On December 4th, I replied to a blogger's question about How to Choose an SEO Company. As promised, I have followed up with "What to Ask Your SEO Company" -- these are questions to use when interviewing prospective SEO vendors or when considering search engine optimization for your website.
Choosing an SEO company should not be a decision about cost, but rather skill and return on investment. Look to see if the company you are considering ranks well for the keyphrases related to their services, i.e. "Charlotte SEO."
Here are some questions to ask your SEO company:
1. How do you determine what keywords to optimize for?
2. Are you considered a "white hat" SEO company?
3. What are your contract terms?
4. Can you show me some of your client's sites?
5. What was the client’s ROI?
6. What kind of increase in qualified traffic can you expect for my site?
7. How long will it be until I start to see results?
8. How can I/we assist you in making this relationship work best?
9. What are your top SEO achievements?
10. Do you do PPC and would this be a part of your SEO process for me?
Look for the best company based on their performance for themselves (their website) and their client sites. Remember that cost should not be a deciding factor so much as ROI (return on investment)--believe me, you won't have any problem spending the money on SEO if your are getting it back 10, 20, 30 fold because of good SEO!
The Big Cheese
Mouse and Man - A Charlotte Web Design & SEO Company
Your Kickin' Website - Charlotte, NV
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
How do I choose an SEO company?
Dear Big Cheese,
I run a small professional services company in Charlotte and I have been talking to other business owners who have told me that I need to find a good SEO company to promote my website—but they disagree on what makes “a good” SEO company. Some of my colleagues suggest price, others performance, others by an SEO company’s client list...
In your opinion, how should I go about choosing an SEO company that will do the best job optimizing my site and get it to the top of the search engines?
Keith C., Charlotte.
Dear Keith,
A lot of decisions a business owner or manager has to make are subjective… but Search Engine Optimization is not! And here is why: A good company will be easy to find—and by finding them, you will know they are good at what they do.
If you go to your favorite search engine, Google, Yahoo, etc. type in your city name and what you are looking for—like you would any other search. In this case, “Charlotte Search Engine Optimization” or "Charlotte SEO" on top, (after the sponsored links if they are there) are the companies who currently understand how to optimize a website the best. They recognize the value, have taken the time to do this for themselves and organically rank for a keyphrase that they have chosen, and for which they have supporting content in the site.
And this is what they will do for you!
From there you can narrow down the choices by recommendations by satisfied clients, range of services (such as do they do Pay-Per-Click, as well as organic SEO), and their performance with customers they have been working with for more than 6 months who are in similar industries to yours.
This is what you want your prospective customers to do when they do a search for your city and service... so find a company who can do this for themselves!
Big Cheese Tip of the Day: Always ask your prospective search engine optimization or pay-per-click vendor if they are working with a company that would be in direct competition for your preferred keyphrases--you don't want them to have any conflicts of interest when working to get the best qualified traffic to your site.
Check back here soon for a list of things to ask your SEO company.
The Big Cheese
Mouse and Man - A Charlotte Web Design Company
I run a small professional services company in Charlotte and I have been talking to other business owners who have told me that I need to find a good SEO company to promote my website—but they disagree on what makes “a good” SEO company. Some of my colleagues suggest price, others performance, others by an SEO company’s client list...
In your opinion, how should I go about choosing an SEO company that will do the best job optimizing my site and get it to the top of the search engines?
Keith C., Charlotte.
Dear Keith,
A lot of decisions a business owner or manager has to make are subjective… but Search Engine Optimization is not! And here is why: A good company will be easy to find—and by finding them, you will know they are good at what they do.
If you go to your favorite search engine, Google, Yahoo, etc. type in your city name and what you are looking for—like you would any other search. In this case, “Charlotte Search Engine Optimization” or "Charlotte SEO" on top, (after the sponsored links if they are there) are the companies who currently understand how to optimize a website the best. They recognize the value, have taken the time to do this for themselves and organically rank for a keyphrase that they have chosen, and for which they have supporting content in the site.
And this is what they will do for you!
From there you can narrow down the choices by recommendations by satisfied clients, range of services (such as do they do Pay-Per-Click, as well as organic SEO), and their performance with customers they have been working with for more than 6 months who are in similar industries to yours.
