Big Oak SEO Blog » Choosing SEO Company

What Makes a Good SEO Client

Shell Harris — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:48:04 +0000

What Makes a Good SEO Client?

This is the flip side of the question many clients have to answer, “What makes a good SEO company to do business with?”, however; successful implementation of any SEO strategy is based on a partnership between SEO Company and client. Not only do you need a good SEO consultant but also a good SEO client, so what qualities should you see in such a good SEO client?

Trust in the SEO Company and their SEO Advice

Clients who have embarked on an ecommerce strategy have already recognized the potential of the web for their business. There is much that is different from the real world, however some basic precepts are the same no matter who you are or what you are doing. Trust is one of them, and after selecting an SEO partner the client must be able to trust what the SEO practitioner is advising and helping the client to implement for their web strategy.

Availability and Responsiveness

A good SEO client is responsive to requests and performs their part in maintaining good lines of open communication, not only between the principal or senior management, but also the webmaster or whoever is responsible for implementing content and coding changes on the website.

Being available by email or telephone is symptomatic of a good partnership, which is essential when changes need to be made quickly to react to the web developments and search engine algorithm changes.

Questioning and Understanding

A good SEO client values the experience and expertise a good SEO practitioner brings to the business mix, however it is important the client is able to understand what is happening. This means asking questions and seeking clarification of the SEO strategies being propounded and implemented. The adage that the only stupid question is the one that doesn’t get asked certainly applies here!

The SEO Partnership

Developing and implementing a successful SEO strategy requires that a good partnership develops between client and practitioner. The client understands their business and the business environment they operate in far better than the SEO practitioner will do, and the SEO strategy needs to be closely tailored to suit the client’s business. Strong interaction between client and practitioner is needed, especially when it comes to developing and adding content, ensuring relevant updates and information is provided and who to seek links from.

Payment

The advice people tend to follow most is the advice that they pay for! The same is true for SEO, and SEO consultants rely on a steady stream of happy clients paying their bills. This may seem like an obvious statement, but a good SEO client is one who understands what they are buying and is happy to write the check for the SEO Company’s invoice each month.

SEO is a Reiterative Process: Look at the Results

SEO is a process rather than a project: it requires a continuous review of the results to see what the impact of SEO strategies is, but also a thorough analysis of how the results are achieved. It is not simply the rankings which need to be reviewed and monitored, but where the traffic is coming from, user behavior when on the site, monitoring site navigation and engaging in relevant site testing in order to understand what is working well in persuading a visitor to convert to a paying customer.

What makes a good SEO client is a client who appreciates the holistic nature of SEO work and the skills and experience of the practitioner. A good SEO client will contribute enormously to the success of the web strategies advised by the SEO practitioner, in fact, it is unlikely there will be much success without a good SEO client.

The Alexa Ranking Myth

Shell Harris — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:27:20 +0000

Update: 4/20/08, Of course as soon as I post on my blog about Alexa’s inaccurate ranking system they decide to update their system. Time will tell if it is an better.

SEO companies are at the front lines when it comes to educating customers and potential customers about what is important when looking at web statistics. I guess I’ve hit my breaking point, which is usually when I start blogging, about Alexa rankings. We have clients that ask why there Alexa ranking is so high (which is bad) and even though they are ranking in the top 5 for their most treasured keyword phrases. They have high traffic that is converting above their industry standards, but still they Alexa ranking rears its ugly head too often.

So I want to put this issue to pasture and definitively state that we do not care about Alexa ranking and do not monitor Alexa rankings, other to see estimated trends for pure entertainment value. They are of little importance an not worth the time to view them. Not only are the extremely inaccurate, but they can also give a false sense of security when they inflate your importance. You must remember that unless you have the Alexa toolbar on your site, your web visits won’t be counted in the Alexa stats. What does this mean for the numbers that Alexa shows you? Well, think about who would have the Alexa toolbar installed: mostly people involved with Internet marketing such as SEO people, webmasters, consultants and other people whose job it is to track statistics. These aren’t your normal site surfers and they skew the traffic numbers higher for Internet-related sites. If you have been reading this blog long enough you know I’m a big believer in actual case studies and real data to prove a point. To that end I have done some research to show the Alexa Ranking Myth and break its spell.

The first chart shows stats from Alexa for this site (BigOakInc.com, a Internet marketing site) and a smoothie recipe site (Smoothieweb.com, a non-Internet related site) and you can see that Alexa shows the Big Oak site with more than double the traffic of Smoothie Web. If you were to view or stats on Alexa it reports our site as being in the top 100,000 sites on the web, specifically we are ranked at 94,204. My, aren’t we so important! Now,don’t get me wrong, we have a nice number of visitors, but to think we are in the top 100,000 sites is a bit much. While SmoothieWeb.com, a highly trafficked site is only ranked at 310,192.

