Website Start-Up. Pay Someone or Do It Yourself?

[zeo]

Hey folks,

From a former Web Developer turned Insurance Agent, my .02 worth here. SEO is a tough aspect to work. you can put in all the right key words and phrases needed for a spectacularly developed site and still not go any where in the Google rankings. I have tried to work that magic for some time. But if you are looking for "cheap" chances are you won't rank up there for a long time if ever. Probably in the last 5+ years, rankings are bought not "earned" by key word use. Unless you are doing Pay Per Click - that can get rather pricey, you can certainly bet its going to be an uphill battle against those who are doing PPC marketing.

And as to buying aged sites...that may work some, in that it had a history of presence on the web. The question would be "Why is the site up for auction?" Could it be because Google put that URL on the ban list and it no longer got any more traffic to its site? Aged sites would certainly need alot of research.

Does your URL contain key words in the name?

Google certainly has the lions share of being ranking traffic king, but there are other search engines to exploit as well, Yahoo, Alta Vista, MSN and the likes. SEO work is a full time job. And if you aren't doing PPC, you almost surely lost in the forest of websites.

Ok...my two cents worth...

Zeo

 

[bobwise23]

"Far and Away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing."
-Theodore Rosevelt

Well the best prize in life is not working hard..is working less and getting paid well..that is the little secret in life not working hard..u have it all wrong Bob.

This is coming from a guy who probably spends most of his work day on this site instead of plugging away.....
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Hey folks,

From a former Web Developer turned Insurance Agent, my .02 worth here. SEO is a tough aspect to work. you can put in all the right key words and phrases needed for a spectacularly developed site and still not go any where in the Google rankings. I have tried to work that magic for some time. But if you are looking for "cheap" chances are you won't rank up there for a long time if ever. Probably in the last 5+ years, rankings are bought not "earned" by key word use. Unless you are doing Pay Per Click - that can get rather pricey, you can certainly bet its going to be an uphill battle against those who are doing PPC marketing.

And as to buying aged sites...that may work some, in that it had a history of presence on the web. The question would be "Why is the site up for auction?" Could it be because Google put that URL on the ban list and it no longer got any more traffic to its site? Aged sites would certainly need alot of research.

Does your URL contain key words in the name?

Google certainly has the lions share of being ranking traffic king, but there are other search engines to exploit as well, Yahoo, Alta Vista, MSN and the likes. SEO work is a full time job. And if you aren't doing PPC, you almost surely lost in the forest of websites.

Ok...my two cents worth...

Zeo

The only keywords my url has is the word "financial" and "Third lake" (our city)
PPC can become pricey and i feel there is a big percentage that click the ad accidently and/or click and don't do anything more.
When they monitor how many people click, do they provide info in regards to people who search further then just click?

THanks zeo

 

[zeo]

The URL is ok, but weak. Like starting a business and naming a company, its been said that that name should reflect what you do. The city name and "financial" says something of what you do, but "financial" can mean anything to anybody. So it's kinda weak. But nothing you can really do about that. Your key words should be very explicit of what you do in your business. Not just words but also phrases.


The only keywords my url has is the word "financial" and "Third lake" (our city)
PPC can become pricey and i feel there is a big percentage that click the ad accidently and/or click and don't do anything more.
When they monitor how many people click, do they provide info in regards to people who search further then just click?

THanks zeo[/QUOTE]


Google and the likes provide detailed reports. I do think its just results of the click event itself. Not where they go thereafter. But you will need to check that out.

The entire point of the post is more about the fact that key words alone won't suffice. SEO includes key words, link building, and PPC/Adwords. And still, no guarantees. Developers will always struggle with it. And it will take a great investment.

Zeo

 

[Bertolinoins]

Agree with zeo, after doing some research I have become convinced that a local agent is not going to be able to "out optimize" the Geico, Progressives, lead companies and the direct writers of the world that have full time SEO employees and giant adword budgets. I think it makes owners feel good and but I am not sure it is productive or cost effective in terms of how many policies you convert into clients. I know that I can take a good realtor to breakfast once every other month and they
will forward 5-7 HO leads a month that have a very high probability of closing and can be cross sold for auto and term life. The hand to hand stuff like that has provided a better ROI for me than the SEO and social media stuff. Don't get me wrong, I think you need to do it and I got an intern from the local college to handle it, but I don't think it is a good strategy to try to "out optimize" companies with much deeper pockets.

 

[Mark]

I made www.rosenthalfiles.com and a couple of my other websites with xsitepro2 .

H46AC Discount Code will give you 15% off.​

 

[bobwise23]

Agree with zeo, after doing some research I have become convinced that a local agent is not going to be able to "out optimize" the Geico, Progressives, lead companies and the direct writers of the world that have full time SEO employees and giant adword budgets. I think it makes owners feel good and but I am not sure it is productive or cost effective in terms of how many policies you convert into clients. I know that I can take a good realtor to breakfast once every other month and they
will forward 5-7 HO leads a month that have a very high probability of closing and can be cross sold for auto and term life. The hand to hand stuff like that has provided a better ROI for me than the SEO and social media stuff. Don't get me wrong, I think you need to do it and I got an intern from the local college to handle it, but I don't think it is a good strategy to try to "out optimize" companies with much deeper pockets.

It all depends on if you target the local market or nation wide. Our company is on the first page of google in front of 40,900,000 other companies including New York Life and Met Life. We are fortunate to have an SEO guy that does what he says but if it wasn't for a pinpointed market we wouldn't be a competitor.

 

[STIBROKER]

It all depends on if you target the local market or nation wide. Our company is on the first page of google in front of 40,900,000 other companies including New York Life and Met Life.

and for what search term is that....texas life insurance has 40,600,000....

 

[bobwise23]

and for what search term is that....texas life insurance has 40,600,000....

"Life insurance IL" produces those numbers. "illinois life insurance" produces 5,490,000

 

[STIBROKER]

"Life insurance IL" produces those numbers. "illinois life insurance" produces 5,490,000

and are you in the top 4....that is the money spot.....

 

[TwiLight]

Another inexpensive way is to use a CMS site that is easily able to change content, vector graphics and photos/artwork by the user. you can also use a CMS license manager from a place like http://www.Site2You.com/

You can also purchase a template from Website Templates | Web Templates (Turnkey Websites 2.0) from $95-250 which includes one year licensing fee from Site2you.com. This will allow you full access to your content and Key Words Tag and change at will. You can also get webmater support from Site2you.com for $15/hr at 10 minute minimums.