Choosing a good IM company

[Supermoves]

So, I have been a member of this forum for a few weeks now. I joined because I just started a small website and I was looking for ideas to get traffic. I have since come to 2 conclusions:

1) I would have to put weeks, maybe months, into learning how to do this myself

2) Everyone on this forum is making $1 million dollars every 30 seconds and they can all get my site ranked #1 on google starting yesterday.

How do I find the best "bang for the buck" IM company. As a new site, I cant spend $1,000 per month, but I dont expect something for nothing either.

Further, I do not sell anything on my site, I run a U.S. defense and intelligence news aggregator site. Which apparently makes my life hell, because the good people at google are too stupid and short-sighted to find any value in aggretators.

Any suggestions on how to choose a good company, or if anyone knows an IM company that specializes in aggregator sites, I'd love to know!

Thanks!

[Emaloy97]

Originally Posted by Supermoves

So, I have been a member of this forum for a few weeks now. I joined because I just started a small website and I was looking for ideas to get traffic. I have since come to 2 conclusions:

1) I would have to put weeks, maybe months, into learning how to do this myself

2) Everyone on this forum is making $1 million dollars every 30 seconds and they can all get my site ranked #1 on google starting yesterday.

How do I find the best "bang for the buck" IM company. As a new site, I cant spend $1,000 per month, but I dont expect something for nothing either.

Further, I do not sell anything on my site, I run a U.S. defense and intelligence news aggregator site. Which apparently makes my life hell, because the good people at google are too stupid and short-sighted to find any value in aggretators.

Any suggestions on how to choose a good company, or if anyone knows an IM company that specializes in aggregator sites, I'd love to know!

Thanks!

Well first no one makes 2 mil a minute, much less jsut starting out. It takes work. The best thing is to work on it yourself. internet marketing is NOT EASY! If it was no one would work a "real" job. Besides, if you have experience you will know what a good deal is and what isnt.

[pdrs]

My experience is that you need to build your own team if you really want to see any sort of ROI, and in order to build your own team, you need to know what to have them do.

You might be able to find a company and pay them x amount of dollars so that you receive x + 20% dollars back from your site but I sure haven't found them! (let me know if you do).

There is no magic bullet, can you imagine me opening up a Cheesecake store (most random thing I could think of and I really want some cheesecake right now) with absolutely no baking experience or any culinary experience aside from knowing how to use a BBQ, and expecting to just hire a few people and have it turn into a profitable business?

I *might* get lucky, but that's not a sound plan and 99% of the time it's just going to end in disaster and ****ty cheesecake.

If you're not willing to learn the fundamentals of the business you're in first then I wouldn't waste any money trying to get someone else to do it all for you, chances are you'll just end up giving someone a bunch of your money.

[Supermoves]

Ok, I have a site...its getting 3k uniques per month without ranking in top 100 for ANY keyword. I want to get to about 5-8k uniques per month so I can start soliciting advertisers.

I simply do not have the man hours to dedicate to learning this stuff. Nor do many other business owners. Which is why SEO companies exist. If we had time to do it, no one would pay someone else.

There are a million Warriors advertising their services right on this site. I just dont know what to look for/ask them to figure out if they are really as good as they say..and they all say they are the best, lol.

[JerrickYeoh]

I believe they are no SEO or marketer company that able to make you ranked one in the SERP within this short time , some keywords maybe but not all. Unless your keywords competition is zero.
You might need to check out lot of review while lot of service outside to help you improve your website and train you how to earn big buck in short time. But even expert might not guarantee everyone can made it .

[leadsuccess]

As many here will tell you, there is no SEO expert, just those that figured out bits and pieces and repeat that over and over till it stops working. In other words there are the tried and true SEO methods but certain techniques that work really well but not for that long. That brings me to my next point; you always have to change, ebb and flow. You take a break for a year in SEO and it's like you took a break for 5 years, ok maybe not that extreme but you get the point.

So choosing a good SEO company? You may have to do that a few times, be prepared to hear the I can get you in the top spot, really, if it where that easy then everyone would be in the top spot, it's common sense, so just watch out for these SEO guys, they are everywhere.

What I would always tell my potential clients is it's going to take a lot of work to SEO properly, but they always want it right then and there, a quick fix, so they go with the quick fix guy who ended up hurting there SEO efforts more. So what I am saying? Go with someone that is going to take care of enhancing your SEO not working a miracle.

It was mentioned to learn it yourself, yes you should if for no other reason than to make sure your "SEO Expert" is doing the job right.

[pdrs]

Originally Posted by Supermoves

Ok, I have a site...its getting 3k uniques per month without ranking in top 100 for ANY keyword. I want to get to about 5-8k uniques per month so I can start soliciting advertisers.

