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How much SEO would I require?

by dannyboy30
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi all, I have a few questions that I would very much appreciate some opinions and advice on. Basically, I have been given the option to take over a family site that sells cufflinks, this site used to do very well and rank on the top page for its category on Google, however due to total neglect by a family member, no SEO work has been carried out for about 2 years. As a result the sites ranking and sales have gone down significantly.


The positives are that the site still ranks for some keywords, even with no money having been invested, and the category is not a very competitive area (I think). If I take it over I would be looking to carry out an SEO campaign that would target customers from the UK (where we are based), the US, the far east and the middle east in particular. I have a low budget to start with but if/when business increases I would be able to invest more into the SEO. My questions are:


1) Would it be a lot cheaper to target less of the above countries / continents to start with?


2) How many hours on average would need to spent per month for SEO to be effective?


3) I don't want to get penalised by Google so should I avoid certain countries e.g india?


4) Does anyone know any proven SEO specialists who offer a competitive pricing option?


I know that it's impossible to give exact answers due to the limited information provided but any answers/advice would be very much appreciated.
#require #seo
  • Profile picture of the author mkgg
    Originally Posted by dannyboy30 View Post

    Hi all, I have a few questions that I would very much appreciate some opinions and advice on. Basically, I have been given the option to take over a family site that sells cufflinks, this site used to do very well and rank on the top page for its category on Google, however due to total neglect by a family member, no SEO work has been carried out for about 2 years. As a result the sites ranking and sales have gone down significantly.


    The positives are that the site still ranks for some keywords, even with no money having been invested, and the category is not a very competitive area (I think). If I take it over I would be looking to carry out an SEO campaign that would target customers from the UK (where we are based), the US, the far east and the middle east in particular. I have a low budget to start with but if/when business increases I would be able to invest more into the SEO. My questions are:


    1) Would it be a lot cheaper to target less of the above countries / continents to start with?


    2) How many hours on average would need to spent per month for SEO to be effective?


    3) I don't want to get penalised by Google so should I avoid certain countries e.g india?


    4) Does anyone know any proven SEO specialists who offer a competitive pricing option?


    I know that it's impossible to give exact answers due to the limited information provided but any answers/advice would be very much appreciated.
    You should ask Google that directly as they are the only one who can answer that.

    Nobody here knows how many hours you need to spend or how much money you need to spend to rank (those that imply that they do, you should stay miles away from them). Ranking will depend on the competition you are having for the keyword you are targeting, if its tough competition you definitely need a lot of backlinks.

    What you have failed to tell us is the position the site used to rank at and where it is now. If it used to be in the top 3 and now it is dropped to 7 or 8 then that is obviously easy to improve but if it has disappeared to page 2 or 3 then it might be hard and suggests the site lost a strong backlink source.

    So my advice would be to point a few high quality backlinks and if the site was ranking before, it would be back to its old position again.
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  • Profile picture of the author dannyboy30
    Thanks for the quick reply. In the UK we were one of the top 2 or 3 on the first page of Google. I have just checked and we are now on the 6th Page for the phrase "buy cufflinks". Do you think I should only concentrate on Backlinks to improve rankings in my scenario?
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  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    Just done a quick search for "buy cufflinks". The reality is that you will probably never rank for this term.

    The front page is full of enormous businesses, argos, debenhams etc etc, there is simply no room for a little guy.

    Your best strategies going forward is to concentrate on long tail search terms and maybe consider a content driven strategy where you will target getting content or links placed on sites that already have your target market visiting them.

    To answer your questions:
    1) yes, you should absolutely concentrate on the UK first
    2) impossible to say, however my smallest campaigns take around 10 hours per month, this is absolutely minimal maintenance.
    3) the countries you target don't matter at all, the links that you get and the content you have that will determine any penalties
    4) there are plenty, but be aware that people who do SEO for cheap, usually do crap work, be careful when picking somebody on a low budget

    Another option, which actually seems like a good option here is to use adwords to drive traffic, the clicks are cheap and I would hazard a guess that the conversion rate for this type of product is fairly high. There isn't any great competition out there either.
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    • Profile picture of the author hotrod26
      I totally agree with using adwords.

      Not only will you get good quality traffic that should convert well but you will also learn a lot about what keywords generate traffic and sales.

      You may be surprised at some of the keywords that turn into sales.
      Use adwords then work on getting ranked in the organic listings.

      It should not be real hard to get back to the top. It may just be a little on site work that you need or a few high quality links. You do not want a ton of links real quick just a constant flow of a few real good ones.
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  • Profile picture of the author alamest
    I believe as long as you get the good ranking and stable ranking with quality backlinks or quality content, I believe you no longer needed your backlinks but still try to promote your website in slow motion in everywhere, like videos, social media, articles and so on..

    If it is authority sites with good content, I think you should focus on making content and videos and forget about backlinks, which will come anyway..

    I hope this helped
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  • Profile picture of the author SandraGenJobs
    1. You should definitely focus on the UK primarily.
    2. No one knows for certain how many hours you'll need to spend creating back links, but let's just say about 2 hours per week is a minimum if you want to keep things rolling.
    4. There are plenty of freelancers on Elance, Odesk or similar sites who would do the job, but be aware, not every one is good at SEO and you'll have to do your research. Hope this helped.
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  • Profile picture of the author alvinchua91
    1) Would it be a lot cheaper to target less of the above countries / continents to start with?
    I would recommend targeting your main market first e.g. UK (where you are based) especially when you say you are already ranked for several terms still, followed by the US then the other countries, as most middle east countries do not speak English as their first language, and % of people using Google is lower..

    2) How many hours on average would need to spent per month for SEO to be effective?
    Depends on your niche, since you said yours should not be competitive, then it will definitely require much less versus a niche which is over-saturated. It's hard to say, but it'll be good if you can spend 1-2 hours per day - but then again, it depends so much on how you're doing your SEO as well. No one can give you a definite answer without knowing more detailed information.

    3) I don't want to get penalised by Google so should I avoid certain countries e.g india?
    Why would you be penalized by Google if you want to market in India?

    4) Does anyone know any proven SEO specialists who offer a competitive pricing option?
    Me
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