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TastyNutz
Junior Member
USA
251 Posts |
 Posted - 13 November 2007 : 01:07:45
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I'm helping a friend set up an online shop, and she's pushing toward using a web marketing service. I'm not a pro at SEO or marketing so it would relieve me of those duties. But I'm wondering if outsourcing these services is worth the cost. She pointed out a couple to me, and they aren't cheap... some with recurring monthly charges.
It's not my money, but I dont want to see her get taken for a ride. Plus, if there are things that I can manage as the webmaster, then that's more money for me rather than an outside firm. 
Any advice or suggestions? |
PowerQuad Disability Support Forum |
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JJenson
Advanced Member
USA
2121 Posts |
Posted - 13 November 2007 : 10:34:42
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I think there are some things you can do as a webmaster but SEO in itself can be a full time job. I know my company has hired on a team to do that alone. they have 6 people in the SEO department. When we do sites for people and they want that sort of a feature we tell them to go with orangesoda.com they are very good at it.
Just thought I would let you know what we do hope it helps  |
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pdrg
Support Moderator
United Kingdom
2897 Posts |
Posted - 13 November 2007 : 11:17:47
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| The big problem with SEO is that nothing works! Or rather there are a million people fighting scrabbling and scrambling for #1 position, and you (or any small SEO firm) will never know what works as there's an approximately 6 month lag and the search engines (understandably) won't tell you how to get higher in the rankings (as everyone would do it!). The best thing for page rankings is to be established, have plenty of links from other people, repeat key phrases naturally in the regular body text of your pages. And spending a few quid on ads might help, but only on a click-through basis, or if you use google adwords, pick your phrases very carefully! |
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TastyNutz
Junior Member
USA
251 Posts |
Posted - 14 November 2007 : 16:19:19
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quote:
Originally posted by pdrg
The big problem with SEO is that nothing works!
That's pretty much where I'm leaning. Especially considering that her shop is a niche market of handmade crafts. Apparently the stuff sells well locally by word of mouth, but trying to position a site to capture people searching online wouldn't be easy or guarenteed.
I'm planning to recommend she spend her time and money advertising and spreading the word thru other means, and not relying heavily on SEO.
Thanks guys. |
PowerQuad Disability Support Forum |
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pdrg
Support Moderator
United Kingdom
2897 Posts |
Posted - 15 November 2007 : 11:29:40
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| One thing certainly worth considering is buying the phrases 'handmade crafts <yourtown>' and 'handmade crafts <yourlocality>', 'craft <yourarea>', etc which will be vastly cheaper than the phrase 'handmade crafts' as the inclusion of the locality will help eliminate unsuitable searchers and so target only her core audience - and the per-click prices for those phrases will be much much lower too. In fact, if she channels $25 a month towards that kind of adwords advert (very narrow marketing) she'll get better results than trying to fight for first-page position in the global market. And if it doesn't seem to be working out after $300/1 year, that's still cheaper than an SEO company will charge for a few measly hours... |
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