Your community is about to get a whole lot bigger.
Here’s what we did for Mike of B&F Auto Electric. And, what he had to say about it
Objective: To update his outdated website, and ensure a presence on Google- ahead of his competitors.
Recommendations: Redo the website and optimize it for search engines.
Results: Within 30 days after the site launched, and without any additional costs beyond his initial website design, this Calgary client was happy as a clam to appear right on the front page of Google.
SEO is the techie acronym for Search Engine Optimization, and SEO Packages are a service that helps optimize your presence on the web in order to display on or near page one of the search engines for particular search terms.
You may have been approached by the big yellow book company preaching the merits of SEO packages, with prices ranging from $300-$3000 a month, but SEO in Calgary doesn’t have to be that expensive.
It’s common knowledge that a page one presence on the search engines is a great way to ensure a steady flow of leads to your website. So obtaining a reliable provider of your SEO packages is recommended, however it may be baffling that there is such a huge variant for SEO packages in Calgary. It can be confusing especially when you don’t understand what is being offered.
With SEO packages, whether you’re in Calgary or around the globe, it’s important to know what is being included and excluded from the package you’re looking at:
Here are 5 elements to consider when you’re shopping for a Calgary SEO provider:
1. Keywords.
a. Amount of keywords targeted aren’t as important as the quality of the keywords targeted. If no one is searching for the key terms your targeting, being on page one will not net you any new business.
b. Should the keywords be popular enough to have a lot of searches, ensure they are words that pertain to the segment of your business you want to grow. Getting traffic for fireplace repair when you sell new fireplaces, for example, doesn’t help your bottom line.
2. Time.
a. How long are they telling you it will take to get page one placement? Some places offer 24 hour turnaround and some offer results in 6 months.
3. Services:
a. Keyword Analysis and Recommendations
b. Site Analysis and Optimization Recommendations (even better if site optimization is included)
c. Google + Local – claim and optimize the page
d. Sync Google + Local with your site
e. Google Adwords Account creation, ad creation and monitoring
f. Reporting
g. Backlink creation – number doesn’t matter more than quality
h. Directory submissions – number doesn’t matter more than quality
i. Blog post creation, optimization
j. Article submissions
k. Tailored Strategy
l. Adaptable to new techniques/technologies
4. Adaptability:
A big downside to many companies that offer SEO packages in Calgary is that they are cookie cutter offerings that don’t factor in the ever-changing state of the web.
For example, there once was a time where you could get on page one of Google without paying a dime, within 24 hours simply by creating a keyword heavy Facebook or Twitter account name.
Now that isn’t the case any longer, but wouldn’t it be nice if your Calgary-based SEO company knew about ALL the factors that play into how your site is ranked, so you can be nimble enough to capitalize on these types of discoveries?
5. Placement:
Are you getting any kind of guarantee of where your website will rank on the search engines. This is one of the most important factors to shopping for an SEO Package in Calgary or elsewhere. Anyone can claim your Google + local page and charge you $300 a month for doing nothing, but will it be optimized enough to show up first in the search results?
Want to learn more? Book a complimentary 20 minute consultation with an experienced internet marketing consultant.
Your Turn!
I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.
And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!
Laurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.
Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.
These days when you’re looking to improve or overhaul your web design, factoring in how it will look to handheld device users may be a factor to consider.
Mobile devices include smart phones and all manner of tablets.
According to w3 schools, mobile device usage still accounts for less than 2% of overall web traffic, however in North America and Web Savvy cities like Calgary, these numbers tend to be much higher.
Check out your Google analytics or web traffic statistics to determine what percentage of your audience is on a handheld device when they land on your site. More importantly though, how are they behaving once they get to your website? Do you have a high bounce rate from handheld device users? Are their page views dramatically less than those on laptop or desktop devices?
If your handheld device audience is clearly turned off by your existing website design, and they’re a large percentage of your website visitors, you may want to consider a mobile web design.
That being said, you have 3 different options, with three different prices to address the needs of mobile device users on your website.
A mobile friendly website: This essentially means your website isn’t offensive or broken to the user. It ensuring your website is scalable and simply displays as a smaller version of itself on devices such as android, iphone, ipad etc.
Addition of a mobile plugin: A great and cost effective option for WordPress websites is a plugin that, when configured correctly, can display a mobile specific version of the website to your visitors. Essentially appearing as a large menu to start, this provides a quick an easy way for your visitors to get to where they want to go on your website. A mobile web design plugin can be installed in a medium sized WordPress website in roughly 10 hours. So, the cost will vary depending on your web designers rates.
Creation of a specifically mobile web design: For businesses with a large stake in the market of mobile users. An option where we create a whole new web design that is geared specifically to the needs of the user. All non-essential content and navigation is stripped down, providing only the required navigation and content that a user will need.
About as expensive as a standard web design, a specifically mobile web design takes into consideration the reduced screen size, and hurried nature of today’s users.
Often, screens will be basically empty except for a link to call, get directions with Google maps or place their order online/sign up.
Converting casual browsers to sales is typically easier for the retail business and handheld device user, as often the user is en route to purchase the product or service and needs simply to identify what location is the closest and most appropriate for fulfilling the user’s needs.
In this case, often all that is needed is a large phone number or map.
By considering the visitor usage, the 3 different options and the user experience, you can determine the best mobile web design solution for your unique business.
Learn more about web design services.
Your Turn!
I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.
And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!
Laurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.
Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.
There is such a huge range of costs and methods of billing to get on google that it can be confusing to know what is a good deal, and what is too good to be true. Likewise, it can be hard to understand why some firms charge 10 times more than others for what appears to be the same work.
Here is a breakdown of the different billing types, SEO Package services, and rates that typical SEO Companies will offer you to ensure your company’s website will get on Google:
Billing Type:
Most common types of services needed to help you get on Google:
Variables to the cost to get on Google:
Price Range of services that will help:
Keyword Analysis: The low range is around $250, and the highest range is $2500. The variable can be attributed to how in depth the report is, and how experienced the SEO packages professional
Site Optimization: The low range is around $300 and the high range caps at $3000. For best results, ask for a price range based on hours of work. This directly correlates to how big and complex the website is.
Monthly retainer: For on-going SEO Packages: (Site and External to Site Services) $1000-$3000.
Content Marketing: Blogging + content submission: $500-$2500 a month, depending on how many hours/blog posts.
Google + Page Claim: $300 month seems to be the average price, but they go as high as $500.
Social Media Management: Yes, Social Media and SEO are blending into each other, making it hard to do one without the other.
Internet Marketing Consulting and Recommendations: Range from $76-$200 on average. Most SEO firms will include a set number of hours in their monthly retainer SEO Packages.
It’s recommended that, at the very minimum, your SEO package includes not just recommendations, but actual hand coded SEO Optmization of your website.
It is also recommended that your provider use the triple prong approach to off page SEO: Places, Organic, and Paid. This way you can cancel your SEO Package and still receive the benefits of a high ranking website well into the future.
For more information on the three ways to get on Google.
Your Turn!
I’d love to hear your questions or challenges – Tell me in the comments below.
And, if you enjoyed this post, please share it!
Laurel Lindsay is a Calgary Internet Marking Consultant & President of The New Media Group Inc. She has over 8 years hands-on Internet Marketing experience.
Laurel is enthusiastic and passionate about helping people live better lives by leveraging the power of the internet.
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