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Wordpress: Should I do my own SEO or hire help?

by Key Seek
32 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Greetings,


I have a site that is looking quite good. I used Wordpress. About a year ago I built a site using Weebley, and it was terrible.


But this time I have something that looks good. I have lots of scientific articles and I write constantly. I can crank out 2-3 high quality articles a week. I taught college for years and my one viable skill is writing.


I mention that because everyone says "Content" when asked what is the most important component of SEO.


I have that covered. Unfortunately, I am an idiot in terms of technology. Really. I have a PhD but an 8 year old has more tech skills than I have.


I am willing to work, but should I? I know the Google algorithms have changed and content is key, but should I outsource the technical aspects of SEO? I have heard that SEO can cost as little as $100 per month, but to do it right you need to spend a min of $500.


Please advise, and thank you.
#hire #seo #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

    Greetings,


    I have a site that is looking quite good. I used Wordpress. About a year ago I built a site using Weebley, and it was terrible.


    But this time I have something that looks good. I have lots of scientific articles and I write constantly. I can crank out 2-3 high quality articles a week. I taught college for years and my one viable skill is writing.


    I mention that because everyone says "Content" when asked what is the most important component of SEO.


    I have that covered. Unfortunately, I am an idiot in terms of technology. Really. I have a PhD but an 8 year old has more tech skills than I have.


    I am willing to work, but should I? I know the Google algorithms have changed and content is key, but should I outsource the technical aspects of SEO? I have heard that SEO can cost as little as $100 per month, but to do it right you need to spend a min of $500.


    Please advise, and thank you.


    The basics of SEO never change. Followed backlinks + plain text rank pages, everything else is optional depending on what you're trying to do on the SERPs. You still need to be careful where you get the links, all link sources aren't equal (quality vs junk (long term vs short term)) assuming you care about the site.

    Each SEO job requires a custom price considering each keyword has unique competition on Google SERPs. You won't rank for a competitive keyword with a $100 or $500 budget while outsourcing the work.

    If you have the time, my advice is learn SEO and do the work yourself.
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  • Profile picture of the author amritrr
    I think your main dilemma is whether to do SEO yourself or outsource to an expert. The answer would depend on if you have enough time to learn and do SEO yourself, and if you have the money to spare to pay an SEO agency.

    If you are dead serious about the business, then hire someone. SEO and different aspects of marketing can sometimes be quite overwhelming.
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

    But this time I have something that looks good. I have lots of scientific articles and I write constantly. I can crank out 2-3 high quality articles a week. I taught college for years and my one viable skill is writing.
    I don't know what type of "science" you write about, but SEO in a way is exactly that, science. There are rules, there is cause and effect, there is testing with conclusions positive negative and nul. its all there. People with Engineering or Science based backgrounds I think generally pick up the basics of SEO pretty easy.

    However, having said that.. there tends to be a rub of sorts... Technical writing, and what I call "web writing" are 2 different things. Some of the best information that can be found on the web I think happens to fall onto page 10 or 20 and in some cases even further, and it has nothing to do with the subject being written about, but who the writing is targeting.

    trying to think of a metaphor here... lets say math.. it starts with addition then subtraction, multiplication then division. There comes a point where "X" is introduced. X is apples and oranges and slices of pie... stuff that everyone understands. As you continue your education.. X changes... it is defined... its going to trade school and learning about ratios to determine pitch of a roof, or how to do fractions 1/16 1/8 1/4 for those in building trades. It becomes Velocity, or Energy, or Resistance.

    The more refined your writing, the lessor your audience. This may not be a bad thing. I think if you read WF enough you will understand that focusing on a subject is a good thing. But, understanding what to focused looks like is something to bear in mind.

    It sounds to me like you are making a shift in your life.. you have passion for what it is you do, and you are missing the sharing that you have done for all these years. I think its only natural that you would want to extend that to the internet.

    Lets take a step back from the subject for a moment.. what is it you want to come from this? is there some concept of monetizing your efforts? are you just wanting something to do, and a blog sounds great? whats YOUR X? in other words.. what does success in this endeavor look like to you? ( you don't have to answer that by the way - just something for you to think about )

    I think this might be a great article for you to start your adventure; https://blog.bufferapp.com/rand-fishkin I could see you liking Rand, something about his style screams College Prof. Another reading selection... not so much SEO based, but more Conversion Rate Optimization ( CRO ) based. https://www.meclabs.com/ click on the "research" tab and prepare to loose a few days. Why I suggest this... You stated you "have something that looks good" and reading meclabs, might start you in the direction of something that will not only look good, but function good. How to get X.

