As a small business owner, the term affordable in any marketing piece always makes me either laugh a little or cringe. Depending on the piece, I can almost tell instantly whether or not I can afford to participate or not. When it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) though, the term is not always so transparent. When the marketing piece you have to make a decision on often looks like a standard Search Engine Results Page (SERP) entry, how are you supposed to know who brings value and who does not? The answer is simple, you don’t! You have to actually click through the link and get to the website and then start the process of beginning to discern whether or not the term “affordable” actually applies to you and your business, or if it doesn’t. Make no mistake about it though, you are the one who defines the term affordable, not the SEO Company or their slick website full of SEO’d copy and fancy <H1> tags telling you how “affordable” they are.
So how do you make the final call; Affordable or not? It’s actually pretty simple if you stop and apply some simple yet effective business decision making strategies. Weighing the “cost benefit analysis” is almost a must. In other words, is the cost of the product or service going to benefit your company bottom line or website in a meaningful and real way? To determine that you have to gather information on the services provided by the SEO company, previous customer experiences with the SEO company and some solid examples of ranking sites well. To take it even a step further, are the examples provided using real Keyword examples, Keywords that are competitive or super competitive and bringing real traffic? Does the SEO Company offer Analytics tracking and reporting? Conversion tracking and reporting? Landing page development, A/B and Multi-Variant testing and optimization?
These are the things that make a real difference to website owners, not just being on page one. What good is it to be on page one of Google if the traffic it brings never gets converted into a paying customer?
So back to the original question; What defines affordable SEO services for small business? The answer is simply this…if you can make the payments to the vendor and they can deliver the traffic, conversions and revenue that will grow your business, how can you afford NOT to hire them?
One final thought. Doing “something” is better than doing nothing. If you can only afford $100.00/month to invest in your SEO program, then do it! We have customers that start that way and within a couple of months they are able to increase that investment and therefore increase their results. The point is this; they started with what they had, and that is much better than hoping or wishing SEO onto your site.
If you found this article helpful and you enjoyed it, please take a minute and share it through any of the social media share buttons located throughout the site. We love our social media friends and the shares we get and we certainly will return the favor when and where possible. You can also comment in the comments section below and regular commenters receive “Do-Follow” link status to help you with your SEO program!
Click-finders.com offers a full range of Internet Marketing services including Affordable SEO Services, PPC Management, Social Media, Inbound Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and more. Contact us through www.click-finders.com, Twitter, Facebook and our Organic SEO Blog to learn more about Organic Search Engine Optimization and even request a FREE SEO Website Analysis.
Related Posts:
read more
Quality Content is the Heart of any good SEO program!
At click-finders, we like to think that the entire process of online promotions – with SEO related activities being the majority of our core work – is like the working machinery of a clock tower (or any time piece for that matter): the gears move all the time and the machinery is forever in motion, whether you see the gears turning or not. Of course, all websites can’t afford to be as nonchalant as actual clock towers are, can they? When lively hoods and jobs depend on sales and when the website is counted on for all of, or a portion of those sales, then it hurts when no one visits that website. In addition to that, when your content isn’t shared on Twitter and Facebook, not only does it sting a bit personally, it’s also a possible indication of website activity, which us why the major search engines like Google and Bing are placing more and more emphasis on social signals. That’s why internet marketing – including SEO – isn’t a one off marketing method anymore; there are many aspects and tools that must be employed successfully in order to win in the game of SEO. The problem is everyone wants it today! They want the success and benefits of good SEO Services without doing the work. You’ll be forgiven to think “short-term” and “instant” because that’s how we’ve all been spoiled and pampered in today’s fast paced, “got to have it now” society. In fact, be careful if you think that way with SEO because you are sure to be disappointed (best case scenario) and financially hurt (worst case scenario) if you fall into the trap of a disreputable SEO who promises one thing and delivers another.
“There are no magic tricks to ranking well. No secrets that I can share that will have you on the top of Google tomorrow for a competitive keyword. There is hard work, technical aspects, ups and downs and a commitment to this marketing method that you have never experienced before. But if you do it well, the payoff can change your business forever!”
Start with your own content
First of all, are you building content on your website? Is it industry related to the products and services you are offering? If you are, then let’s assume that all of the individual pieces of the content you produce are like individual products. If your blog posts, articles, whitepapers, reports, and social media content were to have a price tag, what would they be worth? Would you look at your own content as something you would actually pay for? Is it so valuable to your potential visitors that they would pay for it? If not, you may want to rethink your content strategy.
