Dallas SEO Geek
Looking for an SEO Consultant that produces real, large ROI's? I work to make YOU the most money. I realize that makes me the most money.
Rand Fishkin is famous in SEO. His company, Moz, has done some really cool things, but their general message is missing a huge piece of the puzzle.
Here’s a really good, technically correct article he wrote about how SEO doesn’t change as much as people think — something that I agree with very strongly. I just shot a video aboutundying SEO principles last post. I made that before reading Rand’s article, so its not a response to his. The meat of the content is very different.
While his main path…
(click pic for enlargement)
…Does actually work, it is only 1 of many, not necessarily mutually exclusive options available to a business when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. Here’s the real kicker: to most businesses content marketing either makes no sense at all or it is the most expensive with the possible least return over the next 12 months.
Content marketing is a method that works well with SEO, but each company has its own set of unique SEO opportunities. There’s not just 1 SEO technique that works best for EVERYONE. There are hundreds of unique paths a business can take with SEO and content marketing isjust one of those paths.
Some companies, for example, I can get big traffic within just a few weeks after we make changes. This opportunity is not available for anywhere near 100% of companies, but when it is available, it is awesome for everyone. Its not Black Hat as many would assume. It doesn’t break any of Google’s rules. This is 1 path/technique and it is not mutually exclusive to many of the other techniques out there.
The statement I would make is that Content Marketing for the purposes of SEO is aterrible business decision for most companies. There are simply too many better, more reliable marketing methods. Now, this can be true of SEO as a whole. SEO is not for every business.
Let’s compare content marketing vs a few other forms of marketing available to businesses:
This is just 1 common example for 1 company. Different companies have different numbers, but a few things remain pretty fixed — cost and reliability. Content marketing is very expensive and it doesn’t work for a lot of companies no matter how long they do it. One of the exceptions is that there are some companies that are creating content already or who have the skills already in place to create good content. Then, the effective costs added could be very low. It still doesn’t mean its the best path, but its a step in the right direction.
Furthermore, I’m not limiting my business estimations to just SEO Marketing or even Internet Marketing. I love Direct Mail. You can get a very fast return on your money with this method. I think its powerful for many businesses — hence the loads of junk mail you get…some of which you actually look at, right? I know I do. Direct Mail is inexpensive and requires little investment to get started. And it is very scalable.
SEO and all its different techniques and paths have to be able to compete with other forms of marketing from a business ROI standpoint. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
The best thing SEO has over most other forms of marketing is that you’re building a lead generation machine. Its not a 1-1 trade of pay X dollars, get Y back like you can sometimes build with more direct marketing. It’s an army of constantly growing robots trying to take over the world for you:
How to Hire an SEO Consultant or CompanyWritten by David on November 20, 2014 · Leave a Comment
Hiring a Consultant or Company to do your Search Engine Optimization is VERY confusing for most companies. In the video below, I break down the things you need to know to prevent you from wasting your company’s money.
#1 in Google for some great search phrases
OK. Sometimes, you’ve just got to brag to expose the truth about SEO (and other things in life!).
It is fun to be able to show real, tangible, valuable, and verifiable Search Engine Rankings.
Biggest SEO Myths and Misunderstandings
Don’t fall prey to these common SEO Myths:
SEO Company vs SEO Consultant
The following video best describes my feelings about SEO Companies and Consultants!
Which kind of Search Engine Optimization service provider do you think is best for your business?
Personally, I think its an easy choice if your goal is to use your website to rank higher onGoogle, Bing, and Yahoo to make you more money! But, I’m biased
Google Penguin 3.0 — My SEO Works Better Than Ever!
There was a big update to Google this last weekend (~10/18/2014) and all my major sites improved — some had HUGE improvements.
I’ve been discussing with other good SEO consultants on what exactly has happened based upon my data and their data. It turns out that lower quantity, high quality links plus proper On Page optimization is working better than ever. I’ve been going this route exclusively for about a year and a half now because I’ve seen the direction that Google is heading.
This was actually the most favorable major Google update for my sites and my clients’ sites. Not a single one had big drops and several had huge gains.
Quality over Quantity wins.
Smart site setup wins.
Call me to discuss.
Categories: dallas seo consultant
Don’t Throw Away Another Marketing Dollar! 7 Things You Must Know Before You Buy SEO
SEO vs PPC vs Social Media, Gorillas, Bunnies, Google’s Brain, SEO “Experts”, and SEO Consultants
About 90% of the business owners I talk to have a story of paying money to an SEO Service Provider or another type of Internet Marketerand getting little to no results. This is often not just small amounts of money, but vast sums of money that resulted in zero dollars back in their pocket.
(To be fair, this is not just true for internet marketing. Did you know that Yellow Pages still charges LARGE amounts of money to have an ad in your phone book that will just make you a target of cold calls?)
