seo what to do

[bizzeduk]

hi everyone i am new to this forum so go easy on me right i just started my new internet business we deal in cheap laptops to pc hardware what i am stuck on is seo for the site i been quoted from 60 pounds upto 18k for the year the keywords i am looking for is cheap laptops pc shop and pc hardware, and also what different internet marketing could i look at thanks ben lowe

[w_grace]

Hello Ben,

I am going to be honest here, which will most likely upset some of the people on the board, but SEO is by enlarge a con that it is a real job.

I have multiple websites, and most of them are in the first 1 or two pages of the google searches I want, because I spent a little time working at it myself.

First, make sure you have all the right keywords, and be smart about it, don't try and be number 1 for laptop, its not going to work, you want laptops sales, laptop hardware etc..

Second use the google tools that they provide, webmaster tools, submit a site map, make sure your site is well coded and the keywords are used a few times etc. Make sure it is all URL friendly to easy to search.

Use google analytics, use google adwords, getting a starting £100 from google is childs play, you pay the £5 ot £10 quid to start your account and with the extra £100 you'll have ads that people can see, also do not pay £1-5 a click, not worth, if you use the right words in the ad, you will get clicks people do not always click on the "top", alot of people are smart and read what is there in the search response.

If you want to pay thousands for it, go for it, but honestly, with an hour a day, and some work getting links in, talking to others, you'll save all that cash.

[ComputerCoders]

Hello Ben,

I am going to be honest here, which will most likely upset some of the people on the board, but SEO is by enlarge a con that it is a real job.

I have multiple websites, and most of them are in the first 1 or two pages of the google searches I want, because I spent a little time working at it myself.

First, make sure you have all the right keywords, and be smart about it, don't try and be number 1 for laptop, its not going to work, you want laptops sales, laptop hardware etc..

Second use the google tools that they provide, webmaster tools, submit a site map, make sure your site is well coded and the keywords are used a few times etc. Make sure it is all URL friendly to easy to search.

Use google analytics, use google adwords, getting a starting £100 from google is childs play, you pay the £5 ot £10 quid to start your account and with the extra £100 you'll have ads that people can see, also do not pay £1-5 a click, not worth, if you use the right words in the ad, you will get clicks people do not always click on the "top", alot of people are smart and read what is there in the search response.

If you want to pay thousands for it, go for it, but honestly, with an hour a day, and some work getting links in, talking to others, you'll save all that cash.

On the one hand you just said don't pay thousands, on the other you've just said spend a hour per day. Say your time is worth £40 per hour, you've just spent £200 per working week doing SEO?

[w_grace]

Well done....

But I have a question for you, are you being paid for every waking minute your on this earth?

I got your answer, your not...

So, to explain, if its your business then you can take the time, if your business is going well and you don't have 1 hour (Not even really I spend about 30 minutes) spare in the day to work on your business then your too busy and you don't need SEO.

If your not busy, then your working for nothing to build your business, or have your figured out a way to magic money out of thin air?

Does that make sense?

[frogdropping]

If you're not wanting to part with money, or you're unsure as to what it is you're paying for, why not ask specific questions. Like - maybe go and brush up on SEO basics, then what you don't get, ask about. SEO is not rocket science. Once you've learned a few skills and started using them it does get easier. On-page and off-page SEO doesn't require a PHD, honest ;)

[1LittleCompany]

Excuse the typo but I wrote this guest post on the social small biz forums not long ago, I think it would help you here:

http://www.socialsmallbiz.com/2010/03/12/tips-on-choosing-a-good-seo-company/

and this:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Some-SEO-Agencies-Are-in-For-a-Shock&id=3590931

[mcol]

Hello Ben,

I have multiple websites, and most of them are in the first 1 or two pages of the google searches I want, because I spent a little time working at it myself.


The difference in revenue between being in the first couple of positions on page 1 and being in the first couple of pages is immense. To make that leap is where professional help comes in.

As for Ben's question - in ultra competitive markets like laptops, you'll need one hell of a budget to achieve anything at all! You might be better off doing PPC with adwords.

[Steve_gts]

Read some of the seo blogs (i can't post links yet) but the likes of seomoz, they will give you some ideas of what you can do yourself, but yes, as the previous comment said, they will be very hard and probably costly terms to optimise a site for

[RadiusBPO]

£60 for the year!! Bite their hand off if they have a good portfolio of results :)

SEO and PPC have been mentioned, so I will talk about a couple of other methods.

1. VSEO - This is creating a video and then optimising the video which in turn links to your site. This could be anything, from a review, or how to change a laptop HDD etc. The core SEO methods are they same as normal SEO, put your keywords in the title eg Dell WH4TEVA review by cheap laptops, have a 2%(ish) keyword desity in your description and do some link building to it.
You could start doing this with each new released laptop you get in and it will surely rank well on Google and funnel people to your site.

