Posts

How important is Page Rank from your backlink pages? 24th July 2011 10:42 AM

“You can ignor PR provided the page you are interested in is in the Google index it will help.

In my experience the PR of the page or site doesn't seem to make much if any difference. The numbers of links and referring domain names does.

The key consideration are whether the pages is related to your topic and how many outgoing links it has already.”

OK, thanks very much.

The Cold Calling Poll 15th July 2011 7:58 PM

Originally Posted by sjr4x4

“It's exactly why the SEO industry has such a perceived bad name. We get countless calls like this, depending on how busy I am, depends how bothered I can be to wind them up.

If you keep baffling them with science and force them off their cue card, they normally end up with "I'll need to get a senior consultant to speak to you".. bye bye

”

Yes, you're dead right - I do like throwing them off their calling script as well. You realise just how clueless some of them are when you do this as they're usually completely lost and end up unable to come back with a response which addresses the point you've just made.
Lots of talking, not enough listening.................a common problem

The Cold Calling Poll 15th July 2011 2:48 PM

I got a cold call the other day from somebody from an SEO company saying he could guarantee me a 1st page spot on Google. I told him that I'm already on the 1st page for some of the key phrases I'm targeting and that I'm making good progress on the others that I'd like to be on page 1 for.

He was a bit surprised but said, yes OK, but they could improve things. I told him I also use Adwords and he was amazed by how much I told him I was spending (not massive amounts) and claimed they could massively reduce this. All off the cuff having no clue as to the response I was receiving, the click through rate or anything.

I told him that it was all in hand but he wouldn't take no for an answer despite having clearly done no research at all and definitely having less SEO and PPC knowledge than me. He seemed to get the hump because I declined his "amazing offer" !

That sort of person gives salespeople a bad name. I have had one or two sales calls before where the person has been well informed, pleasant and has common sense - a rarity though!

Thanks for this post:

Thanks from: Steve.Richardson

Ban facebook in office? 22nd June 2011 5:30 PM

I think that these things do need to be monitored these days and if any employees are abusing the employers trust they need to be reprimanded. Facebook should just be used out of work hours and at lunchtime.

100 ways to promote yourself for free! 21st June 2011 2:13 PM

Originally Posted by Mark Pitts

“Just got a YOU TUBE account to promote the web site”

How well do you find the YouTube thing works for you? I've heard that videos can really help with SEO......

Telesales Staff 5th March 2011 5:54 PM

If somebody makes a sales call to me, so long as they are reasonable and get to the point I am happy to listen. Usually not for long as nearly always there is a reason why what they are offering is not relevant to me and my business.
Plus, sometimes the telesales person can be a scripted (and irritating) interuption.
However, the odd time, you can get a straightforward, knowledgeable person actually trying to sell you something that could be of interest! Worth allowing 30 seconds or so I always think to see........just in case.......

Help me out for how to optimize my new Ecommerce site 25th January 2011 4:36 PM

SEO is a very big area and there are a number of things you need to do to get more people visiting your website. If you don't have SEO skills and don't have the time and inclination then you can use one of the SEO firms out there.
If you have time you can do this yourself. Buy a couple of books and read up online. You need to optimise for relevant keywords and phrases and get relevant inbound links to your website to rank higher up Google.

Good luck!

How to Start a Business? 25th January 2011 4:33 PM

Hi Arnold

What type of business venture are you going to start? You need to start off by doing a lot of planning and research. You need to know your market and know your competition.
There are a lot of other things to look at including the finances, how you are going to get your business, etc, etc. depending on what type of business there are a host of things to consider.
You can help and guidance off local business links, chambers of commerce, paid consultants but ultimately it's down to you.

Good luck - it takes some guts to go for it. Make sure you have a cushion of money for the first few months since it may take a while to turn a profit even if you have a great idea and a great business.

The Forum SEO Challenge... 21st December 2010 3:16 PM

Very interesting thread. A good effort there I think for sure. For some competitive keywords I'm still working on my climb up the Google rankings. Looking at Bookkeeper London I'm on page 5 but London Bookkeeper on page 3. I've improved this from about pages 10 and 13 respectively in the last few weeks. Hopefully at some stage in Jan or Feb (or March....) I can get to page 1.
Of course some phrases are a lot easier to get on page 1 - with minimal effort and no off-page SEO I got bookkeeper Hammersmith and bookkeeper Fulham on page 1 of Google (for London Bookkeepers - Bookkeepers across the UK - Accounting Bookkeeping Services).
I don't get much traffic from these being on Page 1 but I do anticipate that the effort will be worth it when I can get on Page 1 for Bookkeeper London.

I think I'll take on board the facebook suggestion and look into this soon as well.....

Cheers

Online Business finally comes of age.... 28th November 2010 8:41 PM

Yes, good to see that the online market is growing more and more. I certainly think that online consumers are growing more discerning but I don't think that's a bad thing.
Online businesses should be just as professional as online businesses and as always in the business world the businesses that provide the best and most efficient services should prosper (hopefully).