top 20 of Google's natural search results for keyword phrases such as, home equity loan, second mortgage, and variations of similar keywords.
The mortgage industry is one of the most competitive spaces online, yet here is a small business listed among the big competitors, such as, Bank Rate, E-Loan, Wells Fargo, Lending Tree, and Countrywide. While the listings are not at the top of the results, they are within a good range to generate valuable traffic.
If you examine the site, it reveals nothing extraordinary. Actually, it has a simple design, with basic on-page optimization for the title, description, and keyword usage. The main reason for the success of this site is a combination of these basic elements, plus pages of useful on-topic content, which have been publicized over a period of time to generate the necessary inbound links from other sites and directories.
All the web development, content writing, and site promotion was done in-house with little money spent, which shows that a small business has the opportunity to compete and succeed against the big companies in a competitive online space.
It takes time and effort to create good original content, and publicizing the content is an important part of the marketing process, including the use of web directories, social networks, blogs, submitting articles, press releases, and asking for links.
Be persistent, it may be a long road to get there, but it can be a rewarding destination.