SEO online marketing agency wanted

[mclaren7500]

Hello everyone on the forums

I have posted a few threads in the past and have always been grateful for the helpful advice posted

I am a removals / deliveries business of 10+ years standing that operates in Bristol and the surrounding areas - Bath, Swindon, Gloucester, Cheltenham etc We come from a Man with a van background and that seems to be the type of keywords that is generating the bulk of are work online

I have just completed a marketing strategy review conducted by a marketing consultant and a number of things have emerged.

Although I have increased my business by 185% on this time last year I am not getting as much business in my home town of Bristol.

The reason for this seems to be that there are a number of companies that are a little bit more advanced with their internet marketing and appear to be reaping the benefits.

We also reached the conclusion that if I could achieve at the very least parity with my online competitors that there is considerable further growth to be had.

I have decided to increase my marketing spend this year to achieve my short term goals with regard to Internet marketing;

These are

1. To optimise my website for conversion by the installation of an instant quote mechanism
2. To set up conversion tracking
3. To increase my conversion rate by setting up two identical websites and making small incrementally beneficial tweaks to my website
4. To dominate page 1 of google as best I can via Google places, Google adwords and google natural search
5. To overtake my competitors in terms of the social proof that they have built up on sites such as freeindex and google places
6. To go beyond my competitors in terms of marketing message qualification e.g. introducing video testimonials from clients instead of the written form

I have allocated £20K - £30K in my cashflow forecast to cover this and other marketing for the next 12 months and I feel that this should just about cover it.

I am looking for an established agency or consultant based in Bristol, Bath, Swindon, Cheltenham or anywhere else close by that has a proven track record of this slightly more precise approach of internet marketing and has proven case studies and testimonials that are willing to be contacted.

I would be grateful to anyone on the forum who could point me in the right direction

All the best

Nick

 

[redtreeland]

Hi Nick - I've dropped you a note. If you let me know the URL of your site that'll really help out too.

On a side note I'm also based in the Bristol area.

 

[DeadlineData]

Hi Nick

I have passed the thread to a company in the South West.

Asked them to send you some info and call on Monday if suitable for you?



Regards

 

[MASSEY]

It seems you have the right idea. Im not sure about the search volume of the business you are in but i fear you may be spending to much in the hope organic seo is going to bring you lots of new business. The adwords and places listings do detract a lot from the organic ranks. Which is worrying when spending large figures in the hope that organic will bring a return on investment.

A note i would like to make is if you were to set up two websites that were identical you will have issues related to organic ranking. You will need to make the content different which will defeat the object of having the two sites. And you can't run adwords for the same terms with two sites or you would be banned.

I think dipping your toe with adwords first will be where it is at. You will also get traffic data quicker meaning you can work on conversion a lot earlier than if you wait around for organic traffic to trickle by for those sort of terms.

 

[mclaren7500]

It seems you have the right idea. Im not sure about the search volume of the business you are in but i fear you may be spending to much in the hope organic seo is going to bring you lots of new business. The adwords and places listings do detract a lot from the organic ranks. Which is worrying when spending large figures in the hope that organic will bring a return on investment.

A note i would like to make is if you were to set up two websites that were identical you will have issues related to organic ranking. You will need to make the content different which will defeat the object of having the two sites. And you can't run adwords for the same terms with two sites or you would be banned.

I think dipping your toe with adwords first will be where it is at. You will also get traffic data quicker meaning you can work on conversion a lot earlier than if you wait around for organic traffic to trickle by for those sort of terms.

Thanks for this insight, all very useful and helps me further qualify my requirements.

Just to clarify I am already running adwords which has led me to believe that there is plenty more work that I am not getting as there is a tendency to not click on sponsored or paid for listings. I am currently getting a click through rate of 10% which I have been told is good but in purely simplistic terms there is another 90% that are not visiting my site. This is actually higher because quite often my budget gets used up in Bristol and I cease the campaign for budgetary reasons from 6 PM to 9 AM and over the weekend.

