To SEO or not to SEO?

Russ T.

Supportive Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
3,556
Location
Slater, IA
Name
Russ Terhaar
Hi all,
I feel like I've been through the ringer this past year and don't want to keep making similar mistakes. Do you guys pay a company to handle SEO? It seems like most of our calls come in from Pay Per Click or they find us on the map in Google (I think SEO might help with placement within the map). Also, for those doing Pay Per Click, do you handle it alone through Google or hire that out? My Pay Per Click company charges me $100 per month and he is assuring me he is getting me better pricing per click than I could get on my own. Google tells me to ditch the 3rd party company because i can do that work myself. Our contract is almost up with at company so I want to be smart. Any suggestions? Thanks!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

Shane Deubell

Supportive Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
4,052
How big is your service area?

Huxley is about as big as my street...
My point is for smaller service areas you should be able to do it yourself, imo.
 

Russ T.

Supportive Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
3,556
Location
Slater, IA
Name
Russ Terhaar
Huxley is tiny. We live 10 miles south of Ames, where Iowa State University is. 30000 students, town is more than twice that big. Ames is our major market but I'm open to expanding. I'm only 10 miles north of Ankeny, which is one of Des Moines largest suburbs. Des Moines itself, Iowa's capitol, is only 25 easy Interstate miles south. I have a lot of competition but who doesn't? At the time, I'm a 1 van operation. Not trying to conquer the world but wanting to grow. Does that help? Thanks!
 

Shane Deubell

Supportive Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
4,052
Huxley is tiny. We live 10 miles south of Ames, where Iowa State University is. 30000 students, town is more than twice that big. Ames is our major market but I'm open to expanding. I'm only 10 miles north of Ankeny, which is one of Des Moines largest suburbs. Des Moines itself, Iowa's capitol, is only 25 easy Interstate miles south. I have a lot of competition but who doesn't? At the time, I'm a 1 van operation. Not trying to conquer the world but wanting to grow. Does that help? Thanks!

Why not try it yourself for 3 months and compare the results?

Read the google tutorials first and ask questions though, you do not want to advertise in buffalo...
If anything you learn how to do something which is more important.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Russ T.

caleb211

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2012
Messages
84
Location
Knoxville, TN
Only way to really make it work is to do it yourself. It is a daily/weekly process- until you get your ads right. Then it's auto pilot, and you can start playing with more campaigns and services, but it is a skill you need to learn. We have quality scores of 7-10, but it took me a solid year of mistakes and improvements.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Russ T.

Russ T.

Supportive Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
3,556
Location
Slater, IA
Name
Russ Terhaar
Thanks guys! Caleb, any specific suggestions on how to do the ads? It was several hundred bucks intro fee to get set up with the company that's handling our pay per click, and if I leave them, I'd have to pay that again. I'm paying them $100 per month and wondering if that money would be better spent on clicks. Google says I should ditch that company and that company is telling me that their expertise is saving me money on clicks. I'm just after the truth so I can feel confident in my decision. An additional question, does SEO determine my placement within Google Places or is it strictly by physical location? My SEO company may get the boot too! Thanks again guys!
 

Hoody

Supportive Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
6,347
Location
Bowling Green, Ohio
Name
Steven Hoodlebrink
To determine if its working, are you tracking where the calls come from? If not I would start doing so. If you are tracking and you're not getting calls from your ads or your SEO companies efforts, then it would be pretty obvious you're throwing money away. If that's the case I would tell them to shove it, and look for someone else.

It's something that can be learned like anything else, but do you want to spend the time and effort learning to do so, or search for a quality company that will gain you results(get the phone to ring). Not all PPC management and SEO companies are created equal. If you're going to do it on your own - look into targeting your ads by zip code. Also do some research to make sure the keywords you're going after are being searched. There are many tools available to find this stuff out if you search enough. The #1 problem people have is they don't do this research, and are wasting money by marketing search terms that do not get searched for.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Russ T.

Jim Williams

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
1,462
Location
Bynum N.C.
Name
Jim Williams
What I did is I read "Search engine optimization for dummies". It tells you everything you need to do to get your site to rank high in the natural search results. I pay my 12.95 a month hosting fee and come up first in all my areas except for 1 bigger city where I come up in the top 3. It's pretty easy once you know what to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Derek and Russ T.

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom