First steps into SEO/PPC. Looking for advice in a tough market

by sopig
4 replies
Hi guys,

I have a small translation agency that is making its revenue through outbound prospecting. We are 2 guys doing business development, and a few contractors building lists and validating emails for us. While the method words, it's not really paying off anymore: we are not growing and it's always a struggle every month as there's always uncertainty on how much money we will get.

We are looking forward to experiment in the online channel, however, we are not sure what to expect, and if it would be wise to go this route.

To put it short:

1. PPC: there are big players with big money putting thousands every day. Some agencies: translated.net (€15m/revenue/year) and strakertranslations.com ($12m/revenue/year). My feeling is that a small fish like us without any knowledge will just loose money without any results. CPC in valuable keywords range from $10 to $60. (1 order could be anything from $100 to $300)

2. SEO: market is locked as well. examples: trustedtranslations.com, daytranslations.com. A quick check on ahrefs and keysearch shows these competitors ranking in 1-10 positions for several long tail keywords. While we could go this route, I imagine at least 6 months of hard effort with unknown results. However, I think the effort will pay off as there are several long tail keywords with low scores where we could start to rank, and the fact that several agencies are doing SEO means there's ROI.

We have a barely inexistent Internet presence, and just redesigned our website, with zero traffic.

My first idea is to go on the SEO path, paying somebody to start writing content for landing pages with identified keywords. Then, at the level of promotion, I would ran FB ads targeted to these landing pages. On a third step, I would start blogging. But I don't know what to do next to get back links.

What would you suggest to do? How could I start on IM, limiting my risks?

Thank you,
#advice #market #seo or ppc #steps #tough
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    It looks like you are looking at all the bad.

    For PPC, yes, some people spend that kind of money .If that worries you, then avoid the niches that people do this for. Pick smaller niches.

    For SEO, look for different types of keywords.


    Stop looking at all the negatives and look for solutions
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  • Profile picture of the author sopig
    I think i'm a realist, and don't want to underestimate the market
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    I'd stay away from PPC until you have your keyword research really down. Its VERY easy to lose a lot of money with little result if you are new to PPC.

    Really good keyword research can give you FAST organic rankings (not days but several weeks as nothing in SEO is overnight) without paying per click. Your niche lends itself to a lot of variation in keywords.

    I don't know abour FB for that niche
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  • Profile picture of the author YourGoToWriter
    For SEO, make sure that you use a good keyword research tool to look for effective keywords. Yes, hiring a good content writer is the way to go, but make sure you're offering them the right keywords to write about. -Micah
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