Perhaps you are wondering why you should choose Look Sharp Designs
for search engine marketing services instead of another company that
offers search engine marketing services. In a recent article Paul Bruemmer,
CEO of Web-Ignite Corporation, a large search engine marketing company,
outlined some things that you should look for when hiring a search engine
marketing company. In his article, he states that search engine marketing
services "can be categorized into four areas: site analysis and
optimization, manual submission process, offsite optimization and monthly
reporting."
As a component of search engine marketing, site analysis and optimization
has its own elements: keyword and category research, page optimization,
copywriting and content review, and directory compliance review. Look
Sharp Designs provides each of these elements as part of its search
engine marketing package, and as stand-alone services. We use both your
traffic logs (if available) and WordTracker to perform keyword research.
When our keyword research is completed, we make our recommendations
as to what we feel are the best keywords, but you have the final approval.
We perform complete page optimization and compare your pages against
similar pages in your industry in order to achieve the best possible
rankings. We also review your current content and make suggestions that
should help your rankings. Again, you have final approval over any suggestions
and recommendations we make. We review your site to make sure it has
the necessary elements that directory editors look for when reviewing
a site, such as sensible navigation, and contact information. Finally,
if you have dynamic content, such as from a database, we will recommend
that a few static pages be created to facilitate spider crawling. Many
search engines still will not index dynamic content.
We manually submit sites to all search directories (Yahoo!, LookSmart,
Open Directory Project) and to Fast/All the Web, Hotbot, Lycos, WhatUSeek
Google, AltaVista and Wisenut. We rarely use automated submissions to
submit to other search engines, even though we have the capability to
do so with CommandPro. Read why we only
submit to a select number of search engines...
To supplement its search engine marketing service, Look Sharp Designs
provides offsite optimization, designing theme sites that link back
to your main site. These theme sites revolve around one central topic,
such as a particular product. They are small sites, usually no more
than 10 pages, and can usually rank well, but are only really necessary
for sites that are primarily database driven, or have a diverse amount
of content. We don't promote these theme site heavily because we believe
that optimizing your site is the safest and best way to proceed. We
also offer reciprocal link directory creation and management. Find
out more about our reciprocal linking services...
Finally, we offer monthly reports as part of our search engine marketing
maintenance service. You get a complete report showing your current
ranking for specific keywords, which URL is ranking, previous ranking
and any change from the last report. View
sample reports...
Later in his article, Bruemmer states search engine marketing "requires
a long-term commitment." We agree with Bruemmer. Too many times
we have seen people pull out of a search engine marketing campaign after
a couple of months because they didn't see results fast enough. Some
search engines take quite a while to index sites, so it is not uncommon
to have to wait 4-6 months to see initial results. If adjustments must
be made to improve rankings, it will often take just as long to find
out the effects of those adjustments.
Experience and reputation are important when selecting a search engine
marketing company. Bruemmer suggests that you ask the following questions
when evaluating search engine marketing firms.
- How many years of search engine marketing experience do you have?
- We have been performing search engine marketing since 2000.
Our search engine marketing specialists are certified by the Academy
of Web Specialists, one of the search engine marketing industry's
leading training institutions.
- Do you specialize in search engine marketing or do you also provide
other marketing services?
- We specialize in search engine marketing. We do not offer other
unrelated marketing services (such as affiliate marketing CPA
programs, etc.) so that we may concentrate on search engine marketing
and integrating it with web design.
- Do you specialize in search engine marketing for any specific industry?
- We have performed search engine marketing services for clients
in the online gaming and online cash advance industries. We no
longer provide search engine marketing for those industries as
those clients saturate the rankings. We also will not provide
search engine marketing services for the adult entertainment industry.
We do not specialize in one specific industry, however wemay limit
the number of clients we will take on in each industry, region
or niche market.
- What clients are on your customer list and can we contact them?
- We have done some search engine marketing work on a consulting
basis for The Selling Source. You may contact Derek LaFavor at
The Selling Source for a reference: 800.397.7706 or http://www.sellingsource.com.
- What kind of results have you achieved for past clients?
- Honestly, our results have been mixed. Clients that have made
the long-term commitment have seen good results, while those clients
that did not fully understand the necessary commitment were disappointed
with their results because we were not able to achieve them quickly
enough (usually within three months). View
sample reports...
- How soon can we expect to see results?
- We generally begin to see results from Fast and Lycos after
one or two months. By the end of three months we expect to see
the initial results, but be aware that it is quite possible that
it can take longer than three months to see results. We are at
the search engine's mercy once we submit. If they are backlogged,
there isn't anything that we can do to speed up the process. Also,
occasionally the accepted search engine marketing techniques don't
work as well as expected, so we must make adjustments to those
best practices resorting to a trial and error process.
- Can you describe the customer support services provided?
- We will be happy to discuss our search engine marketing programs
and services, current search engine marketing strategies, the
details of your search engine marketing campaign or anything else
you wish to discuss.
- How is support provided?
- We may be contacted by telephone, 702.631.1682, or by e-mail,
info@looksharpdesigns.com.
There is no limit on the number of telephone calls or e-mails.
- Will I have one-to-one contact with a search engine marketing specialist?
- Always. Our search engine marketing specialists are always available
to answer your search engine marketing questions and listen to
your suggestions.
- Do you have a minimum search engine marketing maintenance contract
requirement?
- No. We do not have a minimum search engine marketing contract
requirement. The only stipulation in our search engine marketing
contract is that you must cancel our services in writing with
a 30-day notice. If you cancel in the middle of a month, you will
be responsible for paying a prorated payment for the following
month. So if you notify Look Sharp Designs of cancellation of
services on the 15th of the month, you will be required to pay
50% of the monthly payment the following month for 15 days of
service. For more details about our search engine marketing maintenance
programs, see our search engine marketing
services page.
- Do you charge extra for re-optimization?
- Re-optimization is part of the monthly search engine marketing
maintenance service. You do not pay extra for re-optimization
of the site or pages created in the initial optimization. However,
if you request additional pages for optimization after the intial
work has been completed, additional charges will apply.
- Do you guarantee positioning or traffic?
- Who owns the domains used and pages created to build traffic?
- If we set up separate domains to build theme sites as part of
your search engine marketing campaign, we initially own the domains
and pages created. You are welcome to purchase the domain from
us at cost (usually no more than $35 per domain). If you do so,
we will transfer the domain over to you and you will own the domain
and all pages associated with that domain. You may then move it
to any host that you desire.
- What maintenance do you provide and what is the monthly cost?
- What search engine marketing reports do you provide and how often?
- We provide a Page and Keyword Report as part of our search engine
marketing service. If requested we can also provide a Trend report,
a Summary Description Report and a URL Verification report. Reports
are compiled monthly and either posted to the web for viewing
or e-mailed directly to you.
By providing you the above information we hope that we have explained
why you should consider Look Sharp Designs for all of your search engine
marketing needs. We are dedicated and certified search engine marketing
professionals. We stay abreast of everything that is going on in the
search engine marketing industry and all of the latest changes with
the search engines. Feel free to contact us
if you have any additional questions or wish to discuss your search
engine marketing needs.
Source: Search
Engine Guide: Web
Ignite Corporation: evaluating SEO Venders By Paul Breummer - December
11, 2001 http://www.searchengineguide.com/wi/2001/1211_wi1.html
