Can anyone recommend an SEO company?

[british steve]

Can anyone recommend an SEO company?

I have a Joomla based website that has just been built. Site has been up for around 8 weeks but is not appearing on the search engines except for directly under its own URL. Site has only had about 100 unique visitors over 8 weeks.

 

[zigojacko]

I've heard Clubnet Search Marketing are awesome!

 

[seoandy]

I've heard I'm awesome - mainly because i tell myself this every day hehe

nah but seriously check out my **link drop removed** . monthly/one-off services on its own merits hence no pricing is up, prices start from as low as £75pcm dependant on your site & it's nature.

If you want to know more PM me.

 

[SteveMc]

I use a company called New Horizons IT Solutions, worked well for me in the past.
nhis.co.uk

 

[Major_Grooves]

I know that my employer has used both seoptimise.com and oxforddigitalmarketing.co.uk

The SEO optimise people are quite well know because they have a well-read SEO blog, however I believe it is Oxforddigitalmarketing that we are currently using.

 

[MarcusMiller]

Hey Steve, I have a lot of Joomla specific SEO experience so give me a shout if I can help.

 

[ZMakarov]

Hi,
Search Engine Optimization is a vital activity in order to rank up your website. It will start to appear in search engine listings when seo work is done on it. I would recommend a web marketing and seo company that has been working on many php projects. Google webmarketingcompanion.
Thanks.

 

[GreatSEO]

Happy to advise you completely free of charge. Please PM me with contact details if needed :')

Dave

 

[pickaweb]

Getting a good position in the search engines will take some time.
For quick results you may want to try pay per click such as google adwords.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I'm amazed by the lukewarm response.

I would have thought, with all the SEOs on this forum, people would be recommending some of them. But all there seems to be is self-recommendation and mentions of companies that aren't on the forum.

How odd.

Steve

 

[Fenland]

I'm amazed by the lukewarm response.

I would have thought, with all the SEOs on this forum, people would be recommending some of them. But all there seems to be is self-recommendation and mentions of companies that aren't on the forum.

How odd.

Steve

Is it odd Steve, or is the silence actually speaking volumes........

 

I'm amazed by the lukewarm response.

I would have thought, with all the SEOs on this forum, people would be recommending some of them. But all there seems to be is self-recommendation and mentions of companies that aren't on the forum.

How odd.

Steve

agree rather a sad indication,as its always helpfull to have recommendations for decent snake oil salesmen.

Earl

 

[Faevilangel]

agree rather a sad indication,as its always helpfull to have recommendations for decent snake oil salesmen.

Earl

These threads come up daily, with your name in

If I had to recommend anyone it would be ZiggoJacko, Sirsmartypants (Sirearl), Old welsh Guy or Tin. All are well versed in SEO.

When choosing an seo, research research and research...

 

[zigojacko]

Whilst many of my leads come from this forum, it has become apparent that many businesses on here are not prepared to dip their hand in their pocket for a decent, professional and recommended solution. It appears many have little to no budget for their website and are looking for cheap labour... Which of course results in cheap and poor results.

You get what you pay for, something many businesses still don't appear to fathom when it comes to website marketing and search engine optimisation.

 

[Faevilangel]

Whilst many of my leads come from this forum, it has become apparent that many businesses on here are not prepared to dip their hand in their pocket for a decent, professional and recommended solution. It appears many have little to no budget for their website and are looking for cheap labour... Which of course results in cheap and poor results.

You get what you pay for, something many businesses still don't appear to fathom when it comes to website marketing and search engine optimisation.

It;s the same with any industry, espaically in web based industries.

Web design for one, oh my neice can create a website for nothing, so I don't see how you can charge £800.
Just because there are free templates / software / books doesn't mean people will work for free.
Unfortunately us Brits are tight sods, and will try not to spend our money, if we don't have to.

 

[Major_Grooves]

I'm amazed by the lukewarm response.

I would have thought, with all the SEOs on this forum, people would be recommending some of them. But all there seems to be is self-recommendation and mentions of companies that aren't on the forum.

How odd.

Steve

Ooh you cynic!

fwiw I have no idea if either of the companies I mentioned are on this forum.

 

[RedEvo]

Some of the SEO's in this forum are here to help people, not to tout for work, strange though that may seem.

d

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Some of the SEO's in this forum are here to help people, not to tout for work, strange though that may seem.

