Thursday, May 23, 2013

Real Estate Web Design and SEO Firm Announces Industry Changing Platform

 ARMERealty.com is a full service real estate web design and SEO company located in Clearwater FL, and is available for helping any real estate agency with real estate web design and SEO. ARMERealty.com does these two things exclusively for real estate professionals.

“So many SEO companies do not focus on this niche because they are trying to land as many customers as possible. For real estate professionals, a real estate web design and SEO firm that specializes and real estate is the firm they need to be able to rely on. Search engine optimization for real estate professionals is all ARMERealty.com does”, said Simon Landers of ARMERealty.com.

Real estate is a difficult business in good times but given the current economy and home prices, a realtor and a real estate agency needs full Internet marketing services with real estate web design and SEO. It is not an option for many agencies any longer. The world is moving online and the yellow pages of old are just that – old.

“So many people under fourty are no longer using traditional methods for searching for products or services. The availability of smart phones and widespread wireless Internet means instant access. This is why ARMERealty.com featuring real estate web design and SEO can keep an agency alive,” said Simon Landers.

ARMERealty.com has a complete real estate web design and SEO package for any real estate agency anywhere in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. Using techniques and search strings specifically designed for real estate, ARMERealty has a real estate web design and SEO service that will help an agency appear on the first page of the search engine research page of a major search engine.

While every agency would like to be in the first slot, it is very difficult if not impossible to achieve for a small business. ARME Realty removes this obstacle by allowing the website owner to develop 300-500 targeted web pages at a time which essentially converts into 1-5% of those website pages achieving a first page placement on Google.

For more information about ARME Realty.com visit the website or call (727) 459-8841.

Monday, May 13, 2013

How Much Should You Spend on SEO Services?

Nearly every business today must decide how much to spend on search engine optimization (SEO). This isn't an if question. Robust online marketing is imperative for survival in a web-driven world.
The question every business professional must ask is, "How much will we spend on SEO?" Keep reading for all the information you'll need to make that decision, plus some helpful tips on how SEO agencies work so you can be successful as you forge a crucial partnership with an online marketing firm.

SEO Payment Models

To understand the dollars and cents discussed below, you must understand payment models used by agencies. SEO agencies typically offer four main forms of services and payment:
  • Monthly retainer: In this model, clients pay a set fee each month in exchange for an agreed-upon array of services. The monthly retainer is the most common payment model, because it provides the greatest ROI. Monthly retainer arrangements usually include regular analytics reports, on-site content improvements, press releases, link building, keyword research, and optimization.
  • Contract services at fixed prices: Nearly all SEO agencies sell contract services. Often, before a client is ready to engage a monthly retainer, they will select contract services that they want to have completed. The services that an SEO agency offers are often advertised on their site, along with a price. A typical example of this is an SEO website audit which can help determine existing strengths and weaknesses in the client’s online presence, competitive analysis, as well as keywords that have the highest potential to return positive ROI.
  • Project-based pricing: Project fees are similar to contract services with the exception that they are custom projects created specifically for a client. Pricing varies according to the project. For example, a local cupcake shop may ask an SEO agency to help them with their local online marketing. The client decides that they want the agency to establish their social media accounts. The cupcake business and the SEO agency will decide on the scope and cost of the project.
  • Hourly consulting: This familiar consulting model is an hourly fee in exchange for services or information.
Most SEO agencies use all of these payment models. Likewise, clients may work with an agency using more than one model. For example, a client may choose to enter into a monthly retainer, purchase a contract service, and engage in a special project with the agency, thus entering into three of the payment models.

Typical SEO Costs

So, what should you expect to pay? Here's a survey of the range of the costs according to the payment models described above.
  • Monthly retainer: $750-5,000 per month. Within this range, the amount that a client pays depends on the size of their business and the extent of services provided by the agency. On the lower end of this spectrum are small SEO agencies that offer a limited range of services. On the upper range are businesses with greater needs working with full-service SEO agencies. Most businesses pay between $2,500 and $5,000 for a monthly retainer.
  • Contract services at fixed prices: price variable. Businesses that are just testing the waters in SEO usually choose a contract service as an entry point. Typical contract services include things like SEO copywriting ($0.15-$0.50/word), site content audit ($500-$7,500), link profile audit ($500-$7,500), and social media site setup ($500-$3,000).
  • Project-based pricing: price variable. Since there are a variety of projects, there is a wide range of prices. Most projects cost from $1,000 to $30,000.
  • Hourly consulting rate: $100-300/hr. SEO consultants, whether individuals or agencies, usually charge between $100 and $300 per hour.
(Some of these figures are taken from a 2011 SEOmoz survey of 500 consultants and agencies.)

