Can someone explain this online marketing thing to me?

[FLYERMAN]

I just got off the phone with an online marketing service type guy and he charges $397 to rank me first on google maps, bing and yahoo. What does that even mean? Is that the going rate? A little high/low? He says I'll be ranked first for a minimum of 3 months. If he can get me to the top what keeps someone else from bumping me from the top just as easily?

Please help with any links to read up on this stuff or just where to go to get a better service/understanding of online marketing.

And try to limit the crap about me being online retarded this late in the game. I already know that I am.

 

[floorguy]

stay away from those who call...

and #1 for SLC??? or West Jordan??

 

[Mikey P]

Ken are you willing to revamp your site?

as it is now (http://site.comprehensivecarpetcleaning.com/) there is almost no point in paying for people to find it IMO.


Find a company that will build you AND provide SEO on an ongoing basis.
Like Doug said, if they are calling YOU, it's a scam.

legit companies get found.


It's not cheap but it's less than a years worth of half or full page yellow book ads were.

Do you need the extra work?
How will you handle the phone calls? It's pretty much first answered, first served with Web shoppers unless your clicks/calls are coming from a review site which much like a referral from a friend, they will will wait to hear back form you. Spontaneous shoppers will book with who ever makes it easier to do so assuming your price is in line with the competition.

 

[FredC]

these are almost always adwords campaigns........

 

[Hoody]

these are almost always adwords campaigns........

That if you spend a little time reading and research you can easily manage yourself.

 

[Royal Man]

Beware also of all the companies that call and say they are with Google, they partner with Google, They are Google certified, they want to update your listing, they didn't see your listing or it was way back, they can get you to the first page. It's ALL CRAP!!!! I get 10 calls an day like this!!! Thank you for letting me vent

 

[GCCLee]

Yup, I get those calls and they come mostly from Vegas or Komifornia : )

Funny how they refuse to accept NO as an answer, I told one No 20 times, then proceeded to lash out at him and his comapny for the idiocy : )

 

[Steve Lawrence]

Why did you stay on the phone that long? 20X????? yikes, learn to hang up earlier!

 

[GCCLee]

Why did you stay on the phone that long? 20X????? yikes, learn to hang up earlier!

Steve,
I was so amazed that this guy didn't understand No that it sort of became a game. Literally mid sentence I would stop him and say NO, pause for a second and he would start again. This went on for about 10 min or so. I don't think they are allowed to hang up, cause I really tore into this one.

 

[floorguy]

20x ??? try once....if that lol

 

[FLYERMAN]

Well I found him and I don't even remember where. And I send my call to voice mail if I am cleaning but answer it otherwise. So for $400 I am going to give it a try. I only need 2.7 average jobs to pay for it.

 

[Royal Man]

If it is just Adwords (and likely it is.) Why don't you just do it yourself and cut out the middleman taking their chunk?

 

[thebestmarketeralive]

Hold on, don't do anything hasty.

I don't know why everyone keeps saying it's Adwords, these people are generally SEO companies. Also, I wouldn't say that ALL people that require calling you to offer SEO services are a scam, but here's a REALLY easy to way find out how legit they are.

Ask them to take the top 3 keywords that would be relevant to your business, and send over the amount of searches there are per month.

View attachment 2539

Then you can verify the information he has given you with your own quick google search, I know EVERYBODY in here knows how to use the GKWT, but I'm typing this out for FLYERMAN.

To find this tool, go to Google, and type in "Google Keyword Tool", should be the first one that pops up.

Type in the search term that you're curious as to how many times it is searched on a monthly basis, and notice the two red arrows to the left that I have pointed out: Broad & Exact.

Notice below, carpet cleaners las vegas is search 6,600 times, whereas [carpet cleaners las vegas] is only searched 360 times per month.

The difference here is the data that Google is returning, not to get into it, just know that the one in [] is exact match, and that is giving you ONLY the amount of searches that EXACT term is searched for on a monthly basis.