And, clearly, some are here to tout for work (amongst other reasons)... judging by the self-recommendations.

I don't see copywriters touting for work on the forum (at least, no more than SEOs), but whenever people ask for recommedations for copywriters, there are a few forum members put forward.

That's why I found this thread strange.

Steve

 

[Faevilangel]

Some of the SEO's in this forum are here to help people, not to tout for work, strange though that may seem.

d

Yup, I know Tin and OWG give a lot of advice on here, there are not many people that aren't here to spam their business...

 

[Faevilangel]

And, clearly, some are here to tout for work (amongst other reasons)... judging by the self-recommendations.

I don't see copywriters touting for work on the forum (at least, no more than SEOs), but whenever people ask for recommedations for copywriters, there are a few forum members put forward.

That's why I found this thread strange.

Steve

It;s the same on any forum Steve, people will try and tout for any business.

I find most people who post on a forum are too tight to pay the going rate for a service. Every so often you will find a couple of people that really are after honest recommendations but most will be after cheap labour.

 

[brownie]

I don't see copywriters touting for work on the forum (at least, no more than SEOs), but whenever people ask for recommedations for copywriters, there are a few forum members put forward.

Maybe website owners feel they need a copywriter and not an SEO professional, I get the impression a high percentage of website owners think they can perform the SEO task themselves.

Be interested to know what percentage of website owners have engaged an SEO professional for their websites.

 

[Faevilangel]

Maybe website owners feel they need a copywriter and not an SEO professional, I get the impression a high percentage of website owners think they can perform the SEO task themselves.

Be interested to know what percentage of website owners have engaged an SEO professional for their websites.

Probably a few % or less.... As most people think seo is easy, having a website doesn't need to be done well, just look right, and I don't want to pay someone to do it.

 

[SFD]

I find most people who post on a forum are too tight to pay the going rate for a service. Every so often you will find a couple of people that really are after honest recommendations but most will be after cheap labour.

Maybe they won't pay the going rate if they don't feel the service/result is worth it and that is why you are having the problems?

I have used several forum members, Steve included, and never quibbled on price with any of them.

 

[maxh]

Haha!

So many SEO's out there. 99% are utterly bad.

If you find one ask for EVIDENCE of their previous successes.

Any monkey can run a mediocre PPC campaign, so ask how they improved ORGANIC search to that site for things that their customers were actually looking for.

Most SEO's will offer some free consult before any money exchanges hands.

What's your site/industry?

-p.s. good luck!

 

[Faevilangel]

Maybe they won't pay the going rate if they don't feel the service/result is worth it and that is why you are having the problems?

I have used several forum members, Steve included, and never quibbled on price with any of them.

I have no problems

I find a lot of "webdesigner wanted" posts always want a cheap designer to do their site.
One person pm'd me asking how much I charge for a wordpress design and development, they told me my price was too much as wordpress is free to use and build. They don't realise it takes time to build a unique theme, and to set up wordpress to run perfectly.

I have used 2 members on here and never quibbled, another one was out of my budget but I have put effort into raising the funds to get the service, as I know their work is exceptional.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Maybe website owners feel they need a copywriter and not an SEO professional, I get the impression a high percentage of website owners think they can perform the SEO task themselves.

Funny, I was thinking the other way round: that site owners tend to take copy for granted ("anyone can write"), but are obsessed with SEO.

i.e. the same old "focus on traffic, ignore conversions"

I wonder which of us is right. (It would be interesting to know.)

Steve

PS One thing I would definitely say is that there are far too many site owners who are doing the SEO themselves. (I made that point here: http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=153526)

And far too many who don't get the connection between the cost of SEO and what it's worth to the business.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I find a lot of "webdesigner wanted" posts always want a cheap designer to do their site.

I know what you mean.

Steve

 

[MarcusMiller]

Funny, I was thinking the other way round: that site owners tend to take copy for granted ("anyone can write"), but are obsessed with SEO.

That's true, to some extent as many clients just don't get the web in general. We are not a pure seo agency and we offer what we see as a more holistic service. We take a look at the site, the competition, provide a guideline of the changes that need to be made to the site to make it a more reasonable proposition to the target market and then we will look at optimising it for more web traffic.

