Am I getting screwed over?

14 replies
  • SEO
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I'm really looking for some advice, I run a small shop in the UK, a couple of years ago we decided to setup a website to encourage mail order business. In a nutshell its never really done any business other than via our ebay shop.

So this year we decided to spend last years profits from our ebay shop in SEO on our website (started in Jan this year) to try and turn it into a viable business.

3 months in and no real change, I meet another SEO guy (he's a customer in the shop)
he takes a look at my website and tells me nothing has been done by my original SEO firm, i confront them, they apologise and offer a load of incentives to stay with them claiming it was an oversight...I like to give anyone a 2nd chance so did.

my SEO company has now released a press release via marketersmedia claiming this will help traffic and aid my google rankings. My SEO 'friend' claims that as this website is nothing more than a farm it is actually damaging to my website in the eyes of google.

im looking for advice here, the SEO comp is already in the last chance saloon, is using paid for press release sites a bad move SEO wise and will it ultimately damage my rankings?

thanks in advance,
#screwed
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by BikerBudgie View Post

    I'm really looking for some advice, I run a small shop in the UK, a couple of years ago we decided to setup a website to encourage mail order business. In a nutshell its never really done any business other than via our ebay shop.

    So this year we decided to spend last years profits from our ebay shop in SEO on our website (started in Jan this year) to try and turn it into a viable business.

    3 months in and no real change, I meet another SEO guy (he's a customer in the shop)
    he takes a look at my website and tells me nothing has been done by my original SEO firm, i confront them, they apologise and offer a load of incentives to stay with them claiming it was an oversight...I like to give anyone a 2nd chance so did.

    my SEO company has now released a press release via marketersmedia claiming this will help traffic and aid my google rankings. My SEO 'friend' claims that as this website is nothing more than a farm it is actually damaging to my website in the eyes of google.

    im looking for advice here, the SEO comp is already in the last chance saloon, is using paid for press release sites a bad move SEO wise and will it ultimately damage my rankings?

    thanks in advance,
    You got screwed & it's still happening.

    Unless they can prove their press release generated followed authority backlinks your own webpages will still be buried in Google SERPs.

    Three months of SEO should see some type of movement on the SERPs, especially longtail keywords. I guess you have realistic expectations about competition strength on the SERPs & know how to research keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    Are you receiving some kind of status reports? If not you really should demand for them. The changes both on-site and off-site are usually something you can't really see, but they're something that can be documented and your friend can verify that they're done. There may be parts like link sources that they don't want fully disclose, but that's just a minor thing.

    Get an account on Ahrefs or Majestic, and you can check your own backlink profile. That way you know wether the links are increasing, and wether they're decent.

    Having an article on a well-run press release site is ok. Not great, not bad, just ok. The site you mention seems legit enough to me. However, it's just a single link that's going to fall from their front page, and it's not going to break or make your visibility. If that's all you really got in months it's time to find a new vendor.
    Signature
    Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
    Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

    What's your excuse?
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
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      For SEO news, discussions, tactics, and more.
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      • Profile picture of the author paulgl
        You got screwed because you did not know that you just
        can't build it and they will come.

        I would have started to enhance and expand on ebay...

        But yeah, that's just me.

        Amazon lost literally hundreds of millions of dollars.
        For years. Are you tired of the wayfair.com commercials?
        Exactly. $1 billion in revenue...and have lost millions.

        Of course I did chuckle at your "mail order" statement.

        Did you really mean mail order? UK Daily Mail? Or
        the kind that only an 84 year old grandma does nowadays?

        Paul
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        If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

          Of course I did chuckle at your "mail order" statement.

          Did you really mean mail order? UK Daily Mail? Or
          the kind that only an 84 year old grandma does nowadays?
          Old school mail/catalog order is still very popular in 2015.