2. Google Base, if your not doing this already... DO IT NOW! Its free and can push 10000s of visitors your way. An old client accidently put slightly too low prices on his feed and hat 1300 hits and 400+ orders on a Friday morning. The more info you have in your feed the better, so try and export all of the attributes, and export your prices without VAT so they are cheaper and show up better. If this still doesnt get you traffic, stick the RRPs on there so you will be most expesive, people look to see why and you can suprise them with a lowish price and some special offer like a free bag.

3. Article sites - Simply write a review of your products, stick them on search engines, stick some links to them and use it as a funnel to your current site.

4. Yahoo Answers - People ask about what laptop they should get for x, how to fix a broken x, etc etc. Answer the question and drop in a relevant link.

[Steve_gts]

Peoples comments about doing SEO yourself are all well and good, but it's the time which is the issue.

Let's say you spend an hour a day working on your SEO
Then 2 hours a day doing your book keeping (because you could learn to do that yourself too)
There's another hour on marketing and making some sales calls and follow up's
Perhaps another hour on general admin' (and sorting out problems with BT etc)

All of a sudden, those 8 hours a day you need to make a product have diminished and your whole business model has downsized accordingly, or you are working 'till midnight most days.

All I'm saying is yes, you could learn to do everything yourself, but you are better outsourcing the things that you don't do best.

[sirearl]

Well done....

But I have a question for you, are you being paid for every waking minute your on this earth?

I got your answer, your not...

So, to explain, if its your business then you can take the time, if your business is going well and you don't have 1 hour (Not even really I spend about 30 minutes) spare in the day to work on your business then your too busy and you don't need SEO.



And every sleeping minute the web is a 24/7 business.

Anyone can be a busy fool.:)

Earl

[highlandspring]

There is plenty of free advice around the web, its of varying quality but if you read up on the subject you are more likely to be able to suss out if an SEO company is credible or not.

Ask for references, contact each one and see what they say.

Here is link that may help you get started http://www.articlealley.com/index_1_62.html (http://www.articlealley.com/index_1_62.html)

[neilhwilliams]

Hi,

If you want to DIY, then the basics are

The content of your website is absolute KING. Your content must be relevant to the search term you want

2. the popularity of your website is essential
No. of visitors is just a small part of this. Much more important are the number of links on other sites (inc. Social Networking Sites) TO YOUR SITE. Backlinks they are called

3. The relevancy and importance of the sites that LINK to yours
Google has been going for years and it has built a league table of sites
backlinks from top of the table sites that are RELEVANT (Relevancy is always KING) are worth gold dust
e.g. BBC, Governments, hospitals, universities, schools, libraries, national newspapers etc etc

4. keywords and Metadata (Descriptions) embedded out of sight to the visitor but not to the Google bots, are very important

To be honest, you ought to be able to find a company that get you on Page 1 with PPC for much much less than 18k pa.

However if you want to give it a go between your webmaster and yourself, take a look at Internet Business Promoter.

Not only does it get you on page 1, but it's a money back gurantee.

Now no-one can guarantee page 1, but if you can get this tool to give you a score of 100%, it's 98% likely you will be. It costs 250 euros.

Neil

[mud-stx]

read this thread from this forum, has decent info

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=133114

[OldWelshGuy]

Cheap laptops, laptop repairs etc, HUGELY competitive arena, so be prepared to put in not an hour a day here and there, but hundreds of hours, possibly even thousands of hours, because all the work that you will need to do has to be learned, and all the mistakes you make have to be corrected.

£60 is a joke, £18k is also a joke, the truth is somewhere in betweeen.

[harryboon]

Cheap laptops, laptop repairs etc, HUGELY competitive arena, so be prepared to put in not an hour a day here and there, but hundreds of hours, possibly even thousands of hours, because all the work that you will need to do has to be learned, and all the mistakes you make have to be corrected.

£60 is a joke, £18k is also a joke, the truth is somewhere in betweeen.

lol anything to do with laptops is going to require plenty of time and effort not forgetting a little bit of skill. Companies who quoted you £60 like OWG said are taking the.... and £18k is mad!

The question I ask is 'what would it be worth to be say #1 for those keywords' :D

[Ali-v-8]

Rather than pay £60 for seo, get 3 £20 notes, tape one to your forehead, roll the other two and insert one into each ear, and this will get you noticed more than paying some one else.:|

[mattsaw]

Cheap laptops, laptop repairs etc, HUGELY competitive arena, so be prepared to put in not an hour a day here and there, but hundreds of hours, possibly even thousands of hours, because all the work that you will need to do has to be learned, and all the mistakes you make have to be corrected.

£60 is a joke, £18k is also a joke, the truth is somewhere in betweeen.

If he's starting off with a new site with few backlinks then £18k is probably on the light site. The companies already at the top are almost certainly paying more than £1.5k p/m just to stay up there, and they'll be making many more times that in revenue.

I know at least three of the top ten have their own in-house teams, so that's several people working on it full time. That's not to say they can't be beaten, but you'll have to find someone to work hard and smart.