I agree that having two identical websites is just plain wrong. I have a CMS site so the solution might be to focus on the home page and and have and alternative landing home page and then split test these to pages until I discover how to improve my conversion rate.

Just to clarify a little bit on the budget stated of £20K - £30K. This would be scaled up as the business improved and would be linked into my cashflow forecast so I would only be spending what I could afford. Also this figure includes various amounts that are already going out such as Telephony ( Freephone numbers / Call diverts / mobiles ), yellow pages / Yell, Adwords so the total available for what I have planned is probably half the total budget. I see it as an exceptional one-off cost to get me on a par with my No 1 internet competitors. In future years I will be able to reduce down my marketing spend which should feed into better margins for the business.

My main focus with all of this is to firstly get a website that is the best in class for my particular industry of Removals and deliveries in Bristol and the south west and then over time I should natural move up the rankings.

A lot of damage was done by my current SEO company so this time I want to get it right

 

[ChampagneGold]

Do not sign up to a contract longer than 4 months. A good SEO company with confidence - so long as u give them the lead time - go on a rolling basis From my experience.

 

[victorm]

Sounds like a fair plan what you have. 4mo as Champagne suggest is a good plan. If you want them to manage your link exchanges and engage in long-term strategy you should start small, build confidence and more from there.
Google Places could indeed be one of the quick wins. I would look into actively monitoring conversations on FB and Twitter in your region, as well. Easy wins, that is...
Knowing what your competitors are doing can also give you a good idea whether it's worth trying to overtake them in online or you can re-consider your offline strategy as well - local businesses become often overly sophisticated in online marketing and loose sight of their existing strengths. Just my 2c....

 

[Tin]

Hi

Not trying to teach you to suck eggs but have you considered signing up for sites such as www.deliveryquotecompare.com

You seem to have a good plan going forward and seem to have done your market research. My advice would be to stick to your guns, ensure you get contacts who are willing to verify the previous work of the seo company and as others have said don't sign up for any long term contracts, if an seo company are good you'll be happy to stick with them long term without being tied in.

Good luck

Ray

 

You seem to have a good plan going forward and seem to have done your market research. My advice would be to stick to your guns, ensure you get contacts who are willing to verify the previous work of the seo company and as others have said don't sign up for any long term contracts, if an seo company are good you'll be happy to stick with them long term without being tied in.

Good luck

Ray

100% agree I have never had a written contract in 12 years, as I certainly don't want to work with people who are not happy with what I do.

Earl

 

[TomAnthony]

It sounds like you have a clear picture of where you are, and where you want to go, so you are off to a great start.

I'd just say make sure you get through details from any company on what strategy they are going to use, both in the short term and the long term. A good SEO company should be very transparent with this.

Ask them what they offer in terms of link building, as you don't want another SEO firm to damage your reputation further, and dodgy link building methods are a sure fire way to do this. Ask for examples of previous link building campaigns, so you can examine the link profiles they built up yourself and see if they are doing what they should be.

Furthermore, you could investigate Affiliate Marketing. I'm not sure how good of a fit this would be for your business, without knowing more about it, but certainly something you could investigate. If you can get affiliates delivering you leads then they will be sure to find the gaps you are missing.

Best of luck, and let us know how you get on.

 

[Michael-Bush]

Hi Nick,

I have sent you a PM with more details and as I said in the message - I don't think your budget is necessary for what you have mentioned.

The ambition for your company is great and even better that the company has grown from just a "man in a van".

Michael

 

[I, Brian]

I would be grateful to anyone on the forum who could point me in the right direction

Hi Nick -

You've mentioned your "marketing budget" but I fear this is being read as "SEO budget" and it's bringing the parasites out of the woodwork.

IMO you should consider ignoring any direct approaches as potentially all sales and no substance, especially from relatively new members.

