Archive for the ‘SEO Consultant’ category

SEO and the Recession – Gaining with Search Visibility

October 16th, 2008

I think the “recession” here might refer more appropriately to my “recessed” attention to this blog! I need to do better!

It can’t have been more than a few weeks ago that I was mentioning to a friend that I didn’t think that the SEO marketplace would hurt from the recession issues related to the economy. I explained that SEO services should be in even more demand based on the fact that website owners will need to expand more to cover more ground because of less spending. It isn’t that no one is spending. It is that there is a definite decline in spending. So if you have a website that ranks on the first page for, say, 10 keywords and now you have a 1/3 decline in spending based on those rankings then how about you cover twice as many keywords and get them to page one. You’ll end up with far more financial gain than loss! Then you can smile when the word “recession” comes up!

But, I must have been wrong with my thinking!! Suddenly one of my favorite clients is making cut-backs. Their investors are suffering so they are cutting back across the board. They are worried about the decrease in spending overall along with the upcoming holidays. Ok, yes, there will be a decrease for the current keywords we’ve gained rankings for but we have a lot more to do guys!!! I just don’t understand the rationale behind worrying that no one will spend when, by cutting back on SEO and marketing, you are making damned sure that no one will spend!! It’s a vicious cycle, it seems, with no one winning on any side.

Another interesting part of what I personally have seen and felt in the industry of SEO is by working with companies as both an internal and external SEO analyst. I work most of my time as an in-house SEO analyst (for the best company ever!) and as an external SEO consultant with the rest of my time! And by “in-house”, I am not actually in their house but in mine accessing their system through remote connection means. It’s great. Working both internally and externally has allowed me the privilege to see how the recession affects both groups. What I am seeing is that the external consultant will suffer more. Mainly because I believe their fees overall are higher. I know my fees are higher as a consultant than as an in-house analyst. But then, my fees are higher as a consultant because those clients don’t sign on for the long haul. They generally are with me anywhere for 3 months to a year. My in-house client signed me on for endless services! I do like that. I actually prefer that. My in-house client gets more out of me… and for less. I can trust that they’ll still pay me whether there are immediate ranking improvements or not. They truly understand the process of SEO, that’s why they’ve signed on to my services for the long term.

Ok so…I need to find more in-house clients to work my SEO magic!!
Although, honestly, those out there thinking of cutting back on SEO, consultant or not, you are just fueling your own recession. So stop that! If you have a website and you don’t have an SEO advisor of some kind, then, go get one. And…there is always Search Visible Websites! The more you reach out through increased rankings for your website, the more visitors you’ll get to your website.

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SEOs are the Legal Advisers to the Online Search World

October 5th, 2008

I am an SEO consultant, analyst, engineer – yep, that is why I am writing this blog post for this particular website! Anyway, this means I work with websites to determine what they need to be better optimized for search engine rankings. Being able to analyze websites and know exactly what they need to do better online actually requires a fair amount of knowledge and skill! And I’d like to think (at least my clients think) that I am a pretty good consultant. So good, in fact, that I have little time to do much else but help those clients with their websites.

The main reason for the “legal adviser” title above is that I am frequently asked about my services and what and how it is worth the expense of hiring an SEO firm or analyst such as myself. My logic is explained to these questions in this way:

I am much like your legal adviser in that I know all the rules, tools, good things, bad things that it takes for a website to succeed. I can give you this information in the time it takes to snap my finger – well, maybe a little longer. I do also believe that because of the Internet and how things work that there is always a way to perform this service yourself.

By performing the service yourself, as far as SEO goes, you can find a wealth of free information online. There are answers to all of your questions, every one of them. My advice to you at this point is to start reading at Google’s Webmaster Central. And don’t stop now, there are blogs and readings to be had all over the place. You can find answers and suggestions on website content development to link building and PR sculpting (if that’s your thing).

