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My Adventure with SEO

49K views 209 replies 65 participants last post by  Aidan Lorse 
#1 ·
Six years ago I stated Tried & True Services. I strongly believed that a company should have a Web presence. However, I never understood why guys spent thousands on their sites and SEO.

I used Service Magic to help get leads before my WOM would be of any use. I didn't understand, nor really wanted to understand, the idea and concept of the ever changing SEO landscape. It seemed that I would have to spend several hours a week just to keep up. I often referred to it as chasing my SEO tail.

So I just let my site represent us on its own. I may have received 5 leads in 5 years.

A year or so ago I met Brian with MyOnlineToolbox. We had a "discussion" about SEO. Brian reached out to me educating me on LGS and encouraged me to look into his introductory SEO course. I did, with a little hesitation.

A weird thing happened. As I was taking each section all I wanted to do was stop the session and fix my site.

By the end of the course I had some work cut it but the instruction and explanation on the videos made it super easy and fairly quick.

I spent about a week in the site getting the basics down and then spent the next few months honing and sharpening each area.

It's been a bit over six months and I have to say the results are amazing. For my target let words I'm first page from third and forth page. Google places shows up on 80-90% of my key words. I'm getting 5-10 leads a week on average from my site.

I can't wait to get some time to take the Advanced course this Fall.

If you are looking at improving your site or just educating yourself on the basics of SEO, you have to check out MyOnlineToolbox.com.

Thanks Brian!
 
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#2 ·
Is this an organic or paid advertisement?

All kidding aside...I like what they bring to the table. Being associated with Michael & Devon Stone of CPR is enough of an endorsement in and of itself.

In that spot now to where I have enough of a grasp of web stuff in general to know that I can confidently say that my next step will be taken with MyONLINEToolbox just to tweak everything down. Keep in mind - when I say grasp - in no way saying I am an expert or know much of anything. Just that I have enough information understood in order to help make an informed decision on whom to do business with on the net.

Speaking of that, a little shout out to Darren Slaughter, darrenslaughter.com of whom I have learned a lot from and done a little business with over time. He has a heck of a lot of videos on Youtube that may help bring a little something else to the table.

Anyway, back on point...

Look forward to when the time comes soon where I can delve into the MyONLINEtoolbox courses back to back and get everything set.

It's actually perfect timing that you started this thread today TNT as most likely next week will finalize the details to a project that will take us to the end of the year. I'm all about reinvesting BACK INTO the company and the courses we mentioned above are an investment that will takes YEARS to finally realize the rate of return.

Have a great weekend!

:thumbup:
 
#3 ·
Now think if you wouldn't have been against all us who spoke about it and started doing it years ago.

Its good to see you've come around though. Keep working on it and your site could bring multiple new leads a week. Just from my site alone, we nearly sold into the 6 figures from leads just from the beginning of last week to today.

Soon you'll have to hire someone to do it for you because you won't have time.
 
#5 ·
Problem was when I asked what to do back then it was just a bunch of nonsense. Blogs and Backlinks. Scheming to get contributors and content.

I never minded technology or Web design. I've built sites since 93. It was the confusion of the ever changing SEO landscape. I didn't want nor have the time to research and learn the in's and out's. This course broke it down so that pretty much anyone could understand.
 
#4 ·
I convinced my mate who owns a window and siding company to put money into SEO. He didn't do anything and was about 5pages in and spent about $30k a year on radio and bill boards. He now does just $300 a month on SEO and he is normally first or second on first page. He is getting unreal amounts of work from that $300. He does about 15 jobs a month so for him it's great. Once I take on some more guys I'm gonna use his guy to do mine.
 
#6 ·
A few years ago off page seo was more important for local businesses. There a as the emergence of local seo which us a thing now, and all but the most competitive markets contractor seo is local combined with stellar on page.

So seo as we knew it died and became much easier, which is why it's as attractive as it is for you.
 
#61 ·
SEO, Websites & Marketing



This is my one and only form of lead generation. I am kind of a silent expert, I have about 6 different businesses online which generate leads.

