How do I make myself 'Googleable'?

[LingDiLong]

If there is such a word...I have a blogspot set up for my Childminding business which I update semi-regularly. What I'd like is for my site to come up if someone googles Childminder in my home town. How do I do this? Do I need a proper site as opposed to a blog and is it something you need to pay for?

TIA

Put your name on your site mines says name childminder and I am google able also go on google maps and add your name if you're happy to be located if you google my town and childminders I come up.

It can take many years to get ranked well on search engines, though sometimes you can get ranked well for certain search phrases quickly. It's all a bit hit and miss. Google has a guide to SEO (PDF)... that would be worth reading as an introduction to Search Engine Optimisiation. Then you can search for more information about SEO, lots of free advise out there on the internet about how to try to increase visitor numbers to a website/blog.

You certainly don't need to pay anyone to help, or pay to submit your blog to various sites. The search engines are very good at finding content they like, you just need to concentrate on producing content they like - they like things that are updated frequently and are as relative as possible to the search phrase that someone has entered. So using phrases as Blog Post Titles can help.

Do people search for "Childminder in Town" ? They might, your blog stats will help you find out what people are entering to find your site. Sometimes people will find childcarers even when they are not looking for childcare. I've had a parent find me due to searching for information about local swimming pools. Local information can be helpful to parents, especially if it's relevant to their situation - as a childminder you will know about local things which are suitable for children, so writing about those local things can help search engines know that you are focused on your local community.

Twitter is also indexed by search engines... so posting on there can help. Having a relevant username on forums can help. For example, google my username - what do you find? I expect you will find lots out about me - some will be about me, others will not.

Google: male nanny surrey
What does that find? It should find me but it will also find a lot of other stuff as well. Someone looking for a male nanny in surrey may well not of heard of me before and thus not search using my commonly used username, so I have to try to make search engines realise that nannynick is associated with the phrase "male nanny surrey". Tricky to do but over time search engines do build up a picture of who/what you are from how long visitors they send to your blog stay there... the longer they stay the more relevant the content is likely to have been to the search phrase.

Thanks so much nannynick, that's incredibly helpful. I'm going to have a good look at my blog this weekend and take on board all your advice. Cheers!

nannynick - I reckon that post might have linked the two sets of words together.. not that I'm an expert! (p.s. I didn't know you were a boy )

mrsbig I didnt know that either!!
nannynick please marry me and look after my dd.

MrsBig - that post of mine sure did link my username to male nanny. Mind you Google already knows me well, they read all my email and know search phrases I've put in my adwords account in the past.

KHMC I'm available if you're looking Don't suppose you live near me?

I am in London. Any good?