The problem you will have is that there is so much information and so many SEO companies to choose from how will you know what’s good, bad, or simply ugly (as in stupid waste of time!). Well, do some research first then you will probably see that finding a good adviser (consultant, analyst, engineer – whatever) will be the key.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t look at the SEO company because of its price, look at it on reputation and recommendations. How did you find out about that company? Then talk to them. Find out if you understand what they will want to do to help you and your website. If you don’t understand them or don’t get their suggestions then I’d steer clear because you will never know what’s going on. It’s not only your website, it’s your reputation and brand on the line, and online! You should know and understand everything that is taking place and why.

The SEO consultant is the legal adviser whom you can trust to tell you what’s right and what’s not and what will be more worthwhile than anything else for you and your website is what you are looking for. I have spent years understanding and working with websites. This is my livelihood. I live and breathe the Internet, especially the part that relates to websites and what makes effective websites. I can tell you at a moments notice what to do next and what to plan for. I am there so that nothing hurts you or surprises you. I will stick by your website’s side. As my client’s know their websites become my family. I want them to succeed every bit as much as they do. Everything a proper SEO consultant advises should be good, tried and true. It should also always follow online moral and ethical standards.

A good adviser will save you tons of time and money.

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The Silent SEO

February 15th, 2008

Interestingly, I’ve been reading articles lately on Search Engine Optimization consultants, how to find them and what makes a good one. Today, there was an article by Rhea Drysdale, Death of SEO Transparency, that discusses that the best SEOs seem to keep their mouths shut and “secrets” safe.

Working for several years now as a top SEO (yeah, tooting my own horn here!), the one thing I noticed that makes a great SEO consultant is not the tips or tricks but how and when they use them! It’s a form of logic that is nearly impossible to describe or teach to someone else. It comes from “feeling” the search engines and “playing” with them day in and day out. It’s having each website and each individual industry act and react differently in the search engines because there are so many factors involved. So, telling all your “SEO secrets” will not give any one a real advantage over another if they don’t know how to use it anyway. – Does that make sense?!

I don’t believe in keeping quiet or holding back (ask anyone at Bruce Clay – hi guys!). Sharing information and a willingness to teach all that you know tells me you are secure with your knowledge, secure in what you can do with it and, I think, gains you a lot of respect in this or any other industry you are involved in.

The problem I have is that I spend more time working for my clients and getting their sites optimized for whatever keyword phrases we need than I have time for talking about SEO or blogging about it. I wish I had more time to work on my own website!! Look at it! Look at the Page Rank – yup! – not so optimized is it – not so search visible!!?!! Search Visible Websites site started about 4 months ago when I went solo with my SEO services. My first thoughts were “%@*&!!, Now I have to do my own keyword research, write all this content, I need to start blogging, write press releases, find any and every way to build links to my site, etc, etc.” Needless to say, I was not thrilled, mainly because there was no one to pay me for all that work! And you SEOs out there know it takes work! Lucky for me, enough people knew where I was and how to find me and things started from the get-go. That’s why I just don’t have time for all of this here!! (round and round we go!)

I hope and wish for continued openness and sharing of SEO tactics and ideas. The more we give the more the consumer can get a hold of and judge things so as to make informed, intelligent choices. Read my previous blog posting on How to Find a Decent SEO – Interviewing an SEO Consultant. This will help give those in the “not-know” a better idea on how to distinguish one SEO over another.

Hope this all helps!!

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How to Find a Decent SEO – Interviewing an SEO Consultant

February 7th, 2008

First, “decent” does not pertain to politeness or socially correct. It does, however, pertain here to someone who can “do the job”!!! — I hope that you will find that this person can also be decently polite and socially correct too!

So, finding someone who will “get the job done” means understanding what that job is! The Search Engine Optimization job means that you will get increased rankings for a variety of good and valuable keywords (defining and understanding good and valuable keywords will come in a later blog post) for your website pages. If your SEO can increase your Page Rank by getting more inbound links pointing to your site and creating a good internal linking structure, then you’ve really hit the right guy (or gal – yup… that would be me!).

