Well now that all depends on who you ask? I recently watched a video at hubspot and they mention things you should know before hiring an SEO company. One of those things was, "They are more than $2000.00 / month." Though we would love to charge customers this much per month because there is a lot of hard work involved, it really is not justified in our opinion.
Our prices are much less than that and all for good reason. We here at Area Web Solutions feel that our main competition is the Yellow Pages. Not Other SEO or SEM Companies. We are a valid and very useful alternative to much less effective yellow pages are are moving in the right direction with where most people search these days. Charging a Customer $24,000 per year does not make us a real online marketing agency. What we know, how we apply it, and what the customer gets makes us a good choice to conduct business with.
Our methodology is perhaps more in depth as well, far beyond what other SEO companies offer as well. We implement over 140 checkpoints just during the setup phase of the first month of any of our SEO programs. This involves all white-hat (honest) practices while pushing the envelope safely within Google, Yahoo and MSN webmaster guidelines. You websites are never at risk of being banned with our services by anything that we do ourselves.
Does this make us less effective? Absolutely not! Though you will occasionally see a competitors website popup out of the way works above yours in the search results, it may be because they are using black-hat (dishonest) SEO practices, and if we spot them in our search results, that is going to be very bad for them.
We are in it for you and for the long run. People will come and go all the time. Persistence is key and there is 1 major thing that Google awards for and you can't trick Google to think, and that's age. Google will reward your site for having fresh, user-friendly content consistently over time. and this is where most web spammers lose the game. Because they are in it for the quick buck and we are in it for the long haul.
So how much is SEO under our plans? And how much is SEM compared to SEO? Feel free to visit our site and find out for yourself. We have plans that start out at $49.95 per month targeting a couple keywords related to your website and we deliver results.
See our web solutions and click on "Marketing Tools" on the menu.
Thanks,
Jeramie
Owner/Area Web solutions, LLC
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Local Search Engine Marketing
Last week, my sales rep showed a potential customer how google local might work for them. In doing so, we discovered that the pushpin on the map was an entire town off. How disturbing this was for the business owner that we showed this too. But is there anything that one can do in order to fix this BIG problem?
Yes, there is as a matter of fact. Google allows you to place the pin more accurately where your business should be. I won't go into a lot of detail on how to do this because I'm sure that a google search can show this info too. But I will let you know that if the process becomes too difficult to figure out, that this service is also a part of all of our SEM and SEO plans.
When business owners finally realize that online marketing is the way to go these days, the last thing they want to be is more frustrated than their yellow page advertising campaign has already made them. Let us help you with your online marketing campaign. If you are wondering if we can really help, then realize that by reading this very paragraph now, proves our very point that people find what we put online. Just as you found this page yourself.
Visit us today. Web Solutions for your area provided by AreaWebSolutions.com
Yes, there is as a matter of fact. Google allows you to place the pin more accurately where your business should be. I won't go into a lot of detail on how to do this because I'm sure that a google search can show this info too. But I will let you know that if the process becomes too difficult to figure out, that this service is also a part of all of our SEM and SEO plans.
When business owners finally realize that online marketing is the way to go these days, the last thing they want to be is more frustrated than their yellow page advertising campaign has already made them. Let us help you with your online marketing campaign. If you are wondering if we can really help, then realize that by reading this very paragraph now, proves our very point that people find what we put online. Just as you found this page yourself.
Visit us today. Web Solutions for your area provided by AreaWebSolutions.com
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Taking it Easy
I suppose that I will take it easy this weekend. I usually dedicate 7 days a week to my customers, but I think I deserve a day or 2 off after not having one for 6 months.
Our customers are our number one priority. SEM and SEO involves a lot of time and involvement in order to achieve the results that our customers expect. We deliver results and I personally pour my all into each and every projects as though it were my own business.
With SEM, you really have to monitor your ppc ads on almost a daily basis in order to have that edge. With SEO, one should stay pretty active in this process as well.
Our SEO programs include a 140 step process just during the setup phase. Then there is continual steps thereafter. We pride ourselves in the knowledge we have with SEO and recognize that our Search Engine Optimizing skills and implementation far exceed what most other online marketing companies like ours can or are willing to do for a much higher price.
