SEO and website control question?

[Russetk]

When i first built my original site, i coded the info pages myself in HTML and then used actnic as the cart system. I am still using actnic (which i personally love). About 18 months two years ago, we where approached by some one via the local CofC about rewriting the info pages (we have an information site as well) in CSS/XHTML and SEO ing them better. For which we paid £800 plus a monthly fee of £200.

Now the fornt page isn't always kept up to date and i am starting to feel a bit frustrated that i don't have control anymore. I'm not even entirely sure its worth £200 a month or whether i would be better off plowing that into adwords rather than SEOing. I keep reading that SEO has changed and that it doesn't really work the way it used to?

I also want to expand significantly the info parts of the sit and am not sure i really want to have to pay through the nose to do so. I have also had it suggested that the info site should more closley match the actinic shop?

Any ideas?

[Astaroth]

The search engine companies frequently change their ranking systems and as the system is a corporate secret a lot of people then spend a lot of time trying to work out how it works. As such it is very much an art form rather than a science and is for ever evolving.

£200 per month could be a very high or low cost depending exactly on what they are doing and naturally the level of results they are achieving. If you are now number one for "car insurance" then it is damned cheap, if you are getting one hour to come in the top 100 for "pink spotted door mice" then it is poor.

[I, Brian]

Chrissie, what are you actually getting for your £200? Do you know? If not, it may be worth contacting them.

To be honest, most SEO solutions with mod_rewrite and dynamic titles etc for ecommerce sites to make them more search friendly are usually one-time fees - once the coding work is all in place, that's usually it.

However, you mentioned about the front page not being updated - so could you please advise what it is that is actually being done here?

[Russetk]

I'll go and dig out the paperwork. Its suppsoed to cover updating the front page with offers and news, resubmitting the site to SE's and work to improve the sites ranking on SE's in particular google. We do quite well in some terms but not others though i can't see us getting too near the top for green tea.

[notsure]

I would personally recommend the following:

- writing press releases/content/articles and submit them to other sites relevant to your product area.
- forget about submissions to search engines, because last time i went to the SEO conference, they told me its pointless. What really will get your pages indexed and ranked is this:
1- the content on your site
2-internal and external linking
3-the keywords within the page links, the title, the meta tag data (html code) etc
4- keeping your site fresh and updated.

£200 is not alot if they are running reports and checking the keywords and their rankings + making changes to the keywords on the page. you also need to check your drop off rate from the homepage? are people clicking through and beyond the page? is the content on the homepage misleading ? what i mean by that, if lets say e.g. you say (this is an offers link) - but in reality its not? then people will get frustrated and they will leave.

Good luck:)

[sirearl]

Hi Chrissie .Alarm bells start ringing when SEO companies say they are charging you for re submission,as it is totaly not needed.
without knowing what keywords you are ranking for it can't be decided if your fee's are dear or cheap,also what your returns are on the investment .I.E how much more trade are you doing after the SEO company intervened?

[wood1e2]

Hi, I would never recommend paying anyone a monthly fee. HAve a web designed with a CMS back end and you can up date yourself.

One fo the reasons I started set up my own company to show people, that having clients is about relationship. NOt just listening to what they need but hearing, and then providing the best solution for them, without the need of a £200 a month relationship.

Obviously there are needs for some ongoing contracted work, but once again this should shown, proven. Updating webpages can be done by other means mentioned above. :)

As for SEO, some can be done by yourself. Its a matter of reading learning and then time. With SEO there are no short cuts, as with everything it takes some planning.