web site promotion

[drunkrider]

I realize that the art of promoting a website is extremely tricky. I know that it involves the use of keywords and meta tags along with a lot of other things. I'm aware that there are some organizations around that claim to be able to guarantee a top 10 placement in the major engines. Does anyone have any experience with any of these businesses? If they really can guarantee that kind of placement, then one could justify just about any fee.

 

[ChrisHirst]

Not really tricky SEO forum828

And yes there are some that will guarantee placement with SEs and it is one of three things,

Pure BS as nobody can guarantee rankings in SEs

Optimisation for pointless phrases like "Best blue widgets in the west" where you may be first from a few hundred results but not a single visitor arrives.

PPC (Pay Per Click) where they bid on your behalf for crappy phrases and it gets you on the first results pages they then pay the click cost and bank the rest.

In all three cases. You lose out financially and with confidence in SEO and the SEO industry loses out because you now think that we are all scammers.


Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[ecobb]

I've never trusted those companies, they just seem to make unrealistic promises. I think, if you read the fine print, you'll find that they're not always what they claim to be. Do they guarantee a top 10 placement if someone searches on "Web Design", or do they guarantee it if someone searches for "Web Design, Your Company Name, Your City, Your State"? Or do they even specify?

This would be a good place for you to start:
forum828-Search Engine Optimization discussion Forum



Hope This Helps!

ECAR
ECAR Technologies, LLC

http://www.ecartech.com

"My work is a game, a very serious game." - M.C. Escher

 

[ecobb]

Oops! Posted the same time as ChrisHirst...



Hope This Helps!

ECAR
ECAR Technologies, LLC

http://www.ecartech.com

"My work is a game, a very serious game." - M.C. Escher

 

[drunkrider]

Thanks guys. That was my take on it but I wanted to get some outside opinions. I tried something a while back that seemed like a pretty handy product but never made the investment to keep up with it. I believe it was called Webposition Gold. Has anyone used it before?

Also... I haven't dug through the forums too deep on the SEO subject yet, but I imagine if you had a lot of people coordinating to help each other on different sites of different genres, there could be some significant progress.

 

[helruna]

You will have to think short and long term.

You have PPC, affiliate, email marketing also things like website and email newsletter sponsorship and blogging. Don't forget the obvious - PR. PR works wonders and is worth a 1000 adverts and the ROI is a huge differential IMHO.

Short term in terms of build... who are your end consumers - where do they search from?

from a monkey's PoV - think Google for more information professionals - and lycos/ ask jeeves/ yahoo / msn from a consumer's PoV.

I'd build your site for SEO. So think CONTENT for Yahoo and inbound/outbound links for Google.

I highly recommend WebOptimiser as a SEO company.

http://www.weboptimiser.co.uk.

PPC is good but you need to sit on it and push for conversions basically. The main trouble is not popularity of keywords but the keywords that convert.

Personally auto submission tools suck. You only need to submit to 3-4 engines. Make a beeline and pay if you have to for google, yahoo, & MSN. You can always host your site on a popular server. You'll find that it'll get picked up and listed free in a few days!

 

[jesse45]

I was a co-owner of a search engine placement company between 1996-1999 and I can tell you this. Back then most of the companies could do as they said. But my how times have changed. I wouldn't hire anyone to do this now!

One of the best things you can do is do it for yourself. Visit Danny Sullivan's site,

http://searchenginewatch.com/

and spend some time reading. Also, it's worth the price to sign up for his newsletter. He's the worlds leading authority on Search Engines and you can take what he has to say to the bank!

 

[drunkrider]

Thanks Jesse... that sounds like a plan. I'll definitely check that out.

 

[ChrisHirst]

Be very aware that at the SEW forums, there is a seriously imbalanced view of what constitutes SEO/SEM. So you should also visit HighRankings and Ihelpyou to get the other side of the picture.



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.