Things You Should Be Suspicious of

Any discussion of SEO agencies and pricing isn't complete without a few warnings. To help you guard against indiscriminate SEO agencies with unethical business practices, read and heed. Be suspicious of the following promises:
  • Guarantees. SEO firms generally can't provide guarantees due to the constantly changing nature of the industry.
  • Instant results. True, some SEO tactics can get "instant results" by gaming the system. Be warned that these can hurt you in the long run. Instant results often involve SEO practices that are against webmaster guidelines put out by search engines. Invariably, Google seeks out these techniques and penalizes them, resulting in lost rankings that can take months to recover.
  • #1 spot on Google. If an agency promises you the number one spot on Google, it sounds great. Hopefully, you'll be able to get it. However, it's not something that a firm can promise to hand over to you.
  • Costs lower than $750/month. When it comes to SEO, you aren't shopping for the lowest price; you're seeking the best level of service. Be wary of rock bottom prices or "unbelievable deals."
  • Shady link building services. Link building is a crucial part of SEO. You can't have a highly-ranked site without inbound links. But there's a dark side of link building. Link trust is gaining importance to appear high in the rankings. Before you enter into an arrangement with an SEO agency for link building services, ensure that their link building services are ethical, white label services. You may even wish to ask them where they may be able to gain links for a business in your industry.

Things to Keep in Mind

As you begin shopping for SEO agencies and making your decision, be mindful of the following points:
  • SEO takes time. A monthly retainer is best. Think of SEO as a long-term investment. Aggressive campaigns and major pushes may have their place, but the most enduring SEO results come from a long-term relationship. In SEW's Mark Jackson wrote, "The real value of SEO efforts are, generally, not realized in the first month(s) of the effort." It's true. SEOs don't wave a magic wand and get instant results. Instead, they perform extensive operations that will produce results months down the road.
  • SEO changes, and your rankings will change, too. The field is full of competitors, and rankings rise and fall with the changing of algorithms and the entrance of new competitors. One-and-done SEO tricks simply don't work. It takes constant monitoring to keep your website ranking well and performing at top-notch levels.
  • Not all SEO services are created equal. Again, SEO isn't about shopping around for the lowest prices. It's about finding the finest agency you can. Look for an SEO agency that defines its scope of services, and takes the time to educate you.
  • SEO is important. Do it. The point of your website is to increase and/or improve your business. Unless people are finding your website, it's not even worth having one. The smart thing is to pay what it takes to keep your site findable by the people who are looking.
  • Hiring an SEO agency is best. You may be thinking, "Can't I just do this SEO thing on my own?" A tiny percentage of business owners or professionals have the skill and savvy to do their own SEO. Even so, comprehensive SEO takes way more time than most business owners can afford. Even an employee who "knows a lot about SEO," will be hard-pressed to deliver the level of services and excellence found in a SEO agency. You'll rarely come out on top if you try to go it alone, and you'll never get the same level of ROI that you would with a competent SEO agency.

You Decide

For most businesses today, SEO is the highest ROI marketing effort. The benefits it provides exceed the value of other marketing approaches – direct mailing, broadcast advertising, online ads, etc.
No longer do businesses decide whether they need SEO services. Instead, they decide how much they're going to spend. As long as they choose a quality SEO agency, their decision will lead to incredible amounts of revenue.
You can decide how much that's worth to you.