I'm not sure who's based in Bristol, but I know RadiusBPO isn't far from there - might be worth contacting him via PM and see if he can help you out.

 

[headshotlondon]

Hi Nick,

Just sent you a PM so free to get in touch and good luck with your search! Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

David

 

[marketingquotes]

Hi Nick,

Happy to help you get some free quotes and advice - will drop you a personal message to get the URL to analyse.

Regards,

Marketing Quotes Support.

 

[Michael-Bush]

You've mentioned your "marketing budget" but I fear this is being read as "SEO budget" and it's bringing the parasites out of the woodwork.

IMO you should consider ignoring any direct approaches as potentially all sales and no substance, especially from relatively new members.

We were all new once. You were new to this forum at one time and you were new to business at one time. I think the OP should be able to judge whether the company is genuine or a "parasite" and if they are unsure they can ask for advice.

Michael

 

[Ali-v-8]

As ibrian pointed out SEO budget needs to be allocated. However if you want a consultant to discuss how to spend that 20k you will lose 20% of it for nothing.
Common sense should tell you to spend on local advertising. Make sure you are listed in Freeindex and upgrade information and use special offers.
This is just a start.Google places allows you to list areas that you cover. Add all of them. make sure its linked to your website properly. Local news paper will have a website. Get a link on there.
Like i said local business needs local promotion.

 

[mclaren7500]

Hi Nick -

You've mentioned your "marketing budget" but I fear this is being read as "SEO budget" and it's bringing the parasites out of the woodwork.

IMO you should consider ignoring any direct approaches as potentially all sales and no substance, especially from relatively new members.

I'm not sure who's based in Bristol, but I know RadiusBPO isn't far from there - might be worth contacting him via PM and see if he can help you out.

Hi Brian,

Yes I have had a fair amount of interest and lots of PM's and they probably did see a big figure and think that that's all for SEO though I think I was quite clear that this is not the case. The only thing is most of these are SEO only or miles away. I would prefer to work with a proven agency or consultancy that Understands the brief and is based either local to me or would be willing to meet half way. The aim is to ultimately turn the site into a conversion machine. I think that this is quite an involved task and I see the schedule of works for this as being quite inexpensive to start with. Firstly the addition of an instant quote mechanism and then the setting up of conversion tracking cost £200 ish. I would then have created an additional landing page and start the tweaking process. I need to run each test for a sustained period so that any statistical variations are smoothed out. Once a clear winner has been identified this then becomes the new improved landing page and the process continues onwards. As I stated earlier the bulk of my budget is already allocated to other forms of marketing so I will have no other option than to be very careful over who I go with. My gut instinct tells me that I may have to do a round of visiting agencies and ask for testimonials and then use my judgement based on the proposals and my budget.

I have already had a 45 minute chat with a bristol based agency called Nudge digital. They have 26 employees and are only interested in Internet maqrketing. They have the staff to deal with virtually any internet marketing activity. The only snag is they don't get out of bed for anything less than £500 - £700 for pay per click campaigns and £1200 for SEO which is well out of my reach. They did say that they would be happy for me to come in and have a chat for a couple of hours and point me in the right direction if they did'nt think we were compatible and the owner Luke Aikman seemed very genuine.

Thanks for all the posts so far, it's all helped me clarify what I'm after

 

[WePromoteYouOnline]

Hi I've sent over a PM

We can certainly help you with all your needs

All the best

 

[Michael-Bush]

Hi Brian,

Yes I have had a fair amount of interest and lots of PM's and they probably did see a big figure and think that that's all for SEO though I think I was quite clear that this is not the case. The only thing is most of these are SEO only or miles away. I would prefer to work with a proven agency or consultancy that Understands the brief and is based either local to me or would be willing to meet half way. The aim is to ultimately turn the site into a conversion machine. I think that this is quite an involved task and I see the schedule of works for this as being quite inexpensive to start with. Firstly the addition of an instant quote mechanism and then the setting up of conversion tracking cost £200 ish. I would then have created an additional landing page and start the tweaking process. I need to run each test for a sustained period so that any statistical variations are smoothed out. Once a clear winner has been identified this then becomes the new improved landing page and the process continues onwards. As I stated earlier the bulk of my budget is already allocated to other forms of marketing so I will have no other option than to be very careful over who I go with. My gut instinct tells me that I may have to do a round of visiting agencies and ask for testimonials and then use my judgement based on the proposals and my budget.

