google position

jamesy08

Hi all,i have a small company,and i have a website,but im not in a great position on the google pages,ive been told by a company that does this type of business,that for €300 per month for 3 months,i would get a top listing on google pages,im not expert on computers,but if it drew more sales,id be happy enough,is this a normal kind of pricing for this service
thanks

TheWaterboy

Personally I think it would be very expensive. Ive done SEO work and defo dont charge that per month - It all depends on what type of website you have and how popular your keywords are. Also if they are very popular words 3 months to get on top of google is a very short lenght of time.

Tell us what your website is and we can have a look and advise you further.

BuffyBot

Don't forget to check out boards.ie's own Internet Marketing/SEO forum if you haven't already and you might find some useful advice.

hedgehog33

I've read of something similar to this before, and I'd be very suspicous, it seems to be a borderline scam run by a few companies. It's actually Adwords, they dont increase your ranking in Google. See this thread in the Internet Marketing forum.

You can get a better Google ranking for free because nobody else is bidding on your keywords or very few competitors are; that's why they make those promises. It's an over-priced service and I strongly recommend you keep the money, invest it in Google Adwords and learn a bit about adwords. I am still learning but it's not THAT hard to set up a successful adwords campaign from the research I've done. You just need to know your keywords and the competition for those keywords.

PS: Also get your ass over to the Internet Marketing/Seo forum, some great help there.

sneakerfreak

like they say-googleads

Stab*City

SEO is much much more than adwords guys. When done correctly.

Stab*City

Stab*City wrote: »

SEO is much much more than adwords guys. When done correctly.

Yeah that's true but the company that contacted him are 99% of the time "Google Adword Experts" who will get you to the top who basically rip you off and set up Adword campaigns for you and charge way more than is required to get you there if you did it yourself.

Nobody is disputing about SEO and that proper techniques are a fundamental part of natural ranking.

darc

jamesy08 wrote: »

Hi all,i have a small company,and i have a website,but im not in a great position on the google pages,ive been told by a company that does this type of business,that for €300 per month for 3 months,i would get a top listing on google pages,im not expert on computers,but if it drew more sales,id be happy enough,is this a normal kind of pricing for this service
thanks

How important is your website for generating business? - If its important then it would be handy to have a web developer do a bit of work. €300 a month is WAY overpriced for what essentially will be entering & hyperlinking key words on the front page.

co to www.irishwebmasterforum.com and you'll get loads of tips and offers well below that price.

jamesy08

Hi the website is www.adventureworldswingsets.com

tricky D

AdWords are one thing, but your site is lacking in basic SEO.

A good idea is too learn a bit about how title, meta description, meta keyword, headings and strong tags work in relation to SEO. The first 3 are poorly executed and the other 2 control the look and importance of the keywords and other content they manage and currently are formatted using font tags which have low SEO impact.

Your content copy needs more attention to keywords.

You also need to think how you are 'talking' to your visitors. You've used 'We are....' to often, instead of what can we do for you. It's like walking into a shop and having the sales person talking about themselves too much as opposed to asking the customer what they need help with. Better to use a format like 'Looking for swingsets in the Galway, Mayo, Clare region? We provide FREE DELIVERY and FREE FITTING at a time to suit you. Get in touch or drop into our...' Problem/issue, solution, action. Your homepage should have at least 3 of your big sellers in a format like that.

You also need to do a full spellcheck, put spaces after fullstops and commas, and address other details which need attention.

hth

mcaul

Hi James

Please don't take offence at this, but I think the site need a re-design.

Your products seem good but this is not conveyed by the website. My guess is there is very little business coming from the site, but the potential is there.

I would advise a .ie domain with a shorter name and use a template for design. Get a local SEO guy (ask around and there'll be someone looking for a nixer) or pm me and I can give you details of the guy I use.

Using the many companies that e-mail / phone guaranteeing google results is a waste of money.

lanternman

I am not a IT person but when I search what you sell you appear on the top of google search when I look in ireland! Are you looking to increase sales internationally/UK/Europe?

Have you opened a google account and played with the web master?

jamesy08

Hi no I dont have a google account,or pay into any accounts,i get lots of enquiries from the site but very little sales from it

gypsy777

You're number one for swingsets on google.ie. What other keywords are you wanting to rank for?

jamesy08

Hi Gypsy,playground equipment

gypsy777

Hi James
Find a SEO with half a clue and you should easily rank for playground equipment (and most other search terms for that matter)...thats organically, not with adwords.
I dont mind the site...just needs cleaning up. Isnt rendering great in firefox for me.
Id suggest using other lead generation techniques like having pdf brochure of all your playground equipment which is received by prospects when the enter their name and email...perhaps phone number. You can follow up on them then.

blue4ever

Swingsets and swing sets!

One is searched for 1,300 per months in Ireland and the other 18,100. You will rank for both – but the point is that you are using an “industry term” whereas the punters might not (initially) use that as a search phrase – so be careful of that.