    Hope that Helps - and best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesse Win
    If you have the time I would say learn do it yourself. From what Ive read I think you would do just fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author dijani
    Best is you to watch few videos on Youtube and search for question around WEB, if u ask other to do the job for you it takes time and not all may do the job correctly so best is to learn it your self. This days by doing a search on internet you will find or get reply to just about anything you need to know, good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
    Thank you all very much, great advice!


    I am thinking of getting the free Yoast plug in and putting my nose to the grinder.


    My short term memory has been damaged (long story, I won't bore you) but I can devote a solid 3-4 hours to working every day.


    I appreciate very much your help.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

      I am thinking of getting the free Yoast plug in and putting my nose to the grinder.
      Just a word of advice, don't put all of your eggs into the yoast basket. there are things it does very well, and there are others.. well not so well. Yes you will want to change the title of the page, more than likely you will want to add a description... Basically the structure aspects, yoast is the tool. Some of the other aspects like keyword count etc, maybe play with them a bit, but I don't use them if that is saying anything.
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      • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
        what about the WP "All in one SEO pack?"
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

          what about the WP "All in one SEO pack?"
          Of the 2 I prefer yoast..
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  • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
    Here is my situation: I once had a very high IQ and math was very easy for me. Relationships regarding data would pretty much leap out at me. Unfortunately, some events plus medication I currently take have obliterated my short term memory.


    I am an idiot Savant, with the emphasis on idiot.


    I can do an hour long lecture on extremely technical topics with less than 5 minutes of prep, as long as they are concepts rooted in my long term memory.


    I would give brilliant lectures, and then forget about exams I left lying about.


    If I go into another room to get something, I forget what it was by the time I am in the other room.


    As mentioned, this problem is caused by a medication I take. I won't get into details, but not taking this medication is not an option.


    Bizarre, yes, but that is my reality.


    I have noticed, that a good short term memory is needed when doing computer related work.


    Nonetheless, I have a strong work ethic. I am willing and able to devote 3-4 hours a day 6 days a week to this project, as I am only working part time.


    I plan on implementing a note taking system to help with my damaged short term memory. When it comes to learning, there are workarounds


    Is this plan viable? Can I utilize the program (Yoast) with my damaged short term memory?


    Again, thank you all very much.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

      Is this plan viable? Can I utilize the program (Yoast) with my damaged short term memory?
      If you implement the note taking strategy, I don't see why not, once you are past the initial setup aspect, its a simple routine to fill in boxes when you are publishing a new post.
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  • Profile picture of the author automathings
    You're not clear on how you plan to monetize the site. Are you selling something or do you hope to make money from advertising? Do you own a business with an address?

    Beware of cheap SEO's, most are useless and can be downright harmful. They will get you temporary traffic before Google catches on and penalizes your site into oblivion.

    You can learn most of what you need to know on Moz for free. There are very few secrets anymore, and if you do figure something out that isn't against their terms of service, it is a closely guarded secret (until the next Google update makes it obsolete, that is). The most important things are publishing original, engaging content on a regular basis (which is sounds like you have covered), and people linking to you (a.k.a. backlinks). The optimal blog post size is around 2,200 words and you should have original pictures to keep people interested.

    If you have $500 a month to spend and a product to sell, you can go directly to paid advertising. There are many cheap books on Amazon that tell you how to do that.

    These days, social media is very important. Keep building quality content and try to establish relationships, just like in real life. Build an email list for your newsletter. Submit your sitemap to Google using their webmasters tools. Tweet every time that you create a new article with a link to it. Put a Facebook share plugin on your site. Create a Facebook page and post content on there. Ask fellow bloggers in the same field if you can write a guest post. If you create your own diagrams or pictures, put them on Pinterest.

    Start with the basics before spending a lot of money.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    Based on your background and time to devote it sounds like you won't need much help with generating content, your issue will be offsite SEO (backlinks).

    As savidge4 touched on, academic writing and writing for the web are not the same. Take a read of my SEO tutorials: WordPress SEO Tutorial and Step by Step SEO Tutorial they'll point you in the right sort of direction on onsite SEO (how to optimize content for Google: it's not difficult to optimize content).

    If you pay for an SEO service it's probably going to be buying dofollow backlinks (that's links Google count, they lack nofollow attributes) or a service that generates backlinks in a round about way: nothing else offsite has direct SEO value, for example social network stuff like sharing on Facebook has no direct SEO value.

    The issue with buying backlinks is it's expensive and it doesn't work that well (used to work REALLY well), you can spend a small fortune on links and nothing much happens and if you buy links from the wrong source you might get your site a penalty as well.

