SEO Reseller / SEO services feedback needed (Hubshout, eBrandz, Endless Rise, Zeno, etc...)

[Zaxx]

Hi fellow Warriors. I am looking to get some honest feedback/suggestions from people who have actually used services of an outsourced SEO company. I have looked at many options including Hubshout, eBrandz, Endless Rise, Zeno SEO and others. Obviously, they all sound good on paper (screen :-) ) and they all say they will do a great job, but the packages are very different as is the pricing. I am also very much open to other outsourced SEO options including a la carte services. I just want true opinions/reviews from those who have used them.

A quick bit of background - I have several sites to optimize, some are brand new and some have been around a while. I have SEO knowledge, but I don;t have the time to do all of the SEO work myself (or for that matter even to keep up on the seemingly daily changes in the SEO industry). I have realistic expectations about what is possible so I just want to be as sure as possible that I will not throw money away on ineffective or overpriced services.

Thanks a million for your forthcoming input!!

-Zaxx

[Michael Mayo]

Zaxx,
You will get more targeted answers posting SEO related questions in the
Adsense / PPC / SEO Discussion Forum


Have a Great Day!
Michael

[purdue512]

Yeah - You should check out the other discussions that exist on this board. I know that I've talked to many people personally from TWF and some of them have posted feedback in the threads. I believe that's what you're looking for, right?

I also know that a few of our customers have posted over at SEO Chat Forums - another great source for honest / unbiased information on SEO resellers.

BTW - Smart move on your part to seek references. So few people actually do that and it amazes me.

Best of luck...

[willyyard]

Hi Zaxx,

Most of the companies name that you mentioned (ebrandz, Hubshout etc), did you ever looked at their team, who is actually going to work on your website. They used to hire fresher from the local market (who having less than 2 year of experience) and handover the website for link building task, they dont even give proper attention on title and meta description tag, this is the fact.

However there are few good companies offering seo reseller and they have strong seo team with good team experience. So choose carefully and make sure to have look who is going to work on your website.

[Milind]

Hi. I represent eBrandz. I agree that you should seek references from members here. Also talk to the agency's clients and seek out what their experience is.

And you are correct - each agency's offering is different. So its very difficult to compare apples with oranges. I would recommend that you do an analysis of how much your clients can afford to pay you per month. Divide it by 2 or 3 and that is the amount you would be paying monthly to the white label SEO company. Based on this budget see which companies are a match and then seek out their references.

Hope this helps.

[mattpaul2000]

This may sound silly but you may want to look at Warriors For Hire...Warriors will offer this service. It certainly something I am interested in looking at for my own offline clients.

[mattpaul2000]

Let me also add the Classified section to that

[Milind]

Warriors for hire and classifieds is one way to go. But endlessrise, hubshout and ebrandz all have white label customer dashboard. I think a few others also have a dashboard. Some of the dashboards pull data using APIS from Google, SEOmoz, Majestic and also have social apps.

IF you want to enable your clients to have their own dashboard, then it makes sense researching a white label SEO reseller company which offers you and your clients a dashboard.

If you don't want these bells and whistles, then you can basically outsource to bunch of people at different places and save a few bucks.

[purdue512]

I agree. Hiring Warriors is a very cost-effective way to get things done. I've done a ton of hiring around here and have been generally satisfied. That being said, you also get what you pay for.


I think Milind is right. Where hiring your own crew starts to break down is on a few points:


1) Having custom software for your end-clients:


Unless you are a software wizard yourself, it's going to be hard to compete with the big guys on this topic. Many of the data aggregation subscriptions are very expensive and, therefore, are out of reach for many small time dudes.


2) Reliability:


One of my biggest frustrations when I used to hire people on the side from TWF, DP and other forums was the reliability factor. Sure, the deals are great. But finding people to actually do what they say they are going to do is amazingly low.


3) Expertise:


I know this one might be tricky to talk about because there are a thousand different ways to SEO your way to the top of the search engines.... Let's just say that I see tons of advice on these forums that I don't agree with. Furthermore, when I hire people in here I often use a test site to see what they are doing... I have had some sites punted back to page 80 or worse LOL :-) When you go with the big guys, you have their full track record behind them... I know at HubShout, we've never had a customer penalized. We'd rather have people quit the program because it was taking too long than to ever see someone penalized.... And those who don't quit / have the patience it really takes for high quality SEO are very happy in the end.


Enough rambling on my part. Hope that helps your decision. When it comes to an SEO reseller I'm always the first to say "try it yourself first".... Why? Because I was a little guy doing myself just a few years ago (it's try - look at my posts from 2007)...


Cheers...


adam

[krishnarockz]

Hi Zaxx,

I read ur thread and will be happy to serve you my best work for you. I have no charges for the work it depends on you to pay. I have a team of 10 people having 3+ years experience in this field. I am honest in my work and if I neglect something in my work I will not charge u a single penny.

[purdue512]

Originally Posted by krishnarockz

Hi Zaxx,

I read ur thread and will be happy to serve you my best work for you. I have no charges for the work it depends on you to pay. I have a team of 10 people having 3+ years experience in this field. I am honest in my work and if I neglect something in my work I will not charge u a single penny.

I think he said he was looking for some honest feedback from people who had used outsourcing organizations before... Not a sales pitch... LOL


Oh well... I guess that's gonna happen.


I was trying to think of other places you could go for objective feedback and suggestions on which services to try.... Obviously, talking to Warrior Forum members is a great start. But also remember, that most larger companies are not going to spend time in any place called "The Warrior Forum." I mean no offense by this as I've been hanging out here since 2007... I'm just stating that the type of audience you have here is MUCH more slanted toward the do-it-yourself crowd... (Again - I like those types of people).


You may want to consider other forums on the internet where bigger business folks hang out... You might find references through your linked-in network... You could also call whoever you are considering (including us) and ask for references. I am always amazed by how few people actually check references... It is a REALLY REALLY REALLY good idea... It cuts through the sales pitches and gets to how it really was to work with someone - warts and all.


And don't believe anyone who tells you there are not warts when it comes to SEO. There are always problems. SEO is a messy business, with very ambiguous definitions and TONS of customer confusion. This sets the stage for people to feel badly about a service unless you are really transparent with them.

[jetsetter883]

i have been thinking about starting a small SEO company and using outsourcing. Am I right to assume that it is best to rank local businesses as opposed to online ones though? Because, is not the competition more fierce in trying to find online clients to rank..?

Also.. how often do you get pissed off clients who want to see results right away and don't know anything about SEO or how it works? Is this par for the course or do most clients have a general understanding of the sort of 'no guarantees' world of SEO?

[jetsetter883]

^ anyone?

[Milind]

Am I right to assume that it is best to rank local businesses as opposed to online ones though? Because, is not the competition more fierce in trying to find online clients to rank..?

The answer to your question depends on who your target audience is. If you can get local businesses as clients, then yes go for it. But why restrict only to local businesses ? Of course you will get clients who would want to pay few hundred bucks per month and would like to rank #1 for casino, pill, finance related keywords. You should be able to handle them.

Also.. how often do you get pissed off clients who want to see results right away and don't know anything about SEO or how it works? Is this par for the course or do most clients have a general understanding of the sort of 'no guarantees' world of SEO?

This depends on your sales process. Most clients ask about guarantees before signing up. Also a basic understanding of SEO should be part of your sales process. There is no point in getting people to pay for SEO if they dont have patience of few weeks/ months to see results. Even after doing this, we find sometimes clients bail. But if your sales rep basically promises everything for a sale, it would be difficult to handle client expectations.