Small Business SEO Recommendations
-
I work for a company that manages websites for several hundred small businesses. We do a good job with on-site optimization but don't do any link building for our clients.
Occasionally, clients are in desperate need of links and ask us for recommendations. I've had a tough time finding a balance between quality consultants and affordable prices. I understand that link building campaigns, in general, carry a hefty price tag, but of our clients can't afford any of the big name agencies.
We've also had a few of our clients get burned recently by bad link building and I don't want to point them in the wrong direction.
Does anyone have any recommendations for companies or freelance consultants that do good work without breaking the bank?
Thanks!
Tim
-
Hey Tim
I just stumbled over this post so it's a late answer, however, maybe worth throwing in my tuppence / five cents here.
I think we are pretty much at the point with all of this that if a small business client comes to you and asks for links then they likely have a bigger problem than actually just needing a bit of a boost for a few keywords.
If your client is thinking about buying links to simply do better in search then rather than just pointing them towards someone who may (or may not) do a good job the better advice would be pointing them towards a consultant who help them devise a real strategy. Buying links is not a strategy.
If I think about all of the clients I have worked with this year I don't think I have thought a single time - well, what you need is just a few more links. And, often, even when someone may come to us asking for us to build links, we more often than not try to look at ways to do something bigger and better.
I guess the point I am trying to make here is to ask the question - why? Why do you want links? What is the real goal? No business thinks we will make it this year if we can just get some more links so what is the real need here.
It's just too much of a can of worms to look at possibles but in many cases a well placed guest post on a highly visible site may generate more exposure and qualified click through traffic than the benefit that ten links may bring.
Some, stealthy placement on high ranking industry directories may help raise the profile and get more click through traffic again.
Some well placed citations and local SEO may be more than enough for many a small business or local business.
The possibilities are kind of endless but usually, links are not the entire answer and in many cases are not the biggest part of it.
Obviously, it all depends, but the point I am making is often, if they are asking for links, and you really want to give them some help, first ask them why and then try to direct them towards someone who can help them devise a real strategy that will drive exposure, referral traffic and likely a few bang-up links as part of the process.
Obviously, on the dawn of Penguin 2.0 (4.0?) having a strategy that is not built around getting more links is even more important than ever.
Not an answer as such, but hopefully food for thought!
Marcus -
It's always hard to gauge as consultants will always price themselves differently and on different grounds.
I can recommend a ton of others not on that list, such as Chris Dyson http://tripleseo.com/ Steve Morgan http://seono.co.uk/ and Ross Hudgens http://www.rosshudgens.com/ - it's always worth dropping them a line, get an idea of budgets/quotes and whether or not they have expertise, or even specialise, in small business SEO.
But like everything, you get what you pay for and what you get out of SEO is more or less proportionate to what you put in.
-
Thanks, Tom! We try to do our best with educational stuff, but a lot of our clients tend to feel overwhelmed or just don't have the time to do link building themselves.
I've recommended companies from the SEOmoz list, but they're usually too expensive for our clients. Maybe I just need to do a better job of setting pricing expectations when I recommend a company and explain that quality work comes at a premium.
-
Hi Tim
Just to quickly throw my opinion in: I think you're of the right frame of mind to recommend a consultant. Finding an agency that would build safe and valuable links on a small budget can be a very frought process, with several rip-off merchants out there. Not to say all of them are of course, but equally if the clients' budget is not sustainable, the path of self-education could be a better one.
With that in mind, you may be able to find a number of quality consultants on SEOMoz's own recommended companies list: http://www.seomoz.org/article/recommended
Furthermore, I'd point your clients in the direction of some great educational resources. The beginner's guide to SEO from Moz remains a great document for all, while Jon Cooper's Link Building Course and DistilledU can also be a great investment.
Hope this helps you and your clients out.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Please critique my SEO resume
Hello, Please critique the SEO resume found here. I'm looking for a job working 30 hours a week making $30/hour in Idaho. Looking for advice on creating the best resume possible. It's all honest. Thanks.