There is no 1 time setup for S.E.O. and then you're done. This is where many SEO Companies fail. I personally have been doing this stuff since 1998; since many people thought that AOL was "the Internet".
A lot has changed since then. And if you don't keep up with the changes, then your wesite traffic will surely drop. There are patents to study and translate, forums to participate in and a lot of testing through trial and error in safe zones(not with live customer sites).
Beyond that, one must have access to their we hosting account, and know quite a bit about quite a bit. To put it simple. Because the back-end languages that a developer must know to emplement onto a website for proper SEO, while following best seo practices, is far beyond what many will even learn in college.
Instructors don't teach the stuff I know. And I know because I go to college and often times find myself teaching the Instructors a thing or two.
My life, literally, is dedicated to understanding the dynamics of the Internet. I have a fantastic and supportive family that would vouch for me and tell you themselves that i work on this stuff way too much. I call it an obsession. We all have our addictions, mine just happens to be helping others through what I have learned. Because I know for a fact, that most people that have a business, don't have 10 additional years to learn the secrets of how to successfully establish themselves on the Internet in such a competitive market like now in 2008.
Well, there I go again. I started out by wanting to take it easy, and as I write, I get excited about what I do again. So before I convince myself to work all day on this Sunny Saturday, I am logging off and taking a much deserved break.
Any of your own burning questions can be answered in our SEO Placement and SEM Help sections of our website.
Thanks for reading this and have a great weekend!
Jeramie
Our customers are our number one priority. SEM and SEO involves a lot of time and involvement in order to achieve the results that our customers expect. We deliver results and I personally pour my all into each and every projects as though it were my own business.
With SEM, you really have to monitor your ppc ads on almost a daily basis in order to have that edge. With SEO, one should stay pretty active in this process as well.
Our SEO programs include a 140 step process just during the setup phase. Then there is continual steps thereafter. We pride ourselves in the knowledge we have with SEO and recognize that our Search Engine Optimizing skills and implementation far exceed what most other online marketing companies like ours can or are willing to do for a much higher price.
There is no 1 time setup for S.E.O. and then you're done. This is where many SEO Companies fail. I personally have been doing this stuff since 1998; since many people thought that AOL was "the Internet".
A lot has changed since then. And if you don't keep up with the changes, then your wesite traffic will surely drop. There are patents to study and translate, forums to participate in and a lot of testing through trial and error in safe zones(not with live customer sites).
Beyond that, one must have access to their we hosting account, and know quite a bit about quite a bit. To put it simple. Because the back-end languages that a developer must know to emplement onto a website for proper SEO, while following best seo practices, is far beyond what many will even learn in college.
Instructors don't teach the stuff I know. And I know because I go to college and often times find myself teaching the Instructors a thing or two.
My life, literally, is dedicated to understanding the dynamics of the Internet. I have a fantastic and supportive family that would vouch for me and tell you themselves that i work on this stuff way too much. I call it an obsession. We all have our addictions, mine just happens to be helping others through what I have learned. Because I know for a fact, that most people that have a business, don't have 10 additional years to learn the secrets of how to successfully establish themselves on the Internet in such a competitive market like now in 2008.
Well, there I go again. I started out by wanting to take it easy, and as I write, I get excited about what I do again. So before I convince myself to work all day on this Sunny Saturday, I am logging off and taking a much deserved break.
Any of your own burning questions can be answered in our SEO Placement and SEM Help sections of our website.
Thanks for reading this and have a great weekend!
Jeramie
Friday, October 17, 2008
Honesty Policy
I just got off the phone with someone that we do business with here at Area Web Solutions. The conversation was from a company that we recently chose ourselves to have provide us one of our needed services. I am appalled at how manipulative some companies are when trying to sell something.
After having a discrepancy with our bill from them, I just could not get them to own up to their mistake. I was blatantly lied to by one of their Sales Snakes, and no one wanted to accept responsibility for the conversation. Furthermore, the management was not willing to correct the situation by investigating it.
My final question to the Company was where their physical address was at. I wanted to know this to validate them as a real business. Instead I was given a PO Box. After I reiterated that I wanted a physical address, I was rudely informed that I could only correspond with them through a PO Box. UNREAL!
This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I really don't care if someone is operating a needed service from their home. I mean we all have to start somewhere;(which I know now that they operate from a large establishment). The fact is, that I was lied to and could not get standard information from them when I requested it.
