Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialists...
What do they KNOW?
I've had friends and
acquaintances alike tell me horror stories about their experience with
companies that claimed to have SEO experience and expertise. The public
is not at fault - and, it will take some companies getting sued to bring
things back in line. It's ludicrous for the typical web site design
company to claim they have SEO skills when all they can do is add meta
keywords, descriptions and titles.
The search engine
optimization field of knowledge is very specialized. In fact, as an SEO
specialist I don't even bother to TRY to keep up with all the search
Engines. There is no point, it's a losing game. Right now there is one
game that matters. Google's game. I'm a full-time player in that game,
and while I know a lot of things - I don't know it all. Anyone that
thinks they know it all is lying to themselves. Matt Cutts does not know
it all. He couldn't possibly remember everything that's beneficial or
detrimental to ranking well in Google.
One of the first things
you might look at when querying a company about SEO services is how long
they've been in business. Do they have some HISTORY? That's tricky and
you may not get any definitive answers or truths. SEO began in the
mid-1990's. I fell into it by optimizing people's EBay pages to be
ranked highly, that led to Google, InfoSeek, Excite, Go, and 10 other
search engines that were 'hot' at the time. Google has since taken over
search, though Yahoo and MSN do provide some traffic. I don't focus on
either of them and if it's that service you require I can't help you.
There must be some SEO consultants that focus exclusively on those
search engines and they might not be that hard to find.
Finding someone that can
optimize your site for Google and get you in the top page of rankings -
top 10 is a very difficult person to find. HOW can you find someone?
If it were me, and it
never was because I've done everything myself from 1997, I would
approach finding an SEO expert like this...
I'd look up some keywords
and keyword phrases that were probably heavily searched on in Google.
Phrases that were related to my business in some way - not because the
SEO you use needs to know your industry, he/she need not. What you want
to find is someone that is dealing with the level of SEO you need. You
don't want to look up "Airline travel" or "sports cars" if you have a
site about selling different colored paperclips. The reason is two-fold.
One is that you don't need someone that is at the very pinnacle of SEO
and charges $3,000 a month to keep your site in the top 10. The other
point is that these people are unapproachable and nobody that is ranked
number one on TOP keyword phrases would ever share with you WHO they are
using.
So, pick some keywords in
industries that are parallel to yours. If you're selling colored
paperclips choose keywords about stationary, pens, office items. If your
site is about sport sandals choose keywords about leather boots or
something that is related but not too close to your industry. Once you
find what sites are ranked really well on the keywords you're going to
write the owners of the site and see if you can be so nice that they
tell you who they're using for SEO tactics.
That is my best advice. My
second-best advice? Ask everyone you know that has a web site who they
are using to optimise their website(s) and if they're happy with the
person or group. They might not be in a parallel industry as you - so
that's why it's my second-best advice.
What kinds of things do
SEO folks KNOW about?
While you're on the
phone with them and without much delay your SEO company or guru should
know:
What are 3 ways to get
banned by Google quickly?
Where does one find a
reinclusion request for Google?
What is the difference
between a text and xml based sitemap? Which is better? Why?
What host can give me an
XML based site map as part of their webmaster tool package in the
control panel?
If I have multiple pages
with nearly the same content on my site how can I go about letting
Google know - and not being penalized?
Why is submitting my
domain to 6,000 search engines and directories NOT a good idea?
What keywords do you have
sites ranked on right now in Google?
Why is Page Rank NOT the
most important measure of a site's success with Google?
If your chosen SEO
specialist answers these questions correctly - and you'll have to look
up the answers because I can't go into all of them here, then maybe you
have yourself a winner. Maybe not - but, maybe you do. You have to test
your SEO guy or gal before you hire them. After all, you're going to
spend hundreds of dollars minimum. If you're not spending hundreds of
dollars then you aren't going to get any real value for your money.
Yes, it's true. In fact,
for a small site that doesn't need to be ranked highly on
non-competitive keywords you need to pay about $1000 for an honest
effort from an SEO wizard. There are so many things that need looked at,
tested, analyzed... that it takes a lot of time and effort to do it
right. For myself I don't really want to work on anyone's site unless
they're going to spend $2,000 or more with me. Why? I don't want to be a
loser. I'm not going to take someone's $300 to optimize their site
because it can't be done. Now, in rare cases when there is just a small
problem I can fix in a few hours - I will quote someone a price like
that. I had a friend recently that asked that I do something for his
site and we came up with $695. I saw what he needed and it wasn't that
much. Talking with him further got us up to a more reasonable budget and
some projects we could do concurrently, creating a network of sites for
him including a blog and another website for $2000.
There are some things that
can be done at $695. To do it right I need to spend a lot of time on
your site, $2,000 is a more honest effort and we're much more likely to
both come out winners.
If you are considering hiring me as an SEO consultant for your online
business I'll give you an assessment of what I think can be done for
you online. If it makes sense to you and me - we'll go forward.
As I said, typically I accept
seo projects of between $2,000 to
$10,000. If that's outside your budget let me take a look at your site(s)
anyway and see what I think. Maybe you're being penalized by Google and
I can clear that penalty up in a few days. Maybe that's all you need.
Maybe you NEED $2K or 10K of work and I'll tell you that - at least
you'll know and won't spend any little money with anyone that won't give
you what you need..
I don't use ANY black
hat techniques. I use organic search engine optimization methods. I
don't pay anyone to link to you. I use above the board techniques that
Google loves. I've kept up to date with Google trends and I've enjoyed
great success over the years. This brand of search engine optimization lasts
the longest and you get the most for your money.
In fact, I coined a phrase
about it... I call it, "Clear Hat SEO". There is white hat and black hat
and I'm "clear hat" because I let you know everything I've done by using
an online Google Doc that you can access in real time to find out what
exactly I've done and for how many hours during the project. I'm
considering a site at "ClearHatSeo.com", but for now it will remain here
at AimforAwesome.com.
That might be a funny
thing to ask your SEO company - Can you do "Clear Hat Seo" for me?
They'll be scrambling for the meaning of it... Some might even say -
YES. It's a trick because there are 2 results in Google for it at the
present time (since yesterday) and it doesn't exist until I brand the
phrase. Who knows, maybe it will become a form of SEO business
transparency in the future?
If you have a project that requires the services of a
search engine marketing
consultant feel free to write
me at the email address below and let me know
all the particulars and I'll respond as soon as I can.
Best of Life!
Vern More
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