I know of multiple businesses who paid thousands of dollars for Search Engine Optimizationand didn’t even sniff the first page of the search results. I’ve seen businesses pay a small amount for basically empty services that provide no value — this is very common. I’ve seen people being promoted a whole list of services that actually does stuff, so it seems great on the surface…but it doesn’t result in any extra revenue into their pocket. There are so many ways towaste your money.
I hate to see this happen to anybody! It can actually take a business down by trapping cash flow that is critical to the business running. It really bothers me to see quality businesses providing a valuable service to their community go down in flames because they were dazzled into buying the latest goobledidad that would improve their online somethingorother or they bought SEO Services from a Dallas SEO Firm who…either isn’t able to take care of them or doesn’t care enough to take care of them.
I totally understand why most business owners are highly skeptical of so called “Dallas SEO Experts.” You should be skeptical! You are getting calls, emails, snail mailings, texts, faxes, and carrier pigeons every week with different messages saying they have the latest technical solution for marketing your business online. The amount of conflicting messages is staggering. Also, if you are like most business owners or managers, you’ve gotten run over on the information super highway!
You have a lot to lose…Your business…Your financial future…All your hard work…Down the drain. I understand. And I empathize with your situation. Don’t let it happen to you.
I’m a complete SEO Geek that wakes up thinking about SEO, goes to sleep thinking about SEO, thinks about SEO when my wife is talking to me…I need to work on that last one.
Please, please, please, PLEASE read this short list to help protect yourself. Even if you don’t end up contacting me or you only use this as a test to see if someone who is quoting you is legit, then that’s great. I’m happy. I’ve saved some precious dollars from going from a business that provides a valuable service to a business that does not provide a valuable service.
(1) What Exactly Is Your Market Searching — AKA Keyword ResearchThis step is absolutely critical and needs to be thoroughly explored for all the opportunities available to your business. However, most people performing SEO look up the top 5-10 most searched terms and check this off as done. WRONG! This results in about 90%+ of businesses going after the same 20% of traffic out there. Its not that that traffic isn’t valuable and shouldn’t be targeted. No, its that you want to also target that other 80% of traffic that few, to no businesses are targeted. I’m very good at ferreting out lots of valuable traffic that has low competition.
What is the point of ranking for something that no one is searching? Well, there’s no point from a business standpoint.
I see many people that (at first) are ecstatic to get 1st page rankings for things no one is searching. Then, months down the line they do the math and figure out that no new business came through their doors and they think to themselves, “But, but, but I’m on the 1st page of Google!” Well, your SEO Consultant failed to walk you through the 1st and most basic internet marketing exercise.
Google gives out search data freely. They tell you how many people are searching for…whatever you want. Now, the data they give is far from perfect (they hide the low volume traffic numbers, but that’s well over 50% of the total traffic!), but its a great start. There needs to be some sort of evidence that your market is out there searching for your products or services.
Tip: Always ask if they’re giving you “Broad Match Searches” or “Exact Match Searches.” Exact match is much more conservative and can help you zero in on precise searches. Broad match search quantity includes searches for anything related to that search phrase. Exact match only gives results for that 1 specific search phrase.
(2) Is SEO the Best Fit for Your Company?Once you’ve found what your market is searching, its time to do some math. Wahoo! Math! I know, I know, you LOVE math. Well, at least you love the kind of math that prevents you fromlosing money and brings in more profit to your business! Any SEO Consultant worth his or her salt should help you make this evaluation.
Take a look at 3 different numbers to see if you should pursue Search Engine Optimization:
- Average Customer Value
- Approximate Quantity of Search Volume That Is Your Target Market
- The Cost of Doing SEO
If you’d only make $100 over the next 12 months by ranking #1 for everything, then SEO is probably not worth it for your business! However, if the numbers show that if you averaged ranking #3, you estimate making 10x the amount of money it would cost to do SEO, well then you have a winner.
If you didn’t do step 1 (keyword research), then you cannot make this estimation.
Being able to make this calculation is why I don’t like Social Media as much as SEO. Social media is unpredictable. Therefore, it is difficult to make even an estimated calculation.
There are a lot of services like Social Media that provide you with activity, but not measurable progress. This is one of the biggest forms of wasted capital in internet marketing that I see out there. A company sells you on all sorts of extra features that result in no extra business in your pocket.
You can do this calculation much more accurately with Pay Per Click (PPC). However, PPC is far more expensive than SEO and its costs have been increasing for business owners by as much 50%-150% per year! As low quality SEO providers get the boot from Google’s algorthims, companies flee to PPC. Furthermore, you’re not really building something that has powerful exponential growth built in like SEO.
Don’t get me wrong — PPC can be great if its profitable for your business. However, would you rather pay less or more for the same traffic?
SEO provides the best balance between predictability of results and cost. Usually. Contact me to find out.