This is what you want your prospective customers to do when they do a search for your city and service... so find a company who can do this for themselves!
Big Cheese Tip of the Day: Always ask your prospective search engine optimization or pay-per-click vendor if they are working with a company that would be in direct competition for your preferred keyphrases--you don't want them to have any conflicts of interest when working to get the best qualified traffic to your site.
Check back here soon for a list of things to ask your SEO company.
The Big Cheese
Mouse and Man - A Charlotte Web Design Company
Monday, December 1, 2008
Newsletter Email Blasts
Dear Big Cheese,
I would like to send out an email blast to my clients for the holidays and I don't want it to be an impersonal boring plain text message that gets ignored, or worse-yet hits a spam filter without being seen. I would like to show my clients that I appreciate their business and let them know about the exciting things happening in '09...
Can you send out "a better" email blast?
Carol P. - Madison, WI
Dear Carol,
Yes! We can send out a better email blast. Through the power of technology, design savvy and good ol' common sense, we can design your HTML version email newsletter to work seamlessly with your branding, look great, AND be received by your contacts, no matter how many spam/ junk filters they have enabled. All you need to do is provide some fabulous content and give us your mail list... we will do the rest.
Contact our Charlotte Web Design Headquarters at 704-968-1775 for more information. Thank you for the great question.
THE Big Cheese
I would like to send out an email blast to my clients for the holidays and I don't want it to be an impersonal boring plain text message that gets ignored, or worse-yet hits a spam filter without being seen. I would like to show my clients that I appreciate their business and let them know about the exciting things happening in '09...
Can you send out "a better" email blast?
Carol P. - Madison, WI
Dear Carol,
Yes! We can send out a better email blast. Through the power of technology, design savvy and good ol' common sense, we can design your HTML version email newsletter to work seamlessly with your branding, look great, AND be received by your contacts, no matter how many spam/ junk filters they have enabled. All you need to do is provide some fabulous content and give us your mail list... we will do the rest.
Contact our Charlotte Web Design Headquarters at 704-968-1775 for more information. Thank you for the great question.
THE Big Cheese
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Content Management System for Website
Dear Big Cheese,
Dear Sung,
I need a website, but I need a content management system built in because our services are still evolving and I would like to be able to add news every day for our clients.
Beside that functionality, we will also need the site to have a unique and almost whimsical design (we are specialty retail shop in Charlotte).
Is this a project that you can handle and can you send me references of some sites that you have done like this.
Sincerely
Sung K. -- Charlotte, NC
Retail Shop Owner
Dear Sung, We can certainly assist you in creating a creative, professional aesthetically pleasing AND user-friendly website for your Charlotte-based retail business. Our designers will work with you to design a site that you are proud of and reflects the personality of your business.
A content management system is a wonderful tool for allowing you access to make content changes to your site through an easy-to-use password-protected back-end. This will give you 24-hour a day access and the ability to update news, upload pictures, create links and format text. We use Joomla to create all of our content-management site, and we are proud and excited to offer this to you. You can read more about Joomla's Content Management System on our website.
I look forward to meeting with you soon and the opportunity to work with you. When we meet I can show you sites that are similar to what you are looking for in both design and functionality and give you the contact info of these clients so that you can speak to them personally about heir experiences with Mouse and Man and the success of their websites.
Take care - Happy Thanksgiving!
The Big Cheese
Friday, November 21, 2008
Online Reputation Management
Dear Big Cheese,
When I do a search for my business name on Google, I find all sorts of things including an old complaint, an online thread about another business with a similar name in another state, a former employee's MySpace page (with some unsavory pictures!), my golf league scores and some person's blog that mentions the company. Then much later if you dig and dig, you will find a link to a directory that links to our company website.
How do I change this and make my business website the thing that comes up on a search? I fear we are losing business opportunities!
Jon S. -- Charlotte, North Carolina
Dear Jon,
Dear Jon,
What you need is a combination is SEO (search engine optimization) and Online Reputation Management. Through the use of both of these tools, Mouse and Man, (headquartered in Charlotte) can make sure that when people do a search for you, your business, even your services, your company website will be the first thing people see!
This will draw qualified and targeted website traffic to your website and get you that business you are looking for.
Please give us a call (704-968-1775) to set up a consultation meeting and we can get started right away.