I was their customer. Customers deserve what they pay for and deserve to be treated with respect. This was a reminder to me, as the owner, that our Customers are important. There is nothing more important than them. Because it it were not for them, then Area Web Solutions would not exist in the first place.
We are proud to operate out of a real building, with a real staff of people and have really happy customers that we can share our information with as we owe it. We are not the biggest organization, nor are we the most known yet, but we never lie or mistreat our Customers. I mean really, what is there to hide if we are in it for the Customer?
To all of our Customers, thank you for your business and we are glad to serve you.
After having a discrepancy with our bill from them, I just could not get them to own up to their mistake. I was blatantly lied to by one of their Sales Snakes, and no one wanted to accept responsibility for the conversation. Furthermore, the management was not willing to correct the situation by investigating it.
My final question to the Company was where their physical address was at. I wanted to know this to validate them as a real business. Instead I was given a PO Box. After I reiterated that I wanted a physical address, I was rudely informed that I could only correspond with them through a PO Box. UNREAL!
This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I really don't care if someone is operating a needed service from their home. I mean we all have to start somewhere;(which I know now that they operate from a large establishment). The fact is, that I was lied to and could not get standard information from them when I requested it.
I was their customer. Customers deserve what they pay for and deserve to be treated with respect. This was a reminder to me, as the owner, that our Customers are important. There is nothing more important than them. Because it it were not for them, then Area Web Solutions would not exist in the first place.
We are proud to operate out of a real building, with a real staff of people and have really happy customers that we can share our information with as we owe it. We are not the biggest organization, nor are we the most known yet, but we never lie or mistreat our Customers. I mean really, what is there to hide if we are in it for the Customer?
To all of our Customers, thank you for your business and we are glad to serve you.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
To SEM or SEO?
What are the main differences between Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimizing. SEM is the process of taking advertising dollars and spending them towards clicks or (PPC) aka (CPC) Cost per Click not "Cost per Customer" in this case. Search Engine Optimization is the process of following standard webmaster guidelines to the fullest (at the very least).
Your advertising budget goes towards your SEM campaign with Major Search Engines. Anyone can manage their own campaign if you are comfortable with this. Be aware, however, that almost every first timer will overspend towards less targeted keywords. This is because a successful SEM campaign management takes education and skill. These days, the highest bid does not always mean first place. Actually, many first positions can be cheaper than 3rd or 4th in cases where 3rd or 4th are spending more with a low quality score for their ad.
SEO is utilizing how Search Engines work in your favor. Do I mean WEB Spam? NO!!! Web Spam is simply a method some people use in order to try to manipulate the search results outside of best SEO practices and standard webmaster guidlines. Web Spam is for individuals looking for a qucik easy way to make a buck. Ususally as fast as Web Spammers get in the search results, they are easily detected and get banned just as fast.
Our SEO programs follow a strick 140 point implementation of what we know works. SEO is a great way to keep your advertising costs down while working your way up in the organic (free) search results.
There are only 3 main differences in our SEM and SEO programs. They are as follows;
SEM
Monthly cost plus media budget
SEO
Monthly cost only
SEM
Results within 2 days
SEO
Results within 2-4 weeks
SEM
Sponsored positions
SEO
Free (organic) postions
The only thing you have to figure out, is how quickly you want results and what you are willing to spend. After knowing this, you can choose one of our plans and the rest is up to us.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
What is Conversion Tracking?
Conversion Tracking is the ability to track when customers convert from a potential customer to an actual customer. Special analytic tracking scripts on your web page can allow us to see when this happens (if properly set up).
If you are spending advertising dollars on your online marketing campaign, then I'm sure it is important to know your ROI. If the return dollars is higher than the money spent to gain the customer, then the advertising money is not justified.
One way of keeping track of your ROI, is through Conversion Tracking. If you spend $10.00 to get a customer that $100.00, then your ROI makes sense. However, if you spend $100 to gain 1 new customer that only returns $10.00, then this is a sure death to your business if it continues too long.
Believe it or not, many unwise business owners don't track their actual marketing expenses. They just shoot their guns with their eyes closed and hope for the best. This may have worked in the 1800's when everything was an open market and competition was low, but we live in a time now where you have to have a edge on your competition. This is achieved through many practices, and tracking your customers that conversion ration against your return on investment, is simply an industry standard in these days.
