Any recommended SEO specialists? £500/m budget

[Jamster123]

As above, Ive invested some cash already in this horrible field where I have no real trust in who Im dealing with. Can anyone personally recommend someone ?

[Altrezia]

Spend it on a copywriter instead. Good content is king.

If your content is already perfect ignore me. A ste site with great content does miles better than an optimised site with junk text.

[Frimley111R]

Why are you spending £500 on SEO? Do you know that's what you need? (It may be be but people often ask us about SEO when its not the best option for them).

[singlecoil]

Altrezia said:

Spend it on a copywriter instead. Good content is king.

If your content is already perfect ignore me. A ste site with great content does miles better than an optimised site with junk text.

What does great content mean in this context?

[Altrezia]

singlecoil said:

What does great content mean in this context?

Great content always means text about the subject. If you're selling fancy hats, write content about fancy hats, how they are made, why yours are great, what are the benefits of using your hats (or hats in general), the history of hats etc.
Make your site an authority on the subject and it will do well.

[DSLiverpool]

From a none tech person - assuming you have good technical SEO then I would look at a good blogger, article writer or features person - that may be you Make the site an information destination and Google will love you - apologies to the people who know about this but it seems to be the case these days.

[Frimley111R]

singlecoil said:

What does great content mean in this context?

Timely, engaging, relevant and interesting. It should make people want to read it and share it. A Search Engine's 'job' is to give the person searching access to the 'best' information/websites. The more of your website that is timely (up to date)/recent), etc. the more a SE will prioritise it.

[technodup]

There's a company in Glasgow we recommend. The main guy is sound and gives a fair and free appraisal of a site and its workings. His clients go from trades to national chains to universities so he knows what he's about.

If you want I can let him know you're looking for advice.

[Kozy]

Why not spend that money on Google Adwords instead of SEO (which can reputedly land you in the st when Google changes their algorithms)

SEO makes no sense to me. PPC advertising seems like a no brainer.

[MattS3]

It's about getting a balance though isn't it?
Sure, you can drive traffic by spending money with PPC, but the costs can escalate, dependent on which terms you need to buy.
SEO is all more of an upfront cost to build relevant content, trusted links, reviews etc.
The downside is you have to pay for it before seeing results, then hope Google doesn't change its algorithm, or you could be bounced 2 pages and have to start again.......

[JustinP1]

Jamster123 said:

As above, Ive invested some cash already in this horrible field where I have no real trust in who Im dealing with. Can anyone personally recommend someone ?

Yourself.

I've got two examples.

To start with I got a site developed. After a few years I was approached by an SEO company who promised X, Y and Z. 6 months later, I find that not only have they been outsourcing the 'work', which did seem to be about an hour a week, if that, the changes they made to the site made the content gobbledygook.

Additionally, after I wondered why we had no enquiries for a while, I found that changes they made to the site broke the contact form.

After they tried to batter me with the remaining 6 months of fees for a 6 month contract, I let rip and had to fight my way out and was only allowed out of the contract be seriously threatening formal legal action.


Second example, and second crack at SEO: I can't write code. I use Rapidweaver, and get a reasonably professional looking site. I bought a couple of books from Amazon. Total outlay about £60.

I learnt to write the copy with the keywords appearing naturally, how to structure the content so it could be frequently updated in a way I could easily do myself, how to name the pictures in the site etc etc.

The second site got to the top of Google in the keywords I had picked in less than a month. Quicker I might add than the SEO company did for the first site.

[Quattromaster]

JustinP1 said:

I bought a couple of books from Amazon. Total outlay about £60.



T.

Have you any links to these.

Many thanks

[Frimley111R]

Don't DIY this. Good SEO companies know SEO inside and out and how it affects your site and what other issues you have that may be affecting it. Use (good) specialists for quality work.

[technodup]

Frimley111R said:

Don't DIY this. Good SEO companies know SEO inside and out and how it affects your site and what other issues you have that may be affecting it. Use (good) specialists for quality work.

This.

The guy's an electrician. Without being funny he'll not be the best person to do techy web related stuff. Like I'm not ever gong to rewire my house.

Problem with tax? See an accountant.
Problem with a lease? See a lawyer.
Problem with rankings? Seen a SEO guy.

Notwithstanding the fact a professional will do a better job, it'll be cheaper in the long run as well. A spark makes money running cables. Spending time faffing about reading books and trying to figure out SEO takes him away from making money. If he spends 20 hours on SEO and gets nowhere fast he could have done a rewire and made a couple of grand (or whatever). Which would pay for his SEO.

[Jamster123]

Minefield.

Ive started paying a guy £500p/m who seems very interested, sending me videos of what he's doing, constant up dates etc etc, started removing penalties, now he has rebuilt one of my sites as he said easier that way....on the surface it all seems good, but I still have a major element of distrust shelling out next month, with no guarantee!

Company getting to stage I don't have a lot of my own time to invest on SEO.

I just feel like I should have used someone who came personally recommended.This guy approached me on Facebook and had me sold. All seems legit, background checks, spoke on phone etc, fairly confident he can work wonders on my sites as competition low.

He has suggested 6 months (3k) but not tied into any contract.

Ive now looked into copywriter, but in al honesty not sure how much better their stuff would be than mines. (my sites are better than my sloppy forum text before anyone says!)

Horrible field SEO.

[singlecoil]

I gather that you don't need to be told to get a professional to do it, what you need to be told is WHICH professional to get to do it, am I right?

[Jamster123]

singlecoil said:

I gather that you don't need to be told to get a professional to do it, what you need to be told is WHICH professional to get to do it, am I right?

yep

[Stevanos]

You are not going to get much for £500 per month on the SEO front I'm afraid, in the price range you would be choosing amongst some pretty shady practitioners.

I would try and invest that money in to your own education of SEO to start with.

The first place I would start would be by reading this http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/see-think-do-conten... and seeing how it applies to your business.

[Timja]

Sent you a PM.

[Frimley111R]

Stevanos said:

You are not going to get much for £500 per month on the SEO front I'm afraid, in the price range you would be choosing amongst some pretty shady practitioners.

I would try and invest that money in to your own education of SEO to start with.

The first place I would start would be by reading this http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/see-think-do-conten... and seeing how it applies to your business.

Did you even read this thread before posting?