Then once the site is working and is converting some visitors we will look at what we can do to improve conversions, to gather email addresses, to qualify the area of interest, start a dialogue and gradually start to build a relationship.

Once the site has a reasonable position in the engines and is converting visitors (whatever the goal maybe) then we can look at other ways to build traffic and increase search engine rankings if that is a cost effective way to build more traffic.

I have one client that I have worked with for years and they will not update their site, and god, it's awful. It looks like it was built in 1990 and has really very little information on there bar the service they provide. The kicker is that they have a good and unique service but the site just does not do a good job of communicating that. So, the approach is more traffic, vanity keywords and nothing else, my advice, nay pleading, falls on deaf ears and we have recently parted ways as I simply can't do anything for them when all they want to do is keep spinning around the link buying treadmill.

It can actually be fairly depressing trying to help people generate more business through their websites. People want make no changes to a flawed site, pay £100 and see miracles.

Still, occasionally, you pick up a realistic client, who understands that for your website to be a valuable tool, you have to work at it.

There is no silver bullet, just hard work and if your time is more valuable doing what you do well then paying an expert to do what they do well is always going to help you grow.

Funnily enough, I did in this post but I don't tend to offer my services, not really my style but I think some self promotion is not a bad thing but I would advise the poster to go with a recommendation as there are some truly shocking SEO companies out there that could not optimise an image for the web let alone advise on how to generate more traffic and conversions from your site. There also seem to be a bunch of people on here that really seem to want to help people, and heck, if every now and again they try to get paid for it, that is not really that bad a deal.

P.S. I have seen ZigoJacko mentioned as referall several times so theres my vote.

 

[simonsays...]

Its a good question and one that many people ask, I believe that if an SEO company can really deliver they wont adopt a suck it and see approach letting their clients take the risk, they are the paid professionals and should take on the challenge of getting websites onto the first page, after all they are the ones being paid and entrusted to deliver.
The only major company I have found who offer a complete 100% pay for result option are called SEO vantage I think they are based in Gloucester, they would get my reccomendation for being able to offer a genuine open and very transparent programme that delivers results or you dont pay

 

[RedEvo]

Its a good question and one that many people ask, I believe that if an SEO company can really deliver they wont adopt a suck it and see approach letting their clients take the risk, they are the paid professionals and should take on the challenge of getting websites onto the first page, after all they are the ones being paid and entrusted to deliver.
The only major company I have found who offer a complete 100% pay for result option are called SEO vantage I think they are based in Gloucester, they would get my reccomendation for being able to offer a genuine open and very transparent programme that delivers results or you dont pay

Mmmmm. Who should pay for the extensive up front research needed to establish how difficult the task in hand will be? Who pays for the keyword research? Who pays for the competition analysis? How does their PFP fee structure work?

cheers

d

 

[Fenland]

Mmmmm. Who should pay for the extensive up front research needed to establish how difficult the task in hand will be? Who pays for the keyword research? Who pays for the competition analysis? How does their PFP fee structure work?

cheers

d

What you mean like a job where you actually have to measure up, cost out materials and labour, submit recommendations and tenders, provide references and evidence of completed work.........nah I cant think of many jobs where you have to do that all up front for free can you.......

 

[anandp]

i also on the look out for an seo but not diving into that straight away i would like to find out who this person is what they can do if they are good at there jobs i have no problem with paying a couple of grand

If you have a couple of grand to pay, then go for the people who appear no1 on Google for "link building" which in my mind is the number one way to get up the rankings. This of course does assume you have reasonable content.

Btw the company I mean are Micrositez - met them at Internet World and would love to be able to hire them (if only I had the cash to spend). As a startup, its very difficult to look too far ahead when looking at ROI. If I hired them, they'd probably deliver but my return wouldn't be realised for at least 18 months....

hmmm....maybe I need to get some investment....

 

[Mister B]

Some of the SEO's in this forum are here to help people, not to tout for work, strange though that may seem.

d

And that sums it up entirely.

I, (through rose tinted glasses I may add) used to believe that this forum was a great place for asking questions, giving answers and sharing ideas.

I will shortly be looking to get somebody to do the SEO and the PPC, both of whom are members here. I don't need to seek recommendations as by merely monitoring posts over a period of time you get a really good feel as to the competency of the company or individual in question.