The good news; Area Web Solutions offers comprehensive stats included in many of their Search Engine Marketing plans. If you need Conversion Tracking, Sales Tracking, Action Tracking, Referrers log, Keywords log and quite a bit more, then Area Web Solutions has a solution for you.
See their SEM services for more info.
If you are spending advertising dollars on your online marketing campaign, then I'm sure it is important to know your ROI. If the return dollars is higher than the money spent to gain the customer, then the advertising money is not justified.
One way of keeping track of your ROI, is through Conversion Tracking. If you spend $10.00 to get a customer that $100.00, then your ROI makes sense. However, if you spend $100 to gain 1 new customer that only returns $10.00, then this is a sure death to your business if it continues too long.
Believe it or not, many unwise business owners don't track their actual marketing expenses. They just shoot their guns with their eyes closed and hope for the best. This may have worked in the 1800's when everything was an open market and competition was low, but we live in a time now where you have to have a edge on your competition. This is achieved through many practices, and tracking your customers that conversion ration against your return on investment, is simply an industry standard in these days.
The good news; Area Web Solutions offers comprehensive stats included in many of their Search Engine Marketing plans. If you need Conversion Tracking, Sales Tracking, Action Tracking, Referrers log, Keywords log and quite a bit more, then Area Web Solutions has a solution for you.
See their SEM services for more info.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Importance of the Right Domain
Part of proper online marketing is choosing the right domain name for your business. And choosing the wrong name can cost you traffic.
Direct traffic is just as important as traffic from search engines. If you choose a long and/or confusing name, you may reduce or eliminate any kind of direct traffic to your website.
Have you ever been told go go visit a website, and later got in front of a computer just to realize that you can't remember the name of the site? It is more common than you may think. Website owners do it all the time and I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it is because most of the good domain names are already taken and out of frustration, we buy a bad choice name.
At AreaWebSolutions.com we have addressed this problem by incorporating a "Smart Search" option. The Smart Search allows you to choose key phrases as apposed to single words. it also gives the options to add suffixes, prefixes and even yields similar choices, making it one of the most versatile domain name search engines on the web.
Start your Domain Name Search now!
Direct traffic is just as important as traffic from search engines. If you choose a long and/or confusing name, you may reduce or eliminate any kind of direct traffic to your website.
Have you ever been told go go visit a website, and later got in front of a computer just to realize that you can't remember the name of the site? It is more common than you may think. Website owners do it all the time and I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it is because most of the good domain names are already taken and out of frustration, we buy a bad choice name.
At AreaWebSolutions.com we have addressed this problem by incorporating a "Smart Search" option. The Smart Search allows you to choose key phrases as apposed to single words. it also gives the options to add suffixes, prefixes and even yields similar choices, making it one of the most versatile domain name search engines on the web.
Start your Domain Name Search now!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Yellow Pages vs SEM
If you are currently an advertiser in the yellow pages almost anywhere, USA, then you understand that they just don't deliver potential customers like they once used to. It is rumor that the BIG yp companies are shrinking by 20% every year for 3-5 years in a row. And if you look at the stock market at Idearc Share Price then you will see that their end is near. (Idearc is the company that Verizon hired to manage their yellow pages advertising).
Since the algorithms of Search Engines have offered local information in their query searches for local businesses, the yellow pages has taken a direct hit. This is bad for those that are paying for full page ads or any amount for an ad in the YP other than a bold listing.
Idearc is making their calls right now to businesses for the phonebook to come out next year. They are offering ads at 1/3 the cost in order to keep the pages filled. Personally, they can offer me an ad on every page in the entire book; I don't want their service. It just has not worked for me this year at all.
I have a 1 inch ad in first position in 2 different categories in my local town and I have only received 1 phone call this year and it was from an individual that wasted my time. If anyone else has called me from the ad, it must have been from those pesky solicitors trying to sell me something.
Search Engine Marketing or (SEM) is the solution to fill this void. Because people have migrated to the Internet for their information needs, then Marketing your business on the Internet is more important than ever.