    IME the best way to generate backlinks is create content/products/services other webmasters want to link to. If you can create content others link to your offsite SEO is dealt with and you can concentrate on the content.

    A good example of this is the Yoast SEO plugin, the developer created a free SEO plugin that filled a niche at the time, loads of webmasters installed it, plenty of them linked to the WordPress Yoast Plugin page (which has a dofollow link to the Yoast site) or directly to the Yoast site. The owner of the Yoast site gets lots of 'free' dofollow links without having to pay for SEO services etc... and their site ranks high for relevant WordPress SEO SERPs despite poor onsite SEO: https://developers.google.com/speed/...-on-sliders%2F (35/100 for mobile is poor, the Yoast team are rubbish at onsite SEO).

    Now they can sell a product or service on the site and the SEO power of all those links helps them gain relevant SERPs. To match that level of offsite SEO via an SEO service (the doffollow links) would cost a fortune. Yoast for example offer SEO services, they can't match the offsite SEO of their site on your site though, they can't generate tens of thousands of backlinks to your site.

    David
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    • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
      Thank you David.....but I need clarification: I think you are saying that I need a service like Yoast to generate backlinks. Please let me know if I read you wrong.


      I am definitely getting Yoast...just deciding if it will be the free or premium (69 bucks, cheap).


      In terms of writing style, yes there are many differences. Much academic writing is obtuse and circumlocutios. There is also a tendency to assume that tyour reader already has a substantial information base (is either a PhD or MD).


      With all due modesty, my strength is making technical subjects more available/digestible for the average reader. Here is an example. Please note how I use analogies (Tow Truck in parking lot) to explain the relationship between total testosterone, SHBG, and free test.


      Of course that is separate from the need for key word strategies etc.

      Here is the article:

      Masteron (Drostanolone) is an anabolic androgenic steroid compound that was developed by Syntex in 1959, but would not be released to the public until 1970. It had multiple brand names, however Masteron has remained the most recognizable brand.


      As a therapeutic agent used to prevent or inhibit the growth of inoperable breast cancer tumors, Masteron enjoyed two decades of success in combating the disease in postmenopausal women. However, the medical community concluded that Masteron is too androgenic to be used by women. Dr.s prefer AIs and SERMs like Arimidex and Nolvadex. For men running testosterone, Masteron is ant-estrogenic, reducing the need for AIs and SERMs.


      As a result, Masteron is no longer licensed for manufacture, but demand for this unique steroid is high.


      The high demand for Masteron is for several reasons. While androgehnic, it is relatively safe with few side effects. Some experience hair loss, but I have never had or seen that problem with Masteron at reasonable doses. Many athletes who do not wish to endure the harsh side effects of trenbolin will switch over to Masteron. For combat cardio based athletes, tren kills cardio.


      Masteron is a highly coveted pre-contest compound. It aids fat loss and has a hardening effect on the body. In and of itself, it will not promote a large amount of muscle gain. In either ester (enanthate, propionate) it does not cause water retention. The longer ester holds 200 mgs/ml with no problem. I have seen lab reports of masteron enanthate holding as much as 265 mgs/ml with absolutely no PIP.


      While the above is well and good, in my opinion, the biggest benefit from Masteron is its impact upon Steroid Hormone Binding Globule, SHBG. SHBG determines receptor affinity. In plain English, that means that adding Masteron to Testosterone makes the testosterone more effective. Adding 300 mgs of Masteron to 400 mgs of Testosterone means that the test will perform like 600 mgs of test, without the added water retention, estrogen and other undesirable side effects. Plus, you have a greater fat loss.


      How does this all work? SHBG, which increases after the age of 27, inhibits testosterone. Testosterone circulates in the bloodstream, bound mostly to SHBG. Only 1-2% is free and thus biologically available. What Masteron does is it uncouples the bound testosterone from SHBG, making it free and therefore biologically active. Think of a parking lot. The spaces are your testosterone receptors. The lot is full of cars. Masteron is like a tow truck that comes in and tows cars away, freeing them up for more results from your testosterone. 400 mgs has the effect of 600 mgs.


      Lets look at the practical results. Your doctor has you on testosterone replacement. You are 52 and have had low test since the age of 47. This condition is very common. Low testosterone has all sorts of negative health repurcussions. Normal testosterone levels are between 300 and 1100 ng. You feel your best at the top of the range. Your doctor wants you at around 7-800. He keeps your exogeneous test below 180 mgs/week.


      For your last labs that meant your total test was 760 ng. However, there is a more important measure of how much test your body actually uses free test. Using only low dosed testosterone, your free test score was 9.4 ngs. However, adding Masteron more than doubled your free test to 22.8 ng/dl.


