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Written by Claudia Lynn March 7, 2006
My websites sell only one book each: askmothersadvice.com and recipesforbaby.com. The profit does not cover the
monthly fees most SEO service companies are charging... ie, $50 to $100 per
month.
Are there any reasonably priced companies you can suggest? I have signed up with more than one company that took my credit card and gave me absolutely no results. I don't ask for big time responses, just some consistent submissions.
Claudia Lynn
Written by Anthony Kirlew March 8, 2006
Claudia,
If you don't have a budget, I would start by doing some research and learning a bit about how to do your own search engine submissions at www.searchenginewatch.com. I can't imagine getting any quality service from anyone for the prices you mention ($50-$100 per month), our monthly minimum is $950, but I do realize that it outprices some of the smaller online businesses.
Also, you may considering converting your hardcover book to an ebook. This will increase your profits as your production costs will be "zero", and your shipping time will be eliminated. If you do go with the ebook route, I would also strongly consider implementing an affiliate program to have other ebook marketers sell your ebooks. Clickbank.com is a great place to find affiliate marketers for ebooks.
I hope that helps.
Anthony Kirlew
The Web Traffic Team
I typed Ask Mothers Advice into Google and you are number one. So my first question is, is that because you’ve used a company or because of the content? In most cases, it’s usually the latter in my experience. I’ve done two web sites for authors and both have climbed Google with ease, as there has been quite a bit of publicity about them and their books. So I’d spend the money saved on other small methods of promotions, such as postcards and point-of-sale posters. The latter can easily be made downloadable from your site.
One thing I would do with your site is split some of the pages into manageable chunks. At present if someone types a specific text into Google, and what they need is at the bottom of the page, they’ll go away. Split and they’ll read it. You also get more foot soldiers for your hits.
I’ve recently signed up to Google Site Map and I find it very useful in finding why people turn up at my web sites. In one case, this has suggested that I write a new product.
James Miller
Daisy Analysis
Written by Dirk Johnson March 8, 2006 Claudia,
I commend you on your determination. You are taking control, and using the Web to market with your product. But with that comes the challenges of making it a viable business.
In nearly 10 years of building and running a wide variety of websites for my own ventures, and working for hundreds of clients, I have come to realize one over-riding factor. It's a geek-fest out here. Those who truly succeed at it tend to be the ones who immerse themselves in understanding the technology and how that relates to their business goals. They use that knowledge to develop creative methods that will establish an advantage. Claudia, this is not directed at you. I am just making these points in order to set up my later advice.
Over the years, I have seen many examples of business owners who avoid the World Wide Web, hoping that someone else will come along and solve it all for them. Occasionally, that does happen, in the form of a dedicated service provider or and exceptional employee, but it's rare. A disinterested / distracted owner repeatedly makes the wrong decisions (or fails to address the necessary decisions in the first place) with respect to their websites, especially in a competitive environment. They are always playing catch up.
That business owner will argue that there is not the time or money to address their online marketing efforts. Big and small company owners both make this argument. But the online marketplace does not wait, and simply rewards those who do make the right choices, which could be an upstart, or an established player. Size does not matter. It comes down to execution and focus.
Successful business on the WWW is stacked in favor of the tech-oriented, number-crunching, analyst-type of business owner who is always looking for an edge. I get to see it first-hand, across a lot of industries. The most successful are also the most engaged. Reluctantly treating a website as a necessary annoyance always means losing ground. Claudia, you and all the rest of us LED Digest readers are trying hard to differentiate ourselves as the former, not the latter, while the bar continues to rise. It's not easy.
So, back to your question about finding an SEO outfit that fits your budget. My advice to you is to first self-educate as much as possible. Then you have the right knowledge to hire someone who will then do it for you, or, depending on your time and budget, you may need to do some of it yourself. Either way, you will have a much better understanding of your goals, strategy, tactics, and needs, and the estimated time needed to do it.
You could start by putting "SEO basics" into a search engine, or go to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization learning center. Do realize that the advice on this subject will vary. Look for some consensus.
Claudia, you are not alone in your frustration with having hired an SEO service provider that did not deliver, but they are not all that way. Your primary protection in the future is your own knowledge base, and how you use that going forward. The successful site owner does not need to do everything themselves, but the more they know, the more effective they will be in directing those who do.
Best regards,
Dirk Johnson, Partner - Operations
DomainDrivers LLC
Written by Michael Martinez March 9, 2006
Authors really cannot benefit from SEO because it is so expensive. Assuming you make a profit of $3 from each book sale, you would have to sell 34 books just to pay for a $100 monthly fee. Since most SEO firms charge more than that, you would have to sell more books.
