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Nov 20 2009 The Difference Between SEO and SEM

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If you have been Internet marketing for any period of time or if you’ve read any of my blog articles than I’m sure you know that SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. However, another term that I haven’t really mentioned that much is “Search Engine Marketing”. You may be thinking to yourself, “aren’t these two the same thing?”. My answer is “NO, they are not.” So what exactly is the difference between SEO and SEM?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of adjusting your site’s content, code, and getting links to help increase your natural search engine results. Search engine marketing (SEM) deals mainly with the pay-per-click side of search engines and ad buying in general. Pay per click is where you pay a certain amount of money for each click generated through an ad or link to your website.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. With SEM you can literally get your website on the first page of search engine results within minutes of starting your campaign. With SEO the process can take several months before you start seeing any results. But the downside the SEM and PPC is that you are going to have to pay for every single click you receive from these sponsored listings. With SEO, once you get to the top, every click that comes through those links are FREE!

A complete marketing strategy normally includes a balance of both SEO and SEM. Using pay per click methods can be amazing, but if not done properly you can loose a lot of money very quickly. Dollar for dollar I still feel the SEO is the best of these two. Even if you have to spend a couple thousand dollars and several months waiting to get your site ranked high, once you do you will reap the benefits for a long time to come. With SEM, once you quit paying your results are gone. You could easily spend up a couple thousand dollars in no time with PPC depending on your market.

Long term usually beats short term. One thing that I do like PPC for is to test out different landing pages. I don’t mean landing pages in the ‘old-way’ with hardly any content and no where to go except one link, I mean a quality landing page that is part of a complete site (you don’t want to suffer the dreaded Google Slap.) By utilizing SEM and PPC you can see which key-phrases and pages work the best to maximize your ROI (return on investment) and then spend your time or money focusing on natural SEO for key-phrases and pages that work!

Scott
Pensacola Website Design

Nov 17 2009 Professional SEO Consultant

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If you are one of those people who like to “get your hands dirty” so-to-speak, then you may be interested in doing your own search engine optimization. While SEO is a combination of art & science, it is a topic than can be learned by those willing to spend the time and hard work. If you do decide to do your own search engine optimization, than I recommend at least getting some advice from a professional SEO consultant.

SEO consulting has become increasingly popular over the last few years due to the increased demand in Internet Marketing and online business and in general. An SEO consultant can give you as little or as much advice as you require in order to do your own natural search marketing. Some companies charge by the hour for this service, while others charge a flat rate. No matter how they charge, a professional is normally worth they money.

We like to do a custom quote for each project as every individual situation tends to be a little different. Each market, website, and circumstance tends to be unique and requires a planned approach in order to be efficient and meet your goals. Also, we understand that not everyone needs the same level of help or attention. You may be up to speed on most search engine topics and only require very specific information to help improve your current website rankings.

On the other hand, you may be brand new at marketing your website and require a full “hands on” approach that starts with the very basics of SEO. No matter what your unique situation may be, we are willing to work with you. No job is too big or too small for us at Teknek Web Services. We are ready and willing to work for a Fortune 500 company selling stock, or for the little old lady next door selling yarn.

Could you use a little help with SEO? How well is your website ranked in the search engines? Please feel free to contact us at anytime to discuss your particular website marketing needs. This may sound a little cliché, but here at Teknek Web Services we do what we love and we love what we do. Our passion shows in our work and we’d love for you to benefit from our knowledge and energy. Give us a call or fill out our contact form.

Scott
Pensacola Website Design

Nov 16 2009 Average SEO Prices

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Doing business on the Internet has several advantages over “brick and mortar” businesses. One of these advantages is the ability to quickly compare the prices and services of your main competitors. We offer several website services, with one of the most important ones being seo (search engine optimization.) To keep our prices within the industry standard, we routinely check around to stay current on the average seo prices that professionals are charging.

There are several different aspects to an seo project and “one size fits all” is definitely not applicable to this industry. Many factors determine the amount of time and hard work that it will take to properly optimize a website and get it to the top of Google and other search engines. We occasionally get asked why we do not post prices on our website and the reason is because of the uniqueness of each project.

However you do need a baseline or a start for comparison, especially if you are new to purchasing seo services. Many companies make you sign a 6 month contract minimum and this is because proper seo takes time and there is no “overnight solution” (except for PPC). A lot of the big optimization companies charge prices so high, that they are basically refusing to work with the “little guy.” It is not uncommon to see prices of $500 – $1,000 per hour or $3,000 per month with a minimum 6 month contract. We started this business with the “little guy” in mind so that they can have a chance to succeed too, so I can assure you that our prices will blow these guys out of the water, while still achieving the same results!

We do business a little bit differently than the norm. We don’t require an upfront contract. We normally work on a one-time upfront fee and than after you see the results that we get for your business, we’ll offer the monthly maintenance contract to keep your listings strong and at the top. Customers seem to be very comfortable with this pricing model as they are not committed to a strict contract from the very beginning…if they don’t like what we do, they are not obligated to stay. However, we always over-deliver on what we promise because we want to keep you as a customer.