      In short, Masteron will dramatically increase the effectiveness and reduce the side effects of testosterone. Water retention, estrogen and SHBG will be less, fat loss will be more.



      End
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      • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
        Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

        Thank you David.....but I need clarification: I think you are saying that I need a service like Yoast to generate backlinks. Please let me know if I read you wrong.
        No I'm not saying you need a backlinks service.

        I'm saying you need backlinks, how to generate those backlinks is a major problem for most webmasters. You COULD use a backlink service, but there are dangers in going that route: Google considers buying links as gaming their search engine and will penalize a site for buying (and selling) links. You can also find bought links just don't work that well (hit and miss basically).

        BTW I was saying Yoast's success in generating a LOT of backlinks is due to a viral link campaign (they haven't bought links). They gave away a free product, webmasters used the free product AND linked to the Yoast site (the Yoast site has tens of thousands of free links). It's a brilliant marketing strategy, but has nothing to do with the use of the Yoast SEO Plugin: installing the Yoast plugin on your site won't result in tens of thousands of free links. No cheap backlink service can match that type of viral marketing campaign, to match that level of linking you need to give webmasters something they WANT to link to AND they actually link to your site.

        Optimizing a website is easy (just takes time and research), generating backlinks is blinking hard.

        The Yoast SEO Plugin isn't very good SEO wise, it doesn't do much, it's mostly SEO fluff and has little SEO value.

        Install the free version and take a look at the settings etc...

        Yoast modifies the title tags. Title tags are VERY important SEO wise, but most WordPress themes in 2016 output the correct title tag format, so for most WordPress sites Yoast adds nothing. Will also add the Yoast default title tag settings are terrible, they assume you want to brand a site like a big business like Amazon needs to be branded!

        Meta description tags : not important SEO wise (doesn't increase rankings).
        Meta keywords tags : completely ignored (Google has always ignored them).

        Many of the Yoast Noindex settings are SEO damaging: I develop a free SEO plugin that lists the damaging options if a user has set them https://wordpress.org/plugins/stalli...ss-seo-plugin/. See the full list of SEO damaging Yoast options: WordPress SEO Tutorial Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin Warnings

        For the record the All In One SEO Plugin (another popular SEO plugin with similar settings) is even worse!

        The Yoast Social Network Features (sharing on Facebook etc...) though nice to have, have no direct SEO value, Google ignores Tweets, Facebook likes, links from Twitter/Facebook (links from social networks are nofollow and Google ignores nofollow links).

        The Yoast sitemaps are nice to have, but they won't increase rankings: Google doesn't access an XML sitemap and ranks webpages on it higher. It's a way to quickly submit a list of all your webpages to Google via an XML file, it has no ranking value (won't increase traffic) and isn't needed.

        The SEO advice given via the Yoast Content Analysis/Focus keywords features are poor to say the least. For example here's a couple of pieces of advice:

        "You've never used this focus keyword before, very good."

        That's not a good thing. Having an optimized website tends to mean having webpages covering similar topics, the above suggests every site is only allowed one webpage for each focus keyword the webmaster is targeting! That's terrible advice.

        "You're linking to another page with the focus keyword you want this page to rank for. Consider changing that if you truly want this page to rank."

        That is some of the worst SEO advice I've seen in over 15 years of SEO research! The anchor text of outbound links is super important, you absolutely SHOULD be linking to other webpages using the keywords you want a webpage to rank for.

        If you want a webpage to rank for a SERP like "Body Building", you link to other webpages about body building using the phrase "Body Building" and semantically related phrases (like "Body Builders", "Building Muscle"...) as the link anchor text. That's basic SEO 101.

        Next they'll be advising we use "Click Here" for the anchor text of links!

        If you tend to write quite technical articles (I do) you'll find they are listed as "Readability: Needs improvement", they are wrong. If you follow the readability advice you'll be chasing your tail for no reason.

        David
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

          The Yoast SEO Plugin isn't very good SEO wise, it doesn't do much, it's mostly SEO fluff and has little SEO value.

          Install the free version and take a look at the settings etc...

          Yoast modifies the title tags. Title tags are VERY important SEO wise, but most WordPress themes in 2016 output the correct title tag format, so for most WordPress sites Yoast adds nothing. Will also add the Yoast default title tag settings are terrible, they assume you want to brand a site like a big business like Amazon needs to be branded!
          Yes most themes create "titles" BUT, when you insert the title of the page, the URL is made at the same time. I find there are many instances that I would want a different title from the URL

          Originally Posted by SEO-Dave View Post

          Meta description tags : not important SEO wise (doesn't increase rankings).
          I think this one could be debated a bit.. but regardless of the SEO effect of a description, I would think in tech writing, a well written added description might have some added effect in terms of click rate. Without adding a description the text nearest the first incident of the keyword is used.. not always a good way to present what the article may be about.

