Help with SEO

[TrainTrax]

XBenX wrote ...

SEO is a complex beast.

Id suggest outsourcing the SEO work on odesk, elancer, or similar. You will get the work done for a few dollars an hour.

I agree on both counts. I spent massive time learning seo for my own site and was very happy with the results, but for a tiny outlay on odesk or elance you should get a very worthwhile return.

My understanding is that the rules change all the time ... and it's more an art than a science anyway, so you probably do need an expert.

You wrote ...

The places that have given me quotes are two specialist places in Sydney. I was quoted $550 per month, which I think is rediculous for a small enterprise like myself.

You are right ... it is ridiculous ... maybe if you were Bunnings or David Jones ...

Lots of other great suggestions given too. Good luck.

 

[hobo-jo]

It really is a sad state of affairs when you are only prepared to pay someone $5 a hour.

Actually they would receive slightly less than this as the website takes a cut as well, but as handyandy pointed out $5 an hour can actually be a very decent wage for people in these 3rd world countries. In Bali recently we passed an outdoor stone cutting workshop and I asked our taxi driver what the employees there would be paid and he replied equivalent of about $10 a day for 8-9 hours hard work (in the filthy humid heat). When I think about that it wouldn't bother me paying someone $40 a day to sit on a computer (likely in air conditioning) doing SEO. I'm actually getting some design & development work done through odesk at the moment and paying $14-18 an hour, if I was to get it done in Australia I would probably be looking at $50 an hour.

 

[moyjos]

Skater, I am in a similar position, just can't justify the price of seo. So, just like anything else I started to educate myself . Very steep learning curve and I am sure that the 550 a month boys would do it quicker and more efficiently...but.

I found this ...http://www.traffictravis.com/... Sign up and you will get a daily course sent through with lots of tips and tricks.

Good luck

 

[skater]

Hmm....I've registered on ODesk & they want to confirm the email, which is fine, BUT....I did it at around 7.00am & I haven't had a confirmation email.

 

[skater]

Skater, I am in a similar position, just can't justify the price of seo. So, just like anything else I started to educate myself . Very steep learning curve and I am sure that the 550 a month boys would do it quicker and more efficiently...but.

I found this ...http://www.traffictravis.com/... Sign up and you will get a daily course sent through with lots of tips and tricks.

Good luck

So....have you been getting more traffic? And how hard is it?

 

[TrainTrax]

Hi Skater,

Here's another recent well written explanation of diy seo all in one spot. The link turned up in my inbox this morning.

If you dont want to sign up with your email address etc ... just click on the button on bottom lh corner saying "No Thanks Take me straight to the page"

http://www.nichepursuits.com/how-to...8690c71363e9d7e4d4bf822fa63c951e77beed63edd4#

Seeing you've got this far with your site, you certainly could quite easily implement some of the suggestions.

 

[moyjos]

So....have you been getting more traffic? And how hard is it?

Not terribly hard. the little course they send is very user friendly..

here is lesson one http://www.traffictravis.com/newsletters/0125


Yes I have been getting more traffic. or i should say was...beacuse i took the whole site down and started again, so am building up again slowly.
Another good tip is to put stuff on ebay.. ebay (of course ) spend a small fortune on this stuff. Google searchs for a lot of what i sell show my ebay store on the first page.

Thanks for reminding me that I do need to sit down and go back over key words etc.

 

[skater]

Not terribly hard. the little course they send is very user friendly..

here is lesson one http://www.traffictravis.com/newsletters/0125


Yes I have been getting more traffic. or i should say was...beacuse i took the whole site down and started again, so am building up again slowly.
Another good tip is to put stuff on ebay.. ebay (of course ) spend a small fortune on this stuff. Google searchs for a lot of what i sell show my ebay store on the first page.

Thanks for reminding me that I do need to sit down and go back over key words etc.

Haha, yeah, I'm on Ebay too. But it's so much better NOT being on Ebay. Most Ebay users are just looking for cheap stuff, they don't want the expensive skates I sell. Mind you, I'm happy to just be selling, but there's little profit in the Ebay skates. I've got other stuff listed there, but it's just sitting there.

What are you selling?

 

[moyjos]

Haha, yeah, I'm on Ebay too. But it's so much better NOT being on Ebay. Most Ebay users are just looking for cheap stuff, they don't want the expensive skates I sell. Mind you, I'm happy to just be selling, but there's little profit in the Ebay skates. I've got other stuff listed there, but it's just sitting there.

What are you selling?

www.restockdirect.com.au

The flymesh is the major thing. It started with bringing in mesh for husband's business, and just kind of grew. Nearly up to the point where is paying me a real wage

I am always on the lookout for new and interesting products. As always ..cashflow holds me back a bit

 

[skater]

www.restockdirect.com.au

The flymesh is the major thing. It started with bringing in mesh for husband's business, and just kind of grew. Nearly up to the point where is paying me a real wage

I am always on the lookout for new and interesting products. As always ..cashflow holds me back a bit

That is a very ecclectic group of products.