I simply do not have the man hours to dedicate to learning this stuff. Nor do many other business owners. Which is why SEO companies exist. If we had time to do it, no one would pay someone else.

There are a million Warriors advertising their services right on this site. I just dont know what to look for/ask them to figure out if they are really as good as they say..and they all say they are the best, lol.

Sorry if I came off a bit preachy :P I didn't mean too... but you're mistaken in thinking that the main reason SEO Companies exist is because they work for other companies.

They exist first and foremost because the operators have figured out that people will give them money to do a service that they really don't understand, and as long as people keep giving them money, they'll continue to exist.

The truth is most SEO companies won't help you in the least and without the experience I talked about before, it's not like I can just lay out 5 questions to ask them to make sure everything will go smoothly with the one you do choose.

Don't get me wrong - there is nothing wrong with using an SEO company if you know what you're doing and exactly what you want to achieve, but a VERY large portion of their income comes from people just paying them in the exact situation you're in and in the long term won't see any return on investment.

I watched a guy who was an arm-chair SEO blow through almost 80k on SEO services (and he actually thought he knew what he was doing).

You're right, there are hundreds if not thousands of people on the WF offering services and the vast majority are probably not worth their salt. All I'm saying is spend some time learning about SEO and try hiring a few people on your own - it won't take as long as you think and it's just smart business if you want to get involved in online endeavours.

Also - to state the obvious - if you're getting 3k visitors a month without any top 100 rankings... why screw around with trying to fool Google in the first place - just keep doing what you're doing man and you'll get to 10k no problem without having to blow a bunch of cash on marketers - you're in a pretty enviable position when seen be alot of people on here

[sammib01]

I have seen real SEO and it does work, but it is very rare. It is impossible to know if someone can really help you. Most of these people hide behind their big words, short 3 to 4 letter imaginary acronyms or apronyms and statistics they have created or found somewhere.

It is much like black magic, as long as noone knows exactly what, why and how you are doing it you will find people willing to pay for it just incase there is some validity or use for it. More power to the SEO, SEM and black magic masters of the universe. The weak shall inherit the.... or was it the meek... what ever. ;-)

[Supermoves]

So basically I'm screwed...fabulous, lol

[TolyZ]

If you looking for SEO services you can pm me. I've been in business for over 3 years now. Competitive pricing + results guaranteed.

[LetsGoViral]

1) If people were making that money, they would not be posting on this forum.
2) Getting the #1 spot in serps for competitive keywords is the holy grail.
3) If you wish to outsource the link building, article and other processes you still need to know what to buy.

Sorry, pal, looks like you are still going to need to learn at least the basics of internet marketing in order to get something out of it.

[SteveFinch]

Honest SEO basically comes down to writing things that people want to read about en masse. In my opinion you are doing plenty that is right already, to have those kind of visitor numbers.

So just carry on as you are, and the whole thing will surely grow naturally. Keep your money in your pocket mate.

[Bryan Zazz]

Originally Posted by Supermoves

So basically I'm screwed...fabulous, lol

No you're not screwed. What previous posts are saying is that
you're in the same position like everybody else, and the black art masters
don't really have magical powers, they're more like illusionists.
Also, if you got such results by yourself, then you must be doing something right.
Just keep doing what you do. Don't screw with what works ... but maybe try to figure out
why it does work in the first place (?)
cheers!

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[Supermoves]

Originally Posted by Bryan Zazz

No you're not screwed. What previous posts are saying is that
you're in the same position like everybody else, and the black art masters
don't really have magical powers, they're more like illusionists.
Also, if you got such results by yourself, then you must be doing something right.
Just keep doing what you do. Don't screw with what works ... but maybe try to figure out
why it does work in the first place (?)
cheers!

I have to admit, I dont know why people think 3k uniques is so great. You cant sell advertising with such low traffic. I havent really done much. I have a $5 per day adwords account and $5 per day Yahoo search accounts and I also have had two mentions on other industry sites purely by luck.

Im trying to get out on the facebook bandwagon as well, but I dont even have a personal facebook page, lol.

[pdrs]

Originally Posted by Supermoves

I have to admit, I dont know why people think 3k uniques is so great. You cant sell advertising with such low traffic. I havent really done much. I have a $5 per day adwords account and $5 per day Yahoo search accounts and I also have had two mentions on other industry sites purely by luck.

Im trying to get out on the facebook bandwagon as well, but I dont even have a personal facebook page, lol.

It's not that 3k is necessarily so great (in your case at least, I'd take 3k targeted traffic to one of my Amazon sites any day and make a few hundred a day...) It's just that if you can get to 3k then you can get to 10k or 20k

Just keep doing what you're doing man, everything takes time and wasting a few grand isn't going to save you any time or make you any more money.