          I would say in this instance... this user... Yoast FREE is going to do more good than bad. Given the memory issue, because of the fill in the box work flow, this is something he can leave a note for, and follow through consistently day in and day out and be sure not leave anything out, or add further steps.
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          • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
            Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

            Yes most themes create "titles" BUT, when you insert the title of the page, the URL is made at the same time. I find there are many instances that I would want a different title from the URL
            I was trying to keep it simple, as it happens I use 6 'titles' (SEO theme feature) in total per Post for different things.

            For example on this post Stallion WordPress SEO Plugin the 6 titles are:

            Standard Post Title : Stallion SEO Plugin
            SEO Title : Stallion WordPress SEO Plugin
            Keyphrase 1 : Stallion SEO Plugin vs Yoast WordPress SEO
            Keyphrase 2 : Stallion SEO Plugin vs All In One SEO
            Keyphrase 3 : Best WordPress SEO Plugins
            Keyphrase 4 : Compare WordPress SEO Plugins

            Various theme features use those different titles for title tags, anchor text of internal links, headings....

            Currently the above is a premium theme feature, working on adding it to the free Stallion SEO plugin so others can use it in their themes etc...

            Anyway, main point was the Yoast plugin doesn't do much, most users won't be adding multiple titles (even two) as their themes don't support them beyond the title tag. With Yoast (and All In One SEO) as far as I'm aware most themes do not use the Yoast SEO title (or the All In One Title) for anything other than the title tag (BTW the SEO Title listed above uses the Yoast or All In One SEO Data Format for backwards compatibility).

            Only changing the title tag on the Post and nothing else doesn't make much sense SEO wise. You add your perfect SEO title for the posts title tag and all other theme locations like links from categories, links from widgets use the Standard Post title. Unless you have a customized theme which uses the Yoast title for something other than the title tag it makes sense to keep it simple. Add you perfect SEO title as the Standard Post Title so it's used sitewide.

            Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

            I think this one could be debated a bit.. but regardless of the SEO effect of a description, I would think in tech writing, a well written added description might have some added effect in terms of click rate. Without adding a description the text nearest the first incident of the keyword is used.. not always a good way to present what the article may be about.

            I would say in this instance... this user... Yoast FREE is going to do more good than bad. Given the memory issue, because of the fill in the box work flow, this is something he can leave a note for, and follow through consistently day in and day out and be sure not leave anything out, or add further steps.
            Again trying to keep it simple. Since the meta description does not increase rankings there's no direct SEO value creating them. I consider the meta description as an advert, if you are good at writing ads, add meta description tags (could increase the click through rate). However, if like me you aren't very good at writing ads and also realize for long tail SERPs (most traffic to WordPress Posts tends to be long tail) the description probably isn't going to be used anyway, so best to spend your time on something more important.

            For your average user who doesn't understand SEO (even experienced webmasters don't understand the damage noindex/nofollow causes), Yoast can cause a LOT of SEO damage.

            I know what I'm doing and wouldn't use it, it's a pain to get the settings right (the defaults are awful SEO wise). I certainly wouldn't advise someone with memory issues to use it with all the options they can easily get wrong!

            On a similar note I wouldn't recommend the OP to use my premium SEO theme, it's way to complex (hundreds of options, dozens of SEO features) for someone with memory issues. I built it and it sometimes confuses me :-)

            David
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

        In terms of writing style, yes there are many differences. Much academic writing is obtuse and circumlocutios. There is also a tendency to assume that tyour reader already has a substantial information base (is either a PhD or MD).


        Here is the article:

        Masteron (Drostanolone).....
        I read your article and I am going to go back to something I said, and am making it easier for you and placing it below:
        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        However, having said that.. there tends to be a rub of sorts... Technical writing, and what I call "web writing" are 2 different things. Some of the best information that can be found on the web I think happens to fall onto page 10 or 20 and in some cases even further, and it has nothing to do with the subject being written about, but who the writing is targeting.

        trying to think of a metaphor here... lets say math.. it starts with addition then subtraction, multiplication then division. There comes a point where "X" is introduced. X is apples and oranges and slices of pie... stuff that everyone understands. As you continue your education.. X changes... it is defined... its going to trade school and learning about ratios to determine pitch of a roof, or how to do fractions 1/16 1/8 1/4 for those in building trades. It becomes Velocity, or Energy, or Resistance.