Industry News | | BobGW1 -
Can not get the ranking needle to move even after a year with a US based SEO company
Hello community, I have spent the last 16 months spending lots of money on our USA Based SEO company and on content. For some reason. The powers who may be at Google are not giving us any love. I am beginning to become very dissapointed after all of our efforts. We did have a link penalty a year ago however that has long ago been removed. We have been doing everything our SEO company has asked us but the needle is not moving. Any ideas for us? http://tinyurl.com/n2yoeyn Thank you in advance. Chris
Industry News | | scamper0 -
Paid links from directory listing and business listing sites are good or bad according to Penguin 2.1 update?
Hi Friends, Recently on October 4<sup>th</sup>, 2013, a new spam filtering algorithm got live named Penguin 21. / Penguin 5. The update goes after sites that may have purchased paid links. I would like to know is it safe, if we submit website details with links in paid directories, eg: https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/ (yahoo directory) and quality business listing sites provided the categories are related to our website. Our competitor sites having the backlinks from those kind of directories and they are performing (ranking) well in major search engines. May I know how Google treat these kinds of links according to this recent algorithm update?
Industry News | | zco_seo0 -
Does Sticky Post in WordPress Have Impact on SEO?
Hi, I Have a Blog that I have attached a "sticky" post, obviously the content in the "sticky" post is the content that I want to ensure that everyone sees. I do update, by adding new posts daily or at least everyother day, my question is: Is the "sticky" post hurting, helping, or is it indifferent to SEO? I know the SE enjoy fresh content, and was wondering does that fresh content have to pop-up at the top of the page otr not. Any input would be great. Thanks. Jimmy
Industry News | | jimmy02250 -
Chinese SEO specialists
Wondered if any of you could recommend a very white-hat and trustworthy Chinese SEO specialist who I can partner with? Thanks, Luke
Industry News | | McTaggart0 -
Looking for Freelance SEO'ers
Hi, I wouldn't normally post a request for freelancers here, but I noticed someone else has done it and its not against the rules! so here goes... We are looking for Freelancers to help with our work load. In particular we are searching for Link Builders who can establish links on various websites through the use of article writing/blog content posting and other methods. Also, we require general SEOs who can perform the usual technical tasks such as creating 301's, canonicals and SEO audit reports on client websites. Ideally we only want UK based, white hatters with at least 2 years SEO experience. Please pm me if this interests you. Thanks Aran
Industry News | | Chiefblob0 -
Where do i find Local SEO Clients?
Hey, So i've been doing SEO for a while now and know a lot of tactics and a lot of ways to get my/others sites hire. I know good software (and have that software with full licenses and know the methods to use it in whitehat ways that will work well), internal content linking, title/description, webmaster tools (both google and bing), sitemaps etc... I have clients and my own sites that i have managed to get high in google, as well as my own local site that is number 1 in Google for my hometown + SEO, but that only gets about 80 searches a month and gets me very little if any phone calls a week. I've also just ordered 250 high quality business cards, that i spent ages designing to look awesome.. If these work well i'll print some more and stick all over the place... I currently have 2 local clients, 1 is a local web agency who every client they have they pay me a specific amount to boost that company in Google and the other is just a family friend who pays me a small amount a month to build links for him. I'd like to have 10-15+ clients all on my payroll with a nice amount of income that i can live off. I just finished full-time school and am just coming into the big wide world and have for paid for my new laptop, desktop, 2 monitors, SEO software licenses and SEOMoz account from niche blogs, software and SEO coaching and such.. I've built a brilliant online portfolio for people and have had a lot of great feedback from online clients. But i can only earn around $10-$110 per online client for SEO and around $8/hour for coaching... I'd like to be able to make that a LOT more. I do web/graphic design as well and have built a nice portfolio for that as well. So back to the main question, how did you and how do i get local clients? Thanks!
Industry News | | pompano210 -
Is it smart to reveal your clients and projects in the Q&A forum? What about on your own SEO blog?
On one hand it seems like having my cake and eating it too: blogging about SEO using my clients as case studies in order to give them a couple backlinks. On the other hand it seems like asking for it from Google or from competitors. Got any advice? And what of mentioning actual domains and brand names when asking questions here in the forum? One one hand it seems like I'd get more specific advice, on the other hand, once again, it seems like it comes with some amount of risk. Any advice? Thanks!
Industry News | | TheEspresseo0