I know what you mean about cashflow. Of course, we put in funds to start this off, but right now everything is constantly re-invested back. Did someone say profit? What profit? I can see it's coming in the future, but right now, my stock is just growing & growing.

I've just had hubby close off the door from the kitchen to the dining room (we didn't use it anyway) so he can line it with slatwall, so I've got somewhere to stock the hanging stuff. And skates!! My house looks like a warehouse. They are so big & bulky when you've got a lot of them.

 

[ok180]

SEO is largely a fools errand these days. Concentrate on getting a return from Adwords, it will give you a predictable result with plenty of upside if your products have enough margin. Google ranking are here today and gone tomorrow, can't build a business on that kind of uncertainty.

 

[lizzie]

Love the look of the website - very professional looking. How much did it cost?

I admit I tried to google "roller skates australia" and gave up looking for you around page 9 ... skaterhq has a lot of listings on all pages. Have you had a good look at their website and seen how they do things?

Your website is so much more appealling then theirs, but it seems like they have the terms "roller skate/s" and "australia" all over their website, on every page, which is making them come up highly on the listing and with multiple listings.

They are probably also updating constantly due to the range of products.

As for the rest - I am even more illiterate than yourself, so not looking forward to launching the first website.

** p.s. Mojos - there is only a blank page when putting in your website. Is it still under construction. I tried to put a positive comment re the vacuum sealing bags there about a month ago but was nothing then either.

 

[skater]

Love the look of the website - very professional looking. How much did it cost?

I admit I tried to google "roller skates australia" and gave up looking for you around page 9 ... skaterhq has a lot of listings on all pages. Have you had a good look at their website and seen how they do things?

Your website is so much more appealling then theirs, but it seems like they have the terms "roller skate/s" and "australia" all over their website, on every page, which is making them come up highly on the listing and with multiple listings.

They are probably also updating constantly due to the range of products.

As for the rest - I am even more illiterate than yourself, so not looking forward to launching the first website.

** p.s. Mojos - there is only a blank page when putting in your website. Is it still under construction. I tried to put a positive comment re the vacuum sealing bags there about a month ago but was nothing then either.

I think it cost in the vicinity of 3.5k all up.

Yes, Skaterhq is everywhere, damn them. When I was getting mine designed, theirs was one of the ones that I wanted it to look like. Well.....not exactly like theirs, but I wanted something professional & 'relevant'. The girl in the red leotard is Lil a few years ago & the small girl down the bottom is my older girl, but that was taken well over 10 years ago. The speed skater is a friend & the only stock photo I had to use was the three Derby girls.

I like the feel of my one very much. There are a few others out there that I really hate. Not really user friendly at all. I think the worst one is Roller Derby Heaven, and if you come across that one you'll know why. My one has some limitations that I'm not completely happy with, but it gives me a starting point at least.

 

[Ideo]

We did ours inhouse.

A lot of the information on market samauri is really good for building up keywords etc

We have most of our pages now coming up on the first page - a lot in the first 4 or 5 results.

 

[mattnz]

SEO is largely a fools errand these days. Concentrate on getting a return from Adwords, it will give you a predictable result with plenty of upside if your products have enough margin. Google ranking are here today and gone tomorrow, can't build a business on that kind of uncertainty.

The issue with adwords is that they could change the pricing structure to double overnight and kill off your business that way too. Best to take a balanced approach, without too many leads coming from a single source.

 

[ok180]

The issue with adwords is that they could change the pricing structure to double overnight and kill off your business that way too. Best to take a balanced approach, without too many leads coming from a single source.

Sure, but there is no history of them doing that, they want you to pay for it and keep you there because thats how they became the multi billion company they are. The free traffic is just a gift you shouldnt rely on. Ever notice how the big online players tend to be all over adwords? Its not that they just have money to splash around its because they understand that adwords is a safer scalable solution. Look at the organic rankings for any big terms, sites will rank well now and 6 months later thry will be in the toilet and have no idea how to get out. Cant build a business like that.

The good times for seo ended a couple of years ago imo. Now its just a crap shoot.

 

[mattnz]

From the NY times on Adwords costs http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/b...-businesses-search-for-alternatives.html?_r=0

 

[ok180]

From the NY times on Adwords costs http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/b...-businesses-search-for-alternatives.html?_r=0

It's increased because of more advertisers competing for words not because Google is jacking up the rates. That's precisely as it has always been intended to work. If there is too much competition and it's no longer profitable to advertise for those words then company's bail out and the rates drop again. I've been using it for a few years and seen nothing to indicate that they are raising the price, if anything it's probably dropped for most companies as they have wised up how to best use the system. Google even call you directly to tell you how to save money with it.

 

[mattnz]

Regardless of how it happens, rates are rapidly increasing in many industries, which makes it hard to build a long term business entirely based on adwords. I have been reading alot of books on the topic recently and all of the experts advise a balanced strategy, rather than a single source of leads. Far too much exposure otherwise when something changes to make it unsustainable.

 

[DaveM]

I used to use adwords a few years ago, but there were some local competitors who would actively click on the ads every day to run up the maximum daily spend limits on the ads to make them disappear so their ads got precedence.