A little scared, excited, and stumped!

[RCGurus]

Okay so I am only 17 years old. I have my own website. It was my screen name here on the forum until the word g.u...r..u is now goobers, so that doesnt help ..

But my friends father owns a web site. It isnt doing much for him so he wants me to redesign the site, seo, and just bring him business overall. Now I can design a site but the seo part is something I havent quite mastered. What is your suggestion? Should I just soak up as much as i can right now?

I was also wondering how much should i recieve for such work? He wants me to redesign the site, update it, and make it in the top spots of google's search engines. It is a fence company here in the orlando area.

One more question. How do I find out who the domain is registered under? I should be given all the login info. tomorrow. I just want to know what im working with ahead of time

[fthomas137]

Ohhhh. If I had a business approach me to do just that, I would be charging easily $2,000-$5,000 depending on the size and amount of revamping required. Also, be careful to give "NO" guarantees of number one positions in Google. There are no guarantees. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

To find out who the domain is registered by, just do a whois search on it. google whois and you'll find a good site in the top 10.

SEO, is a skill in it's own. I've been working more then full time for about 17 months and am still mastering it. I'd recommend skimming this forum for more info on SEO. There are a lot of quality WSO's available on just that topic. For creating backlinks, consider Angela's backlink lists. Top quality stuff.

Best of luck!

Frank

[ExRat]

Hi RCgoobers,

How do I find out who the domain is registered under?

here

What is your suggestion?

Be straight with him. Tell him you're confident about design, but for SEO -

a) you're not so experienced

b) (if you think this is true) - you think you can learn it as you go and you're willing to have a go - does that work for him?

[RCGurus]

Thanks alot both of you! I have told him that SEO is something that takes time to learn and engage into your site. I believe he understands. So I will have a talk with him. Im not sure this is a good thing or not but he said if the site brings money then ill be making alot of money. Good?

[Tom Brite]

Originally Posted by RCGoobers

Thanks alot both of you! I have told him that SEO is something that takes time to learn and engage into your site. I believe he understands. So I will have a talk with him. Im not sure this is a good thing or not but he said if the site brings money then ill be making alot of money. Good?

Take a look at the google local search (google maps) option which will give him a top listing linking to his site. However you will need to research his keywords carefully.

Then just add his site and address into the google map and hey presto you have a top listing pointing towards his site.

Then after that you can worry about getting his actual site to the top. For that you will need backlinks.

Tom Brite

[RCGurus]

Are you talking like this? kevins fence - Google Search

[ExRat]

Hi RCgoobers,

Im not sure this is a good thing or not but he said if the site brings money then ill be making alot of money. Good?

No, it means he's trying to introduce the idea of paying you only when he earns money. Resist! You need at least something up front, ideally all of it.

Man I wish I could be young and so un-grizzled by the years again

[jasonl70]

I agree with Roger - this almost always is used as a way to not pay.

I've done this sort of deal for businesses owned by friends/family - they would pay per lead, etc... Worse yet, being friends/family, they were handshake deals.

Bad idea.

Just one of them alone should be paying me 10k more a month then they do! Their excuse - "I can't pay TWO commissions, one to you, one to the sales guy". (Then why did they agree to?)

Another one is underpaying me by about 7k a month for leads - their excuse? "Times are real tough right now - I wouldn't be able to cover pay roll if I paid you all that". (Then why did they agree to? and how tough would it be to cover pay roll with out the extra business it generated?)

"The extra business is tying up 200k a month in capital - I can't afford to pay you like that" (Then why did they agree to?)

Another has told me "My managers would have a fit if I paid you that, unless you worked here every day 8-5"!! (Then why did they agree to?)

People seem to put a high value on the extra business before hand, but once you deliver it to them it's like they resent how easy it appears for you to do it, and regret agreeing to pay you what they agreed to. I also think in my case there's a lot of resentment that an 'outsider' to their business can have such a dramatic impact.

[John Taylor]

Originally Posted by RCGoobers

Im not sure this is a good thing or not but he said if the site brings money then ill be making alot of money. Good?

That depends on how much trust there might
be in your relationship.

One thing you might consider..

Ask him if he'd be willing to pay on a per lead or
on an affiliate commission basis.

Set up your own website using a primary keyword
in the domain name.

Put all your SEO efforts into your own site and
build the site around review pages for all his main
products and services.

That will allow you to keep control and to track all
the traffic that you send to his site.

If there is any ever issue about non-payment you
still control the site and you can switch the traffic
to another merchant in the same business.

John

[RCGurus]

Thanks a Ton everyone! Alot of great idea and help has come to me. This just makes it that much easier.