Tag Archives: Calgary seo

5 criteria of a successful seo provider

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calgary skylineSEO 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 LindsayLaurel 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.

 

What Should You Pay To Get On Google?

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internet-marketing-resultsThere 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:

  1. Per hour: According to a 2012 survey by SEO MOZ, most SEO professionals charge between $76-$200/hour to help you get on Google.
  2. Flat rate or per project: Many firms will charge a flat rate for a very specific service to be performed ie: keyword analysis, site optimization or backlink creation
  3. Retainer: By far the most popular, a monthly retainer ensures specific services are performed each month. The advantage of this model is flexibility in allocating resources to what service within the offering is needed the most at that time.

Most common types of services needed to help you get on Google:

  • Pay per Click: offering to create and manage your ads for you
  • Google + local: claim your google + page
  • Inbound organic optimization: creating backlinks and directory listings to point back to your site and drive traffic
  • Web optimization: adjusting and tweaking the code of your site, including metatags to better “tell: the search engines what your site is about
  • Content marketing: Creating keyword heavy blog posts for distribution across the web.

Variables to the cost to get on Google:

  1. Amount of competition for keywords/ complexity of goal
  2. Size and complexity of site
  3. Experience of SEO firm
  4. Range of services provided- full service to bare minimum

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 LindsayLaurel 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.

 

This month’s featured website design: Duri Homes

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A behind the scenes look at how we launched a complete website design project in less than 30 days.

website-design-duri-homesWhen I walked into Duri Homes’ latest home in Aspen Wood Estates I was, in a word, impressed.

A long-time client, Dean Duri’s small home-building company had been steadily growing due to word of mouth and a steadfast commitment to quality.

In that moment I realized that Dean had arrived.  His new home was spacious, beautifully designed and absolutely luxurious. The calibre of homes Dean is now building has clearly come a long way since he started his company.

When we sat down to discuss revamping his website design, I knew we’d need to pull out all the stops to ensure it was an accurate reflection of the quality of this luxury home. To make sure we were on point, we reviewed a few Calgary website designs from competitors and colleagues and discussed his businesses goals.

A week or so later, I got a call from Dean asking if it would be possible to get the new site up in time for his Show Home opening on October 20th.

Typically our website design projects last about 3 months, so it was a tall order to complete the site within less than 3 weeks.

That being said, I knew how important it was to Dean that his old, outdated website design was replaced as soon as possible. I took a deep breath and told him we could hustle and get it done.

That week was spent in a flurry. Getting text written and approved, the images from the photographer and carefully reviewing my notes in order to ensure everything Dean needed for his new website design would be incorporated in the build.

On a Tuesday afternoon just 4 days before the show home opened, we got Dean’s approval on all the materials necessary to put his site together.

There was one huge problem though. Our website developer was going in for day surgery on the Friday, and the site was supposed to go live on Saturday.  Despite his impending surgery, our developer worked around the clock Wednesday and Thursday to get us a first draft of his site for Friday morning.

As I reviewed the first draft of the website design with Dean, I felt a sense of pride that we could pull through for a valued client in his time of need. Only a few quick revisions were needed, but couldn’t be completed until Shane had recovered from Friday’s surgery.

We agreed to meet online Saturday morning. I reviewed the changes and called Dean to confirm.

His new website design site went live 10 minutes ago, 15 minutes prior to his show home opening. It is gorgeous, and an accurate reflection indeed of what Dean is capable of creating for his customers.

As I sit back in my chair after a very early morning this sunny Saturday, I feel such a sense of gratitude.

I am grateful that our developer, despite his medical concerns was able to pull through for us. I am grateful that our designer put in extra effort to make sure the website design was “wow”, and I am grateful that we can be a part of Duri Homes’ success as they open a new chapter of their business.

Mostly though, I am grateful that I am part of such a fantastic team capable of pulling off huge accomplishments in support of our clients.

If you get a chance, visit Duri Homes new website design and check out their show home.

I think you too will be very impressed.

4 ways to use domain names to get better internet marketing results

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internet-marketing-domain-nameThe best way to get better internet marketing results is to regularly review your campaigns and try new things if they aren’t producing the results you want.

Becoming familiar with the strategies you’re employing and being willing to tweak things a bit will provide you with much more accurate data to analyze, drive more traffic to your site, and ultimately get better results on Google.

Here are four things you can do with your domain names right now to enhance your internet marketing results.

Register Multiple Domains

The first step to leveraging domain names for internet marketing is to register several domains. Think of them as web assets.

Then you can use one domain name per campaign, which means you can now run split tests and track how well your advertising or media distribution is working. This is done by reviewing how much traffic you get from that specific domain name.

You will need to renew them once a year, but we think you’ll find the following 3 tips to leveraging domain name registration for internet marketing purposes will convince you this small cost is well worth it.

Leverage Domains to Track Internet Marketing Campaigns

If you own multiple domains, you can run split tests and hone your marketing skills and get to know what best appeals to your intended audience by observing how many people came to your site through the various channels your domains have opened.

Here’s an example. Say you purchase a banner ad as part of a campaign. In that ad you decided to use a secondary domain name, so instead of using www.mybusiness.com, you use www.bestwidgetsever.com.

Since you have not used bestwidgetsever.com in any other internet marketing campaigns, when you look at your web statistics, you’ll know right away how much traffic that particular domain name sent you and you’ll be able to compare it against your other campaigns. Did it work better or worse?

Also, this tactic is very useful for judging the effectiveness of traditional advertising campaigns like radio or billboards. A catchy domain name is easy to remember, which will help by driving more traffic to your website. If your domain name isn’t catchy, go buy one that is and see if it makes a difference to your site traffic.

Use domain names to increase your ranking on Google

Another way you can use domain names for internet marketing purposes is to purchase easy-to-remember domains with in-demand keywords.

We for example, we own bestcalgarywebsitedesign.com, which is catchy and also helps us rank highly on Google because it is full of good keywords.

Also, older domains typically receive better ranking than newer ones, all other things being equal. The better your ranking on Google, the better your overall internet marketing results will be.

Use Domain Names to Create Niche-Specific Internet Marketing Campaigns

Another way you can use your domain name for internet marketing purposes is to point a domain name to a specific, or even hidden, page on your website that is only accessible through the link you sent out.

In this way you can promote a specific campaign to a smaller niche market without everyone else seeing it. You can promote or even discount your inventory without having the discounted prices available to your regular customers by displaying these items only on, for example, ‘discountwidgets.com’ instead of ‘widgets.com’.

Another tactic for niche-specific marketing is to purchase and utilize domain names per specific geographical location you deal with, or per specific product you offer.

So say you have a campaign running in Calgary. The domain name discountwidgetscalgary.com will be an easy domain name to promote, remember, and it will likely rank well on Google.

If you can create a page on your website that is specific to the area and the campaign, you’ll find this performs better than if you didn’t use these internet marketing tactics.

There are many ways you can use specific domain names to help you track and optimize your internet marketing efforts if you get creative, but these three are easily the most fundamental.

Learn more about Internet Marketing

Have you used domain names for internet marketing before? What have been your challenges or questions? Tell us below.