I have already had a 45 minute chat with a bristol based agency called Nudge digital. They have 26 employees and are only interested in Internet maqrketing. They have the staff to deal with virtually any internet marketing activity. The only snag is they don't get out of bed for anything less than £500 - £700 for pay per click campaigns and £1200 for SEO which is well out of my reach. They did say that they would be happy for me to come in and have a chat for a couple of hours and point me in the right direction if they did'nt think we were compatible and the owner Luke Aikman seemed very genuine.

Thanks for all the posts so far, it's all helped me clarify what I'm after

I understand this a lot better now, different to what I had expected but still a good plan.

I know how you feel about this and think you need to look at all the possible companies and shortlist those which have good examples of work, recommendations, testimonials and a professional website. Also always speak to them personally over the phone as some SEO companies only work via email which I would be wary of.

Michael

 

[Jo Pena]

Hi Nick,

Glad to see that you have at least been getting sensible advice from some of the other users.
Indeed you should ALWAYS go for a reputable company, who is willing to do a proposal for you, meet you AND provide references.

We are based in Middlesex, and have clients all over England- if you are currently talking to a shortlist- feel free to Google us "Gravytrain Ltd" we provide PPC, SEO and Social Media management.

Regards

Jo

Gravytrain

 

[RadiusBPO]

Hi Nick,

Glad to see that you have at least been getting sensible advice from some of the other users.
Indeed you should ALWAYS go for a reputable company, who is willing to do a proposal for you, meet you AND provide references.

We are based in Middlesex, and have clients all over England- if you are currently talking to a shortlist- feel free to Google us "Gravytrain Ltd" we provide PPC, SEO and Social Media management.

Regards

Jo

Gravytrain

I am trying not to be a troll about this but is that really your company name??

Some definitions of Gravy Train -

A job where no work is involved. To get paid for doing nothing. Standing around at work and talking all day.

A job that pays well and only requires that it look like your working on paper.

 

The only place IMO to find a REPUTABLE Search Company is on SEOMoz.

Please do not be tempted by people sat on here all day long. If they have long enough to sit on here giving advice (for free) then they can't have many paying customers.

Again, the same as Web Designers and PPC "Experts" on here basing their status on the fact they have read a few books about the subject.

I would honestly head over to SEOMoz as it is generally where the better SEO/Search experts hang out.

If you want industry leading Search - expect to pay for it.

 

[RadiusBPO]

The only place IMO to find a REPUTABLE Search Company is on SEOMoz.

Please do not be tempted by people sat on here all day long. If they have long enough to sit on here giving advice (for free) then they can't have many paying customers.

Again, the same as Web Designers and PPC "Experts" on here basing their status on the fact they have read a few books about the subject.

I would honestly head over to SEOMoz as it is generally where the better SEO/Search experts hang out.

If you want industry leading Search - expect to pay for it.

This doesn't make sense. The "experts" on SEOMOZ are just the people who comment the most on their posts and are therefore the people spending a lot of time at a computer not doing work... Unless social networking is a valuable interaction of course.


I spend a lot of time here, other forums and chatting to people on Skype. I have a lot of time because I have 10 or more assistants helping me do the work. Myself and business partner do the more important things such as building a business...