I will say this about Google yes they change "but" if you remain a quality website looking to provide quality services.

It should never truly effect you much, just keep on going & don't give up.:thumbup:
 
#8 ·
That's what I used to think. There are basics that may be tweaked but won't really change much. The next shift is to mobile.

There had to be some consistency in order for search to work.
 
#10 ·
Now you can begin to understand why so many people were so strongly against Service Magic / Home Advisor.

I used them for several years and realized when the economy tanked and the quality of leads went with it, that my business was heavily dependent on them. I never wanted to be in that place again. (Not to mention the hacking of your online presence to drive traffic to their site instead of yours.)

When we launched the DBA with a new website, and narrowed our services, the goal was not to be dependent on any form of paid advertising. I am not opposed to using them, I just didn't want someone else's business model to potentially have a negative effect on my own. (Its the control freak in me.)
 
#12 ·
Not really. Most who had issue with them, on here, was for one of two reasons.

They either didn't understand the TOS or didn't understand how to handle the leads.

I had signed up for the exact match leads when I first started then realized there was no real advantage. So I cancelled and never had my info "hijacked".

And I had no problem converting the leads to sales. That was back in 2009 right after the market crashed. I still think that a good LGS had its place. I can start a business and get leads on day 1.
 
#14 ·
Hi TNT,
We noticed this topic of yours and recognized your name after we saw your post after our Anti-Porch comments in another section. Your comments are good and we just wanted to add a little more if you don’t mind as a suggestion to anyone who may follow your advice. The information provided in this class is amazing. It is so refreshing and exciting to be able to understand more and more about the complex subject of website design and SEO. Our suggestion is to save the files (especially the Review All in less than 20 Minute Video). It can then be used as a quick cheat sheet checklist every so often since we are sure many may forget the little things as time passes. We haven’t had time to take the Advanced Class yet so our comments are for the Basic. Glad to see you explaining the opportunity for others. We were in the same position for awhile ourselves.
Jen (and Ron)
 
#15 ·
OP,

Is your site down for some reason? I clicked on your signature and it takes me to a 404.

Of course this all works great until Google up and changes their mind on how they want to rank a site.
One thing I have realized after spending years in the industry is this - the best SEO strategy is to not base it upon Google's whims. Link exchanges were common in 2000s and then got penalized. Websites could pass off with thin syndicated content a few years back which is now not possible.

The best way to do proper SEO is to think "What would Amazon do in this case?". Let's say you are suggested link exchanges, or simply duplicating content from another website. Would Amazon do it? No.

Would Amazon create some new product or features and use PR machinery to get people talking about it? Definitely. In that case, I could do it for my websites too.
 
#17 ·
Hi,

We were using a website company for many years and just started the Basic Class. There are so many things that are easy to learn, and some are easy enough that we need to wonder why my website company was not already doing this.
We didn’t want to say anything negative here since we are just moving forward with education. For example, my home page title tag was first focused on my company name rather than The Service We Provide and people search for what they are looking for.
Yes, my company name should be used but more for About and Contact pages if someone already knows who we are. I found town specific pages that have {City} as the first word in the title tag rather than the actual city name. How can anyone miss that important aspect if they are a SEO company? Many of the pictures are not optimized.

So what I am doing is letting that existing website stay while I am creating a new site that I can control. My new site is www.bestwallplastering.com and I am focusing this month on learning what to do and cleaning up as much as I can while we are busy. The person who made the educational classes called just to say hello after we signed up, asked a little about the business history. He then gave us some ideas to get pictures and testimonials for each location to allow us to strategically create new content. That will keep us busy for a long time.
At least I will know what to do with the pictures and testimonials to keep my site active. Going to create a marketing spreadsheet so we can accumulate information as we go from town to town and project to project.

