SEO Ripoff and How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off

You want SEO services but who can you trust to provide quality services?How do you avoid getting ripped off?We have seen it all with SEO and the truth is scary. There are big SEO companies all over like a plague and many are fly by night operations with little or no real world SEO experience. There is also an abundance of inexperienced individual scammers out there that have no real world SEO experience or knowledge in SEO but they have fooled many people and businesses that don’t know any better.We have had businesses come to us, after being ripped off by so called SEO experts, seeking help.One example is a new client that hired us and contacted us on a 3 way phone call so we could listen to what the BIG SEO company was offering to do. The SEO firm promised to make my client #1 on organic Google searches and stated they have special and secret relationship with Google. OK this sounds amazing but the fact of the matter is THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE and this SEO firm tried to rip another company off.To make things more interesting I called the SEO firm on my own and spoke to the same salesman I spoke to earlier via a 3 way phone call and picked his brain to see where the conversation would go. This so called Web Master told me each SEO expert they employ is responsible for managing the SEO for over 100 client websites because they are so awesome!I also asked them about Google AdWords which is something I also have extensive knowledge and experience with. I wanted to know how much do they charge to manage a small & simple Google AdWords accountant and they told me they charge per click instead of a flat rate to just manage the online marketing campaign. Not that I would ever consider outsourcing anything to them or anybody else, I was curious. I know and believe in the old saying if you want something done right do it yourself but that’s not so easy in these types of situations for people with no background or understanding of how SEO and the internet work.OK that’s just another way they choose to bill for a specific service and there is nothing wrong with that but when I asked how much do they charge for every click and they said $50. I researched the specific key words involved and Google wasn’t charging more than $5, yes five bucks, for the specific keywords we talked about.Talk about serious price gouging! And what is really sad, is many businesses fall for these types of scams because they don’t know any better or don’t know who to turn to for quality and sound advice.Not only did this SEO firm promise things that are impossible to guarantee, they demonstrated they are not capable of delivering the one on one attention to detail that is necessary to deliver quality SEO services, and their prices for shoddy work is way over priced. Now I am not saying good SEO comes cheap, because good SEO is very time consuming and requireds a lot of hard work, dedication, knowledge and, most importantly, real world SEO experience.So how do you find a good SEO consultant anyways?That’s a tough question to answer because good SEO consultants are usually very busy catering to their clients and know firsthand that good SEO requires paying serious attention to detail, and managing the SEO for 100 websites is a bad idea for just one SEO consultant.PICK UP THE PHONE and call him or her.The first thing you should be asking for is to meet the SEO consultant in person – face to face for a consultation. If they are not willing to meet you in person then STOP and keep looking.What if the SEO consultant is not near you, IE another state?Now things are different and meeting them in person is not so reasonable, but that’s ok.You can have a phone consultation and ask important questions.Not every SEO consultant will meet you in person for free, and there may be good reason for this. They are very talented individuals and their time is very valuable and most don’t want to deal with tire kickers – you know, the potential clients that ask endless questions seeking free advice, then never spend a dime.After you get that out of the way, ask to see some websites that the SEO consultant is responsible for. Ask to see natural – organic searches that bring up the websites. If the SEO guru can show you this and demonstrate their talent then you are on the right track to SEO success.Other questions to ask are how much do they charge? And what will they do for X amount of dollars? If the SEO consultant tells you they have special connections with Google or they own thousands of websites that can drive traffic to your website then WALK AWAY NOW!Other things to verify which you can do yourself are.Is the SEO consultant a real business?How long have they been in business?Do they have any professional references?Do they have their phone number on their own website? Or do they only communicate via email?MOST IMPORTANTLY, are they located within the United States?NEVER EVER under any circumstances hire a SEO consultant that does not reside in the United States for obvious reasons. Lack of communication skills, lack of legal – laws to protect you as a consumer, lack of quality support. Nothing is worse than being transferred to India when you need help fast.At the lease try to use common sense when in doubt and understand good SEO isn’t cheap.The old catch phrase I live by is cheap is not good and good is not cheap.This doesn’t mean just because the SEO consultant isn’t cheap that he or she is good.Now before you sign any contract or agree to a deal, find and pay a good business lawyer to review the contract to make sure you completely understand what the contract states and ask the business lawyer to clarify anything you may not understand. Spending a few hundred dollars to have a business lawyer review and edit the contract if necessary may save you thousands of dollars and prevent you from signing a bad contract.In conclusion you now know what to look for, what to ask and how to weed out the SEO scammers that are out there.GOOD LUCK with your quest for high quality SEO services!

