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The Paradox of SEO Marketing Companies

Maybe I'm a little slow and maybe I don't quite understand this whole SEO marketing thing. I'm really not a big super geek or anything and I'll grant that there are a lot of people who know a whole lot more about this than I do. Maybe someone can help me out with a marketing approach from some SEO marketing companies:

I have this neat-o website

and on this neat-o website I have a little form for people to fill out if they want me to get back in touch with them about anything that's on their mind

Now, here's the part I don't understand -- a SEO marketing guy finds my website and fills out the form and in the "comments" section he tells me about how he can put me on Google's first page search results, yadda, yadda, yadda.

OK, great. How did you find my website, Mr. SEO Marketer? What keywords did you put into the search field to a) find my website and b) fill out my little form? It seems to me that if this guy is looking for Realtors in an area that he can sell his marketing magic to it might be a little self defeating to find my website out of hundreds? thousands? of others that might match my keywords.

Who knows? Maybe he goes to the last page first. The point, in my mind, is that he found me...and, if he can find me, so can anyone else that's looking.

Am I missing something?

Posted by Ken Montville -- the MD Suburbs of DC on 07/08/2009 02:47 PM

Comments (11)

SEO in the Technology and Tools Channel

seo, seearch engine optimization, google

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11 Comments on The Paradox of SEO Marketing Companies

JUL

haha very funny! we are seeing alot more of these going around here.

Point well taken! Is SEO all that it is craked up to be? I personally don't think so.

JUL

Hi Ken,

I think you hit it right on the head. Most likely, he entered search terms specific to realtors, then went 10 pages deep in the Google results and started cold calling.(Or however deep your site showed up.) He did so because those sites are the ones that could benefit from his services. He wouldn't target a site closer to the top of the results as a good prospect.

SEO has its benefits. But if you spend some time doing research on your own, you probably don't need to pay for SEO coaching. There are other internet-specific services that have better ROI.

Continued success!

JUL

SEO is sales, just like any other industry. If they can convince you that you need them....sold. Funny post.

AUG

SEO definitely has its advantages, but paying thousands of dollars for it just doesn't make sense to me. I've found some great free SEO tools via Google. I figure that anyone selling their SEO services and offering free tools ought to show up on the first page of the results page, right!? Beanstalk.com is one that has been particularly helpful by analyzing the density of our keywords and giving us food for thought as we design our new site. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I really like the way you posted your image snippets from your site - very creative. Obviously you are very technologically talented!

AUG

I am a huge proponent of SEO. Analytics are a great tool. We (ALL of us) should learn more about it. At least, I should...

AUG

The more I learn about SEO the more I realize I just need to pay for it! Much too hard for my poor mind to grasp.

SEP

Nobody can guarantee where you will show up on the SERP. Only google controls the algorithms and they are changing them all the time.

Everybody who owns a web site can do some basic things to help their pages perform better in the search results

With that said, getting good results doesn't have to cost a lot of money, and it will not happen by mistake. Site owners must make the effort to learn what to do to get higher results and most importantly put forth the time and effort to execute the things they need to do.

The two most important things are:

"Content is King" have good content on your pages and make sure your content contains the key words or key phrases that you are trying to get results for.
Link Building.
- A link to your website or blog is like a vote of confidence in the eyes of the search engines. More importantly, the link should be a text link using the keywords or key phrases that you are targeting

Out of the two above, the quality of the content is the easiest to accomplish. Link building is a lot more challenging and is something that continually worked at.

The following site: Nation Wide Real Estate Agents . com is a new site that accepts full HTML so that getting keyword links is easy and efficient.

OCT

SEO Marketing companies do come with benefits if you can afford them. Personally I can't, I usually go down the route of using a freelancer that has good credentials. To help me with more tch stuff. If you are thinking about using a SEO firm one rule to stick by is how are they showing up in google results.

If they are any good they will be ranking high themselves for Keyword terms that are hard to get. Not SEO marketing in little town USA because that is pretty easy to get. See how the rank on a state level scale or global scale for certain terms.

Like SEO Marketing NJ or Seo Marketing Guru or New York City Seo Specialists

If ther are showing up high for terms like this they know what there are doing and are pretty good.

Please take a minute and Check Out my blog Joe Welusz

NOV

Hi all,

SEO has many benefits when conducted properly. What hurts are SEO companies that promise to put you on the first page of Google. They make the pros in our industry cringe. But as in every industry, you will have the dishonest that give the industry a bad name.

SEO, when done properly, is a strategy that involves understanding your market, industry, competitors, and goals. It involves proper page construction, strategy application, and measurement tools. It also involves many off-page factors. If you have a great product, well-built site, and conduct business ethically and honestly, you can achieve higher non-paid search results.

Many factors effect SEO rankings, including domain name age, page content, links in to your site, directory listings, and more. An SEO specialist understands how the system works and applies/suggests proven methods to help boost your organic (non-paid) rankings.

Now real estate is a VERY competitive market, especially in metro areas. The strategies are a bit different to compete. I searched for "real estate Fulton, MD" and discovered that Ken Montville did not appear within the first 3 pages. That usually means that people searching Google or Yahoo will go no deeper. So the trick is how to get your site to appear in some fashion with those first three pages for the most common searched for your services.

I also did a quick check on your site, www.mdsurburbanhomes.com. You've done well Ken. Your site is structured quite solidly and has addressed many of the factors that affect positive organic search engine results. But many people in your industry, or any industry for that matter, do not fare as well. This is where a SEO specialist can help.

By the way, I found you here Ken by searching for an RSS feed for another client in a similar industry. Ahh... the power of the blog! :-)

Best to all,

Randy Smith
Principal
Synchronicity Web Designs
Http://www.synchronicitydesigns.com

NOV

Randy -- thanks so much for your input and for the nice words about my blog at the MD Suburbs of DC. I get some action from all the Google juice Active Rain gets but not nearly what I would like. Oh well.

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