We will come back again after we begin to get the site more completed and get some of our own leads. Thanks for this information and from the other posts.
:thumbup:
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi TNT,
Kyle here. I work with a remodeler in my area and asked him about webistes, leads, etc. He told me it better to check out this site for a lot of good ideas as well as to take the myonline tool box classes. You are correct the class are very informative and very easy to follow. The videos are short and quick, so it is not a huge time commitment all at one time. You can always come back to them when you have time. It really has done wonders and I am glad I understand this stuff for my new website. My next focus is working on the location specific pages but I have such a better start just knowing how to begin. I saw there was another thread pertaining to leads being generated but I felt it better to say something here since I just got my site up weeks ago and rather wait for the success to be able to post to another thread. But you are correct, this was a great way for me to learn how to get started.
Kyle
 
#20 ·
Understanding Tags

I’ve been in business many years now and finally took a more direct interest in this subject after seeing a recent webinar by the folk who created these educational classes. I do have an office lady who is going to be making all the technical changes, but I am learning many things that makes it easier to understand what everyone is talking about. Also, not understanding the basics can really hurt you in the long run.

Good example, I did not realize what a Title Tag was, and now just learning it is better to NOT have my company name in the Home Page Title Tag, and to tell search engines what exactly I do and where I am based. Can be a little embarrassing to have it wrong for so long – but better to address the topic and just fix it.

Some of my other tags are terrible such as my Kitchen page. I also do a terrible job at telling the search engines where I do my work. I know my pictures need to be indexed better too.

I just signed me and my office person to the first class and we are creating a checklist of all the things we need to do. My suggestion is for contractors to realize that many people who may have worked on their website may not realize exactly what to do for Leads, so take a moment to learn so it is easier to understand this marketing topic.

Wasn’t sure if it was smart to link to my site in this topic before I fix it up, but it will be made better really soon. Guess you can just google my name and company if you are interested, but I’ll come back after I take care of all the basic marketing items with a link.

Dennis Bryant
Bryant Renovations
Toronto Ontario
 
#24 ·
New to Self SEO Marketing

Hi,

I was about to post here the other day but got distracted with some lead gen issues and posted there first.

Anyhow, I have seen numerous references to this SEO marketing learning and started with this just a few weeks ago.

Only started with the basic stuff so please be gentle with your comments since I see on some other topics you guys can be a little rough sometimes.

The class is explained very well and easy to understand.

I have a much better understanding of what I was doing wrong and need to do,

I had no idea what a title tag was, let alone a meta tag, so I cleaned a lot of that up.

Also did a non-existent job at explaining where I do my work which is a bad thing too, and I’m making my new pages as fast as I can.

Im sure you all could give me more ideas but Im not there yet and need just a little more time for my own basic stuff.

Anyhow, everything you said is on the money and contractors should at least learn, then decide whether they can do it or want to have someone else do the marketing work.

Thanks for supporting my thinking on this website marketing stuff.

I’ll come back soon to ask for your opinions but after I get a handful of things done.

Amanda Bracken
Dennisbilt Custom Cabinetry
 
#25 ·
RE: My Adventures with SEO

I’m back as promised.

It’s been just over a month and let me tell you what I did.

First, I fixed my Title Tags and Meta Descriptions (after really not knowing what any of that meant in the first place).

And now I created new landing pages, with Title Tags and Meta Descriptions for all my service areas. I am going to clean up how I promote my service areas since it is messy but I wanted to just get something started. This is a big topic to tackle but we never told search engines where we do our work!

This isn’t a SEO thing, but I added the correct Copyright information just to start putting up my defense to the Lead Gen companies now that I’m adding new pages. Not sure specifically what I am supposed to do to ask the lead gen folk to remove us but I will figure that out later.

In addition to my new location pages and me cleaning up how I promote the towns we work in, I’ll then move over to fixing the pictures. Have way too many pictures that are indexed horribly.

I’m not embarrassed anymore to have you check out our site, it’s www.dennisbilt.com .

I need just a little more time before asking for any other advice but so far already got our Alexa ranking up from 25 Million to 15 Million. I was advised to not focus much on these stats while I am getting started but it still was cool to see.