(3) What Does Google Think Of Your Site Right Now?Do they hate you? Do they know you exist? Do they like you?
You figure out what Google (and the other search engines) thinks of you by doing a full On Page and Off Page Analysis.
On Page Analysis consists of 4 major factors:
- Do your page title have the appropriate keywords in them?
- Do you have the main keywords or slight variations within your text at least once?
- Is the linking structure of your site setup properly?
- How well do people respond to the look and feel and flow of your site?
Off Page Analysis consists of 4 major factors:
- How many sites are linking to you?
- What is Google’s opinion of the sites linking to you?
- How relevant are the sites linking to you?
- What text do the sites linking to you use to link to you?
(4) Are You Currently Ranking and Getting Traffic?If you’ve setup visitor and ranking tracking software (there are many ways to skin this cat), then this is easy and invaluable information to capture.
At the very least you should have visitor tracking software because it is free and easy and you want a good set of historical data to analyze — which you can’t start capturing until you’ve installed the software.
With this information you can see what Google already thinks you’re relevant to (if anything). Again, this is wonderful information to have. Start getting it or find an SEO Consultant to help you get it. Now.
(5) Do You Have Duplicate Content?Go put your website into Copyscape. Has someone online copied your content? Has the person you hired to create your site content copied it from elsewhere? Have you been naughty?
That site will tell you. Hopefully, you have no results. If you do, I highly recommend you take steps to fix it as quickly as possible.
The easiest way to fix it usually is to reword the content on your own site that is showing up as duplicated.
(Quick note: There are OK ways to have duplicate content on your site that most people aren’t aware of because Google’s duplicate content rules are often misunderstood. Duplicate content isn’t automatically bad news for you! Call me to discuss if you get positive hits on Copyscape.)
(6) How Competitive Is The SEO of the People Ranking On the First Page For Your Search Phrases
Are you facing 500 lb Gorillas that won’t back down easily or cute little bunny rabbits that will scurry away at the first sign of danger. Where your site falls on the Gorilla-Bunny spectrumdirectly affects how much money you’ll need to spend and how long you will expect it to take results.
Don’t let your SEO Consultant get away with the lazy technique of using “competing pages” as a competition metric. The competition that matters is on the 1st page. Who cares about the guys on page 100? You’re not competing with them at all.
Who would you rather play a pickup game of basketball against — 5 Michael Jordans or 20 Little Ol’ Grannies? Easy choice. I’d pull out my kids’ baby pictures of my kids and throw them at the Grannies. But, even if I didn’t have pictures on hand, it’s still no contest!
Always, always, ALWAYS take a close look at the competition. If this step is not taken, then you have no idea how much money and/or how long it will take to meet your ranking and traffic goals.
If you don’t you may realize 6 months in you are facing an army of angry Gorillas who see you trying to take their bananas while holding just a puny pocket knife!
Also, the competitiveness of the different search phrases for your market will affect your SEO priorities. Maybe search phrase 1 gets searched 2x more than search phrase 2, but is 10x more competitive. You will likely get a better ROI going after the 2nd one as a higher priority 1st.
(7) Do You Know the Steps You Need To Take?Has your Consultant provided an action plan overview?
Now, I’m not saying they have to give away the farm to you by outlining every little step they will take, but they do need to give you a general plan to work with and understand that there is a plan that is customized to your business situation.
The plan can change also as new information comes in. That’s OK too. The plan doesn’t need to be perfect from today to year 2050
The plan aso doesn’t have to be the same every month. In fact, it should not start off at full blast — you need to slowly ramp up your link building. If your “SEO Expert” says we’re going to build 200 links for you every month from here to eternity, then you should consult with someone else! Your link building should not be the exact same thing every month — that is not natural and Google notices that!
(8 — Bonus!) Are Local SEO Listings Showing Up In Your Search Phrases?Do Google’s Local SEO Listings show up in the search results for searches you’re trying to target? Knowing whether the Local Listings show up is important because the way you rank in those is a little different from Organic SEO. Here’s an example Dallas Local SEO search and what the Local Listings, Organic Listings, and Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads look like:
To summarize, you need Online Reviews, Citations, proper SEO for your listing (a lot like On Page Search Engine Optimization), and a good domain authority. If you want more details you can watch this video I made on Dallas Local SEO.
Conclusions, I want to conclude with a story that spells out truly how much money a business can burn to a crisp with marketing, but how it can turn around with the right steps taken.
$40k/year + benefits for no new business in the door…and he’s not the only one who has had the same thing happen to him!
In less than 5 months I had the results for him you see to the right. —>
He’s #2 for his top search phrase that we’re targeting and in the top 5 for 14+ search phrases that are actually getting searched.
He started off with no rankings at all.
…And…He didn’t pay anywhere near $40k!
