Hello all- Recently I have gotten a call from a search engine marketing firm, looking to sign me up. Does anyone do it or have any experience with it. The price was kinda too steep for me that is the reason I ask. $300 they want. Thank you in advance.
Good SEO guys dont call you, they call them. And $300 is a joke… should be much higher for any real SEO work. Its a sham. I get calls from these companies all the time.
Thank’s Chris. This was my first one. She got my name from Craiglist
Yeah i got a call from the same people and it took me a bit to actually find them on web under a different name plus they werent willing to give any references to people who use them so i told em to **** off!lol
depends how competitive the industry in your area for that #1 spot in google.
I have a lot of friends in different industrys paying for SEO…
- the carpet cleaning business pays $50 a month to stay at #1 on google.
- the yard service guy pays $50 a month
- the plumber guy pays $300 a month
- My lawyer cousin (bankruptcy law) pays $2000 a month
the lawyer can make about $1500 per new customer while the yard service guy usualy makes $80 per new customer. At the same time
the lawyer guy has heavy competition on the first page of google. the yard service guy has no competition and ranking him takes less work and effort then ranking the lawyer.
Over all I say if you have about an hour a day you can easily do your own SEO considering that most local “window cleaning” search traffic doesnt have much competition.
What is the name of that company who does work for the types of businesses you listed?
That should tell you something right there…they aren’t busy enough already that they have to scrape craigslist for suckers? Chris is absolutely right, good ones don’t call you, you call them.
Good ones get referrals, BECAUSE of the scammers…nobody trusts seo companies anymore so when a good one is found the word is spread. HOWEVER; you just MIGHT stumble onto someone who really knows their stuff and is simply just starting out. The key to look for when trying to find that person is really listening to what they say when they call…the first few sentences. NEVER ever buy on that phone call. Have him email you his info and the price list. Check him out.
If he starts out by saying he or his firm are partners with google, hang up on him. Google HAS NO PARTNERS. If he says he’s google certified, that is actually a real thing, BUT, anyone can get that certification…all it is, is being certified to use adwords right…thats IT. So really it means nothing. You can do adwords yourself and don’t need to pay someone to do it, its so automated now that paying someone to do it is like paying someone to drive you to the store down the street. Sure, you can feel like a rich man if you want, but yer friends you grew up with would beat you up for it 
I know a guy here in San Diego that stumbled on someone like that, and that guy put him on PAGE ONE in organic AND the maps.
The real scam is that folks believe it costs $$$$$ to be number 1. You guys should really look around. Most Local SEO can be done for free.
Can be done by free only if you do it yourself, right? Guys like him, and me, who have to research like crazy to do it and stay on top of it, don’t have the time needed so hiring is appealing Michael. Know what I mean?
Side note: Good post Tory.
I get calls and emails about twice a week from these 'partners.'
I think they assume that a window cleaning company wouldn’t know about SEO.
It get’s so tiresome, making these dupes do a search, just to prove that I don’t need/want their help.
I had to explain to a friend the other day… “Google does NOT cold call, they’re a little to busy ruling the world and all.” 
- I’m all for working hard/hustling up business… but don’t try to mislead me.
Who?
tory made some really good points
however it still comes down to the competition for any given keyword, the key is to do your
research.
I personally decided that it was not worth paying someone to do my SEO so I did it myself, it took
alot of hours researching but it turned out that I only had to do some basic on-page tweeking and my
site landed #2 in google. But that is because no one else in my area is actively SEOing their websites.
Once the competition starts being active then they can easily over take me, then I gotta decide
if I want to continue doing it myself of pay someone.
Its just like anyother service industry, you can pay for someone to clean your windows or do it yourself.
Just like how we have water fed poles and 26 inch squeeges, SEO guys have tools and resources that help them
work more efficient.
Of course I understand paying someone else being appealing when time limited etc. But folks got to weigh ROI against paying for SEO. If they SEO “guru” doesn’t produce results, then ROI is gone. Most Local doesn’t require alot of time to manage. These guys on here posting can see SEO results by simply making tweeks to signatures or topic titles etc.
My biggest gripe with most paid services is that they quite often DO NOT Know SEO. They are generally promoting PPC and just spending your money on a PPC campaign and taking a cut out of the middle. Or they don’t quite understand $$$ numbers and aren’t honest enough to tell a prospect that SEO or PPC won’t help them in thier location/service/demographic etc. I mean it is very easy to determine how often a keyword string is being searched. If it is low volume, no amaount of SEO is going to overcome that. If folks in your area are still in ice ages using non-online methods to find a window cleaner, then being #1 isn’t going to make the phone ring off the hook. So, if in reality, all you can expect to receive from top ranking is 4 calls/month, do you pay $300/month to do this? No. But most of the SEO “gurus” will only tell you that they can put you on top and you will be getting all these calls. Can they be honest enough to say “Hey, paid SEO isn’t going to help much, I’d feel bad about taking your money” Most are not.
Disclaimer, I also charge folks for SEO. But I don’t actually do it for them. I take an approach of consulting so they know how to on thier own. This way they don’t eat a huge monthly fee if they don’t need to. Or they will know how to hire the right SEO guy if they still feel the ROI will be there. I still recommend folks lean it themselves even if hiring it out so that they aren’t hiring the blind to lead the blind.
I use a company in my home town. They provide a web site and SEO for $29. The even update for me every month.