Increasing Link Popularity to Increase Organic Search Listings

Search engines are the primary way people find websites. True, social media sites are taking over some portions of this, but the engines still hold the major share… in particular, for business websites. Google has led the way emphasizing inbound links from other sites. Matter of fact, today it is one of the most important parts of their algorithm. If you don not have other sites linking to you, you will not do well at getting listed and getting traffic on any of the major engines. This is very important as without traffic… you will be without business.What exactly is link popularity. Well, there are some conflicting reports on this but all in all, think of it as the overall number of links pointing back to your site. To take it a step further, think of it as the overall number of highly relevant links, and, the overall number of links from other important, read this as high PageRank, and authority sites. Authority sites are those that are very popular and rank high in the listings. An authority site will get first page listings for all its keywords because it holds a lot of importance.One you have your site ranked as having a high link popularity it will show up high in the listings for whatever search terms are relevant to your site, i.e., whatever keywords you have on your pages. It is this overall importance that will make your site pop up in the listings, over and over again, for the keywords that define your market.Think about, let’s say, Wikipedia.org. They have a lot of links pointing at them simply because of what the site is. The very nature of the site makes people link to it, in particular to help define and bring credibility to a sites content. Using Wikipedia.org as a reference within your body content is a good idea because people put trust in Wikipedia and think of it as an authority. Consequently, Wikipedia.org comes up a lot in searches. It comes up because it has a very high link popularity, which is scored in the algorithm, and in turn places them among the top sites before anything else in the algorithm is even considered.When building your link popularity be careful about who you link out to. Google terms some sites as “bad neighborhoods” and if you link to one you will probably be penalized. Porn and gambling sites are among those termed as “bad neighborhoods”. Having a link coming in from a bad neighborhood is not as bad as linking out to one. The engines do realize that you have no control over who links to you, so you do not get penalized for another site linking to you. You want to stay away from sites that are nothing more than lists of links. These are called “link farms” and they serve no real purpose for anyone. Reciprocal linking really does not pay off like it used to, as the engines caught on to everyone “exchanging” links. I still support doing so, when the other site is very relevant and has something of value my users can benefit from. This is key to everything to do with websites. If it holds value… do it!I do recommend submitting to all of the directory sites you can find. Some are paid, and I will leave this up to you. If your wallet can support it go for it. The Yahoo! directory is a paid directory and, at this writing, costs $300 to get listed. Again, if you have the bucks go for it, it will not hurt, but will it help you? Well, I would not put a lot of stock in getting much traffic from it. It is however an important site and you will have a link from within it. I think Yahoo! still has a free slot for non-commercial sites, but do not hold me to that.The Open Directory Project, ODP for short, is another good place to get listed. They used to be a really important place. Matter of fact, once upon a time Google took their results from ODP. Today, I seldom use them and never find a good search result when I search there. I have no basic use for ODP. You should however submit to them… just don not expect the snobby editors who run the place to list your site. Chances are 9 out of 10 that they will not! Be thorough on where you ask to get listed, their categories run deep and duplicate themselves a lot. Do some searches and see where the searches send you, and then pick a good category.Other sites that are have high importance and are relevant to your site are also great place to search for links. Find these places by searching Google and then dig through the sites to find the contact information. Email them and request a link. Now, it just ain’t that easy… of course. You will need to have some really good reason for that site to link back to you… and remember, you are looking for a one way link back from them. So do your due diligence ahead of time. Perhaps writing up a good page that really targets their market closely will get them to want to link back to you. Provide something that will be of use and value to their users and they may just link back to you.Relevance is key. If you sell sneakers sites that sell shoe laces would be a good match. Socks, boots, hiking shoes, all could be good relevant sites that could compliment your site. These all make good places to request links from. Just be sure to give that webmaster some good reason to link back to you.This will not come easy and it will not come quickly, but if you keep plugging away and keep searching for other sites and writing more and more good content and other valuable pages, you will eventually increase your link popularity and experience good high listings on the engines.

Emerging Technologies America Has Fallen Behind On

There are many new technologies from all over the world, including America. But the majority of these emerging technologies are hot technology that America doesn’t have. Japan has seemed to corner the market on many of the up and coming technologies such as ones that are connected to computers, consumer electronics and a host of other things that America needs to catch up on.According to the JD Power Asian Pacific 2007 Japan Automotive Study, eight of the 14 new technologies that draw predominantly high levels of consumer interests were either related to fuel economy, safety or the environment.It’s not the Japan is the only one who is working in the emerging technologies; it’s just that America is falling behind in their work within development of new technologies. Funding plays a major role in the fact that America is behind in the technology department when it comes to certain places emerging technology is needed, such as the medical community where monies need to be raised in order to sustain the research. Japan works with many different companies that fund their research in emerging technologies because these companies know how important it is to be on the cutting edge of the science and consumer technology front. Some American companies are starting to get on board when it comes to “going green” and saving the environment, because they know this is a growing concern of many Americans today.The study also found that technologies such as extra airbags in the automobiles the likes of which are knee airbags and anti-whiplash seats have garnered much interest among consumers worldwide. These implements are in place now in Japan however this is a life-saving technology America doesn’t have. They are working on it however they just don’t have it as yet.Japan’s emerging technologies in the IT – Information Technology and computers in general have surpassed America for a long time. Many of the gadgets and computer components that the American companies use today we purchased and received from overseas, simply because we do not have the technology to build these components ourselves. Japan, like many of the other Asian nations, have what it takes to build the emerging technologies to put together smarter, faster computers and technological gadgets such as smarter cell phones, iPods that you can watch full-feature movies on, digital watches and calculators that do a whole host of other things besides keep time and calculate numbers.The software industry is another place where Japan’s emerging technologies surpasses Americas. Many of these software programs come in the form of games but others have practical applications in the business world. Japan’s edge in the game world far surpasses Americas but we seem content purchasing Japan’s gaming technologies. However, America is working hard in the consumer technology industry to come up with better, faster and more efficient ways of doing things. The medical community is one place where America has outdone Japan; medical technology in America now surpasses most countries in developing technology related to medicine and health care.Both countries are far from finding cures for fatal diseases but they are getting close to developing technology that will help us bring cures to these once devastating diseases.