Folks, don’t hire someone full time to do your SEO. Just don’t do it. The only ones who will accept a position like that will not be very good!
I offer a Free Online Presence Analysis.
Here’s what you should do right now to get the full value from your marketing dollars:
Buying Dallas SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services can be risky. You will spend a good amount of money and I’ve heard of a lot of cases where that money just went down the drain. It doesn’t have to be that way!
Look around my site and you’ll begin to understand how you can provide a highly positive Return On Investment (ROI) for your company through Internet Marketing.
I will explain to you SEO basics if you want. For me, this actually makes you a better customer because you can understand the value I’m providing to your business. For others, it gives you protection against the BS that they will try to sell you as valuable, but, in the end, does not help your business.
Why Should You Buy Dallas SEO Services?
Search Engine Optimization can be a HUGE boon to your business. It can drive a ton of customers to your door. When done correctly, it is far less expensive than the easy options like paying for ads — online or offline.
SEO allows you to tap into a market out there that is already searching for your products and services. We can see exactly what your market is searching for and how many times a month. Then, once you get visitors to your site, we can track them in a much more detailed fashion than any other type of marketing. We can study the path they take through their site in order to improve the effectiveness of your sales process.
Furthermore, search engine optimization is one of the critical pieces of an internet marketingpuzzle allows you to tap into some extremely efficient marketing tools. For example, email marketing can be completely automated and can give you amassive boost in your conversion rate of online and offline prospects.
Why Should You Hire Me To Help You With Your Internet Marketing?
First and foremost, I have Integrity. I’m constantly trying to serve my customer better and I have turned away people from buying my search marketing services when I thought it wouldn’t be profitable for them.
I get stories of unethical internet marketers every stinking week. Almost everyone I talk to tells me a story of how they got taken trying out SEO services. Some businesses have multiple examples of being taken advantage of by multiple SEO companies!
My business philosophy does not involve taking as much money from you as possible as quickly as I can. That is no way to build a long term business. We all know this, yet there are many out there not looking after their customers’ needs first. This short-term philosophy is bad business.
Thinking about the long term interests of my customers is in my interests. I always, always, always try to provide my customers with a really good ROI on the money they spend on me. I’ve even taken a loss on a project just to ensure that my customer came out ahead.
Here’s two simple reasons exactly why it is in my interests to make you money:
- If I provide you with an excellent ROI, will you continue to buy the service that is providing you with the positive ROI?
- Will you listen to me when I recommend another service that I think will give you a positive ROI?
Even if organic search marketing is where your biggest gains are, then your plan needs to be customized to your online presence. An SEO activity that works for one company may not work for another. Each company and website has its own story to tell. I can see the whole story and figure out the best path to set your website on.
Third, I spend 2-3 hours EVERY DAY researching, practicing, and otherwise learning more about SEO and Internet Marketing. The market is changing so quickly, that anyone who doesn’t constantly study it will get left behind fast. Most of what works today won’t work a few years from now.
There is so much to know about online marketing that someone who doesn’t constantly study can’t possibly know enough to truly know the best ways to help your business.
What Can You Expect From Search Engine Optimization?
Dallas is a big city and there are a LOT of people who will sell you SEO services. Many of them won’t be able to help you. More than 50% of businesses I talk to have a story of paying someone for Search Engine Optimization and not receiving results. Sometimes they’re even locked into a contract!
I’ve seen other Search Engine Optimization companies provide fake results to their customers and take advantage of their ignorance. In one example, a customer’s previous SEO company had given them a list of 600+ search phrases that they ranked on the 1st 2 pages for. Great! Right? Nope. Except all, but 11 of them were getting ZERO searches per month. Who cares if you’re #1 for 1 MILLION search phrases if none of them are getting searched. In the end, you get no business from that “SEO.”
Many of them know a little about Dallas Local SEO and they will be able to get you a little bit of results, but being on the 2nd page for a local business is usually the same as being on page 100 — it results in no additional business for YOU.
What you need is some one who can get you to the 1st page and in the top 3 or 5 to really get enough traffic to justify the cost of SEO services. I will tell you if I don’t see enough search traffic in your market to justify the cost because, ultimately, getting a customer who realizes after 3-6 months that I’m providing him or her with no value does my business NO GOOD.
Is SEO All That I Need To Do?
What do you do with your visitors once you arrive? You’ve only done 1 step of a 4 step process. Yes, it is a very important step, but, again, it is only one piece of the online marketing puzzle. By itself it can definitely make you a lot of money, but then there are systems you can put in place that are actually easier and less expensive, but that amplify the value of the search engine optimization traffic dramatically.
Let’s take it one step at a time and do what your business needs first and, once I’ve provided you with a positive ROI, we will talk about amplifying those results.
Come to the best. Get the best service. Get the best results. Get the biggest ROI on your investments.