Search engine optimization is not about selling books. It's about creating Web site visibility. A good SEO can get the traffic to your site if there is traffic to be had, but no one can guarantee sales. I think what you need to do is work on some keyword research, see what people are looking for that is related to your books. I recommend you use Digital Point's Keyword Suggestion Tool: http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
There are other good tools out there, but this one gives you a reasonable indication of what people are actually typing into query boxes because they draw from two major query reporting tools.
Once you know what people are searching for, you can design a set of targeted expressions and budget your SEO expenses. You should not need an ongoing link-building campaign. I've advised a lot of authors on how to promote their books on the Internet, and I promote my own books online. It doesn't take a lot of SEO.
What you need to focus on, however, is creating and maintaining visibility for yourself.
Michael Martinez
"Cuando Maria canta, canta para mí"
Written by Mike Banks Valentine March 9, 2006 Dirk Johnson recommended to Claudia Lynn that she "Self Educate" on SEO. I have a suggestion for those in Claudia's position who have similarly restricted budgets and are unable to pay those fees charged by a top flight SEO firms to optimize their web site. Subscribe to top SEO newsletters, forums and blogs. I won't list all them here as there are too many, but what follows is a sampling of some of the best.
Then there are dozens of webmaster forums and blogs where SEO is regularly discussed - most prominently the SearchengineWatch Blog at: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/
But I *can't stand* trolling forums and just forget to return to blogs as often as I should, so I rely on a single site to send me filtered and important news of ALL the SEO forums in a single daily email in which well known SEO Barry Schwartz culls the best daily info from all the relevant SEO forums and posts concise recaps and links to those forum threads of highest interest. Just input your email address in the "subscribe" form at the top of the home page at: http://www.seroundtable.com/
How about hearing SEO news from the head Google Software engineer? Try Matt Cutts blog where he posts regular SEO tips and
commentary. http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/
The information is out there (and easily accessible) to allow anyone to become their own in-house SEO. Happy reading! ;-)
Mike Banks Valentine
realityseo.com
Written by Martha Retallick March 9, 2006 This part of Claudia Lynn's post on SEO services jumped right out at me:
> I have signed up with more than one company that
> took my credit card and gave me absolutely no results.
About that "absolutely no results" part, permit me to share the following story...
Last summer, I redesigned a website for a client, who, shall we say, was a bit difficult to work with. As part of the redesign package, I offered SEO services, which I subcontracted. The man I subcontracted to was the same one who got one of my own websites ranked #1 in Google, and kept it there for several years.
This particular fellow was known as a real straight-shooter in the SEO business, and that business isn't known for such behavior. He guaranteed that his clients would achieve top rankings, and the only variable would be how long this process took. And I told the client this.
Anyway, he began SEO work on my client's redesigned site last October. And, as part of this process, he sent e-mails to both me and the client stating that the process of achieving high rankings could take as long as 26 weeks.
Well, in early November, I got an e-mail from the client, who was most unhappy about the fact that his site, which previously had no rankings of any sort, had not rocketed up to the top 10 in Google. We told him, as we'd already told him in the aforementioned e-mail, that achieving rankings takes time, and, in the meantime, had he done any sort of marketing to promote his new site? He insisted that he had. However, I know from many years' experience that clients who say such things aren't putting in anywhere near the effort that they need to.
I got a similar e-mail in December, and once again, I told the client that achieving rankings takes time, and my SEO guy was indeed working on it. The SEO guy also sent an e-mail that included the following info:
"Since the SE's found the way to monetize search (pay-per-click ads) they are not only not feeling any pressure to speed up the indexing and re-indexing process, but well... the longer it takes to get ranked, the more people will decide, 'darn, we need some action, now! Let's invest some money in pay-per-click ads and get some visitors today!'
"The SE's have no problem w/ that decision.
"I am NOT suggesting that the SE's are not legit. I am NOT uncovering any machinations. I am just pointing out that their main interest is to sell pay-per-click ads. Exactly how often they re-index is a secondary concern, logically.
"IF SOMEHOW you interpreted something Martha or I may have written to indicate that you can look for rankings in Google et al., real quick, then we apologize for any complicity in this misunderstanding, but we never would say anything like that b/c we have been hip to this fact of life in the Search Engine World since 2001.
"It is NOT FAST. No Quick Fixes. No Magic Bullets. And, as Martha points out, anything and everything you can do to promote your site is all to the good."