This is all starting to make sense and I’ll be back again after I make good progress.

Amanda
Dennisbilt Custom Cabinetry
 
#26 ·
If 2 sites were ranking the same in google one you or me built or one a web guy built a few things would happen.

The web guys site would get more calls or emails.
The quality of the customer would be better
The closing % would be higher
The profit would be better on his site

With that in mind is doesnt make sense to do it yourself to save a few grand.
 
#27 ·
Unless you don't have the few grand to spare.

Or are getting what you need from your site.

Closing % and profit have little to do with your site and more to do with your business knowledge and understanding of your market.
 
#30 · (Edited)
My Adventure With SEO

To those on the fence about getting a site do whatever you have to do to get it done....Borrow, steal, throw it on a card, whatever. My new site built by a pro has gotten more leads in the month it's been up than the entire year my old half homemade one got in the year I had it. Its. been a bit overwhelming to be honest. Have to reorganize a bit to actually be able to handle the increased volume.
 
#33 ·
Getting Started

I was introduced to these online classes by another consultant and have never did a website or post on this forum. Just kind of looked around. Anyhow, I kind of been clueless on all marketing topics. In fact, my website unfortunately is absolutely a mess so feel free to look at it, if for no reason than to agree with me …. www.soapstonehomes.com ….



Not sure who is tntservices , but he worded the topic well including references to lead generation services so it got me stimulated to finally say something as I am pondering about getting better leads for 2016.



I am taking the plunge to learn as much as I can while getting my business marketing side going. I know I can do such a better job showing off my work and getting leads so hopefully the consultants and other people bragging how it works well for them will also pay off for me. The folks who run the classes also provided me some specific things I should start with too. I’m do not know enough to talk about the details yet and will come back once I know enough to not feel lost.



I’m sure there are some guys and gals who are in the same boat at me, crappy site and no leads, so hopefully I can feel good enough to come back and be like tnt’s success. Thanks for the motivation sir!



TNT, you seem pretty strong in your convictions in other posts I see you doing, so just go easy on me when you go to tell me that my site is terrible and needs all the help I can get.
 
#36 ·
I agree that it's a better expenditure of time and money to have a professional build your website. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn about the basics of SEO and copywriting. A good developer lays the groundwork for a good site and then the business owner can add new content as often as possible. You're much better off spending a couple thousand(or more) on a good site and then putting your efforts towards increasing your content then spending hundreds of hours developing a site that is too sloppy to rank or convert.

Thousands of dollars is big money, in theory, but would you really use a construction material that cost $5 less but took an extra hour of your time? That's pretty much what we're talking about.

I have a site that I built but I also have a background in web dev and seo and also can't come close to handling my current lead load. I'm not bragging, just explaining why I'm content with what I have. My pinch point is lack of manpower. If you're having any issues with generating leads or getting your job size or profit % up, then your should be seriously analyzing what that site is worth to you.

I run a 2-3 guy crew and have sold at least $60k through the website each year. There's plenty of money, even in that limited amount, to finance a couple thousand for a web developer, if I needed better conversions or more leads.
 
#40 ·
Go back a couple posts and read what I wrote. It is very apples to apples and I say that as a guy who has worked as a marketing director and as a guy who has started and operated a construction company. I understand that you want to comprehend the topic, that's good, it's learning and experimenting on the CREATION of your own website that I advise against.

I agree that it's a better expenditure of time and money to have a professional build your website. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn about the basics of SEO and copywriting. A good developer lays the groundwork for a good site and then the business owner can add new content as often as possible. You're much better off spending a couple thousand(or more) on a good site and then putting your efforts towards increasing your content then spending hundreds of hours developing a site that is too sloppy to rank or convert.
 
#37 ·
Ethan,



Thanks for your reply.



I like that you built your site on your own. Unlike you, I don’t have a background in this stuff but I first want to learn. So even if I don’t do great, at least I will have a better grasp of what I want my website person to do, not just initially but over time.



I realize I can pay someone to get started, but I am treating my online opportunities as the future of leads that is separate from my customer referrals.