Now that we know what Alexa is reporting, let us look at actual site statistics as reported by Google Analytics. If you look at the graphs below you can see the dramatic difference from Alexa’s reported rankings in traffic over the same 3-month period. BigOakInc.com has 20,311 visitors which is a very respectable number for a B2B site. But when compared to SmoothieWeb.com’s 210,190 visitors you can easily see that Alexa rankings are highly skewed towards technical and Internet-related websites. SmoothieWeb.com had 10x the visitor traffic according to Google Analytics but less than half according to Alexa’s estimates.

The BigOakInc.com site obviously pulls traffic from our competitors, webmasters in charge of finding a honest SEO company and research types for our informative SEO blog. And these users are more likely to have the Alexa toolbar installed, if only to inflate their own Alexa ranking by visiting their own sites daily. And before you ask, no, I do not have the Alexa toolbar installed and neither does any of the staff at Big Oak. I think you can agree more web users would be looking for a delicious smoothie recipe.

To sum up, do not look at Alexa rankings with any more than an passing curiosity, for that is all it is. Instead look at your site’s analytics and try to see where you are getting traffic and what traffic is converting. Look at the keywords your site is ranking for and how the visitors from those terms are using your site. In short, look at all the data you can around your actual visitors and leave the estimated numbers based on a toolbar installation to those who need the ego stroking of a high Alexa ranking. And if anyone asks you about your Alexa ranking, please refer them to this post.

Ranked Hard Returns: SEO Comedy in Full Color

Shell Harris — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:26:09 +0000

You may have read our first attempt at an SEO comic called Ranked Hard which was posted here and used some SIMS magic to create the characters. It must have at least drawn interest because it has been the most popular (most read) post since it went on the blog. It was an honest, but not awe-inspiring attempt for a group of non-artists trying to run a SEO company.

This is just one panel of the comic, visit the Ranked Hard site to see more!

But, with the encouragement of few positive comments and so many visits from our blog readers, we decided to take the Ranked Hard comic to a higher level. That required hiring an real artist who could bring the characters to life in a way beyond our skill level. We were very luck to find Kelly Ishikawa and he has done a wonderful job helping us define the characters and establish their appearance. And because of this, I can now introduce you to the whole SEO staff of Ranked Hard!

We decided that the format of the comic would not fit this blog so we created a new site/blog for ‘Ranked Hard, and SEO Comic‘ and will be posting all comics, comments and thoughts related to Ranked Hard at www.rankedhard.com. It was simpler to do it this way and we are hopeful that the larger format will make the comic more enjoyable for everyone. Of course we want feedback and comments from our readers so please post those on the Ranked Hard site.

We will be publishing at least once a month, and there are two comics on the site now. We have ideas for future comics already in the works, but we are looking for any funny suggestions from other SEO enthusiasts, so send them in to contact@bigoakinc.com for us to look at. If we do use your idea we will give you full credit and you can even write the story behind it if you wish.

Please visit: Ranked Hard

- Shell Harris

SEO as an Acronym

Shell Harris — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:41:09 +0000

Every now and then someone will ask what I do for a living and I’ll say I am the President of an SEO company. After a moment of confusion the inevitable question is, “What does SEO stand for?” Of course we know it is Search Engine Optimization, but that got me thinking, (much like my SEO Haiku) what else could it stand for, relating to search optimization?

So I have some other options for those of us in the SEO industry who may want something more interesting when asked what does SEO stand for? In no particular order here are some ideas for the SEO acronym. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

SEO = Stress Equals Opportunity
SEO = Searching Everything Online
SEO = Sweet Exposure Online
SEO = Seizing Every Opportunity
SEO = Some Extra (marketing) Offense
SEO= Supplied Energy Online
SEO = Successful at Everything Obviously

and since we are looking for an SEO Copywriter…

SEO = Stellar Employment Opportunity

Nice for a momentary diversion, not much help for our clients, so back to work…

Accountability for SEO Companies

Shell Harris — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:01:15 +0000

Here at Big Oak we finished a long process that culminated in a very refined and sophisticated estimator for search engine optimization projects. It is split into two parts, exactly the same as our SEO process, with part one being the optimization phase and part two a monthly marketing phase.

I thought to myself this is something very good for the industry: A tangible guide for our plan and a perfect explanation of why we charge what we charge in one document.