          Sure everyone & their brother has a website but they still do offline sales all day long.
          • burpee.com
          • parkseed.com
          • northerntool.com
          • rockler.com
          • harborfreight.com
          • ...and 100s/1,000s more.
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    Get rid of the SEO company! Though, the "SEO" guy that comes into your shop, may not be much better.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    As Yukon touched on, if what they are doing offsite isn't generating backlinks that count (that means they aren't nofollow or blocked in some way) they pass no direct SEO value.

    Insist on a refund, you've been ripped off.

    You have to be really careful with SEO, I've been involved in SEO for ~15 years and the vast majority of those offering SEO services haven't got a clue.

    David
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    • Profile picture of the author dittouk
      The most important part of an SEO campaign - from your (the client's) perspective - is the status reporting you receive. At the very least you should get on a monthly basis:

      • rankings for your target keywords (incl mobile)
      • visitor numbers
      • bounce rate
      • clickthrough rate
      • links built (there should be no reason to hide these from you unless they are dodgy)
      You should also be getting some sort of content planning and social media strategy and there should have been some new content added to your website over a 3 month period.


      And that's just the start.....
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  • Profile picture of the author consigs
    Unfortunately a lot of these business have been popping up.

    I know of two in my area that are selling SEO services and literally providing nothing to their clients. They've been pitching saying, "You're about to be removed from Google's business listing."

    Sad. I'd go back and challenge every payment made to them for service not provided.
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  • Profile picture of the author icoachu
    I know hindsight is 20/20 so this advice might offer very cold comfort.

    However, I might as well throw it out there, not just for the original thread starter, but for anybody who happens to read this thread.

    Let us face it.

    There are a lot of SEO companies out there.

    In fact, my e-mail inbox is flooded with SEO offers from developing countries.

    A lot of them claim to be from the UK or from the US, but you can tell from the broken English and other tell-tale signs that everything is not on the up and up.

    victimized by fly by night SEO companies

    The truth is there are a lot of small businesses, like the thread starter's, that are being victimized by fly by night SEO companies.

    ridiculously low pricing

    It does not help when people read those e-mails and see all the ridiculously low pricing for monthly SEO service.

    We are talking about as low as 15-50 dollars for SEO.

    these rates are ridiculously unrealistic

    Anybody who has even spent an hour trying to learn SEO would know that these rates are ridiculously unrealistic.

    The reason why these rates are so low is maybe due to exactly the kind of situation outlined by the thread starter.

    no longer works

    It can also mean that these companies use bots, black hat techniques, or mass automation based SEO that no longer works.

    Maybe they barely worked before penguin, but they are definitely dead in the water now.

    If there is any one hindsight advice I can give you, it is this.

    Ask for a website name and a website URL.

    Look at the website and its title.

    If that company does not rank for those keywords, even if they give you a localized keyword combination, you need to run for the hills.
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  • Profile picture of the author PBMax
    Focus on the ebay shop and put a shopping cart on your site if there isn't one already.

    Not sure if social media is as huge as in UK as it is here, but get your profiles in the faces of all the people within your area who are interested in what you sell.

    Forget numbers when it comes to backlinks. Think relevancy + "not easy to get" for backlinks. If every guy and his dog can get a link somewhere, that site is worthless for ranking. Find the hidden gems and shoot for the mega sites in your niche for links and mentions. Those are the only links you should want.

    As far as the SEO provider, I won't say either way. Up to you. You can DIY though...just do those things and get your business map listings spread far and wide. After that, focus on stellar customer service because THAT'S what makes repeat business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    Well, stuff happens and it happens all the time!
    Why don't you hire the SEO guy who's also your customer? You seem to trust his opinion, and you need to get rid of the first guys ASAP anyway! Maybe you should ask for a refund as well.
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  • Hello Biker

    You should ask for refund and change supplier !!!

    Greetings....
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    Moderators Note: Affiliate links are not allowed as signatures.

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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    How much are you paying per month?
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    BS free SEO services, training and advice - SEO Point

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