Hiring Someone to Create a Website Any Opinions?

[JohnWalker]

that's f I rank 3 sites for LTC terms why would I turn them over to you for just $15k, more like 500k tbh. FYI any real seo agency/person is not going to accept payment after the fact, they will want up front payment, just any other professional. I am for hire for 3 sites @ $10k/mo

10k/ month?!?!?! I've noticed seos tend to value themselves way above what they are really worth.

 

[YouGotMyMoney]

10k/ month?!?!?! I've noticed seos tend to value themselves way above what they are really worth.

Like any other god like (not God) professional such as lawyers and Surgeons

 

[JohnWalker]

Like any other god like (not God) professional such as lawyers and Surgeons

Just not as useful

 

[J.R.]

I wrote and continue to write ALL the content, every word. meta tags , title tags, keywords, headers, everything.

I paid the designers to design, i.e, layout, colors, fonts, brainstorming for months, back end patented Refinery content management, built on ruby on rails;

People call me and tell me they love the site.
In my business $9000 is acquiring 1 or 2 clients

The $13,000 I paid to work with designers came back to me in about 2 weeks.

You guys underestimate the value of professional design. But hey, please show me the best looking word press site you own for $500. Pennywise and pound foolish, I think. Aka cheap ass.

Winning the "best looking" site award only matters if it makes you money and for ego. Nothing wrong with either of those things IMHO. I'm happy you see value in the amount of money you spent on a website, but advocating people do the same isn't very good advice. Why market one website when you can market 10-20 sites for the same amount of money??

Using Brook's figure of spending $1K a site (a bit too high IMHO, but close enough) one could launch 15 websites. Mark thinks 3 websites is a good way to go. I'd say 5-15 depending upon the goal of each site and competition. One should never put all their eggs in one basket.

Unless somebody wants to store the data and sell leads I don't see the point of implementing a patented refinery content management system, but perhaps there is something I'm missing?

I just don't see how you can justify somebody spend $15K for a site, but under $1K a month for SEO work. To me, it would make more sense to do the opposite. I won't ever call out a site publicly, but after briefly looking at your site you should seriously have a talk with your SEO guy regarding the pros/cons of what has been done.

I use seoquake toolbar, but if u have scrapebox that'll work too.
If I rank 3 sites for LTC terms why would I turn them over to you for just $15k, more like 500k tbh. FYI any real seo agency/person is not going to accept payment after the fact, they will want up front payment, just any other professional. I am for hire for 3 sites @ $10k/mo

You should also check out the firefox plugin called Search Status. Very cool and useful tool.

10k/ month?!?!?! I've noticed seos tend to value themselves way above what they are really worth.

How do you value a SEO person? Do you base it on the # of leads, expected commissions, ROI (various factors), etc.?

 

[Josh]

Just not as useful

Jack originally paid an SEO guy to do his magic and it ended up yielding a pretty healthy ROI. Seems pretty useful to me.

The professional I hired recently doesn't believe he's even delivered any service to me yet in terms of what he outlined to do, but just working on my site structure and conversions it's been well worth it already. I also didn't hire the guy with the goal of cutting him out, so maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

[ltcadviser]

Jack originally paid an SEO guy to do his magic and it ended up yielding a pretty healthy ROI. Seems pretty useful to me.

The professional I hired recently doesn't believe he's even delivered any service to me yet in terms of what he outlined to do, but just working on my site structure and conversions it's been well worth it already. I also didn't hire the guy with the goal of cutting him out, so maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Yes, the site proved to be a huge success. And it still needs to be improved upon. But I can promise you I have no regrets regarding its ROI.
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I use seoquake toolbar, but if u have scrapebox that'll work too.
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If I ranked 3 sites for LTC terms why would I turn them over to you for just $15k, more like 500k tbh. FYI any real seo agency/person is not going to accept payment after the fact, they will want up front payment, just any other professional. I am for hire for 3 sites @ $10k/mo

I am happy with my little ol site. It produces daily leads for me. I only have so much time. I do not need any more sites. What I do need is for someone to show me how to use and/or set up sales force for my business. I really need this to be done. Like 2 years ago. If anyone can implement sales force for me and show me how to use it, I will gladly compensate them greatly.
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I do not have an SEO guy right now. I am in the market for one to fix my issue on ranking for one keyword.

 

[scagnt83]

Yes, the site proved to be a huge success. And it still needs to be improved upon. But I can promise you I have no regrets regarding its ROI.
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I would suggest adding dates to your blog posts. It lets readers know how up to date the article is, and how active your blog is (since yours seems to be recent and active).
You have some comments on your blog posts which is great!

Also, go on etrade or some other site like it and hire a graphic designer to take out the white background on your pictures & signatures, it wouldnt cost much at all. (they dont have to be the greatest, most highschool students could probably do the job and would work for $10 to $20 per hour)

 

[ltcadviser]

I would suggest adding dates to your blog posts. It lets readers know how up to date the article is, and how active your blog is (since yours seems to be recent and active).
You have some comments on your blog posts which is great!

Also, go on etrade or some other site like it and hire a graphic designer to take out the white background on your pictures & signatures, it wouldnt cost much at all. (they dont have to be the greatest, most highschool students could probably do the job and would work for $10 to $20 per hour)

Thanks. I am color blind and my eyes did not pick up the white background that you are referring to but as I look closely I definitely see it now. Uggghhh. Needs to be fixed. I just have to have png files, correct? I will figure out how to convert the jpg files to png files and reupload the new files. Should be easy for me to do, I think.

 

[scagnt83]

Thanks. I am color blind and my eyes did not pick up the white background that you are referring to but as I look closely I definitely see it now. Uggghhh. Needs to be fixed. I just have to have png files, correct? I will figure out how to convert the jpg files to png files and reupload the new files. Should be easy for me to do, I think.

Im not usually the first to pick up on that kind of stuff either but I saw it today for some reason.
When you constantly look at and update a site it starts to blur all together after a while and you miss little details... at least I do.
I get my Fiance to look at my sites every now and then for stuff like that.
Or if I want a 2 page email filled with corrections and reviews I ask my Mom... lol.


The problem isnt just the file type. It is that the actual background is colored white.

You are correct though that you will need to covert them to .png images for a clear background to show(or should I say not show.. lol). If you erase the background from a jpeg it will just show as white on your site, not clear.

I use Paint.net.
It is a free photoshop type program.
I downloaded it from Product reviews and prices, software downloads, and tech news - CNET but I think you can get it at Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing too.

To convert to .png you just re-save the file (under "save-as") and specify .png when you save it. (you have to type the extension plus choose the extension from the dropdown)

To clear the white background you have to erase the white areas with the eraser function under Tools.

It helps to enlarge the image up to 500 or above so you can easily get close to the edges of the image.
It is a tedious process, and you will get faster with practice if it makes you feel any better...


The paint.net program itself takes some getting used to (I had no experience with photoshop type programs before this), but once you start to figure it out it becomes easier.

Hope this helps.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Another free tool that is excellent at creating transparent backgrounds is Gimp. This is what I've also been using to learn graphic design.