Newbie incoming, looking for SEO support

[Flowerpot123]

Hi

Brand new on the forum and in need of support please.

I am/have started a new live in care agency. Started in January but struggling to get clients. My website is up and running and ranked 43rd on Google.

I was badly let down by my web designer and have tried to get the website operational on my own. I have also come to realise that I am a little out of my league - until January I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a ‘back end’. Steep learning curve!

In the past few weeks I have had a website audit done. Then I asked for quotes to get it more operational. Really bad move! I have so many people contacting me to do the SEO (up to £3000) and now have Yell on my back who have told me that my whole website needs to be redesigned. And I know that this will likely lead to my signing up with them for ever here after.

I guess I am running a little scared and looking for some advice...

Am happy to keep trying to fix everything on my own, but when it comes to all these different companies telling me that different things are wrong, I just don’t know which way to turn.

I have been a Carer for 10 years and now want to do my own Agency, to deliver care the proper way. But I need a proper working website.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[SH247]

I would definitely steer clear of Yell! They have a terrible reputation. You don't have to look far on this site to see posts about them and their pushy tactics and empty claims... Just search "Yell adwords management" in the search bar at the top of this page and you'll see exactly what I mean.

Without knowledge of web design, you might need help but there are services like wix (and countless other options) that offer a really easy to use services. Either that or employ another web designer to fix the mess you're in.

SEO services will throw loads of empty figures at you so I wouldn't take their word for it. There are a few well thought of members here that are often recommended so, if you have a search, you should find posts relating.

There's a lot you can do to help your SEO and rankings so worth doing a bit of research

 

[TODonnell]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. There's a fair amount of b.s. when buying SEO and web design.

Maybe try it this way:

Web design: get people on places like Fiverr to do small, simple, discrete tasks for you, backing up your site each time, changing the logins each time. Only use people with lots of good reviews and who have done jobs the same as what you want.

SEO: do not use cheapo and/or Indian, SEOs. I mean the type that use old tricks that will get your site penalised.

Smart SEO is basically slogging away getting backlinks from sites you respect which are related to your niche. You could hire a local lad to do that. Just make sure he never uses the people or tricks that get "200 backlinks in 2 days."

 

[Jay Shields]

I agree with TODonnel. About backlinks, one senior seo advised me to get up to 50 backlinks per month and it will be enough to reach good dr in half a year.. But to reach first page in google ranking, more time needed

 

[Hive2018]

Hi guys I am new to the forum and this is my first post. So be nice.

For the web design I agree with TODonnell. Best thing to is hire a freelancer.


When am doing SEO for clients I use the formula onsite optimization + offsite optimization = higher ranking.

The first factor that will help your website rank is onsite optimization. Onsite optimization is measured by your content and the keywords you have within your content. If you want to rank for [best accounting firm] then you have to talk about [being a accountant] on your website.

The second major factor that the search engines look for is a little bit trickier and is called offsite optimization. Offisite optimization is measured and established by the number of websites or companies that have a link on THEIR website that points to you and to your website. example of offsite optimizations are:
- Back-links
- Social media
- Guest blogging

For offsite optimization to be effective you will need to consider:

- The popularity of the site
- Relevance
- Number of links on the site
- Authority of the site

As for prices try questioning them on how they came to £3000.

Professional agencies should be able to to tell you how they get the figure. High figures are usually because of the agencies experience and popularity.

Hope you find this helpful.

 

[Iain_Henderson]

Do you know what is your website built with? And when you say it 'ranks 43d' on Google what search term(s) are you using to get that placement?

When it comes to SEO I'd recommend https://www.freshbananas.co.uk/ which will give you a great grounding in SEO to either use yourself or, if paying for someone to do it, weed out those who talk a lot of waffle!

 

[Stitchbob]

A fairly easy win that costs nothing is to use the "Google My Business" feature to claim your business and complete the details about it. That basically gives Google all the information about your business, website and target market to display one of their "enhanced results" cards when somebody searches your business by name. It doesn't specifically say it helps your search results, but it certainly won't hurt them.

 

[iDigLocal]

@Stitchbob has a good suggestion, claim your google my business. Also put your business on relevant directories and also local directories. Not necessarily good for backlink SEO but good for spreading the word about your business. Local council directories are good.

The first thing is: don't use Yell!

SEO can be expensive and there are a lot of companies out there that will charge you a lot of money and not really do anything. We speak to clients to discuss how much they have to spend and then come up with a solution for their budget. Obviously the more you spend the more work that gets done. Possible solutions can be increasing content, on-page optimisation, social media marketing.

Generally it will start with a website audit, keyword list search and competitor analysis. Finding out how your competitors are doing there SEO can give you a good insight into resources to use. It can also identify gaps in the market that they may not be exploiting.

You should agree a performance indicator with the SEO company, whether it is organic traffic or enquiry form submissions so that you can follow the performance of your SEO work.

You could also consider PPC but be careful because if not done correctly this can be a money pit but it can have a positive effect on organic traffic as well.

 

[KarenBridges]

Why don't you try to do SEO on your own for a month or two? It's really simple, and, at least, by that time you'll know exactly what you need.
Rule of thumb in SEO - good backlinks help almost every time.

 

[Deleted member 309943]

I saw a great article from Matthew Rusk the founder of MGR Music about 'how SEO can help your business' that might help. His whole business is based around SEO.

 

[aaron web designer]

STAY AWAY from yell websites! I worked there so I should know!

• High monthly fees – Yell websites lowest monthly maintenance is £78 per month (inclusive of VAT). Going up to a few hundred pounds per month.
• Cannot directly speak with the web designer – You cannot get hold of the web designer, you can only speak with your account manager who effectively is a sales person.
• Poor SEO (website ranking low on Google) – Yell websites do not use correct SEO techniques to get the best chance of getting found on Google.
• You never own the website – Ownership of the website belongs to Yell not the customer (you are renting the website). If you stop making the monthly payments then you lose the website. Yell websites cannot be transferred.
• Websites are made using generic templates – Yell websites are made using a platform that is unpopular.
• Unresponsive websites – In other words they are not really mobile friendly. Yell have two versions of your website; one for PCs and the other for Mobiles. Websites must be responsive; in other words one website that adapts according to the device it is being viewed on, otherwise Google penalise you. Read more about responsive websites: https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/design-and-ui/responsive/