I sent you an email via your website on the info account with some keyword stuff relating to your site – might get you thinking a bit.

C

Dabko

jamesy08 wrote: »

i get lots of enquiries from the site but very little sales from it

Would this not be an indication that your current site might need a revamp visually and that maybe your sales technique is falling short once you get the lead.

The whole idea of having a website is turning leads into sales by selling the customer.

puglover

www.ringjohn.com This guy is a web marketing genius.

I did a web-marketing course with him about 2 years ago too, can't remember the cost but it was about €150 - €200 for a 4 day course and it was really practical and useful.

I'm not sure if he still runs the courses but he'd be worth giving a call.

lanternman

jamesy08 wrote: »

Hi no I dont have a google account,or pay into any accounts,i get lots of enquiries from the site but very little sales from it

You might give it a try, you can set one up for free and have a little look around and see it it makes any sense to you.

What do you mean by enquiries? Do you mean visits to your site or actually people enquiring directly to you? If it is the later you need to consider what answers you have given that result in a no sale.

blue4ever

blue4ever wrote: »

One is searched for 1,300 per months in Ireland and the other 18,100.

Were you using the google adword tool for these results? And were the words you used "swingets and swing sets" in exact mode? I tried to see where you got these figures for yesterday but couldn't get the same ones.

brianLiverpool

This free basic seo hint's and tip's link will help you in seo. http://www.hostingandwebsolutions.co...ints-and-tips/. Just remember they are only basic. They host my website (www.naasvending.com) and gave me a more advanced seo hint's and tip's link that has help me. Only customers have access to that link.

padocon

jamesy08 wrote: »

Hi all,i have a small company,and i have a website,but im not in a great position on the google pages,ive been told by a company that does this type of business,that for €300 per month for 3 months,i would get a top listing on google pages,im not expert on computers,but if it drew more sales,id be happy enough,is this a normal kind of pricing for this service
thanks

That is a lot of money! Use meta tags all though search engines have gotten much smarter these days and crawl the sites. If I were you I would set up a google webmaster account, create a site map (tutorial on webmaster). By completing the steps on webmaster it brings you up a notch. Next thing is the key words you associate with your site, add them as many ties as you can within your site. Incorporate them in. That way google will crawl them.

If you have 900 euro spend it on web design or market research.

Ad words is ok but in my opinion makes a site look like they had to pay to get customers. Try it if you want. It may help to get you to the top & may not.

Good luck with it!

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

jamesy08 wrote: »

Hi all,i have a small company,and i have a website,but im not in a great position on the google pages,ive been told by a company that does this type of business,that for €300 per month for 3 months,i would get a top listing on google pages,im not expert on computers,but if it drew more sales,id be happy enough,is this a normal kind of pricing for this service
thanks

Sorry im late in on this convo but that sounds like a scam. If its SEO it would be infinite period, if its CPM it would be based on Impressions or if its PPC you pay per click.

There's a very common scam going around at the moment that has idiots cold calling small businesses offering first page positions on Google. Which isn't possible for them to sell / guarantee, but what they do is find specific keywords and use CPM / CPC so that it seems you appear if you preform an exact match but for a key term that rarely is used or bid on, then they anti optimize the ad if its CPC so they don't pay for the clicks. They use tricks like targeting the Ad to your specific location (as in half a mile radius) to make it look impressive.

If your business happens to do well during the period they you might associate your success with their scam and they'll screw you even further. To clarify - Noone can guarantee you a number one position in Google organic search, anyone that tells you they can is lying.

Also if scammers associate themselves with you or do anything that that is black hat (ie. evil manipulation of google results), it may reflect very badly to your site even getting it removed from the Google index.

brianLiverpool

padocon wrote: »

That is a lot of money! Use meta tags all though search engines have gotten much smarter these days and crawl the sites. If I were you I would set up a google webmaster account, create a site map (tutorial on webmaster). By completing the steps on webmaster it brings you up a notch. Next thing is the key words you associate with your site, add them as many ties as you can within your site. Incorporate them in. That way google will crawl them.

If you have 900 euro spend it on web design or market research.

Ad words is ok but in my opinion makes a site look like they had to pay to get customers. Try it if you want. It may help to get you to the top & may not.

Good luck with it!

True....its not just google that needs to crawl it. All the other top search engines too. Even if your unable to do it <snip> will do it for a small fee.

There's a very common scam going around at the moment that has idiots cold calling small businesses offering first page positions on Google.

Also true. That is why you have to do a good background search on the company and what they offer. There is no gurantee about 1st position in google but u can easily get into the first page.

padocon

OP did you design the site yourself? Or was it a pro?

Sully

padocon wrote: »

Or was it a pro?

I hope not! My eyes are in pain after seeing that!