I should also mention that between October and December, the SEO guy had sent a couple of progress reports to show how he was coming along with the registration process. These went to both me and the client. In one e-mail exchange with the client, I asked him if he had read those reports, but he never answered the question. (I can't help thinking that the answer was "No.")
In January, this story took a tragic turn. In the middle of the month, I received word that the SEO guy had died suddenly. And, since he was a sole proprietor, when he died, his business died with him.
In February, I got another e-mail from the client, in which he demanded a refund because he'd paid me for SEO, and hadn't achieved any results yet. (Mind you, we were still inside that 26-week timeframe, but since the SEO guy was no longer alive, there was no way he could honor the "No matter how long it takes!" guarantee.)
I gave the guy his refund, and I also told him to take his design business elsewhere. As I mentioned before, I found him difficult to work with, and if I knew last summer what I know now, I wouldn't have taken him on as a client. I've also learned other lessons from this experience:
1. Watch out for guarantees. Especially when they apply to something that is as dependent on the actions (or inactions) of third parties like the search engine companies.
2. Be careful what you subcontract. As a result of the above experience, I no longer subcontract SEO work. I will refer interested clients to reputable companies that do SEO work. However, they all charge a good bit more than my late, great SEO guy.
3. When I began to work with this problem client last summer, it became very clear to me that although his company had been around for a couple of decades, it had almost no name recognition. And a quick Google search or two revealed something about his high-ranking competitors. Not only had they been in business for a while, they had also worked hard to promote themselves. You could see that from what they said on their websites.
In short, if you're an unknown, getting into the search engines isn't going to suddenly make you into a somebody. As mentioned above, the engines are going to take their own sweet time about letting you in. And, in the meantime, if you aren't going flat-out with your marketing, you'll still be an unknown.
Martha Retallick
Western Sky Communications
Written by Dirk Johnson March 10, 2006
> You should not need an ongoing
> link-building campaign.
- Michael Martinez
Once again, Michael, you've advised someone to not undertake link building (reciprocation implied, I suspect). This is not the first time you've said similar things here, and likely not the last. It's one of your ongoing tenets, and we've gone 'round 'n 'round about this before. So, here we go again...
I am sure that you have your own well-considered reasons for making your statement, and you are entitled to them. You seem to have a very hardened opinion about all of this.
But other LED readers should be made aware of what you are overlooking and what Claudia needs to know before she takes your advice to heart. Her sites and their subject matter askmothersadvice.com and recipesforbaby.com actually do lend themselves to a vigorous and productive link campaign, and one that might reap a number of benefits. In fact, her site is one of the best candidates for reciprocal linking that I have ever seen.
Michael, before your run to your keyboard and accuse me of "self-promotion", (which you've done before here in LED Digest, and not just to me...), I would like to point out that Claudia's sites do not really lend themselves to our linking services. We do not have the link prospects in our database that are appropriate for her sites. Her link campaign would be quite specific, and it would be best managed internally, in some way. So, let's get that issue off the table. I am not soliciting her business. Just making observations from having done a lot of this kind of work.
That said, there are quite likely dozens and dozens of sites that would readily link with Claudia's sites. Self-help sites, motherhood sites, baby sites and a host of others. Seeking them out and finding the ones that publicly offer to reciprocate, then making the effort to do that, can result in a number of positive benefits.
Those are just a few of the benefits of pursuing a reciprocal link program for a niche site. They are the very reasons that successful sites have reciprocated with each other from the very inception of the World Wide Web, and long before search engines even existed. Many of the most established and oldest niche portals used reciprocation in their early years as their primary means of spreading the word about their sites. And doing it is still valid. There are even more reciprocation opportunities today.
Reciprocal linking, at it's core, is not about SEO. It is about branding within a realm of interest. Certainly, many sites ignore this phenomenon, and do not reciprocate. Some sites can still do well without it. On the other hand, the cost of branding via reciprocal linking is often marginal when compared with other methods of building awareness and links.
For niche sites, reciprocal linking tends to provide a very high return-on-investment, for the reasons outlined above. But it does take work. It's is by no means effortless or "free". Doing it effectively takes good tools and determination.
Certainly, differences of opinion make the world go round, but advising someone to not do this is a very curious. Especially in Claudia's case, as her circumstances imply a very successful and productive link building campaign. At least when viewed through my own experience, which includes hundreds of client sites, across a wide variety of circumstances.
