Archive for May, 2010

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Redirects

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

how to use a redirect

Can you remember typing in a URL into a web browser, clicking ‘Enter’ and seeing that bring you to a page’s URL completely different from the one you typed in? Every curious how that happened? The answer is through the use of a web/server based redirect action.

In the web world, there are 2 types of redirects: temporary and permanent. Typically, a temporary (302) redirect is not something most webmasters will need to use. It tells web crawlers that the redirect is only there for a limited time and data from the initial URL should not be passed on to the new URL, leaving the new URL high and dry for search engine rankings. It would be like starting all over again.

On the other hand we have the permanent (301) redirect. This tells web crawlers that the initial page will no longer be used, and all gathered data from that page will be applied to the new URL which is being redirected to. This way, the new URL won’t have to start from scratch to gather search rankings. Keep in mind, however, that if the content on the new URL is significantly different from the previous URL that the new URL will be re-indexed and your search rankings could change.

In any regard, redirects are a great tool to have especially when changing/applying SEO to your file names. For example, if the initial URL was something like www.yourdomain.com/page1.html and you decided to change that to something like www.yourdomain.com/seo-redirects.html, all you’d have to do is place a 301 redirect on /page1.html and every time that page is called, visitors/web spiders will end up on /seo-redirects.html.

There are a few different ways to implement a redirect on your site, and they can vary depending on the language used (HTML, PHP, ASP, etc.). The most effective way to implement a redirect, however, is to modify the .htaccess in your root folder to tell web crawlers about the redirect data.

For instructions on how to do this, check out this page.

Also keep in mind that any incorrect action in modifying your .htaccess file can severely inhibit the functionality of your site, so if you’re not trained in such modifications, definitely hire a professional.

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SEO Prices and Costs

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

seo prices and seo costs

SEO is a business, and one that can provide both the client investing in SEO and the SEO professional with substantial income. Search Engine Optimization has become one of the hottest and most effective marketing tools available, and business owners are lining up to invest in such a service.

Most business owners hear about SEO from a business partner or a colleague who knows a little bit about the strategy, and inevitably their first question is always related to cost – How much? How long? What is the bottom line?

Like most industries, costs and fees can and will vary. When looking at hiring an SEO professional or an SEO company, get an idea of who they’ve worked for and take a look at their successes with their previous/existing clients. If they’ve shown proven success, chances are you will also see success. Only then should you start looking at cost. If a large company in the heart of downtown has the same success rate as the work-from-home SEO small business owner next door, chances are the latter is going to charge you a lot less than the corporate giant.

Many, if not most SEO businesses charge an initial fee, sometimes called an “Initial Analysis” fee or something related to this. Keep in mind this isn’t a cash grab – its the rate of the average amount of time it takes an SEO professional or business to take an in-depth look into the client’s site to see what has been and what needs to be done, as well as taking and in-depth look into their competitors’ sites to see what they need to do to exceed their competitors’ SEO efforts. This initial fee can range from a few hundred dollars to over three thousand dollars, depending on how in-depth the analysis is and the overhead required to be covered. Typically, an initial fee will be in the one to two thousand dollar range.

Additionally, many SEO professionals will require a client to commit to an SEO contract, where they are required to invest X amount of dollars per month for X amount of months. Generally, SEO businesses get most of their work done and revenue received from their monthly work for their client. Typically, the client will agree to either X amount of hours per month at X dollars per hour, or X tasks completed each month for X price. Again, such a contract is not a cash grab. From the moment and SEO business starts work on a client’s website, it can take up to 12 months for that site to be properly indexed/re-indexed in Google’s search rankings, and the ranking of all other search engines. This is something we as SEO professionals and businesses have absolutely zero control over. All we can do is start work as soon as the client gives us the go ahead. Again, committing a client to a contract is a matter of protecting their interests. If a client decides to stop investing in SEO services 4 months into a job because they’ve seen no ranking improvement, it is because the search engines have yet to re-index their site and cutting all SEO work is just going to make things work as they’ll end up with an incomplete site.

For an idea on what you can expect to be charged, most SEO businesses start monthly rates at around $200 for single-page websites and can range upwards of $3K per month for large-scale, multi-product/service sites.

If you are worried about what you’re being charged or quoted, contact us and we’ll be happy to give our advice.

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Full Time SEO or Contract SEO?

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

SEO for hire

This is the dilemma for many smaller to medium sized businesses.

As traditional advertising is realized to not be as effective as targeted online advertising, many business owners and department managers are making the move to hire online marketers to boost their bottom line with as little cost as possible. Unfortunately, many decision makers are not very well-versed when it comes to the amount of work necessary to manage their company’s online campaign.

Over the years, I’ve often had businesses calling me asking about SEO or internet marketing help, and when I ask what they need specifically, they spurt out a combination of words like “AdWords, keywords, Google, Yahoo, rankings, social media, Facebook, link building, etc.” Unfortunately, these are all words they’ve heard relate to SEO and internet marketing, but they’re not quite sure how all this is integrated into the realm of online marketing. So, I’ve learned to not ask what businesses need specifically, but instead ask what their goals are for their online campaign. This way it’s easier to understand where they’re coming from and where they want to be, and it’s up to me, the professional, to propose an online marketing campaign and put it into action.

Still, not all businesses understand whether or not they need someone full-time in-house to execute their online campaign or if they can contract outside firms to do this for them. Typically, traditional businesses will go the full-time route as this is what they’re used to and this is what they assume to be necessary. This isn’t always the case, however. Take a look at the numbers:

- A full-time online marketing specialist with at least 3 years of experience in SEO, PPC management and Social Media Marketing is likely to demand a salary of greater than $50K per year. Under no circumstances should a business cheap-out and hire less-experienced employees for less money, unless they’re interested in throwing money away. In reality I would recommend looking for someone with a minimum of 5 years experience in the industry, as that shows they’ve witnessed the ups and downs of different online tools and they know the trends of online marketing all together.

- A firm contracted to manage a company’s internet marketing campaign will vary in cost depending on how competitive the keywords are the website is competing for and the breadth of the campaign in general (what level of social media marketing and if PPC management is required). I’ve seen firms contracted to manage online campaigns for as much as $3-4K per month, and as little as $200 per month. However, hiring a full-time specialist may be more efficient when it comes to businesses with highly competitive keywords and highly involved campaigns – they’re able to devote more time to the campaign over less cost per hour.

All in all, it comes down to the amount of work required on your website. Though most business owners do not know exactly how much online marketing work is required, they do know that they need help. The best starting point is to source out some contracted firms and gather some quotes as far as what they’d suggest doing as well as what they’ll charge you per month. Then weigh that out with the prospect of hiring someone full-time in-house and make your decision accordingly.

Looking to hire for SEO/internet marketing?

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