As far as selling advertising, are you currently using adsense? Surely that many uniques a day should net you 10-20 bucks a day at least. If it doesn't the traffic might not worth going after, and no SEO company is going to help that.

[Supermoves]

Originally Posted by pdrs

It's not that 3k is necessarily so great (in your case at least, I'd take 3k targeted traffic to one of my Amazon sites any day and make a few hundred a day...) It's just that if you can get to 3k then you can get to 10k or 20k

Just keep doing what you're doing man, everything takes time and wasting a few grand isn't going to save you any time or make you any more money.

As far as selling advertising, are you currently using adsense? Surely that many uniques a day should net you 10-20 bucks a day at least. If it doesn't the traffic might not worth going after, and no SEO company is going to help that.

Thanks for the advice! My site (The Intelligence News | Defense News | Military Intelligence) is a news site, which I hope to sell advertising on. So aside from selling ads, there is no way that 120 uniques per day, 3600 per month can makes me $10-$20 per day, because Im not selling anything. I just have to wait till I get to 5k uniques and I can get $200 per month from 4 advertisers.

[morg2k2]

Well,

i have visited your website and i can advise/suggest/recommend that you increase the quality of your webiste because this one has the look of a website of the 80´s , so people will look at graphical and design look of any site, if it sucks.... and honestly your sucks (i´m trying to be honest here). So firstly i recommend you to hire someone or some company to redesign you website with a look of 2012. You will understand what i´m telling you if you have Google Analytics and check the Average visitor time and the bounce rate.

Then instead of SEO buy traffic, since you niche is very general, basically you will require News traffic USA targeted and you can find it really cheap compared with the 1k you wanted to spent monthly in SEO i believe this will be more useful.

I hope it helps.

Regards,
Morg

[subbun]

Originally Posted by Supermoves

So, I have been a member of this forum for a few weeks now. I joined because I just started a small website and I was looking for ideas to get traffic. I have since come to 2 conclusions:

1) I would have to put weeks, maybe months, into learning how to do this myself

2) Everyone on this forum is making $1 million dollars every 30 seconds and they can all get my site ranked #1 on google starting yesterday.

How do I find the best "bang for the buck" IM company. As a new site, I cant spend $1,000 per month, but I dont expect something for nothing either.

Further, I do not sell anything on my site, I run a U.S. defense and intelligence news aggregator site. Which apparently makes my life hell, because the good people at google are too stupid and short-sighted to find any value in aggretators.

Any suggestions on how to choose a good company, or if anyone knows an IM company that specializes in aggregator sites, I'd love to know!

Thanks!

First you read members threads and get some idea what to do and not to do, then you can implement the same for your sites.

[John Romaine]

I havent read all of the responses here, but personally Id recommend either buying a decent course, attending a hands on workshop, or of course, if you only want to have other people do the work....try wlmarketing.com or internetmarketingninjas.com

In any case, you'll need to make an investment.

[Supermoves]

This thread has been more helpful to me than you guys know...thank you so much for all of your input.

To the one person who suggested a redesign of the site...the site design is modeled after a very popular site called the drudge report. Most people interested in my niche will know this site. They get 350 million uniques per month. Amazing, right? So I designed my site after that one on purpose. 90% of people who view my site will have seen Drudge and know the format.

[Bryan Zazz]

Originally Posted by Supermoves

This thread has been more helpful to me than you guys know...thank you so much for all of your input.

To the one person who suggested a redesign of the site...the site design is modeled after a very popular site called the drudge report. Most people interested in my niche will know this site. They get 350 million uniques per month. Amazing, right? So I designed my site after that one on purpose. 90% of people who view my site will have seen Drudge and know the format.

Great point! If you know your viewer, give him what he/she wants, not what you like. I agree that your site fonts look a bit 007-ish ... it will auto-destruct in 10 sec., but hey, what do I know. Some suggested that the site is too general, so you should specialize somehow, to differentiate yourself from the "big gorilla" 350M uniques you mentioned... so you need some differetiator else why would uniques be attracted to you ... just a thought

[Supermoves]

Originally Posted by Bryan Zazz

Great point! If you know your viewer, give him what he/she wants, not what you like. I agree that your site fonts look a bit 007-ish ... it will auto-destruct in 10 sec., but hey, what do I know. Some suggested that the site is too general, so you should specialize somehow, to differentiate yourself from the "big gorilla" 350M uniques you mentioned... so you need some differetiator else why would uniques be attracted to you ... just a thought

Thanks Bryan...the "gorilla" site is a political news site that leans conservative. My site is defense and intelligence news. So we cover very different topics, although both topics are often of interest to the same crowd.