I actually read a nice article about average seo pricing at:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-pricing-costs-what-should-you-charge-how-much-should-you-pay
It seems as if we are on the “low end” of his pricing structure and even a little lower in some situations. As I said before, we customize bids because of how unique each situation, market, and website may be.

When you hire us to do a website marketing / seo project we are dedicated to providing you with personal service and the best results possible. We normally only focus on one main SEO project at a time, at the beginning phase of a project a time so that we can dedicate our full resources to getting the website off the ground and listed in the search results. One of the things that makes us so successful in website marketing, design, and all the services we offer is that we are doing what we love. This really doesn’t even feel like work most of the time (don’t tell my wife that because she may get jealous.)

When you hire a company it is important that you feel comfortable with them. We pride ourselves in providing big company results, at small company pricing. Won’t you appreciate knowing that the guys working on your website and search engine results love what they are doing? You can be assured that we are putting our whole heart and soul into each project that we take on. We will do so while staying within or lower than average seo prices!

With that being said, we don’t take every project that comes our way. We always do a free analysis, or free E-quote to determine if we can and want to work on a particular project. If we don’t truly believe we can over-deliver on the results promised to you, we just won’t take the job. This way you know that if we take your project, we are doing so with full faith in our abilities to give you the results that you need.

Scott
Pensacola Website Design

Nov 12 2009 SEO Secrets – There Are None

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You know when I see people trying to sell advice or some magical e-book about SEO (search engine optimization) secrets it really makes me sick. Are you ready to discover the absolute truth and top secrets about SEO? There are none! There really are no secrets! There is no magic pill. Everything you need to know to get a website ranked to the top of Google, Yahoo, or Bing is out there and available for everyone to learn. Okay, do you really want to learn a secret about getting top search engine rankings? Well, here it is: Time + Hard Consistent Work.

While there is no secret to SEO there are little tricks and techniques that you can only learn from experience. Now you can learn this from your own experiences or from other people’s experiences. Most everything else is out there already. I could sit here and write a blog or article about the top 10 things you could do to optimize your site, or 30 strategies to get your website ranked to the top of Google, but all of these things already exist.

Everything you’ll ever need to know is out there and published. As the rules change, the information will stay updated from people like me who live search engine optimization. You can access this information from top sites and guys who have been in this business since the dawn of the Internet. Don’t ever get tricked into buying something from somebody who says they know some “secret formula” to get your site ranked high.

Now I’m not saying not to pay for SEO services. Even though all of the information is out there for you, it does not mean you have to or should do it yourself. For example; All of the information for me to change my transmission is available, but you won’t catch me trying to do that myself! Just because I could do it doesn’t mean that I’m going to do it. The same should be true for you and your business.

It really comes down to simple economics. We get maximum productivity if everyone does what they are good at. If you are good at SEO, than by all means do it yourself! However, if you don’t know the difference between a one-way link and a reciprocal link, than stay away from it. Use your time more wisely and focus on what you are good at. Focus on your main business, which is selling and improving your products and services. Focus on customer service. Hire a good SEO company or person to properly optimize your website. When everybody does what they are good at, we get more results as a whole which is better for everyone.

Scott
Pensacola Website Design

Nov 11 2009 SEO Price Quote

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So last night I finished a price quote for an SEO project and it made me think about a few things. I had to review this guy’s site and found several things that he could be doing differently to help increase his search engine rankings and gain some exposure for his website.

I really don’t want to reveal the exact name or website for this gentleman’s privacy, but I can let you in on a few details to help explain the story. We’ll call the guy John and let’s say that his sells ‘blue widgets’.

Okay, first of all John has got the right idea as he has started blogging about experience with ‘blue widgets’. However, the way that he is categorizing his blog archive and articles is not exactly search engine friendly. Part of the price to optimize this site will include re-organizing these pages.

Secondly, the title of John’s pages are numbered instead of named. This won’t necessarily hurt search engine rankings, but it definitely won’t help them. In order to get maximum value from each blog article it is important to name the pages instead of numbering them. Again, in the price quote I have allotted time to work with his existing content and renaming the numbered pages.

John also uses his main index page for the main blog page. Now I have read, seen, and experienced mixed results with this method as far as SEO goes. It could be beneficial, but from a sales point of view it is not that good. I believe in using the main index page as your main sales page. Let the main blog page be a separate page linked from the index page.

Yes Google does love fresh, unique, and updated content but this does not mean that your blog has to be the main index page to get SEO value. I have one website that has been at the top of Google for dozens of keywords for years with very little updating or changing of the index page; however the site as a whole is constantly growing and being updated to maintain dominance of this market.

SEO is an ever-changing field that keeps you on your toes. The rules of this topic are never set in stone and can change in the blink of an eye. Unethical SEO guys will try to use black-hat techniques or ‘tricks’ to get a site to the top, which may even work in the short-term, but are doomed to failure in the long run.

Ethical search engine optimization takes time and hard work, but the end results are worth the effort. When getting an SEO price quote for your website make sure that whoever you hire only uses white-hat techniques or acceptable tactics to gain good search engine rankings. Really no matter what changes in the search engine world, there will always remain two key factors that help determine top position; unique content and quality back-links.

Scott
Pensacola Website Design