Professional SEO services for business.
By Michael McKown
Getting ranked on search engines is a combination of science, art, and sometimes skullduggery. And no matter which of those words you’re staring at, it’s nearly always confusing. You know SEO is important. It’s normally how people find you on the internet.
About me: I don’t run an SEO agency, I run a company that provides ghostwriting services. I co-founded Ghostwriters Central in 2002. I had another business prior to this which I launched in 1999. I departed from that one in 2012. I don’t have a certificate or diploma in SEO. What I know is from research and experience. Back in 1999, I knew nothing about how to get ranked on search engines. Once that website was built, I hired an alleged SEO expert to get it ranked for me. He took my money and did very little.
Months went by and nothing happened. No business was coming in. One day I called him to complain. He said: “You rank first for your business name.” So what, was my reply. “Nobody is searching for my business name because nobody knows about my business. We do not rank at all for subject keyword phrases.” That’s when I fired him. I decided to learn how SEO works on my own. Once I understood, I was able to get my site ranked high up for its most important keyword phrases.
What are “subject keyword” phrases? If you’re old enough, you’ll recall what a library card catalog was. You could search for books by title, by author and by subject. A card catalog was a search engine before computers became popular, and well before smartphones. Early search engines such as Excite, Alta Vista, Web Crawler, Lycos and InfoSeek weren’t particularly accurate or effective. To find something, you typed keywords in, hit enter then you got results. With any luck, the results were even relevant. That all That all changed when Google showed up and delivered highly-relevant results. Example of a subject keyword phrase: mechanical consulting services.
Let’s move on. I can help get your business website ranked on Google. What I propose to do is analyze what needs to be done. This follows a consultation then an examination of your website. I will provide solid strategy that must be employed to get your website to rank high up. I’m not going to provide a guarantee that your site will rank at a certain level within a certain period of time. Search engines constantly change how they operate, so guarantees are a fool’s errand. I’m not going to bother with Bing because Bing is largely irrelevant; it’s a lousy search engine.
After my analysis, I will prepare a detailed, actionable report. That report will explain what needs to be done and why. No “black hat” techniques will be recommended. At that point, your IT department or webmaster will need to implement the changes and take the actions that I recommend. After my recommendations are implemented, you will see improvements, and probably huge improvements, depending on how your site ranks at the present time. Once that report is delivered, we’re done. I’m not seeking a long-term contract. I will not be providing periodic metrics.
I quit doing professional SEO services for others many years ago. Why? My efforts on behalf of clients were constantly being undercut by unscrupulous competitors. I found defending myself from liars to be more trouble than it was worth. Consequently, I put my skills to work on my own business websites, and those belonging to a few friends. I do not engage the services of commercial SEO providers. One example why —
A good friend has an automobile detailing business. He was paying $2,000 a month for the help of an SEO agency. He received reports every month about how his site was ranking, and the reports were unclear and confusing to my friend. His site wasn’t ranking well, and this was locally, not nationally. When he found out I’ve been an SEO for a long time, he asked for help. He offered to pay. We arranged a deal where he “paid” me in barter with a few car detailings.
He came to my house and I walked him through the SEO process. I pointed out what his “professional” SEO provider did wrong and explained how SEO really worked. Then I logged into his site and began making changes. I built some authoritative backlinks. In a matter of some weeks — it takes Google a while to process changes — suddenly his site was ranking much higher and his business soared.
It should be obvious that I don’t recommend SEO agencies. I advise on SEO topics at Quora.com. My usual advice to those wondering whether to hire an agency is: Read a recent book on SEO and take a course. But if you want me to do the work for you to get your site to rank high for its most important keyword phrases:
My fee is $10,000, payable in advance. Conditions may apply. Your first consultation is free.