        The more refined your writing, the lessor your audience. This may not be a bad thing. I think if you read WF enough you will understand that focusing on a subject is a good thing. But, understanding what to focused looks like is something to bear in mind.

        Key, I personally get the article... The question I have for you is who are you writing this to be read by? right now it is not targeted. Is it for someone with "Hypogonadism" or just "Low Testosterone" or someone wanting to gain an enhancing effect from this Testosterone treatment? maybe "Androgen replacement therapy"?

        So here is a link to an article much like yours: The Masteron Guide - Cycles, Dosage, Side Effects and more What separates this article and yours.. is "X" its on a body builders site, the overall theme is defined, there is an inherent audience that would find this of interest. There is no questioning why it would be used, and by whom. Make sense?
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        • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
          Savidge, Quote: Key, I personally get the article... The question I have for you is who are you writing this to be read by? right now it is not targeted. Is it for someone with "Hypogonadism" or just "Low Testosterone" or someone wanting to gain an enhancing effect from this Testosterone treatment? maybe "Androgen replacement therapy"?

          So here is a link to an article much like yours: The Masteron Guide - Cycles, Dosage, Side Effects and more What separates this article and yours.. is "X" its on a body builders site, the overall theme is defined, there is an inherent audience that would find this of interest. There is no questioning why it would be used, and by whom. Make sense..end quote.


          Actually, the science in the article is fundamentally wrong


          My audience will is well targeted. I prep professional and top amateur bodybuilders, but I also work with Hormone Replacement Therapy guys (on it myself).


          Masteron is only one of many dozens of articles. Nearly everyone who reads it wants to buiy Masteron due to its SHBG Supression and increase in free test relative to total test.


          My primary purpose is to provide info....another example is my article on PCT (Post Cycle Therapy) which is the restoration of the endocrine system after steroid cessation. I also help older men like myself who have gone through andropause.


          I charge $300 for my services. As I said, nearly everyone who reads my material purchases my services. The key is getting them to read.


          I will get back to the other excellent posts tomorrow, time permitting.
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

            Actually, the science in the article is fundamentally wrong
            I figured it was.. but here is the point, that "Bad" article is going to rank better than your good one. Like I have said before... there is a difference between technical and web writing. The article I placed as an example is by far not the best example on "web writing" but in the context of your topic, its as good as it gets.


            Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

            My audience will is well targeted. I prep professional and top amateur bodybuilders, but I also work with Hormone Replacement Therapy guys (on it myself).
            The targeting itself has to take place within the article... "How will a Masteron / Testosterone treatment take your body building to the next level" would be rough title of sorts. then you get into the details of competition prep... how there is no / low water gain, how the combination assists in fat loss and hardening.

            you would want to directly relate your data with bodybuilding. and then a totally separate article relating your data with Hormone replacement Therapy. As much as the data may be the same, the way that the 2 articles would read - and who they would target are 2 separate things.


            Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

            My primary purpose is to provide info....another example is my article on PCT (Post Cycle Therapy) which is the restoration of the endocrine system after steroid cessation. I also help older men like myself who have gone through andropause.

            Again your data brought together with a topic. Going back to Testosterone therapy real quick.. do a search for "testosterone therapy" "testosterone therapy for men" and "testosterone therapy for women" as much as they may be the same ( kinda ) they are going to have 3 different lists of pages that directly target those topics.


            Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

            I charge $300 for my services. As I said, nearly everyone who reads my material purchases my services. The key is getting them to read.
            And there it is.. the desired outcome... how do you get someone to read your material and book a session. A marketer would call this "Lead Generation" and you are wanting to use the vehicle of SEO to provide those leads.

            I would say in many ways this changes things a bit.. You are wanting to pull people in through the use of "Bait" ( targeted topic oriented articles ) and get them into what is called a funnel... you no longer are just putting material out there to read, you are writing material that is used to convert your reader to becoming a buyer of your service.

            I am going to be straight up honest with you.. this is beyond the scope of just SEO. You need a online marketer. Someone that understands how to get from A to C and not miss B along the way. I would consider contacting your immediate circle of friends and associates, to see if there is someone that is an online marketer.. I would lay this all out for them, and work out a percentage deal. probably somewhere in the 80 / 20 area - 80 being yours.
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  • Profile picture of the author BPhoenixCreate
    It depends on how involved you want to get. If you are busy with other aspects of your business, then you should think about outsourcing. Nonetheless, it is still a very valuable skill to learn and you should be familiar with the basics, even if you do outsource. Keep in mind that it does take time and you may need a consultant, just to help you with certain areas that you may not be familiar with.
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    • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
      BP: I am busy, but most of my work is at the computer. I work with men on TRT, and advanced athletes, pros and high level amateurs.