W!zard

Fancy Dresser wrote: »

Sorry im late in on this convo but that sounds like a scam. If its SEO it would be infinite period, if its CPM it would be based on Impressions or if its PPC you pay per click.

There's a very common scam going around at the moment that has idiots cold calling small businesses offering first page positions on Google. Which isn't possible for them to sell / guarantee, but what they do is find specific keywords and use CPM / CPC so that it seems you appear if you preform an exact match but for a key term that rarely is used or bid on, then they anti optimize the ad if its CPC so they don't pay for the clicks. They use tricks like targeting the Ad to your specific location (as in half a mile radius) to make it look impressive.

If your business happens to do well during the period they you might associate your success with their scam and they'll screw you even further. To clarify - Noone can guarantee you a number one position in Google organic search, anyone that tells you they can is lying.

Also if scammers associate themselves with you or do anything that that is black hat (ie. evil manipulation of google results), it may reflect very badly to your site even getting it removed from the Google index.

I know a small business who was almost tricked into this type of scam. These scam artists are trying their hardest in targeting SME's that they figure would not know much about the Web and passing themselves on as Google Experts / Google themselves! Bad show. Just a heads up to others that they are out there in full force in recent months. :rolleyes:

glanman

Ya they keep ringing my place. Its some english guy "calling from Google" who then gets p*ssed off with me when I tell him no. He has rang a good 5 or 6 times in the last month. Everytime he calls I tell him I have spoken to him already, he says I'm lying!

To be honest, SEO is the best option I think. I would very rarely click on a google ad, especially embedded on another site, and would be far more trusting of an actually search result.

I would invest in a new site too, good value out there but there is a lot of crap out there too so you need to be careful. You could get a better looking site completed for anywhere around €1000. A good brochure site would do the job for you!

DubTony

I know a guy in England who used to spend an hour a day (lunchtime) clicking the adwords of all the competitors who were above his ad on the list. He even used dial-up so that he "Wouldn't be found out too easily" `

jamesy08

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond,ive plenty to think about

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

DubTony wrote: »

I know a guy in England who used to spend an hour a day (lunchtime) clicking the adwords of all the competitors who were above his ad on the list. He even used dial-up so that he "Wouldn't be found out too easily" `

The genius of people who don't read / study Googles methods. Clicking on an add 100 times in a 15 minute period will only charge the advertiser for one click, also it will increase their click through rate which then means the ad will appear higher relatively as its considered more relevant.

jobucks

Hi OP,

Interesting thread. Does the company call you say they are calling you from google, or are affiliated or working with google? If so I've had a lot of calls from these guys... they are called Matchmaker marketing and are based in the UK, and have recently been targeting SME's in Ireland for business . I did a bit of research on them a few weeks ago after having a blazing argument with one of their reps... what they didn't realise is that I am a web content provider and I regularly write keyword rich content for websites to help them get more traffic through their website. These guys use ads and nothing more to get you onto the 1st page in google, but you are not on the main page you are in the column in the right hand side (you know the one that no-one looks at because it's never relevant).

If you google "Matchmaker marketing" or " Matchmaker marketing scam" you'll see stories from a lot of businesses that were conned by them, taking money without authorisation from accounts and cards, bare face lying and bullying of potential customers by the staff...... Trust me this is not a road you want to go down!

Notch this up as a lucky escape and count your blessings that you haven't handed over your hard earned cash to this crowd or any other company that promises you something like this. The best and true way to get yourself up in the listings is using a good SEO expert, once they've done their job there is no reason why you should need to revisit it again for quite some time if ever.

Hope this helps,

the-macho-man

jobucks wrote: »

If you google "Matchmaker marketing" or " Matchmaker marketing scam" you'll see stories from a lot of businesses that were conned by them, taking money without authorisation from accounts and cards, bare face lying and bullying of potential customers by the staff...... Trust me this is not a road you want to go down!

Yep, just got a call from them, except they have changed their name to Zenith Media (zthmedia.co.uk). I presume this is to try and avoid people finding out who they are!

They claim to be a Google Adwords Company/Professional but they have no proof to back this up. Google provides certified Adwords companies and professionals with a link to a page on google's servers which shows their Professional Status, company name and logo. This is to prove that they are who they say they are: Google describes how they do this here.

Don't listen to them, just put the phone down!

Abberry

jamesy08 wrote: »

Hi all,i have a small company,and i have a website,but im not in a great position on the google pages,ive been told by a company that does this type of business,that for €300 per month for 3 months,i would get a top listing on google pages,im not expert on computers,but if it drew more sales,id be happy enough,is this a normal kind of pricing for this service
thanks

If they are going to improve your website using SEO techniques it might be a good price (depends on competitor's websites). If they will use Google AdWords only to bring your website to the top, so it's not effective. SEO in long-term run is better than AdWords.

Abberry

In addition, a lot of SEO you can easily do by yourself. Try to google something like "website optimisation", "to make a popular website" or "SEO basics"