Be in the mindset that every post, article, or report could have made you money if you sold those pieces individually (complete with copyrights). Only, you don’t charge for such information. You give it away for your readers for free on your blog or perhaps as a digital download.
It’s this kind of information that’s shared, commented on, and linked to in today’s internet world. Do you see the SEO part kicking in? All those social signals pointing to your site, the numerous natural inbound links, the natural referral traffic – all this increases your opportunities to rank well while giving tremendous value to your readers.
Social Media
Recently, we published a post on the possible ROI of Twitter [What is the ROI for 10,000 Tweets on Twitter]. If we wanted to, we could spend countless man-hours analyzing the impact of our social media efforts on our business. You could do the same for your own business. But we would be missing the point entirely: Social Media isn’t like advertising on mass media. Don’t get us wrong, measure your efforts and ROI, but don’t lose sight of the fact that social media is about sharing, not selling. Social media is about being “social”; it’s about the strength of your core network. It’s about the unhindered word going out when your brand, products, and services are discussed. And when you do it really well, even “you” as a person will be discussed. Somehow, somewhere, all of this tends to come together and mean something for you, your brand, and your ROI.
The work is a never-ending cycle and is certainly resource-intensive; it takes patience and resolve. It needs you to be committed and relentless. But if you are, the rewards are limitless. Are you ready to succeed in internet marketing and SEO?
If you found this article helpful and you enjoyed it, please take a minute and share it through any of the social media share buttons located throughout the site. We love our social media friends and the shares we get and we certainly will return the favor when and where possible. You can also comment in the comments section below and regular commenters receive “Do-Follow” link status to help you with your SEO program!
click-finders.com offers a full range of Internet Marketing services including Affordable SEO Services, PPC Management, Social Media, Inbound Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and more. Contact us through www.click-finders.com, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and our Organic SEO Blog to learn more about Organic Search Engine Optimization and even request a FREE SEO Website Analysis.
Credit for image [Table of Elements for SEO] – http://searchengineland.com/seotable
Related Posts:
read more
Does SEO Still Work?
It’s a question that is being asked all over the internet, by business owners, traditional marketing professionals and even the media. Google is busy fighting spam. Google has taken it upon itself to free the Internet of varying degrees of spam, black-hat riddled websites, poor content, and almost anything else that doesn’t serve the searcher/reader. The seemingly inconspicuous question “Does SEO still work?” has spun off multiple threads on SEO forums, Q & A sites such as Quora, and countless number of blog posts. It’s time to get real and understand a few undeniable truths about SEO.
Having been in the SEO business for so long, it’s hard for us not to respond to that question, so we will. Here are some truths about SEO (search engine optimization) you must learn to accept, in a post Penguin and Panda update era:
SEO that works: the hard, slow and painstaking real content generation SEO does still work!
The easy route to search domination is to follow ‘SEO Shortcuts’ or perhaps rub a little evil on and indulge in Black Hat SEO techniques. The short answer is that none of those will work with any lasting effects. As Ruth Burr writes in her post SEO isn’t Magic: So Stop SEO Tricks, without the little shortcuts, SEO is undeniably, resource-heavy, technically difficult, and time-consuming. Today, it’s evident more than ever that only the right kind of SEO works. The emphasis is on great content, natural link-building, and judicial use of keywords when it’s natural and makes sense only.
Content is the new SEO insurance plan
There’s a reason why companies such as Hubspot, Kiss Metrics and SEOmoz have proven to be authority sites in their respective niches. It’s not surprising since they base their marketing on content. Any random magazine with an online presence sees more traffic and engagement per reader than a website that spends more time on ineffective SEO techniques than on developing content.
For a website, blog, or a company seeking to establish presence on the web, content is where the focus should have been. Good SEO starts from there. You work so hard to bring visitors to your website, but we beg to ask you: what will they get when they finally arrive? Make it worth their visit, give them something no one else can….your unique and genuine content.
How do you build great content? Focus on retaining your personality, make strong and educated opinions, and bring in humor if you can. If there is one insurance plan you can to hold steady in the wake of Google’s periodic and unpredictable storms, it will always be content.
Some things about SEO will never change
Good HTML coding with sensible use of keywords in the Title tag, Meta tags and on-page content is not going to change anytime soon. Nor will the need to practice good solid link building. The difference in today’s post Panda and Penguin updates is that low quality links mean less than ever before for ranking purposes. Good quality links are essential, that combined with a good content strategy and a solid social media presence and you will find yourself quickly climbing the rankings.