      High level athletes are often like needy little children, so I do a lot of hand holding and counseling.


      For example, girl friends and wife's usually leave competitive body builders about a month before their contest. They usually come back, but the athlete often cannot see beyond their immediate emotions. Actually, I get a lot of MMA pros w/ have gf problems. Oh, and also a player for the ATL braves. These are ginormous and physically very dangerous men, but when it comes to women they are like 9 year olds.
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    • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
      Most of this ^ is done by email/phone. OK, but enough about that, lets get to the bottom line: I am getting Yoast and committing myself to working on it 4 hours a day. Should I get the free or premium?


      $69 is pretty cheap. The difference is mostly for the fact that you get email support from Yoast.


      You guys/gals are great, thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
    Savidge, great point: "you would want to directly relate your data with bodybuilding. and then a totally separate article relating your data with Hormone replacement Therapy. As much as the data may be the same, the way that the 2 articles would read - and who they would target are 2 separate things."

    I also have younger guys who are not competitors doing typical steroid cycles. I prefer to work with competitors and HRT guys, but they are nearly 50% of my market. Steroid use in competitive bodybuilding is very dangerous, but these guys know that and are focused on winning. I try and keep these guys healthy.

    HRT improves health. But the reality is that I work with all three, so your point is valid. I just have to figure out how to target all 3. However the main point of my Mast article is that Mast increases receptor affinity for testosterone. This benefit applies to all 3 groups.

    Finally, you are correct. I need more than just SEO. I am contracting sources about creating backlinks. It is my understanding that this undertaking requires money, yes?
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  • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
    Dave: I have been reading your thoughtful remarks. Whereas Savidge thinks Yoast SEO will do SOME good (but only if I go beyond SEO into backlinks etc.) You think it causes as much harm as good.


    You build an SEO plug in that is very complex, too much so for me. I like your honesty. I take that your focus is upon hands on SEO done by yourself. I probably cannot afford you but for shits and giggles am interested in a ball park price.
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    • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
      Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

      Dave: I have been reading your thoughtful remarks. Whereas Savidge thinks Yoast SEO will do SOME good (but only if I go beyond SEO into backlinks etc.) You think it causes as much harm as good.


      You build an SEO plug in that is very complex, too much so for me. I like your honesty. I take that your focus is upon hands on SEO done by yourself. I probably cannot afford you but for shits and giggles am interested in a ball park price.
      If a webmaster fully understands SEO the Yoast (and the All In One SEO) plugins are OK, there's no killer SEO features in those plugins their impact on rankings are minimal at best (assuming none of the damaging options are set).

      For example if the theme used has a terrible title tag format either SEO plugin can fix it, BUT the webmaster has to understand what the best title tag format is to be able to set it in Yoast/All In One SEO as their defaults are awful for your average website.

      This is the Yoast default title tag output for posts:

      Code:
      %%title%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%
      The above title tag format assumes the webmaster wants a branded site.

      Title tag format: "Post Title - Name Of The Site" with the Page number in the middle for multiple paged posts.

      That's fine for a site like Amazon, eBay etc... where they are known brands, but for your average webmaster no one will recognize the "Name Of The Site", better to use a fully SEO'd title tag:

      Code:
      %%title%% %%page%%
      Title tag format: "Post Title" with the Page number at the end for multiple paged posts. Since Google automatically adds the "Name Of The Site" to the end of short titles, the end result is the same as the branded version without the negative SEO cost of having "Name Of The Site" added to EVERY title tag.

      There's at least 8 Yoast options using the wrong defaults like the one above and if you have custom post types and custom archives those are set wrong as well (they all have to be modified). I understand the vast majority of Yoast users never change these default options, so they aren't using the best title tag format and the title tag is really important SEO wise.

      Then there's the damaging noindex options (loads of them) and awful SEO advice related to the Focus keyword. It's not exactly conducive to awesome on-site SEO for a webmaster who doesn't understand SEO or has memory issues!

      I've built an SEO theme (Stallion Responsive) which is really complicated: a dozen plus options pages, 400+ options, dozens of SEO features, over 100 color schemes and a built in way to create new ones. I've made it way too complex for the average user (working on simplifying and pushing features to plugins), if you want something with control over almost everything it's awesome, but most webmasters want a simple solution of install it, make a few minor spoon-fed adjustments and forget about it (they want Yoast despite it's major failings). Unfortunately if you want awesome on-site SEO and control over every features it does take some effort.