 

http://www.seomoz.org/marketplace/companies/recommended

 

[Jo Pena]

I agree with Michelle, REPUTABLE Search Company are on SEOMoz- we certainly are. I've only just come across this forum, thought I would join to see if there were any people that could use the services of an agency like Gravytrain (which by the way means a lucrative endeavour), but is it the genaral believe on here that no agency or PPC/SEO consultant can be trusted? If so I would be interested to know why people are asking for advice on here in the first place?

 

10 Assistants? In india? ;-)

 

[RadiusBPO]

10 Assistants? In india? ;-)

Some. SEO Gadget will most likely outsource to Asia as well.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Just to clarify I am already running adwords which has led me to believe that there is plenty more work that I am not getting as there is a tendency to not click on sponsored or paid for listings. I am currently getting a click through rate of 10% which I have been told is good but in purely simplistic terms there is another 90% that are not visiting my site. This is actually higher because quite often my budget gets used up in Bristol and I cease the campaign for budgetary reasons from 6 PM to 9 AM and over the weekend.

10% is pretty good.

Once you have conversion tracking in place, you'll have a clearer idea of the ROI you're getting from adwords and, if it's profitable, you can raise your budget and get more coverage.

Aside from that - and trying to find more relevant keywords you're not currently covering - there might not be a whole lot you can do to improve the PPC.

As for conversion, Google have some videos on youtube that cover split-testing. They're well worth checking out. (Do a search on "google website optimizer").

Also Conversion Rate Experts have useful case studies on their website where they increased conversion for a number of businesses.

Finally, I agree with Tin that sites like Delivery Quote Compare, Anyvan and Shiply could be a useful source of traffic. Really depends if they're the sort of customers you're looking for or whether you want to build your business on customers who will repeat.

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

Bitter? Sheesh.

You shouldn't claim things you actually have no first hand knowledge of. The India thing was a joke but obviously touched a nerve.

I have reported your post as I think you claiming to know how another firm obtains their links is unfair and inaccurate.

Why does this always happen on here when you turn down peoples services. They take it personally and decide to then try to slate the company you have decided to use.

 

The only place IMO to find a REPUTABLE Search Company is on SEOMoz.

Please do not be tempted by people sat on here all day long. If they have long enough to sit on here giving advice (for free) then they can't have many paying customers.

Again, the same as Web Designers and PPC "Experts" on here basing their status on the fact they have read a few books about the subject.

I would honestly head over to SEOMoz as it is generally where the better SEO/Search experts hang out.

If you want industry leading Search - expect to pay for it.

Why would anyone want to employ a bunch of American schoolboys to do SEO.?

Earl

 

Why would anyone want to employ a bunch of American schoolboys to do SEO.?

Earl

Um... nice attempt at antagonising the situation.

 

Um... nice attempt at antagonising the situation.

I don't do attempts,research and observation is my specialty.

Been watching the good old boys at play since the year dot.

Loads of spiel ,not so sure about the action.

Earl

 

I don't do attempts,research and observation is my specialty.

Been watching the good old boys at play since the year dot.

Loads of spiel ,not so sure about the action.

Earl

Or course. Your speciality seems to be posting on here an inordinate number of times.

Yet another wise sage on UKBF! *faints* It blows me away how many experts, gurus and plain old simple know-it-alls there are on here. How lucky I am to have a membership.

I am not even going to bother asking why you think it's spiel. So many members on here come out with such broad comments on everything without failing to discuss the specifics of what they base their opinion on.

We will all just take your word for gospel seeing as you know so much about everything. I don't know how you manage it.

It must be really tough <<<profanity removed by mod>>> excellence like you do Earl?

 

We will all just take your word for gospel seeing as you know so much about everything. I don't know how you manage it.

It must be really tough <<<profanity removed by mod>>> excellence like you do Earl?

Oh it took bleeding years,not sure about everything though.:|

Not sure why you can't spell passing.?

Earl

 

[RadiusBPO]

Bitter? Sheesh.

You shouldn't claim things you actually have no first hand knowledge of. The India thing was a joke but obviously touched a nerve.

