Don’t be fooled by an SEO guarantee
In the field of organic SEO, a guarantee is something that has never existed, nor will and can never exist. It does not exist simply because Google’s search ranking algorithm is about as secret and confidential as the recipe for Coca-Cola.
Because an organic SEO guarantee can not exist, many online business owners and service providers tend to favor paid advertising (PPC) in an effort to tangibly track their advertising dollar ROI. I may also add that it is the quick and easy way to market oneself, albeit not nearly as effective as organic SEO.
When you come across an SEO agency that guarantees “page 1” organic results, you should immediately throw up a red flag and run away, never looking back. The unfortunate truth is that these types of agencies are putting your business and website at severe risk. Often times these agencies will do anything they can to maliciously trick the search engines using blackhat SEO tactics, which will inevitably be found and severely penalized by the search engines.
Imagine waking up one day to find you’re website has been completely deindexed and/or placed in Google’s supplemental index due to the devious acts of an SEO agency that guaranteed you results. It happens every day.
Do yourself a favor and work with a reputable SEO agency that focuses on the long term, natural success of your website. Give us a call today! 347.850.0736
Any average Googler these days has undoubtedly come across a google local listing when searching for certain queries such as professional medical services. For example, if I am searching for a medical professional in Westchester County NY, Google will return a ‘pack’ of local business listings near Westchester County. Depending on the specific query, Google will display anywhere from 1 to 10 listings directly above the standard organic listings that make up the search engine result page (SERP).
Why is this important? Total first page visibility! When there are 10 local listings adjacent to a map pushing down the standard 10 organic listings, assuming your site is on page 1 of Google, you’re click-through rate has just dropped. Now if you have both first page organic AND local presence, not only does that mathematically increase your click-through rate, it also gives users a sense of reassurance to see your website listed multiple times. Take a look at a few local search statistics.
So how does one ensure a prominent spot in those local business listings? Well that’s where we come in. We start my claiming and verifying your business listing with Google. Next we optimize using natural, honest tactics in an effort to give Google a slightly better idea of where you’re located, what you do, and why they should return your listing to prospective searchers. From there we utilize various resources on the web, including but not limited to Google-preferred local business directories, to enhance the ‘trust’ that Google lends toward your business name and address.
What we do not do is build links to your local business listing; this is a major misconception among many SEO’s. Unlike organic rankings, Google local rankings are achieved by the local relevance of a user’s search query along with the amount of trust Google has in your business listing. Our unique specialization in medical SEO allows us to maximize the effect of your local business listing to increase your overall visibility on the web, and drive more qualified traffic to your site.
If this is not the most frequently asked question I get, then I don’t know what is. Coming from both clients and colleagues, the age old question for how much should an SEO campaign cost is something that must be answered on a case by case basis. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re simply not a professional SEO.
Many SEO firms out there will price SEO simply by putting a price tag on a specified amount of keywords. At this point you must ask yourself, “Do I want to pay for keyword rankings or do I want to increase my overall online visibility, drive qualified traffic to my site, and increase conversions?” That was a rhetorical question.
So what should it cost? Well I’m afraid there is no magic formula (although there are a few speculative ones out there) but here are a few factors we take into consideration when pricing out a campaign:
- What is the competition in the search engines in relation to your target market.
- How many keywords should we mold our efforts around in relation to your business and corresponding search volume research.
- What is the current state of your website. Does it require a serious overhaul, including design, code, and user interface elements.
- What are the current Google adwords bid prices for high search volume keywords related to your campaign (used to gauge market and advertiser competition).
There are of course a plethora of other elements that goes into our final decision when pricing out a campaign. While other SEO firms are very static in their pricing systems, we provide honest, tailored prices to maximize the quality and effectiveness of your online marketing campaign.
For more information of our pricing module, please email us or give us a call any time: (347) 850-0SEO
What sets us apart from the rest
All too often we come across websites that have had self-proclaimed SEO experts perform less than par SEO work on them. Typically when we look at a website that has had SEO services rendered on it, we can quickly identify several problems and potential issues that will arise as a result of continued actions.
If I may back up for just one moment here and state that the term “SEO Expert” does not exist. The only way to become an expert in the field of SEO is if you are employed by Google and have insider access to their search algorithms. This is one of our biggest pet peeves, to hear people proclaim themselves to be an SEO expert; it’s simply not true.
On that same note, we should also add that no SEO company can guarantee anything in terms of position rankings, period. In fact, whenever you hear the word ‘guarantee’ in an SEO sales pitch, you would do well to avoid at all costs. There are many reasons for this which we will touch on in future articles.
What you should be looking for is an SEO company that not only specializes in your industry, but also has diverse experiences working across multiple industries and projects. Your SEO Company should be able to clearly explain to you what to expect from your campaign, and when to expect it. They should also be able to answer such questions as, “…if you’re such great internet marketers, why do you consult the websites of others rather than your own?” Our response to this question is that we do in fact have our own websites and marketing campaigns for various businesses endeavors. The primary reason we provide consulting to others is to work on new and exciting projects, keeping us at the top of our game at all times.
In the near future, we plan to provide specific case studies on medical websites that have had appalling SEO work done.