Small Business SEO Recommendations
-
I work for a company that manages websites for several hundred small businesses. We do a good job with on-site optimization but don't do any link building for our clients.
Occasionally, clients are in desperate need of links and ask us for recommendations. I've had a tough time finding a balance between quality consultants and affordable prices. I understand that link building campaigns, in general, carry a hefty price tag, but of our clients can't afford any of the big name agencies.
We've also had a few of our clients get burned recently by bad link building and I don't want to point them in the wrong direction.
Does anyone have any recommendations for companies or freelance consultants that do good work without breaking the bank?
Thanks!
Tim
-
Hey Tim
I just stumbled over this post so it's a late answer, however, maybe worth throwing in my tuppence / five cents here.
I think we are pretty much at the point with all of this that if a small business client comes to you and asks for links then they likely have a bigger problem than actually just needing a bit of a boost for a few keywords.
If your client is thinking about buying links to simply do better in search then rather than just pointing them towards someone who may (or may not) do a good job the better advice would be pointing them towards a consultant who help them devise a real strategy. Buying links is not a strategy.
If I think about all of the clients I have worked with this year I don't think I have thought a single time - well, what you need is just a few more links. And, often, even when someone may come to us asking for us to build links, we more often than not try to look at ways to do something bigger and better.
I guess the point I am trying to make here is to ask the question - why? Why do you want links? What is the real goal? No business thinks we will make it this year if we can just get some more links so what is the real need here.
It's just too much of a can of worms to look at possibles but in many cases a well placed guest post on a highly visible site may generate more exposure and qualified click through traffic than the benefit that ten links may bring.
Some, stealthy placement on high ranking industry directories may help raise the profile and get more click through traffic again.
Some well placed citations and local SEO may be more than enough for many a small business or local business.
The possibilities are kind of endless but usually, links are not the entire answer and in many cases are not the biggest part of it.
Obviously, it all depends, but the point I am making is often, if they are asking for links, and you really want to give them some help, first ask them why and then try to direct them towards someone who can help them devise a real strategy that will drive exposure, referral traffic and likely a few bang-up links as part of the process.
Obviously, on the dawn of Penguin 2.0 (4.0?) having a strategy that is not built around getting more links is even more important than ever.
Not an answer as such, but hopefully food for thought!
Marcus -
It's always hard to gauge as consultants will always price themselves differently and on different grounds.
I can recommend a ton of others not on that list, such as Chris Dyson http://tripleseo.com/ Steve Morgan http://seono.co.uk/ and Ross Hudgens http://www.rosshudgens.com/ - it's always worth dropping them a line, get an idea of budgets/quotes and whether or not they have expertise, or even specialise, in small business SEO.
But like everything, you get what you pay for and what you get out of SEO is more or less proportionate to what you put in.
-
Thanks, Tom! We try to do our best with educational stuff, but a lot of our clients tend to feel overwhelmed or just don't have the time to do link building themselves.
I've recommended companies from the SEOmoz list, but they're usually too expensive for our clients. Maybe I just need to do a better job of setting pricing expectations when I recommend a company and explain that quality work comes at a premium.
-
Hi Tim
Just to quickly throw my opinion in: I think you're of the right frame of mind to recommend a consultant. Finding an agency that would build safe and valuable links on a small budget can be a very frought process, with several rip-off merchants out there. Not to say all of them are of course, but equally if the clients' budget is not sustainable, the path of self-education could be a better one.
With that in mind, you may be able to find a number of quality consultants on SEOMoz's own recommended companies list: http://www.seomoz.org/article/recommended
Furthermore, I'd point your clients in the direction of some great educational resources. The beginner's guide to SEO from Moz remains a great document for all, while Jon Cooper's Link Building Course and DistilledU can also be a great investment.
Hope this helps you and your clients out.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is bright edge an SEO platform you would recommend?
Hi mozzers, Has anyone used Bright Edge before? Is this a good platform for a website that carries over 1800 pages and is looking to scale their content? I would like to know the pros and cons of this platform. Thanks for sharing any other valuable information about this platform!