Best regards,
Dirk Johnson
DomainDrivers LLC
Written by Anthony Kirlew March 13, 2006 I will start by saying, Claudia, I hope you are enjoying all of this back and forth (and free analysis) based on your sites. :-)
I am not sure why anyone would say "You should not need an ongoing link-building campaign," especially to a site owner with a site (recipesforbaby.com) that has no Google PageRank, nor
does it show any inbound links on Google.
I know Google has had "mixed" results lately, but I did a manual check for the site based on the primary keyword "baby food recipe", taken from the title, and I could not find it on the first 6 pages of Google for that term (or at Yahoo). This is strongly evident of a site that needs links, if it wants to rank well (in Google particularly). Here it is from the horses mouth (Google's Webmaster section):
"Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link."
Claudia, you could start by adding this site's URL to your bio on your other site that "does" have page rank. That would only be a start, however, and I do strongly developing links to your site. Ideally you should do a directory campaign, to make sure you have inbound links from solid directories. Feel free to contact me if you specific questions about implementing this.
Also from Google's Webmaster section:
"Have other relevant sites link to yours."
I believe every site can accomplish inbound linking, and often without having a "links" hyperlink on the page. It takes time, but developing solid relationships with site owners and marketers that understand this will pay off big in the end. Also, don't minimize the value of internal linking which can be done without contacting any other sites.
Best regards,
Anthony Kirlew
Web Traffic Team
Written by Michael Martinez March 13, 2006 > Once again, Michael, you've advised someone to not
> undertake link building (reciprocation implied, I suspect).
> This is not the first time you've said similar things
> here... It's one of your ongoing tenets
- Dirk Johnson
Actually, Dirk, one of my ongoing tenets is that people should not put words into other people's mouths, which once again you've done for me. Thank you. I gave specific advice to an author. I have a lot of experience in helping authors promote their Web sites. Link building campaigns are a waste of time for them.
> But other LED readers should be made aware of
> what you are overlooking and what Claudia needs
> to know before she takes your advice to heart.
Reciprocal linking has been abused to the point where even Matt Cutts obliquely indicates that it can pretty much be worthless. And I am one of the people who first helped popularize the concept. I've advised several link management sites on how to improve their programs. I'll put my experience in reciprocal linking up against anyone's.
It's not the panacea you and other link managers make it out to
be.
What makes authors distinct from typical small business people is that they operate on the slimmest of margin lines. Most authors never make a profit from their books.
Authors who successfully promote their books online do so by promoting themselves. Claudia and others like her need to work closely with good publicists, not link managers. She needs to get media attention, not good search engine rankings for expressions no one is searching on.
An author has to get the most bang from her promotional buck. One radio interview will bring in more traffic (and correspondingly more links) than any link request.
When it comes to promoting books, you have one shot at creating a buzz and then after that you have to depend on residual interest. Authors need to plan their promotional campaigns months before their books are published. After the books are published, they can still get some interest when timely events related to their topics
occur.
Michael Martinez
Written by Tony Gschwend March 14, 2006
"Why" is a good word, use it often.
Our “Web Guru” at work will always tell our sales guys and clients that the “secret to getting a good rank in the search engines is a good link campaign and you have to get more inbound links than your competition‘s website.” Our web guru is real good at wind-speak and often sells this idea but has yet to get a site on the first 5 pages of a search for the targeted keywords. When I check rank, if a site is not on the first 5 pages I consider it as not being there at all and will look no further.
Two of these clients that got sold on the idea of a link campaign and were really upset about paying so much money and not getting results complained enough that my boss asked me if there was anything I could do. I looked at the sites and reported that there was a good possibility that we could get them within the first 5 pages in a couple months but I was not going to guarantee that because search engines are fickle animals.
Our clients are in a very competitive industry (home improvement). I used the tried and true method of relevant keywords, descriptions, and copy, plus adding alt tags to images not part of the template. One month later one of the sites showed up in the fourth page. Two months later both sites ranked for a product search. That means a search for vinyl siding on google or yahoo and these site are in the first 5 pages. Combine a product and the area that the company services and they show on the first page and many times at the first natural spot.
Why did I just type all that? Cause sometimes it really grabs my goat when I read people’s remarks to or about what Michael Martinez has written. Now, I’m not trying to say that inbound links are not a good thing because they are to a certain extent provided they can be seen, but they are truly not needed for good SE ranking. What some people need to do instead of flying off the roof and saying “Once again, Michael, you've advised someone to not buy what I sell” is maybe think about it and ask why did he say that.
When I am asked to make a site either at work or freelancing the very first question is why do you want a website? At first I really don’t care what the person wants their site to look like or even what type of site they want. What really matters is what the site is going to do and if the client doesn’t know that then I don’t make the site because it will never be right or what they wanted, the bill will get too high, and I just don‘t have the time for that. Those sites are better left to the wind-speaking “Gurus” who can throw enough words around to squeak by and leave the client clueless and fooled for at least another day.