The Big Cheese
Mouse and Man
Charlotte Web Design and SEO
When I do a search for my business name on Google, I find all sorts of things including an old complaint, an online thread about another business with a similar name in another state, a former employee's MySpace page (with some unsavory pictures!), my golf league scores and some person's blog that mentions the company. Then much later if you dig and dig, you will find a link to a directory that links to our company website.
How do I change this and make my business website the thing that comes up on a search? I fear we are losing business opportunities!
Jon S. -- Charlotte, North Carolina
Dear Jon,
Dear Jon,
What you need is a combination is SEO (search engine optimization) and Online Reputation Management. Through the use of both of these tools, Mouse and Man, (headquartered in Charlotte) can make sure that when people do a search for you, your business, even your services, your company website will be the first thing people see!
This will draw qualified and targeted website traffic to your website and get you that business you are looking for.
Please give us a call (704-968-1775) to set up a consultation meeting and we can get started right away.
The Big Cheese
Mouse and Man
Charlotte Web Design and SEO
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Need Business Logo and Image Package
Dear Big Cheese,
I have decided to start my own CPA business in Charlotte after 15 years of working at a big firm. I need a "look," a logo and website and an image that I can can use to brand myself. What do I need to start this process and how quickly can I get it done?
Steve -- a CPA in Charlotte
Dear Steve, Congratulation on starting your own firm in Charlotte and best of luck! Mouse and Man is a perfect choice for your "image" creation. We are not only experts in finding the right "look and feel" for new businesses...it is something we sincerely enjoy doing.
To get started we would have you meet with our creative team to discuss the personality of your new business. We will ask you questions like "who are your clients?" "What feelings do you want to convey?" and "Do you have a tag-line, or message?"
This will help us determine if we need to go steady and conservative, or bold and contemporary--or anywhere in between.
We will work on a logo, a website and your other image pieces and we can do so quickly and professionally. It usually takes 4-6 weeks to get this pulled together depending on our schedule and your availability.
I look forward to talking with you about your new project and I can't wait to introduce your new business to the world.
My very best regards,
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
New Site Launch: www.matrelawfirm.com
NEWS RELEASE
November 19, 2008
Fort Mill, South Carolina
Mouse and Man is proud to announce the launch of Gail Matre Esquire's new website: MatreLawFirm.com. Matre Law offers real estate law services to home buyers and sellers in North and South Carolina.
For more information in website design and development, check out the Mouse and Man website or call us at 704-968-1775.
Monday, November 17, 2008
New Site Launch: www.meghanwier.com
NEWS RELEASE:
November 18, 2008
Charlotte, North Carolina
Mouse and Man is pleased to announce the recent launch of the MeghanWier.com website redesign. "I love this new site, the team at Mouse and Man really understands how to provide the best look and feel and marry it to visitor-friendly functionality" said Meghan Wier, Charlotte writer and author. The site features information on business blogging and copywriting services as well as an author bio.
Do you like this site? For more information on how you can get a new website for your business, please contact Mouse and Man.
What is SEO?
Dear Big Cheese,
I see that you do web development--but I also heard that you do SEO. Can you explain what this means?
Joe P -- Charlotte
Dear Joe ,
SEO is "search engine optimization"-- which is the process of tuning a website such that it ranks high in the search results of a search engine like google or yahoo.
The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the better the chance that that site will be visited by a user--and those users are your potential clients, customers, etc. SEO helps to ensure that a site is "search engine friendly" and accessible to a search engine and increases the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.
Mouse and Man offers web developent and search engine optimization services from our world headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
--Big Cheese
www.mouseandman.com
I see that you do web development--but I also heard that you do SEO. Can you explain what this means?
Joe P -- Charlotte
Dear Joe ,
SEO is "search engine optimization"-- which is the process of tuning a website such that it ranks high in the search results of a search engine like google or yahoo.
The higher a website ranks in the results of a search, the better the chance that that site will be visited by a user--and those users are your potential clients, customers, etc. SEO helps to ensure that a site is "search engine friendly" and accessible to a search engine and increases the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.
Mouse and Man offers web developent and search engine optimization services from our world headquarters in Charlotte, NC.
--Big Cheese
www.mouseandman.com
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