Don't tell this person you are aware of how to find your own search volume. Just test him, if he comes back with numbers that are broad match, then you know his company is full of crap.

If he's willing to lie to you to get your business, who knows how ethical is SEO strategies are, which, if he's still employing old strategies, will have your website sent into oblivion.

Now, if he does come back with the Exact Match numbers, I'd then ask for him to type out his process... post the process here for everyone to take a quick look at to see if it abides by Googles current algo. terms.

*DISCLAIMER* AT NO TIME DO I EXPECT ANYBODY TO HIRE ME TO PERFORM INTERNET MARKETING SERVICES FOR THEM. I MADE THIS POST BECAUSE I AM TIRED OF THE BS SEO COMPANIES THAT MAKE A BAD NAME FOR EVERYONE.

 

[FredC]

Hold on, don't do anything hasty.

I don't know why everyone keeps saying it's Adwords,

because some actually have experience with this.........what is being offered is what gives it away

 

[thebestmarketeralive]

What in the world? Why did that image post so small??

I'll try again here, if it doesn't work, I'm sure somebody else will be able to illustrate the example.

View attachment 2540

 

[thebestmarketeralive]

Well, if he actually said "$397 to rank me first on google maps, bing and yahoo.", is he offering Google Express? Why would he only be ranked there for a minimum of 3 months if it's PPC? Why doesn't he mention anything of ad spend?

 

[FredC]

Why would he mention anything about ad spend? He isn't selling clicks (different method)...he is selling placement. I'm not going to explain the method to you.

most companies (almost always) that call and guarantee placement use some aspect of adwords to do it.
some are outright scams
some are based on low volume phrases/longtails

 

[thebestmarketeralive]

I'd imagine that saying it's only going to cost the prospect $397 per month, and then when you go to ask for payment you bump up another $150+ for ad spend when PPC hasn't be the clearly communicated method to achieve the goal, you're going to lose a TON of deals on that.

I'm not saying you're wrong Fred, maybe it is PPC, just seems a weird way to go about it.

Also, if it is PPC, I know some people are saying to do it yourself.

But, there is still a science to getting a good CTR, keyword research, and building landing pages that convert.

Also, the perk of bringing in these guys to do your PPC (if they're found to be legit), is once they set up your landing pages and build out a profitable campaign for you with keywords etc., that's it set to go, axe these guys once your campaign is running at an ROI, and just top up your balance every month. It'll run like clock work.

 

[FredC]

why do you assume they will ask for extra.........it can be a win some lose some game.......

Not only do I see these methods discussed "elsewhere"............but I also talk to these guys every once in a while when they call to sell me shit.

 

[Mikey P]

can we get you to to sing a duet at M10F

http://youtu.be/QMZCWGyk388

 

[Shane Deubell]

Agree with mike start by budgeting for a website, then canvass other service based sites and find a look you like so when you do talk to a designer you have some examples to point to.
We have paid anywhere from $150 -$1500 for websites and their was no connection between service/price.

Information on the website? basically you want 5-10 pages of information a customer/prospect would find useful, a good mix of text, pictures and videos.
A simple exercise would be to write down questions people ask when they call, while cleaning or giving estimates and just ask people what information they would like. Most times people don't really know what they want but at least this gives you a starting point.

The hardest part is separating what YOU like from what a typical homeowner would like.

After you create a foundation of a good looking useful website then you can start working on if you want to pay a monthly fee for SEO. This is going to vary widely among population size of your market and vendor you choose. The best starting point for this is talking to contractors in similar size markets and finding out how much revenue/jobs they generate from the site and looking up their position on google.

Once you have a general idea of how much revenue a #1-3 position in google brings in for your size population then you can decide how much investment that is worth to you. So if you find out that its $10k a year in new business then you can decide what that is worth to you for example.

Only thing i know for fact is if you go in blind... you will regret it.
Start by defining what your goal is.

 

[FLYERMAN]

Would thebestmarketeralive please email me so I can chat with you about online marketing services... littlekennyraddon@gmail.com Thanks.