Comments on: 509 Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:46:01 +0000

Thank-you again David for answering my questions. I really do appreciate it.

By: David Eaves

David Eaves — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:45:38 +0000

I would hardly call ranking sites on the search engines for competitive phrases simple, My services can be found on the homepage: http://www.seoco.co.uk most of the people who come to me are pretty successful I help them to come up with ways to get links to their sites, I mainly specialise in the link building side of things, however I do also help them with branding, making their sites more SEO friendly and I have started to get involved in creating viral marketing campaigns as well.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:11:37 +0000

David, you mention that you “make sure [customers] get get the conversions by making sure they rank for the right phrases.” So the questions then really narrow down to exactly what you’re selling.

I’m not sure that a search engine ranking for any site has the capability to increase sales without being qualified. While there are certainly a lot of expert opinions and testimonial data, SEO services are expensive often to the point where for most websites simple keyword based ranking isn’t the qualification that a customer needs.

I couldn’t find a description of your services or packages. Are they online?

By: David Eaves

David Eaves — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:19:51 +0000

It is normally pretty cut and dry, I mean say the client has a site selling MP4 players and I rank the site in the top of the search engines for that phrase it’s going to drive the right sort of traffic and convert well for them. I don’t disregard conversions I make sure they get the conversions by making sure they rank for the right phrases.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:03:41 +0000

David, through reading your articles I understand the basics of SEO and what you do. However, the question on my mind is really value.

I understand the value of being ranked higher on a search engine and the impact that distributed links have on the traffic a site receives. Those values begin to loose their luster when weighed against income and expendiatures.

I think that there is a disconnect between SEO constultants and business goals. Keeping in mind that I believe that it’s possible to throw enough crap at a wall and make some of it stick, I think that a disregard for conversion rates is a disregard for the customer.

By: David Eaves

David Eaves — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:50:09 +0000

Rob, when I said I don’t get into the conversion side of things I meant i don’t really look at the design of the site or how successful their business really is. Clients come to me because they want to rank higher in the search engines for certain phrases, they always know what phrases they want to rank higher for and generally they are already fairly successful. I rank sites and that is what most people here in the UK mean by search engine optimisation, I think you have some funny ideas about what search engine optimisation is, I am not a business consultant or a web designer. Once I have ranked a site for the clients chosen phrases my job is done.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:35:51 +0000

You’re not concerned about the actual return that your customers receive on their purchase?

You mentioned in your article above “I am feeling pretty pleased with myself, you know you are doing your job properly when your clients are having to get better hosting packages.” Incurring additional expenses for your customers to burden should result in a proportional if not exceeded increase in income.

Again I’ll mention that the O in SEO is the most important part of the game. Thank-you for entertaining my questions David and providing some interesting articles that have certainly got me thinking.

By: David Eaves

David Eaves — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:59:55 +0000

I haven’t really got too involved in the conversion side of things as yet.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:38:08 +0000

David, I think that I understand what you’re getting at: The long tail of residual traffic and genuine interest (natural links) is what makes your traffic and service valuable to a client.

Thinking about it, I suppose what I’m questioning is actual value.

It is more valuable for a website to have 5 visitors purchase a product then have 500 people view the site. Qualification of the potential customer is more important then the traffic itself.

By: David Eaves

David Eaves — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:58:50 +0000

Rob, I should have gone into a bit more detail about why the traffic is good, the 1st article has received over 600 natural links and the 2nd about 120 so far including a link from a blog that is in the top 50 on Technorati, these links are priceless and they will give both of the sites more ability to rank high in the search engines.