We have always based our pricing on the level of effort we suspected would be needed to achieve high rankings for our clients. So our pricing has always been fairly accurate. We have never raised prices after the fact and our clients are happy with their results. We didn’t make this a more formal process because we thought we weren’t being fairly compensated and we didn’t do it because our results weren’t stellar. We did it so we can show the clients that we aren’t making up pricing numbers, we aren’t pricing it at “what we think they will pay” and we aren’t charging a flat fee for everything.

We put much thought into what we need to do such as articles, link building, press releases, blogging and so on. We also put thought into how many of these items we need to do. From our years of successful experience we know very well what to do and how many times to do it over the course of a contract so it has been an easy migration to documenting this and pricing it accurately. The beauty of this is the fact that we can show the client how the final price was determined. There can be no argument or debate as to the price. We show them exactly what needs to be done to get them ranked and how much each part in the process will cost.

After that is simply a matter of “affordability” and return on investment.

It is my hope the SEO industry can become a more honest and reputable industry. Far too often I have seen articles referring to SEO consulants as snake oil salesmen or even worse…lawyers. That should be enough to scare anyone in our industry.

How do we combat this? We hold to a code of ethics and we be honest and hide nothing. Tell your clients exactly what you are going to do and how much it will cost. Don’t hide behind a flat price and reveal none of your “secrets”. Anyone can do their own SEO; all you need is time and the desire to learn it. So for us to be afraid of giving away secrets that others will use is absurd. People will pay you for SEO because they don’t have the time and want it done correctly and quickly. Meeting with the client in a monthly call or in person is mandatory at Big Oak. We won’t take a client who can’t agree to this. It holds both parties accountable and keeps the communication, both good and bad, open.

Show your work and be accountable.

For Big Oak that means starting off with a clear plan that the client can understand and refer to at anytime, and more importantly, they never have to wonder where the money goes.

Junior SEO Associate (Search Engine Optimization Assistant)

Shell Harris — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:18:40 +0000

October 23, 2007: This position has been filled.

Junior SEO Associate (Search Engine Optimization Assistant) needed by Big Oak, a leading Search Engine Optimization Company located in Richmond, Virginia. Visit our website to learn more about us: http://www.bigoakinc.com.

This Junior SEO role will be responsible for deploying key internet marketing & SEO strategies on behalf of our clients working from a project plan prepared by the Senior SEO staff. You will be trained in strategic Internet marketing techniques. Some client interaction may be required so excellent verbal and writing skills are prerequisites. This position is a wonderful opportunity for a junior-level web or marketing enthusiast looking to move into SEO. To be considered for this Junior SEO role you must be meticulous in your attention to detail and take pride in your work.

See more about this Junior SEO Position in our SEO jobs section.

SEO Blog Nominated for Blogging Award

Shell Harris — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:38:09 +0000

If you feel this blog has given you good advice about SEO, helpful examples for search engine marketing and/or been an interesting read, please think about giving us a vote for Best Marketing Blog. In a world where we say thank you so little, this is an opportunity to say thanks to Big Oak and it’s blog authors. Sorry to interrupt with a shameless solicitation.

But, if you would like to do us a favor and massage our egos, you can vote for us here: http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/22014#

You will have to sign up for an account to vote (bummer), but you can also nominate and vote for other favorite blogs or even your own blog.

Ten Signs That Your SEO Is a Quack

Shell Harris — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:44:10 +0000

Have you wondered how so many SEO companies could possibly exist on the web? Well, most of them are fly by night, opportunistic companies with little to no experience. Below is a helpful “top ten list” which can help you discern the honest SEO companies and those looking to take your money.

There are so many SEO/SEM firms cropping up that talk a good game but don’t deliver results. This is in part because there’s so much information that is freely available about search engine optimization. On the surface, SEO sounds easy — and it really is — once you’ve had a number of sites to experiment with. What’s even easier than SEO, however, is discussing SEO as if you know what you’re actually doing (when you don’t)!

Here are 10 signs to watch out for that may very well indicate that your potential SEO is a quack. Please note that one of these individually may not be bad, but if you notice more than 2 or 3 of these when speaking with any SEO company, you may just want to head for the hills!

