Need advice about hiring SEO

22 replies
  • SEO
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Hi, I've created a new blog on a highly competitive niche.

I want to hire an expert SEO, but I don't know much about SEO myself. I've talked with a few providers who have asked me for the two to three keywords I want to rank for. I'm not sure what keywords I should choose. Is there a best way to choose these two or three keywords? What should I look for when choosing these keywords?

Thanks.
#advice #hiring #seo
  • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
    If a so called SEO expert asked me what keywords I'd like to rank for, Id run the other way.
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    • Profile picture of the author mentat47
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      If a so called SEO expert asked me what keywords I'd like to rank for, Id run the other way.
      Good answer. Keyword research should be their job. Not yours. After all, that's what you're paying them for.
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    • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      If a so called SEO expert asked me what keywords I'd like to rank for, Id run the other way.
      WTF? Do you really expect a marketer to fully understand your industry from the start? It's likely that you have a better idea what your current customers are and were looking for.

      Of course the SEO might come up with more and better keywords, but it helps a lot if the initial list comes from the client.

      If you really don't have any clue it's a sign that you're doing something wrong. However, you could just ask the SEO to come up with some keywords.
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      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 legendcrest
      I won't call myself an SEO expert but the first question I ask my client is "what keyword do they want to rank for"

      Why do I do this.

      1. It gives me an understanding of their level of online marketing

      2. I am able to start my research from there

      3. It gives an overall picture of their business.

      I don't think asking client for which keyword they want to rank for is bad. It totally depends on why you are asking that question
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      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        What if your client has no clue?

        Let's say I'm a mortgage broker. You ask me what keyword I want to rank for. I say, mortgages.

        How do you get from there to the fact that I'm one of the few who likes jumbo mortgages and want more jumbos?

        Let's say I own a restoration company. You ask me what keyword I want to rank for and I tell you broken windows. How do you get from there to what I should be ranking for.

        (By the way, I told you 'broken windows' because it's the service I've had the easiest time selling (it's really window boarding) and some of the clients have turned into construction jobs (remodeling of kitchens, additions, etc.).

        Wouldn't you get there faster if you asked them what service/product they want to promote, then figure out what keywords are best for the service/product they name?

        Originally Posted by legendcrest View Post

        I won't call myself an SEO expert but the first question I ask my client is "what keyword do they want to rank for"

        Why do I do this.

        1. It gives me an understanding of their level of online marketing

        2. I am able to start my research from there

        3. It gives an overall picture of their business.

        I don't think asking client for which keyword they want to rank for is bad. It totally depends on why you are asking that question
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      If a so called SEO expert asked me what keywords I'd like to rank for, Id run the other way.
      Why would you run?

      Every single client is unique, some of them know what they want to rank for, some don't know & will need additional help.

      If an SEO provider doesn't ask questions they're only guessing what a client wants.
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  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    Well, what's your blog about? Whatever that happens to be, there's your main keyword. Then we look at what people type in to find a blog like yours, and the ones getting the most searches are your 5-20 main keywords. From there, you look at the smaller searches and very specific sub-categories to find even more opportunities for traffic....and you can get as broad or as specific as you want.

    With that said, your main keyword is "weight loss" and/or "weight loss mentor". You also want to rank for your name, "real success mentor", and you'd need to cover all variations of those phrases depending on search traffic. Then there's "weight loss physician", "weight loss mindset specialist" and body transformation expert"...and you go right down the list.

    I told you all of that to tell you two things- (1) I am an SEO expert and (2) your site would need a ton of work to rank effectively in the weight loss niche. So I'd advise you to avoid someone like me completely, put more information on your website yourself (weight loss tips, exercises, healthy meals, mindsets, etc.) and start hitting social media hard. Answer people's questions about weight loss, share success stories and network like crazy.

    Then book a few area conferences on the subject and get your name out there, and start giving your subscribers daily motivation to meet their weight loss goals. You have 239 G+ followers...but what are you doing for them? Keep those people inspired and they will fuel your business with referrals. That's how you build a practice like this online.

    Because here's the sad truth- even if you gave me a budget of $10,000 a month for the next six months, we'd barely scratch the surface on getting you visible in the weight loss niche. But once we did finally get there, then you're going to have 5k+ calls per day....and I'm sure you can't handle a fraction of that possible business. With a topic like this though, it's all or nothing unless you go the social route, so that's your best course of action.

    Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author freedom4me2
      All points taken, and thank you for your input.

      Yes, I understand that's extremely difficult to rank for weight loss, that's why I'm trying to find some keywords that I could rank for, that eventually will get me some visibility.

      We are working on the social media aspect, we recently hired a social media marketer. Currently, we are concentrating exclusively on Facebook, once we see results with our FB fan page, we will move to other social media platforms.

      My goal here is to get some onsite SEO and get links to it, nothing spectacular but want to do it right from the beginning. My new blog is www.YourFitnessPhysician.com/blog. The site is not finished, but should be by next week.

      I will be posting videos and articles on the blog on a daily basis, and one of the things I want to do is to have SEO done for each of those posts. I don't want just to post articles and videos without thinking about SEO if that makes sense...

      Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author sourcelinux
    Here are a few points:
    - Talk to existing clients
    - If they promise "Google page 1" they are over-promising. No one can promise "Google page 1"
    - If they tell you 100% of the work is link building - don't work with them. a good SEO company will make changes to your web site
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  • Profile picture of the author linathinfotech
    I think SEO expert can suggest you some best keywords. Ask that expert to provide you a proper keyword analysis report.
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  • Profile picture of the author ynef
    This is how you find more relevant and worthy keywords:

    1. Log in to your Adwords account and then go here: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

    2. Choose to search for new keywords based on a phrase

    3. Enter the keywords that come to mind when you think about your website. These can be whole phrases too ie: "how to create a closable div"

    4. On the next page sort your results by average monthly searches and voila, these are your keywords!


    I too have to warn you about "SEO experts" who claim they can rank your website with one keyword or another fast and efficiently. These kinds of experts can do more harm than good and even if you notice an increase in traffic at first, I can guarantee you that you will lose it in the long run after Google slaps you.

    Think about it... if you hire a SEO expert, you are putting someone else in charge of your business and it will be too late once your website gets penalized because the expert is already long gone with your money.

    Here's a story about how one of my clients hired a professional SEO company. Not only did they lie to him, they spent most of his money simply on AdWords without actually doing anything related to optimizing his website.
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  • Profile picture of the author eugenedm
    well I would like to learn this myself... I would actually get into it myself and before I hire anyone, I want to understand what I'm dealing with....

    I don't care how rich you are.......but if you don't know how to count your own money... I mean you are responsible for every cent you invest/waste......

    So, on that note, know your stuff.... get into it and then.........hire somebody.... it's good to know all the moving pieces before you hire.......
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    Are you trying to market globally, nationally, or locally in Florida?

    Is there a reason there is nothing at Your Fitness Physician

    I'd highly recommend having the root of your website forward to your blog until you have something else there.

    Your keywords should be the phrases you expect prospective customers to use to find you.

    Once you have a list of phrases, then you can start researching which ones have the most competition, the price of PPC for the phrases, and deciding which ones you want to pursue.

    Your SEO consultant should be able to help you determine which phrases will be your best investment.
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    • Profile picture of the author freedom4me2
      I would like to rank locally in Florida initially and then nationally. YourFitnessPhysician.com will have my sales letter. The blog is on a subdomain /blog.

      Thanks for the advice, on rooting the website!





      Originally Posted by Barry Unruh View Post

      Are you trying to market globally, nationally, or locally in Florida?

      Is there a reason there is nothing at Your Fitness Physician

      I'd highly recommend having the root of your website forward to your blog until you have something else there.

      Your keywords should be the phrases you expect prospective customers to use to find you.

      Once you have a list of phrases, then you can start researching which ones have the most competition, the price of PPC for the phrases, and deciding which ones you want to pursue.

      Your SEO consultant should be able to help you determine which phrases will be your best investment.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vendzilla
    Main part of the job of being an SEO person is to make sure you are using the right search terms.
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    • Profile picture of the author DABK
      The job of the SEO expert is to figure out which keywords will get you the results you told him/her you wanted, which can be conquered with the budget you have and estimate results (so you know if it's worth your while to proceed with said budget).

      So, you should be telling your SEO expert that what you sell is for women, give ages and main problems you want to fix... What's most lucrative for you...

      Do you want to fix self-image? Obesity? You want to work with women who want to have better looking legs? Learn how to eat better from the point of view of xyz?

      Based on that, your SEO person will do some research and come up with possible keywords, sorted out by difficulty (your cost and time you need to wait till you see results) and tell you which ones are most likely to bring you the type of visitors you want and about how many...


      Originally Posted by Vendzilla View Post

      Main part of the job of being an SEO person is to make sure you are using the right search terms.
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  • Profile picture of the author foysolahmed
    I will can help you for this seo issue.Just send me a private message.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOleaders
    First find out the best SEO agency or SEO expert from a freelancers platform then try learning some tips from the agency or freelancer plus work on the suggestions you get from SEO expert.

    It would be better if you go for low competition keywords and work on minimum 10 keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author robwilliam
    Use keyword planner to search the related key terms. This will give you better idea of choosing the right keyword with the monthly visitor report. Signup on adwords.google.com
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  • Profile picture of the author WinstonCarter
    Banned
    He shouldn't have asked you what keywords you would like to rank, he should have done the due diligence himself, that's the first red flag
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    In all honesty, if you want to do this in a safe way, you better have a significant budget to rank for weight loss related keywords. I'm talking over $3k/month. Even then it is going to take months to see any significant rankings.

    In that particular niche, I would not even bother with SEO. I would be focusing on social media marketing and AdWords. That is where you are going to get the best ROI.
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  • Originally Posted by freedom4me2 View Post

    Hi, I've created a new blog on a highly competitive niche.

    I want to hire an expert SEO, but I don't know much about SEO myself. I've talked with a few providers who have asked me for the two to three keywords I want to rank for. I'm not sure what keywords I should choose. Is there a best way to choose these two or three keywords? What should I look for when choosing these keywords?

    Thanks.

    Hire somebody that has a good reputation. But expect to pay a good amount of money a month.
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