Article Scary SEO Findings
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lori042499
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- May 3, 2006
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Ryan, I can so believe that that is all so true especially in the flower industry...Last I heard flowers were among the top item sold or searched about on the web....I could believe that a good 50% or more of florists have no website or maybe a very poor web presence and of the 50% that do have a decent website and do something with it don't have the foggiest at how to do it and are afraid to hire someone to do it...
The problem I run into is the same for advertising or having my car fixed...I am afraid of being ripped off...The money I have to do what I need to do has to give me a good return, so who do I believe...I feel that I don't know enough about the subject to separate the malarky from the real info that I am really buying...
I have had companies call me for SEO optimization and what they wanted a small fortune for like listing my biz with google and other very basic listing techniques that I have already done for free was all they were going to do...Now I ask is that worth 120.00 a month, I'd say no, but if I didn't even know that I could do all that for free, i amy get sucked into a scam like that...advertising is the same thing, without a basic understanding of what you are buying it is impossible to justify the money spent without knowing what you may get in return...it is dizzing to listen to the words coming out of SEO optimizers mouths because you don't even know how to process the info, it falls on deaf ears...
Even saying this, I do know how important it is to optimize...especially if you are in a large metro area with lots and lots of competition, but buying into the wrong program just makes someone else rich and leaves you holding the bill to pay without anything in return to pay it with...
The problem I run into is the same for advertising or having my car fixed...I am afraid of being ripped off...The money I have to do what I need to do has to give me a good return, so who do I believe...I feel that I don't know enough about the subject to separate the malarky from the real info that I am really buying...
I have had companies call me for SEO optimization and what they wanted a small fortune for like listing my biz with google and other very basic listing techniques that I have already done for free was all they were going to do...Now I ask is that worth 120.00 a month, I'd say no, but if I didn't even know that I could do all that for free, i amy get sucked into a scam like that...advertising is the same thing, without a basic understanding of what you are buying it is impossible to justify the money spent without knowing what you may get in return...it is dizzing to listen to the words coming out of SEO optimizers mouths because you don't even know how to process the info, it falls on deaf ears...
Even saying this, I do know how important it is to optimize...especially if you are in a large metro area with lots and lots of competition, but buying into the wrong program just makes someone else rich and leaves you holding the bill to pay without anything in return to pay it with...
Sarah Botchick
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Lori,
You are right to be cautious. When I first started trying to understand SEO I got ripped off by a scam. Hence my passion for trying to understand it. But not all SEO firms are scams. Some are very legitimate and can greatly assist your business. It just takes research to separate the flowers from the weeds!
You are right to be cautious. When I first started trying to understand SEO I got ripped off by a scam. Hence my passion for trying to understand it. But not all SEO firms are scams. Some are very legitimate and can greatly assist your business. It just takes research to separate the flowers from the weeds!
Can you name one (or some) legitimate SEO companies with which you had success (good experience)?
Others, who are new can avoid pitfalls.
Harmeet Anand
Sarah Botchick
Well-Known Member
There is one company that is here in the Cleveland area that has an excellent reputation nationally for their work in SEO. Their name is The Karcher Group (www.tkg.com). Aside from that, it seems that the owners of flowerchat, Strider, would be a good place to start. Ryan (user name Infinite) really seems to know his stuff.
There is a conference called Search Engine Strategies (www.searchenginestrategies.com) that is held in various places in the US and all over the world. You can go on that website and see who is speaking at those conferences - they have to be at the top of the game to reach that level. Of course if they are at the top of the game you may not be able to afford them!
The important thing for anyone to remember is to run for your life from the companies that promise to give you #1 search rankings for only $49.95! or something like that. Any legitimate SEO company will not "guarantee #1 rankings." They will do all of the right things, but in the end, but there are no such thing as "guaranteed #1 rankings."
I am really not an expert (although I am working on getting to that point.) I am just an average joe who has made some common rookie mistakes and hope to help others not make the same mistakes!
Rankings aren't even a viable metric anymore, now that Google has personalized the search results so much (location, search history, browsing history, etc).
The real metric is volume of quality traffic, and, to some extent, conversions. As Bruce Clay says: it is not an SEO's job to make a pig fly, it's our job to genetically re-engineer the pig into an eagle. If you're selling over-priced pet rocks, an SEO might not be able to deliver a big increase in conversions, even if they bring quality traffic to the site.
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