What exactly do you consider seo? I wouldnt pay to have my pages "optimized". I dont know if this counts as a seo service but I currently budget about 2000 a month for directory submitions.
Well said will. using the term seo, is such a generic term that no one is really sure what it means any more. Dog crap is free, you can often find it laying around on the floor, but no one collects it as it is worthless. Horse crap on the other hand is good for use as fertiliser so more likely to be picked up. What is SEO? A good 'SEO' will know business as well as search engines. I prefer the term Internet marketer to SEO, although there are SEO's who submit you once a month and are happy to tae your money. A good SEO (for want of a better word) will know about the importance of Keyword research Keyword evaluation Keyword conversion testing Usability and design Copywriting Organic marketing PPC Marketing as well as search engine optimisation in general )on page off page stuff) In Short, if your SEO isn't talking about conversions and at the very minimum the above items, then they are probably not that good.
I've seen people talking about SEO and SEM as two separate things. Are they the same... or subtly or vastly different?
I wouldn't pay someone for something as vague as "seo services" but I have hired out specific projects in the past that would fall under that category. I would say that yes, SEO and SEM are different things, but very related. I'd say that SEO is a big part of SEM. I see two big categories in SEM, one is SEO, the other involves paid placement.
SEO Vs SEM I read somewhere that SEM will overtake SEO in a few years. Is this true? Meanwhile one of my previous companies changed their Title to Search Engine Marketing which was Search Engine Optimization before. When asked why, my ex-boss told me that people did come to his site using that term but most often ended up asking rates for submission services. Shucks!!! Dilip
SEO, SEM WTF is the difference? The truth is that an SEO doesn't optimise search engines, nor does an SEM markeket searck engines. I would say that it all should come under the banner of internet marketing. A good marketer will know how marketing works, understand the search engines and be able to handle page/Site optimisation, and the associated offpage work needed to drive traffic and improve rankings.
I think so. No longer is it just about "search engine optimization"...adding links, H1 tags, Title tags, keyword placement, keyword density, URL crawlability, etc... It's about "search engine marketing" ...getting good ROI on various tactics, not only knowing how to do SEO, but site structure, conversion rates and revenue created for the company. What good is having an SEO if the site doesn't convert? Most PROFESSIONAL seo's won't say they just do SEO anymore, as they're methods including generating money for their client. If you have poor landing pages, but great positions, are you providing a good service? The SEO's that understand this and adapt (like all things) will be the ones that stay around the SEO scene the longest.
I would pay for linkbuilders, but not for page optimization, I can do that myself. What works for me is getting some guy from India or East Europe to build some links for me each month for some money. I often use scriptlance.com or elance.com for this.
I think it all depends on what you want out of it and have at your disposal. If you can find a worthwhile SEO expert at a price you can afford and you don't have the time to learn on your own, then it might be worth the money. If you want to learn to do it yourself you need to make sure the SEO is okay with sharing ALL of the tactics he is going to use with you so you can learn from them. I do quite well with making money online but at Pubcon met a freak (he would take this as a compliment so it's okay) that was making over $300k/month with adsense. When anyone pulls out this type of number my bullshit meter immediately goes off but he had the goddamn checks with him to prove it. I ended up contacting him and paying $10k for a month of personal coaching. One of the toughest decisions I ever made because I was buying blind ... but in the end, it was one of the best investments I've ever made. So, you never know... but, you'd better be able to stomach it if you don't get a lot out of the investment... it could just have easily gone the other way.
Nitin, you have hit a good note there. If your SEO will not teach you what they are doing, then they are not worth it. I spend hours explaining to clients how things work, and what and more importantly WHY things are being changed.
Personally I see no difference between the two, I just see the phrase 'seo' as out dated, now with anyone with any brain realising that simple positioning is not what it is about (never has been with me, as I come from a sales and marketing background).