      I also develop free SEO plugins and planning a LOT more as I simplify the SEO theme I use.

      Stallion WordPress SEO Plugin : https://wordpress.org/plugins/stalli...ss-seo-plugin/ currently replaces the damaging noindex options that are part of Yoast etc..., provides SEO warnings if you use Yoast or All In One SEO. Next release will include the title tag features etc... you find in Yoast etc..., but with better defaults.

      Display Widgets SEO Plus Plugin : https://wordpress.org/plugins/display-widgets-seo-plus/ controls where widgets load, good for those into silo SEO or just want some control over widgets.

      WordPress SEO Comments Plugin : https://wordpress.org/plugins/blog-comments-seo/ makes your WordPress comments indexable (by search engines) in their own right. If you have a site with a lot of comments this can result in a lot of additional indexed webpages. Next update will take some of the Stallion Responsive theme features and add them to the comments output (comment titles for example).

      I used to offer SEO services (worked as an SEO consultant for about a decade). I stopped taking on SEO clients years ago, so I'm not trying to sell an SEO service, only product I'm selling right now is the overly complicated SEO theme :-) I make a living from a network of sites and enjoy making SEO themes/plugins. I also enjoy pointing out major SEO flaws in SEO plugins and themes :-)

      David
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  • Profile picture of the author hubertkoh
    Learn from some websites, courses online like udemy etc. Do your own SEO, you cannot be paying for every single seo as you continue to grow.

    Basic concepts will already get you a lot way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
    SEO-Dave: "I also enjoy pointing out major SEO flaws in SEO plugins and themes :-)"


    I see watcha did there. LOL
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  • Profile picture of the author Katherine Mack
    You can do it by yourself if you are ready to give some time to improve your website performance. You can learn it from various blogs and forums. Hiring an expert is also a good idea, you will get plenty service offering SEO services at cheaper rate.
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  • Profile picture of the author xnice
    Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

    Greetings,


    I have a site that is looking quite good. I used Wordpress. About a year ago I built a site using Weebley, and it was terrible.


    But this time I have something that looks good. I have lots of scientific articles and I write constantly. I can crank out 2-3 high quality articles a week. I taught college for years and my one viable skill is writing.


    I mention that because everyone says "Content" when asked what is the most important component of SEO.


    I have that covered. Unfortunately, I am an idiot in terms of technology. Really. I have a PhD but an 8 year old has more tech skills than I have.


    I am willing to work, but should I? I know the Google algorithms have changed and content is key, but should I outsource the technical aspects of SEO? I have heard that SEO can cost as little as $100 per month, but to do it right you need to spend a min of $500.


    Please advise, and thank you.
    You can focus on planning and writing. This is business, you can not do all of thing by yourself. It will need a lot of time and works. Instead, you can learn some basic about SEO. You will know what need to rank your website or get traffic.
    You will not spend $500 for the big guy, most of them outsource it. You can try with small SEO services (focus on authority backlinks). If it works, you can scale it up.
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  • Profile picture of the author shubo
    Originally Posted by Key Seek View Post

    Greetings,


    I have a site that is looking quite good. I used Wordpress. About a year ago I built a site using Weebley, and it was terrible.


    But this time I have something that looks good. I have lots of scientific articles and I write constantly. I can crank out 2-3 high quality articles a week. I taught college for years and my one viable skill is writing.


    I mention that because everyone says "Content" when asked what is the most important component of SEO.


    I have that covered. Unfortunately, I am an idiot in terms of technology. Really. I have a PhD but an 8 year old has more tech skills than I have.


    I am willing to work, but should I? I know the Google algorithms have changed and content is key, but should I outsource the technical aspects of SEO? I have heard that SEO can cost as little as $100 per month, but to do it right you need to spend a min of $500.


    Please advise, and thank you.
    i think if your are expert on SEO platform you can work on your personal site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Key Seek
    Thank you, everyone! I am in the Yoast program now, and it is just basic editing. The keyword search and readability tools are virtually the same activity I engage in when I do a second/third draft of an article.


    My short term memory is not a variable at all. When editing I access information (new words) that has been in my head for decades.


    It is not dissimilar to grading papers.


    As a matter of fact, as my skill set for this activity solidifies I am going to offer SEO based writing for people who are not gifted in terms of writing content.


    I already write articles for other web sites. I typically get $400, and do at least 3 revisions. The key to quality writing is perspiration more so than inspiration.


    Keep in mind, when I post here on WF I am posting up un-edited drafts. I am simply too busy to give my posts revisions.
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