11 replies to this topic

[battman]

Hello Jill,

We met in Tampa a fw years ago. My site enjoys very high SERP for many key words and constant increase in sales from 1996 until Oct, 2006
when a major industy specific directory went out of business. Our SEO company was able to gain back some of that traffic but from May
of 2007 to date it has steadily declined. In an effort to boost the site the SEO guys suggested a Blog which we started in the fall of 2007.

It was several thousand dollars to set up and $500 a month for "maintenance". Since my traffic continues to decline I want to either put the Blog
on hold or take it down completely. Of coures the SEO folks say that would be a huge mistake vis-a-vis Google. I am not too sure about that but,
would love to have some input.

In my industry, auto parts, 40% of my sales come when we are #1 in the SERPs, 25% when we are #2 and 10% when we are #3.

So a whopping 85% of our sales depend on us being in the top 3 SERPs. In fact another 5% come from SERPs #4 through #10.

So I would like to drop the Blog, directory submissions and focus on increased SERPs.

Thank you all for your kind assistance,
Dave "battman"

[SERPico]

Are you paying those SEO folks $500 a month for maintenance?

If so cut off your relationship immediately because these guys are taking you for a ride, the only returning costs for a blog is hosting costs if you pay per month.

I can't see how a blog requires $500 on a monthly basis unless you have a massive hosting bill.

If these SEO folks are charging you $500 a month then i have a strong feeling these SEO folks are also the cause of your drop in rankings.

[Jill]

It's not clear exactly what they're doing for you, so it's hard to say. Are they writing blog posts on a constant basis? Or is it just some phantom "maintenance" that you don't exactly know what they're doing?

If it's the latter, I think you'll not notice any change if you nuke 'em.

[nethy]

I agree with Jill.

Not really enough information.

There are all sorts of things that can be done with a blog. Writing posts. Promoting them in various ways. Interacting with other bloggers. All of these are very time consuming to do well so $500 is not impossible. Actually significantly more is also possible. It's not necessarily a rip off.
But that doesn't mean it isn't.

[battman]

I really appreciate your replies. Actually my staff and I are required to produce all the blog posts and replies.
We then email them to the SEO duo and they "optimize" the post and supossedly help promote the blog.

I will discuss with them tomorrow their exact duties and time required. We are a very small company and just
haven't been able to provide close enough oversight. sigh.

After my discussions I will let you know in greaster detail the specifics.

Thanks again,

battman

[nethy]

Even if you discontinue the service, it is probably preferable to keep the blog online.

[Sarah]

It sounds like you should keep the blog, and keep posting articles - if you are already writing them, for an industry that you know, chances are you are already writing content with the right industry keywords. Put up a few articles that have not been SEOd on the blog and see how well they come through in time.

[1dmf]

Actually my staff and I are required to produce all the blog posts and replies.
We then email them to the SEO duo and they "optimize" the post and supossedly help promote the blog.

I'm suprised most haven't told you to stop the blog immediately, why you may ask.

Well I get the residing feeling this blog is not for humans but purely for search engines, even to the point of adding posts & replies as well as having the posts SEO'd?

I always thought the HR no.1 rule was don't do anything for SE's , content is king and should be written for your visitors only!

Has HR's viewpoint changed?

[Jill]

Has HR's viewpoint changed?

No. But since there was nothing specifically said that the blog posts weren't of good value to humans, we simply didn't make the same assumption you made.

But yes, if the search engines are the only reason for the posting, then don't bother.

[1dmf]

I'm forever finding i'm pulled between content for visitor vs content for SE's.

Especially when trying to expand my keyword base, I guess I worry too much, and should just do the best for BOTH!

[Jill]

I'm forever finding i'm pulled between content for visitor vs content for SE's.

IMO, they should be one and the same.

[1dmf]

if that was the case we wouldn't have a robots.txt file to exclude stuff from SE's and we would never use JavaScript or other technology SE's can't understand / read or index.

IMO the two are so far apart you could drive a bus through the middle, sideways!