An SEM company like ours can help you do this. There is no one SEM company out there that is exclusive to this service. As a matter of fact, there is an entire sea of them. So you need someone who is qualified to do the job right. Area Web Solutions has been in business since 2003 and has marketing specialists that have over 10 years experience in strategic planning.
Visit our SEM site to learn more about how we can help your business get customers again.
Since the algorithms of Search Engines have offered local information in their query searches for local businesses, the yellow pages has taken a direct hit. This is bad for those that are paying for full page ads or any amount for an ad in the YP other than a bold listing.
Idearc is making their calls right now to businesses for the phonebook to come out next year. They are offering ads at 1/3 the cost in order to keep the pages filled. Personally, they can offer me an ad on every page in the entire book; I don't want their service. It just has not worked for me this year at all.
I have a 1 inch ad in first position in 2 different categories in my local town and I have only received 1 phone call this year and it was from an individual that wasted my time. If anyone else has called me from the ad, it must have been from those pesky solicitors trying to sell me something.
Search Engine Marketing or (SEM) is the solution to fill this void. Because people have migrated to the Internet for their information needs, then Marketing your business on the Internet is more important than ever.
An SEM company like ours can help you do this. There is no one SEM company out there that is exclusive to this service. As a matter of fact, there is an entire sea of them. So you need someone who is qualified to do the job right. Area Web Solutions has been in business since 2003 and has marketing specialists that have over 10 years experience in strategic planning.
Visit our SEM site to learn more about how we can help your business get customers again.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
SEM
What is SEM?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It means; to market a web page or a website within the sponsored results of Search Engines.
For example; if you go to Google and search for "your ad here", you will see a sponsored result section that displays only results from Google adwords program where advertisers pay for those positions based on an auction method aka ppc (pay per click).
The ppc system allows advertisers a way of competing with each other for best placement of their ads. To many people's surprise, Google does not give the highest placement to the one that pays the most for the ad. Instead, they measure the quality of the words in the ad, landing webpage, and several other factors.
Because of the dynamics behind this system, many people end up spending way more money than they need to for their ad campaign. Not only that, but the quality of visits can be low also based on incorrect key phrases chosen.
Google has a learning center that teaches one how to effectively us adwords, but requires some time, testing and some understanding of many tech terms.
One way around spending too much money and having an uneffective advertising campaign, is to hire a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) company. But how do you know which one to choose? There are many out there, and not all of them know everything they should to save you money and get you a good ROI either.
One thing to look for with a SEM company is the "Google Adwords Certification" logo.
If you see this, then you can be confident that this company has individuals that understand how to manage your valuable marketing budget for you.
Our company has online marketing specialists that care about you and your company. We dedicate our time, knowledge and 10 year experience into creating an effective marketing campaign that is going to do more than generate new visits to your site. We actually bring conversions with quality visitors. Creating ROI within reasonable expectations.
Visit us today and learn more about our Search Engine Marketing Service
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It means; to market a web page or a website within the sponsored results of Search Engines.
For example; if you go to Google and search for "your ad here", you will see a sponsored result section that displays only results from Google adwords program where advertisers pay for those positions based on an auction method aka ppc (pay per click).
The ppc system allows advertisers a way of competing with each other for best placement of their ads. To many people's surprise, Google does not give the highest placement to the one that pays the most for the ad. Instead, they measure the quality of the words in the ad, landing webpage, and several other factors.
Because of the dynamics behind this system, many people end up spending way more money than they need to for their ad campaign. Not only that, but the quality of visits can be low also based on incorrect key phrases chosen.
Google has a learning center that teaches one how to effectively us adwords, but requires some time, testing and some understanding of many tech terms.
One way around spending too much money and having an uneffective advertising campaign, is to hire a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) company. But how do you know which one to choose? There are many out there, and not all of them know everything they should to save you money and get you a good ROI either.
One thing to look for with a SEM company is the "Google Adwords Certification" logo.
If you see this, then you can be confident that this company has individuals that understand how to manage your valuable marketing budget for you.
Our company has online marketing specialists that care about you and your company. We dedicate our time, knowledge and 10 year experience into creating an effective marketing campaign that is going to do more than generate new visits to your site. We actually bring conversions with quality visitors. Creating ROI within reasonable expectations.
Visit us today and learn more about our Search Engine Marketing Service
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