I have reported your post as I think you claiming to know how another firm obtains their links is unfair and inaccurate.

Why does this always happen on here when you turn down peoples services. They take it personally and decide to then try to slate the company you have decided to use.

Ah seen this after replying to your PM. Therefore will post this here as disclosure.

We've helped 2 of the companies on the SEOMOZ list you posted and one on a topseo list. I know all about the outsourcing these companies do to companies such as mine - they spam email asking for links and get people like me to get my assistants to manually and automatically build links. *company name* included, a couple of my sites have had mass link request emails...

I also know where we are charging them £100-200 pm they are charging clients £3000-4000 - basically for running automated reports and handing them to another team to pursue. - The last part refers to a high street shopping chain...

 

[Jason32]

Well normal rates for a good agency would be around 100 pounds an hr, then how can you charge 100-200 per month for doing everything from strategy to implementation? Where you just spending a couple of hrs a month for your clients?

Generally according to my experience, UK Search market is still not competitive at all, most of the keywords are easy other than the usual highly competitive ones.

Last year I did a campaign for a huge company that was selling FIFA world cup 2010 tickets, they had 1/3 of the total tickets and is a HUGE name in football and sports websites. I did a campaign for them for a highly competitive keyterms for the world cup tickets, and we had those huge websites to compete with like cnn, bbc, fifa, stubhub, wikipedia and a few more, but I did a clever strategy and we were able to get to position 2 within 8 weeks beating all those giants and that company made over 3 million dollars from that campaign. Ofcourse they were running PPC and other forms of advertising as well but in the end they were happy with the work.

 

Ah seen this after replying to your PM. Therefore will post this here as disclosure.

We've helped 2 of the companies on the SEOMOZ list you posted and one on a topseo list. I know all about the outsourcing these companies do to companies such as mine - they spam email asking for links and get people like me to get my assistants to manually and automatically build links. *company name* included, a couple of my sites have had mass link request emails...

I also know where we are charging them £100-200 pm they are charging clients £3000-4000 - basically for running automated reports and handing them to another team to pursue. - The last part refers to a high street shopping chain...

I liked your PM telling me you decided to work with me! Lol I think you'll find I told you I had no interest in using a company that charges a fee to get to number 3, number 2 and so on. SEO's who work like this are charlatans and n

Anyway if you are only charging a couple of hundred pounds for a job that a larger agency is selling on for thousands then you must be a mug! Why not cut out the middleman?

 

[MASSEY]

Well normal rates for a good agency would be around 100 pounds an hr, then how can you charge 100-200 per month for doing everything from strategy to implementation? Where you just spending a couple of hrs a month for your clients?

Generally according to my experience, UK Search market is still not competitive at all, most of the keywords are easy other than the usual highly competitive ones.

Last year I did a campaign for a huge company that was selling FIFA world cup 2010 tickets, they had 1/3 of the total tickets and is a HUGE name in football and sports websites. I did a campaign for them for a highly competitive keyterms for the world cup tickets, and we had those huge websites to compete with like cnn, bbc, fifa, stubhub, wikipedia and a few more, but I did a clever strategy and we were able to get to position 2 within 8 weeks beating all those giants and that company made over 3 million dollars from that campaign. Ofcourse they were running PPC and other forms of advertising as well but in the end they were happy with the work.

Well i would imagine you used black hat as it would sustain for long enough to sell the tickets

 

[Jason32]

Well i would imagine you used black hat as it would sustain for long enough to sell the tickets

Hahaha no we didnt mainly because their main website is a big name that gets about 8 million visits a month, we also used 301s from that site which helped us a lot but in the end it all comes down to your strategy and the results you could show to your clients.

 

[Ali-v-8]

I cant believe Michelle_hd has hijacked someone elses thread slagged everyone off on here after looking for someone to do her SEO.
I think you are not deserving of help and free advice you take off here all the time.