If you found this article helpful and you enjoyed it, please take a minute and share it through any of the social media share buttons located throughout the site. We love our social media friends and the shares we get and we certainly will return the favor when and where possible. You can also comment in the comments section below and regular commenters receive “Do-Follow” link status to help you with your SEO program!
click-finders.com offers a full range of Internet Marketing services including Affordable SEO Services, PPC Management, Social Media, Inbound Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and more. Contact us through www.click-finders.com, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and our Organic SEO Blog to learn more about Organic Search Engine Optimization and even request a FREE SEO Website Analysis.
Related Posts:
read more
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ON-PAGE SEO
Finally, an eBook that addresses the needs of new and do it yourself web designers! This eBook truly is “The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO”. Everything you need to know to properly code and design your website so that it is search engine friendly and visible for the keywords that you want or need to be found for in order to be successful in your online marketing efforts. And now, you can DOWNLOAD it for FREE, for a limited time only!
LEARN THE SECRETS OF THE PROS
- Which HTML tags really matter
- How to craft content that is search engine friendly
- How to avoid search engine penalties
Get your FREE eBook today!
Related Posts:
read more
There is "good vs evil" in SEO.
Long has been the battle between good and evil and many stories in our past have reflected this epic struggle, but none capture the essence as well as Star Wars in my humble opinion. One of my all-time favorite quotes from the movie is by a well-known character, Yoda. During one of the scenes when he is instructing a young Jedi (Luke Skywalker) he utters the words “Do or Do Not, there is no try”. That has absolutely stuck with me since the first time I saw it in a small town movie theater in Mooresville, NC. In the story there is a mystical “Force” that is within all. It is a state of consciousness that is supposed to drive an individual toward an action or purpose. In Star Wars, the Force can be used for good or it can be used for evil. If you use the Force for evil, you are said to be on “The Darkside” of the Force and therefore evil. Whether or not you use the Force inside you for good or evil appears to be a conscious decision each individual must make at some point in his/her life. Once you make the decision though, you are bound by ethics and morale’s either that of a Jedi (good) or a Sith (evil). That’s not to say you can’t change teams later, because you can. But if you do, you then lose everything that you have come to know and love about the Force.
So, what does “the force” and good vs. evil have to do with SEO? Well just like in Star Wars, there are Good SEO’s (Jedi’s) and Bad/Evil SEO’s (Sith’s). They each use “The Force”, which we will call Google, in their own unique and special way. The Jedi’s use the force for good and promote websites using organic search engine optimization techniques that fall within the Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and by doing so, they increase the client website authority and ranking within the Google SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages). They make sure the website is coded properly, search engine friendly, optimized for the keywords that will yield the most traffic to the website owner and that are relative for the search terms it is optimized for. They then promote this site using organic SEO methods (press releases, article marketing, social book marking and more). For these Jedi SEO types, doing it right and within the guidelines is not only a morale victory, it’s an extremely satisfying and honorable endeavor. All Jedi SEO’s (also known as White Hat SEO’s) work within the Google Webmaster Guidelines and by doing so ensure their client’s receive quality affordable SEO Services that will stand the test of time.
Sith SEO’s on the other hand, practice SEO outside of the Google Webmaster Guidelines. They work on the dark-side of the force for sure. This is also known as “Black hat” SEO. They perform such acts as keyword stuffing, invisible text and doorway pages (just to name a few). They may even go so far as to buy links for their customer’s websites. Each of these practices is strictly forbidden in the Google Webmaster Guidelines and performing these tasks or allowing someone to perform them for you could result in your website receiving a Google penalty or worse, being removed from the Google index altogether. These SEO’s tend to promise extremely FAST results with little or no upfront cash and big payments due when they get you to page 1 of Google. Be wary though…your page 1 ranking may be short lived. Make sure your SEO firm is using organic search engine optimization methods that fall within the Google webmaster guidelines only and that you know exactly what their process is. The more informed you are, the better the chances of you hiring the right SEO Services Company and thus having a successful SEO campaign.
So be sure when you hire an SEO Firm that you absolutely know what activities your new vendor will be performing for your website. Not knowing could cost you a lot more than you bargained for, today and tomorrow.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this article please share it with any of the multiple social media share widgets on this blog (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Social Bookmarking). Also, please feel free to comment below. I openly welcome any and all feedback, especially from other internet professionals!
Click-finders.com is a full service internet marketing company that offers a full range of services including Affordable SEO Services, PPC Adword Campaigns, Social Media Marketing, Web Development and more! Contact us today for a FREE no obligation SEO Analysis of your website and find out today, what it’s going to take to rank high in the search engines!
Related Posts:
read more