I have read so many stories of websites that become dormant over time, or web developers changing jobs and the business owner has no idea how to go about transferring the website to another person or firm. Or when things grow and someone has office staff, I have heard the website is actually so good that it is easy for someone to pass the updates to their office staff as the business grows.



So at a minimum I want to understand the basics of this website marketing stuff since it will be here for many years to come and I don’t want to just blindly rely on another person or company that may or may not stay with me overtime. I really don’t want to just pay a monthly fee and not know what someone is doing. I don’t need to know every little detail, but I don’t want to be clueless either.



I may decide it is too much for me and just pass it along to another company, but I also have read about so many people doing so well on their own, or having a better relationship with their website company when they can force the marketing conversation.



I was listening to a web presentation and something stuck out to me and I kept it as part of my decision to learn before the year was over. The statement that made me think about learning this web marketing stuff is “Most website companies are better at SEO than they are at marketing. They call themselves marketing companies but they are really more versed at keyword analysis and webpage tech terms. Marketing is a whole lot more than just a website and SEO.”



The investment for me to try is so little, but the education can allow me to talk somewhat intelligently like you for many years to come. Unlike just starting with a website company and being tied to them for a long time, the downside for me learning is next to nothing other than a little time and money.



You, tnt and too many others seem to be able to enjoy knowing what you are talking about and I want that feeling too. Funny since I spent so much time on the testimonials page of the class that I felt like I have to learn the general issues and see if I can do it or not. Your way of talking is similar to those testimonials. So I may decide to hire someone, but only after I know why I am hiring them and what to expect. Thanks for the motivation. I’ll keep you posted.



Andrew
 
#38 ·
The investment for me to try is so little, but the education can allow me to talk somewhat intelligently like you for many years to come. Unlike just starting with a website company and being tied to them for a long time, the downside for me learning is next to nothing other than a little time and money.
I think it's a bad idea but it's not a new bad idea.:laughing: It's exactly like when someone tells me they want to do a DIY project even though they don't know how to use a power drill. You want to put up the trim and the paint, not pour the foundation and frame the house. If you mess up the paint, you can repaint pretty easily. If you botch the foundation the house will be a mess forever.

The investment part can be huge. We're talking about sales. How long will it take before you can achieve the same sales you would with a professional product(if ever, not likely)? How much were those lost sales worth? This forum is full of guys who monkey with mediocre or bad sites for years and think their numbers are getting pretty good, but it's just relative. Looking at what I, or JBM or some of the other guys have achieved doesn't prove that "anyone" can do it. I was managing websites, seo, ppc and hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars at one point. It was my job, not a side hobby. My results, for very little effort have been good, but you would need to spend hundreds of hours of learning to achieve even my mediocre results.

What's 100 x your hourly rate? 200? I bet you can buy a very nice site for that and it will be done in a month. A good web dev will build the site, fill it up a bit for you and then, if you want, show you how you can easily continue to add good content and target new markets and keywords. So you can start writing that good content now, skip all the design stuff you aren't qualified to do, and have a successful website before Christmas. Or you can start trying to learn CSS, web analytics, maybe some php and all those other fun things. By the end of next year you might have an okay site, probably not.
 
#39 ·
Ethan,



I disagree with you thinking it is a bad idea. Your comparison is not apples-to-apples but I see what you are trying to say.



I didn’t say I want to learn the all the details of all the topics, but I may want to know enough to understand the basics. It is not like this stuff is going away anytime soon.



Many of us contractors did not go to school to learn business, and that includes marketing. I need to start somewhere.



Kids go to school for MBAs and have no idea what job they will do out of college, but they learn the basics of marketing, operations, etc., and then join the business world.



I started as a craftsperson and backed into the business side and now am expanding my business knowledge on the marketing side. I may do some development myself or I may hire someone, but for sure I refuse to be clueless on the topics for the rest of my career.



Almost done with the class so I can talk more intelligently on the subject matter.



Andrew
 
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