Monday, April 29, 2013

SEO Partner Announces Key Changes With Its SEO Pricing and Services, and Highlights a Marketing Must-Do for Businesses

SEO Partner has just announced it is making a minor price adjustment to one of its SEO packages. The Professional SEO Pro Pack, which delivers custom content creation and distribution to quality websites focusing on three keywords, will now be offered at $20 more. Owner and Internet marketing expert, James Schramko explains that the small price increase is due to the 50 percent spike in labor time required to complete projects. Schramko further adds that the intensified work is aimed at achieving the best results for clients.

Clients under a monthly package (ones that might serve nearly a hundred other clients), as opposed to a one-time package, will not be affected by the new SEO pricing, according to SEO Partner.

SEO Partner is part of SuperFastBusiness, owned and headed by Schramko. The division focuses on search engine optimization services and executes only the highest level of approaches. The SEO specialist ensures that their clients’ online marketing campaigns yield favorable results and that their websites achieve those high page ranks on search engines. Its current services include the SEO service packs (e.g. Pro, Domination, and Epic), Video SEO Package, SEO Reputation Repair Package, Website Check, and the newly priced SEO Expert Pack.

In addition to the new rate, SEO Partner has also revealed that high-value clients who bring in repeat business can expect to receive a focused strategy report from the company. A strategy report details the necessary methods a business needs to undertake in order to grow even bigger.

Says Schramko about this recent development in SEO Partner’s service, “We’ve been offering reports for $20 and a high percentage of those convert into sales … that’s because we are offering advice on what to do and where your pitfalls are.”

The strategy report is not the only tool businesses should consider getting. The well-known Internet marketing expert and business owner also highly recommends getting an SEO website check. He remarks, “If you’re serious about SEO, we’re serious about supplying it.”

Under SEO Partner’s website check, clients will be able to get a thorough assessment of their website before they choose an SEO service pack. The company’s team of website experts will make the corresponding recommendations and suggest the best possible pack for the client. The website check service does not include SEO repairs and is not ideal for websites that have had several warnings from search engines or ones that still implement black hat linkbuilding tactics.

Schramko, who adds that he will be releasing an informative post about image marketing, expresses, “We don’t want to work on your account if we don’t think we can fix it. We know a lot more about Penguin and Panda now that we have so many customers and we’ve seen so many search campaigns.”

For more information on how SEO Partner works to help businesses maximize their online potential, go to their website or get in touch with the SEO experts today.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Best SEO Firms Will Practice What They Preach


The Best SEO Firms Will Practice What They Preach
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The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football team practices at Potash Stadium at the University of Saskatchewan 2011-05-01

The SEO industry, unfortunately, has a relatively negative reputation. Ass-hat SEOs, an awesome term coined by Kristine Schachinger on Search Engine Watch, refers to those SEO providers that aren't SEOs at all, but they make money using our techniques while making the rest of us look bad. White hat SEO providers follow the guidelines of the search engines and black hat SEOs typically look for the loopholes (not necessarily making them evil, but its a riskier approach in my opinion). Both approaches have camps of devoted practitioners that swear by their tactics and both approaches can be incredibly successful when managed by someone who knows what they are doing. (For the record I'm in the white hat camp but that's me). But ass-hat SEOs are those that use tactics against the search engines terms of services that are known to create penalties and do not inform your client. If you are not good at black hat, but endanger your clients even when they know the risks, you're an asshat!

Its the ass-hat SEOs out there that have given the rest of us a bad reputation; they burn site owners with their approach and train our potential clients to believe that all SEO providers are out to scam them and play Russian roulette with their websites. We as real SEO providers need to educate would-be clients how to avoid these ass-hat SEOs and this is the best piece of advice I can offer site owners:
The best SEO firms (or consultants) will practice what they preach.
1. Does a prospective SEO partner have a presence in the search engines?

In case you didn't know, SEO is a highly competitive keyword and there are a few big SEO sites and agencies that tend to dominate the SERPs for it. For instance, my company has been in business for over 7 years and I know were still a long way from cracking the top ten for SEO. But a good SEO firm understands that there are more keywords out there than just SEO that they could effectively compete for and they do. This is the same approach they should take for your site as well. Your small business IT services company in New Mexico is probably never going to unseat IBM for a keyword like IT services in completely neutral SERPs (meaning no personalization factors are at play) no matter how much you want to. But that doesn't mean you cant build a search presence for yourself using other long tail and localized keywords with the help of a good SEO provider. If you cant find a prospective SEO provider in the SERPs without doing a lot of digging you might want to approach with caution. They could just be a new firm and still do a great job, or they could be an ass-hat that set up shop two weeks ago because someone told them that offering SEO services is a great way to make money fast.
2. Does a prospective SEO partner have a real social media presence?