Why is a good word, use it often. Why do you want a website? Why did you say that? Why do we make the sun yellow in our pictures? Why twist Michael’s words?
Michael, I hope you keep writing and sharing your knowledge.
Tony Gschwend
gschwend.net/tony
Written by Steve Pronger March 15, 2006 > Now, I’m not trying to say that inbound links are not a good
> thing because they are to a certain extent provided they can
> be seen, but they are truly not needed for good SE ranking.
- Tony Gschwend
Tony, all very interesting, but how can you be sure that the link campaign already conducted is not influencing the results months after you added "relevant keywords, descriptions, and copy, plus adding alt tags to images not part of the template"? I'm not questioning your SEO expertise, but if you're offering this info as evidence that inbound links are "truly not needed" I'd like to see a bit more detail in your argument. For instance:
Can you give us the URLs of the sites you are referring to? How was the link campaign conducted? How many inbound links were obtained? Were they from indexed, high PageRank, relevant pages? What keywords were targeted and what anchor text was used? Were these the same keywords you targeted? How much competition is there for these keywords, particularly the ones where a "product and the area that the company services" is combined? How many searches are conducted for these combined terms?
It could well be that the person who conducted the link campaign did not do it well, or really didn't know what they were doing. That doesn't mean that inbound links are truly not needed for good SE ranking.
I have no doubt that what you did was effective and should have been done in the first place. But it's worth noting that the #1 site for "vinyl siding" is a PageRank 6 and has 645 reported backlinks on Google. Would it be there without those inbound links? Can you move your site from "first five" to page 1 for "vinyl siding" by just tweaking on-page content and no link development?
> What some people need to do instead of flying off the
> roof and saying "Once again, Michael, you've advised
> someone to not buy what I sell"...
I don't sell link building services. If anyone approaches me for such services I politely decline. Too much like hard work. I simply do not agree with Michael Martinez's assertion that link building is a waste of time (please don't tell me I'm putting words in his mouth - he has stated this many times in LED). But I do use link building as part of an overall strategy for my own sites and clients I've designed sites for. Why? It works for me. Simple really.
> Authors who successfully promote their books online
> do so by promoting themselves. Claudia and others like
> her need to work closely with good publicists, not link
> managers. She needs to get media attention, not good
> search engine rankings for expressions no one is searching on.
- Michael Martinez
True, good search engine rankings on keywords no one is searching for don't do anyone any good. But at least 4,224 people searched for "baby food recipe" last month. Obviously a high SE ranking on those keywords will bring good volumes of visitors who will be interested in Claudia's book, which presumably is the reason she put up her site in the first place. Links matter. You need them. Let's have a look at the #1 ranked site on Google for "baby food recipe":
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com
PageRank 5
Reported Google backlinks: 72
Alexa rank: 153,561
Anchor text analysis (these are the top 6 words contained within the links that point to this site):
Food - 76.3% 176 links
Baby - 76.3 % 176 links
Make - 51.3% - 78 links
Homemade - 46.1% 70 links
And - 41.4% 63 links
Recipes - 39.5 % 60 links
Google ranking for "home made baby food" - 3
What do these stats mean? Quite simply, this site receives good volumes of targeted traffic, and the links which point to it play a significant role in that result. Just having a quick look at some of the linking pages I see baby-themed blogs, baby shower sites etc. In other words, they are relevant. But of course links are not the only factor. That site has around 203 original, content-rich pages. So it's a simple formula Claudia:
Lots of good content + lots of relevant, keyword-targeted links = high SE rankings on those keywords = targeted visitors = sales.
Just a few suggestions for your site Claudia. The home page is mostly made up of graphics. There is very little text for the search engines to read. Search engines can't read pictures, only words. Replace that big graphic with lots of keyword-rich, benefit-laden text. Add some baby food related articles.
Submit some articles to article directories such as ezinearticles.com - this will generate interest, traffic and those all important backlinks. Submit to the directories. Find some good quality, relevant linking partners. [Linking] still works if done PROPERLY.
Actually, I'd imagine that generating a profit from selling a $7.95 book would be pretty difficult. It would be hard to attract affiliates at that price as well. I'd consider adding the content from your book to your site, and generate profits using AdSense and affiliate programs for related products. Oh, and the image links are broken on the Recipe of the Month page.
Steve Pronger
stevepronger.com
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