I should also add that choosing an SEO or PPC specialist should not be a spur of the moment decision. If part of your business plan then you should be thinking ahead and doing some spadework in advance. Not only will this help you to better understand your own needs and requirements but it will probably save you a fair amount of money too.

Mister B

 

[harryboon]

Humm I am somewhat of an SEO expert my website is number 2 on google.co.uk in just 5 month for a major keyword killing all the competition.

I would be happy to chat with you, depending on your site, keywords etc I am sure I can help, and there will be on business BS with me.

PM me if you want to know more!

PS this would be free advice!

 

[Fenland]

Humm I am somewhat of an SEO expert my website is number 2 on google.co.uk in just 5 month for a major keyword killing all the competition.

I would be happy to chat with you, depending on your site, keywords etc I am sure I can help, and there will be on business BS with me.

PM me if you want to know more!

PS this would be free advice!

This is more like it...

 

[harryboon]

This is more like it...

Thank you - Serious I will help anyone with ideas etc, I only got my site up with free help from others and many hours of hard work

 

[harryboon]

If you have a couple of grand to pay, then go for the people who appear no1 on Google for "link building" which in my mind is the number one way to get up the rankings. This of course does assume you have reasonable content.

Btw the company I mean are Micrositez - met them at Internet World and would love to be able to hire them (if only I had the cash to spend). As a startup, its very difficult to look too far ahead when looking at ROI. If I hired them, they'd probably deliver but my return wouldn't be realised for at least 18 months....

hmmm....maybe I need to get some investment....

Guys you don't need Microsiez, yes very good at what they do, but they will charge you an arm and a leg, serious PM me!

 

[zigojacko]

yes very good at what they do

You're having a laugh aren't you?

Yes they have won awards.
Yes they get their clients to top 5 in Google.
Yes they charge the earth for the results.

But at the end of the day, they are just the same as 99.9% of any other link building company mass submitting to web directories, article syndication and mass blog commenting on high page PR blogs posting useless dribble...

Many of their clients don't remain in the top 5 positions as many of the back links sought are from web directories which display the latest submitted website and thus gets indexed, as soon as another is submitted and the site gets re-indexed, the link disappears. (short term results).

Analysis of their work clearly indicates results dropping, the majority of links are not permanent/valuable. Many of the links that are permanent are paid links or likely to be from their own network of sites that nearly every link building company uses to bounce links between one another (link farms).


Picking one client out, these are examples of their blog comments:-

"Excellent in all aspects. This is an enlightening blog post that has opened my eyes to new avenues that need to be explored. Keep it up.Keep blogging."

"Brilliant post!Thanks for finding it.I really like the blog, really good!Keep blogging.Looking to reading your next post..."

"This is one of the creative post which i like a lot.Each & every tips of your post are awesome.Thanks a bunch for sharing such a great post with us. Keep blogging."

"Great information.Good job.Really we need this type of planning.Thanks for sharing"

"Very good post. It really helped me a lot, will be referring a lot of friends about this.I really enjoy reading your blog.Thanks for making such a cool post which is really very well written.Looking forward to reading your next insightful posts."

"Very nice blog! Thanks for sharing the useful material. I think I will definitely get benefit from your content. Lovely n educating blog. thanks for passing the idea.keep blogging."

... The list goes on...

And of course it's yet another company that claims to seek all backlinks manually with no automation... Yeh right!

 

[harryboon]

<<<profanity edited >>>

The problem is, is that people think they are good as they are #1 - fancy helping me educate people about companies like this?

 

[zigojacko]

<<< Edited >>>

Couldn't agree more, there's hundreds of them out there and the realism is, there's millions of people/businesses out there that don't care less... They've got awards, they're #1 for keywords, they get results (even if they aren't permanent unless the client coughs up £K's every 6 months) and people will use them as they aren't aware how to research the company, or listen to testimonials of their customers who also aren't aware of the work they have carried out.

The sad matter is that awards are being dished out regardless of how ethical their practices are which leads to more business and exposure.

fancy helping me educate people about companies like this?

I'm not even sure that is possible is it? Do people care? They just want results, I've posted similar replies over and over again on this forum when someone asks about one of these link building companies or another member recommends one, I'm sure there are some that listen and take it in but there are others that just see "#1 on Google in less than 30 days" painted on the inside of their eyelids.