Secondshells.com has $3k a month to spend on SEO & marketing. HOW should I spend it & with whom?

[BossMike]

We have a Magento based ecommerce site www.secondshells.com and are looking for ways to improve traffic. Our goal is to drive sales of our products.

We are in the Android tablet accessory business, since its fairly new the competition is not that great, we would like to get up in organic rankings for our keywords.

We have blog updated daily, building backlinks, PR, facebook, twitter, google+, Videos on Youtube, PPC, product feeds to Bing, Google & The Find. The foundation is there but it's a lot to handle in-house.

The real question is who to choose to execute the strategy & where to pick them from. There are 1,000's of companies, individuals, Elance & Odesk. Who to choose to execute is more difficult than choosing the direction. We are straightforward and intelligent and want people who can provide a plan of action, execute and report it. All white hat seomoz style of promotion.

There are so many choices and avenues to pursue that it is difficult to make a decision as to which way to go. Any guidance or suggestions will be appreciated.

SecondShells

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Micheal,

First of all, congratulations on your endeavor. Looks like you've done a lot of hard work and you should be congratulated for your efforts.

Finding a good SEO firm can be both challenging and rewarding. The range of talent out there runs from super to snake oil salesman. Whoever you hire, be sure to do some research. Ask for a list of clients and recommendations (sometimes, for practical reasons, they can't provide this) Talk to folks who have used the service. Ask about certifications, training, philosophy and influences. And most importantly, ask about the techniques they will use.

A good place to start is the SEOmoz Recommended list, although most of these folks might be out of your price range.

A lot of good SEOs hang out here in the Q&A, and if you check their reputation you can often find a good "up-and-comer" that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for SEO services.

First and foremost, I'd look for a firm experienced in link building, especially in your situation. Wish I could suggest someone specific, but you fall in that tight area between doing it yourself, and hiring an outstanding firm.

Regardless, best of luck with your SEO!

[BossMike]

WHO is a reputable firm...thats the question

[goodlegaladvice]

It's too bad you just don't do the seo yourself. There is a very easy way to get traffic and high rankings for cell phone related stuff

Eli

[Keszi]

Hey Michael,

In your case I would go for a long tail plan, try to get something really innovative into the field this way you can make yourself a name.(Innovative ~ both from Marketing and SEO).

I can't tell you numbers like how much to spend on this or that, but if you have a low budget I would try inbound marketing vs. payed marketing, cutting some costs from your list.

Gr.,

Istvan

[MoosaHemani]

Interesting business and as tablet is new to the market as compare to smart phones, I am sure the competition will be easy! The budget sounds decent to me, so why not invest in making a mobile version of the website because its pretty much make sense!

People who already have the android phones and tablets will be the most targeted traffic for your website! So why not make an online store that should be compatible to android phones and this will surly going to increase your ROI as they will most likely to buy the accessories!

Other thing that you can do is to create a blog with the website (if you already have it EPIC!) and start sharing knowledge about the gadgets and accessories. Videos can work great in increasing your website traffic and ROI

[kristicastaneda]

With that kind of budget, I think you could stand do do well with hiring a reputable SEO firm to manage your on-page optimizations, outreach, and PPC, then dedicate the rest to search engine and social platform advertising.