Industry News | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
SEO For Local Searches
I run a driving school of over 100 instructors in the UK. We cover around 60 different areas. My homepage www.driveJohnsons.co.uk is optimised for 'driving lessons' and 'driving school' search terms mainly. My area pages are optimised for the same but with the area included ie: Driving Lessons Birmingham or Driving Lessons Leeds I've taken a drop in many areas... I've cleaned up my incoming links using the disavow too and upped more relevant links associated with the same industry as myself. The question i have is should i change my URL's for my area pages from www.driveJohnsons.co.uk/driving-lessons-leeds to: www.driveJohnsons.co.uk/leeds I've been told stuffing the URL with keywords for an area actually dilutes the strength of my homepage and all the other areas. At the moment i have 60 area pages with: www.drivejohnsons.co.uk/driving-lessons-area It use to work a treat, but i've started seeing some companies change their URLs to: /area and excluding the driving-lessons If i make this change then i'm either going to have to bit the bullet on build up links for those areas again or do a redirect for each area. I've added most areas to google places and i've added google map to many of area pages too. If anyone knows a bit more, please let me know...
Industry News | | Anthony19820 -
Can not get the ranking needle to move even after a year with a US based SEO company
Hello community, I have spent the last 16 months spending lots of money on our USA Based SEO company and on content. For some reason. The powers who may be at Google are not giving us any love. I am beginning to become very dissapointed after all of our efforts. We did have a link penalty a year ago however that has long ago been removed. We have been doing everything our SEO company has asked us but the needle is not moving. Any ideas for us? http://tinyurl.com/n2yoeyn Thank you in advance. Chris
Industry News | | scamper0 -
Looking For A reliable Korea Based SEO Agency
Hey everyone, my company is looking for a reliable SEO agency to help with our Korean site. I was wondering if anyone had any possible positive experiences with one? Carl
Industry News | | geekdesign0 -
Picking a degree that will benefit SEO/IM career
I really had no idea where to place this question as there seemed to be no 'suitable' place. I do though feel that it is a viable question and would appreciate any responses that I receive. Essentially, I'm currently working full time doing digital marketing covering most general aspects as it is in-house and primarily local venturing to maybe 50-70 miles in the region of the local area. I'm doing SEO, PPC, Social Media etc. I'm certified in networking (I studied in Australia) and have my UK GCSEs along with a variety of other general certifications e.g. business. The college in the area where I work is offering a NVQ in digital marketing and social media so although I'm self taught I'm currently doing this once a month purely for the paper to recognize that I know what I'm doing. Anyway, getting to the point. I have the opportunity to pursue a degree long term with my employer. I've always had an interest in actually learning to code in a web development language (I can cope at the moment with PHP and do what I need to do) and I've also had an interest in developing iPhone apps etc. What degree would you recommend in aiding a career in SEO and Digital/Internet marketing in general?. To me it seems to boil down to either a marketing degree or a web development degree. Thank you in advance, I would love to hear your own experience and what you have a degree in. Thanks, Luke Hutchinson.
Industry News | | LukeHutchinson0 -
Looking for Freelance SEO'ers
Hi, I wouldn't normally post a request for freelancers here, but I noticed someone else has done it and its not against the rules! so here goes... We are looking for Freelancers to help with our work load. In particular we are searching for Link Builders who can establish links on various websites through the use of article writing/blog content posting and other methods. Also, we require general SEOs who can perform the usual technical tasks such as creating 301's, canonicals and SEO audit reports on client websites. Ideally we only want UK based, white hatters with at least 2 years SEO experience. Please pm me if this interests you. Thanks Aran
Industry News | | Chiefblob0 -
Any Tool Suggestions for Sharing Bookmarks in a small group?
Hi, We have a small group of co-workers, and we are constantly firing round emails of great articles we have found, new websites to read etc etc. Emails are just very cumbersome and get lost, so I am wondering if people can suggest any tools which would be good for creating a "work board" where we can quickly mark and comment on articles/websites each of us finds and it gets posted across other peoples boards. It needs to be fast, user friendly, allow grouping by topics, visually appealing (and ideally allow you to mark of when you have read something). Anyone have an suggestions as to a tool that would be similar to this? Thanks
Industry News | | James770 -
How to pick an SEO pro?
I run a community site that has over 1 million pages of user-generated content specific to a very defined vertical. I recently switch to the Drupal CMS and have paid the price in the search rankings. I need to find someone to help with my site's SEO efforts. What should I be looking for when selecting an SEO professional?
Industry News | | proforums0