Those are the measurable successes that you are looking for, but, finding someone who fits that description and can actually “do” this for your site takes asking the right questions.

1) Are there websites that the SEO can put on their list of “optimized” sites?
An SEO may be able to suggest a website he or she has optimized but how do you really know? You can’t verify that unless the owner/operator of the website will confirm this – sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. There are always confidentiality issues that seem to be present in this industry. Ask anyway and see how far you can push to get this information and get it verified.

2) Do they “guarantee” ranking increases?
If they do – run fast, run very fast!! About the only “guarantee” you can get would, hopefully, be for your website domain name and/or specialized business name – but even then I’ve seen issues of too many similarities in some names. The only other guarantee might be for a very obscure keyword and/or one that really isn’t terribly valuable and simply won’t bring the numbers of visitors that might help to pay for the SEO services.

Now – if they guarantee that they will work hard and describe or show you everything that they are doing or planning on doing then you might want them to stick around!

3) How many clients do they have?
An SEO consultant that restricts the number of clients or businesses that they take on is a good thing. You don’t want them overwhelmed, just trying to bring in the money, and then spending limited time on your site!

Personally, I don’t take on any new clients unless I have a minimum of 6 hours a week I can spend on them – that includes research time, review time, reporting time, competitive analysis time, content review time, link strategy time, communication time, etc, etc. Yes, that limits me, but I have time to do a good job – all the time!

4) Do they incorporate some sort of Linking Strategy that is part of their SEO services?
This relates to inbound (external) link building. This will also bring the most interesting of answers. Many SEOs only perform what is known as on-page optimization. On-page optimization focuses only on a variety of SEO factors that are found on individual pages already on your site. Take a look at our SEO Checklist, you’ll see a variety of elements that can be SEOed. There is actually a lot of work that can help a site that relates to these on-page factors. But, and that is a big BUT, you will want to find out if there are off-page factors that will be addressed during any given SEO project? These off-page factors are ones that can help develop inbound links pointing to your site. The more that an SEO can help you muster up the better – as long as no one is paying for those links! This linking strategy part of any SEO project can easily help pay for those SEO services if done correctly and effectively. Ask for their plan.

5) Will they suggest something that could help right away?
Ask if there is something the SEO would be willing to suggest even if you don’t choose them. There is always something that a good SEO is willing to “give away”. It’s difficult for a decent SEO to not want to help you right away.

I can look at a site and, within minutes, find something that can be done better or at least suggest that a prospective client could begin work on with or without me.

6) What sort of SEO Tools or Reporting do they use? And, will they be giving you access to those tools or reports?
You’ll want to know where your rankings for the keywords are before you start the project and definitely before you cut anyone their final check! Depending on the length of time that will be spent on the project, you should hopefully see some ranking increases for some keyword phrases, if nothing else, you shouldn’t have lost any rankings during the SEO process. There should be some sort of Ranking report that you can understand and have from your SEO consultant.

There may be other tools at your disposal – there are many Analytics tools/reports that are great – that will help with how your content is seen by the search engines, or information on who is linking to your site or even a competitor’s site, and a variety of other items that can help with evaluating and understanding the Search Engine Optimization process.

7) Where does the SEO get his updated information, and/or stay current in the industry?
This can be done through constant and continuous online research, monitoring websites, reading blogs, going to conferences, etc, etc. If there is a “buzz” word you’ve heard about, check and see if the SEO knows about it too.

Here’s a simple question that any SEO should know:
Question: About how many factors are involved in Google’s ranking algorithm?
Answer: As of this writing, there are about 200 ranking factors that play a part in the Google algorithm.

8) Last, but not least, the last question is one for you, the client. Ask yourself these questions:
Did you feel comfortable talking to the SEO Consultant?
Did you understand the answers given or was he or she too technical?
Did the consultant seem to pay attention to your questions or concerns?
Did you like spending time talking with this person?

– because this, hopefully, will become a nice long-term and valuable relationship!

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