1. Your SEO company talks about Meta tags and Google PageRank (PR) as if they are the magic bullet to high rankings.

For the most part, there’s no reason to even bring up the keyword Meta tag nor toolbar PR in a discussion about what needs to be done to get better search engine exposure for your site. Both of them are issues that quack SEO companies will talk about because they actually believe they are the key to SEO success. They are not. I’ve discussed in previous articles the Meta
keyword tag’s lack of importance, so I won’t go into that again here. In regards to PageRank, increasing the little green bar graph’s number should never be the ultimate goal of a professional SEO campaign. A good campaign will automatically increase your real and true PageRank (as measured by
Google) without your specifically setting out to increasing it on your own.
Since PR doesn’t bring you traffic and sales (nor rankings), increasing it should not ever be the main goal of your campaign. This fact is of course lost on SEO quacks.

2. Your SEO company’s site (or those of their clients) has the same Title tags on every page. Sounds crazy I know, but I’ve seen this more than once!

I once got a client who had previously used a very major SEO company that most people have heard of. They had been with this firm for a whole year, and yet the Title tags on every page of their site were all the same (the name of the company). Since Title tags are probably the most important (and
easiest) thing to change on a site, any SEO company that can’t do this one basic thing for their own site or their clients’ is most definitely a quack!

3. Your SEO company talks only about optimizing for the “long tail.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with long-tail keyword phrases, as they can bring a lot of traffic when all is said and done. But you don’t need an SEO company if those are the only phrases you’re interested in — you can do it yourself just by writing articles. Your SEO company should not be afraid to optimize for the actual keyword phrases that most people would use at the engines to find your site. Yeah, it’s gonna take time and money to go after the most competitive keyphrases, but there’s usually a happy medium. Most sites have plenty of phrases that are somewhere between long tail and highly competitive. Those are the ones you definitely want to target.

4. Your SEO company tells you it’s ALL about links (or ALL about content).

SEO isn’t ALL about anything. It’s about lots of things all added together
to make the perfect combination for your site. A linking campaign alone
will never be as effective if you neglect your on-page content, and vice
versa. Be sure that your SEO company looks at your site from all angles and
makes sure all your bases are covered. Otherwise, they’re probably a quack!

5. Your SEO company tells you that you need a linking campaign even though you already have tons of links and are a well-established popular site in
your niche.

Not every site needs every SEO service out there. Just because
your SEO company likes to sell link-building doesn’t mean you actually need it for your site. Why should you pay for something you don’t need? The same thing goes for sites that already have great, well-written, optimized content. If you’ve got that, perhaps you just need a linking campaign to help boost your traffic and sales. Don’t allow an SEO quack to fix what isn’t actually broken.

6. Your SEO company is almost surely 99% quackish if they tell you that they can rank your brand-new site in Google for keywords that will bring you traffic within a few months.

In fact, if they claim they can do it in less than 9 months, they’re either inexperienced or lying. Google has an aging delay that is most certainly related to the age of the site, as well as a certain trust factor. It is only the very rare and wonderful site that can
get around this delay. But if your site is like most, you’re going to have
to look to the long term for your Google results, regardless of what the quacks might try to convince you of.

7. Your SEO company never mentions that they may very well need to redo your site architecture so that your important pages are prominently featured within your site navigation.

In this case it’s very possible you’re dealing with an inexperienced, quack SEO. This is usually something that is not a quick fix, so most quacks are reluctant to discuss it with you (if they even know it’s important). But if your site architecture is not search-engine-ready, everything else you do will have much less impact.

8. Your SEO company can’t provide you with any quality references.

This one pretty much goes without saying, but do be sure to get references, and do be sure to actually call them. Yeah, a reference may very well turn out to be their cousin, but you should be able to get some feel for the company you’re choosing if you can at least talk to some references.

9. Your SEO company tells you that you have to have a DMOZ listing or your site will never be able to get high rankings.

Sure, a DMOZ listing is great, but it’s a link just like any other. Submit and forget about it. If you don’t get in, it’s no big deal — there are plenty of other links you can get instead.

10. Your SEO company’s site mentions that they’ll get you high rankings in AltaVista, Fast, Inktomi, Lycos, Excite, HotBot and the like.

If it does, you are 100% positively dealing with a quack! ‘Nuff said!

Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized search engine optimization consultant and host of the free weekly High RankingsÃ‚Â® Advisor search engine marketing newsletter. Jill’s handbook, “The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines” teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines.

Jill specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations, site analysis reports, SEM seminars and is the co-founder of Search Engine Marketing New England (SEMNE) a local networking organization.

Top 7 Blogs Internet Marketers Should Subscribe To (bsfreemarketing.com)
Ranking in Google is an Earned Privilege, Not a Right (bsfreemarketing.com)
SEO Infographic – Link Data Visualization (infographicsshowcase.com)