They might not have 1000s of followers and fans but lets hope the few they do have are real people! Ass-hat SEO tends to believe in the more followers, more better attitude and will create or buy fake profiles to increase their numbers. Lets be honest, 100 robots aren't even worth 1 real social follower. Your prospective SEO firm doesn't need to have thousands of fans and hundreds of shares on every piece of content they create but they should have some kind of social media presence. Even a small group of loyal fans, follower and blog readers can have a positive impact on your SEO over time. Social and SEO get more and more intertwined every day and a good SEO firm takes advantage of every opportunity they're presented with, including social signals.
3. Does a prospective SEO partner offer advice that is consistent with other reputable sources?

There are hundreds of SEO blogs out there and, thanks to the glory of the Internet, anyone can say pretty much whatever they want about anything and call it a day. In my opinion, a good SEO firm is going to be offering the same kind of advice in their blog and on their site that many of the industry leaders also say. Not to say that there is only one right way of doing SEO but if you read a dozen blog posts on sites like Search Engine Watch and Marketing Land (and even this blog!) that say one thing and a prospective SEO partner says something else chances are the other dozen sites aren't the ones in the wrong. Ass-hat SEOs, like Kristine said in her article, are the ones that don't really know what they are doing and unfortunately its your website that is on the line. Why put your business in the hands of someone that isn't going to do right by you?

There are probably hundreds of full-service SEO agencies and consultants out there and, contrary to what it may look like at times, most of us aren't looking to make a quick buck. Id be the majority of us actually care about your clients (crazy at that sounds!) and want to help you succeed as much as you want to. But those few ass-hat SEOs out there make it that much harder for the rest of us to. Don't let an ass-hat SEO ruin your website and look for an SEO firm that practices what they preach for their own business!

Monday, March 18, 2013

SEO Tips for Surviving the Post Penguin Effect

During the last couple of years, off-page and on-page search engine optimization has changed a lot; Google is working hard to give better rank to those websites which have used genuine means and working organically to enhance the website traffic. First with Panda and then Penguin, Google kept on changing the search engine algorithms. The penguin updates came like a shock for the website owners relying too much on paid back links.

With the penguin update Google made it clear that websites who are not using organic means will be penalized. Penguin emphasized on off-page strategies, if the links which are placed on a thin content website and are directing towards your website, you will be degraded.

Penguin checks even the boring content, sometimes while writing business brochures and business deals, it is really difficult to write it in an interesting way. So don't increase the pages and try to conclude your business brochures in as less pages as possible.

The system of present ranking lies on getting the in-built links from the genuine and great content holding websites. So if you want to survive this panda effect, find your low value back links and remove them. Nowadays webmasters are trying every technique to ditch the search engine valuation algorithm. To achieve this they use some black listed techniques, in return they lose their ranking.

Some SEO mentors can be seen advising on penguin SEO tips, not to post too much articles on web directories as their links don't matter in the search engine optimization. Well they are not true as a matter of fact these article directories still do have their importance. But the point is that you post in the relevant niche and the published content must be of good quality. A well written article will increase the ranking of the author. A number of article directories have been penalized by Google for example Ezine but after Google decreased the rank of Ezine, this website became strict on the content. So when you are writing an article, don't incorporate too many keywords. Using too many keywords is considered as black hat tactics and it is black listed by Google.

Webmasters who are not following the penguin updates will suffer. Google wishes to provide you the genuine websites in the search results on the basis of organic means used for ranking. Penguin update ensures that good quality websites will not face competition with low quality websites. So the owners who are striving hard to produce a good quality website shall be pleased with this update.

Neither it is easy nor the matter is fully available to understand how the system of author ranking works? The algorithm is secret and to know more about penguin SEO tips small business SEO from the Google itself, you can refer to Google webmasters tools.