1. The hosting company and the CMS vendor
Some hosting companies and content management system vendors include 'SEO' services in their packages.
These offers usually include automated tools that insert keywords and other code on your web pages and then they submit your site to Google and other search engines.
2. The son/cousin/nephew of someone who is great with computers
Maybe you know someone who knows someone who is really great with computers. They can 'fix the SEO' on your website and you will save a lot of money because they do not charge much.
3. The offshore company that will do everything for a low price
These companies often send unsolicited emails with great offers. They promise to build backlinks, optimize your web pages and a lot more for a low monthly fee. You just have to sit back while they do the work.
These offers don't look too bad and it might be tempting to use them.
Why you shouldn't use these cheap services
When it comes to search engine optimization, it does not make sense to cut costs at the expense of lost sales and revenue. All of the services above have in common that it can be risky to use them. For example:
- The fully automated solutions offered by many hosting companies and CMS vendors are usually outdated methods that did work in the early 2000's. Nowadays, these methods don't work anymore. Some automated methods are considered spam and your website might get penalized if you use them. SEO isn't point-and-click anymore.
- Your nephew might know how to code an HTML web page but that doesn't mean the he has any SEO knowledge. If your nephew is good with numbers, it still doesn't make sense to let him do your accounting (if you don't want to get in trouble with the tax office).
- Many of the offshore companies use automated spam tools to 'promote' your website. Hiring these companies is often a sure way to get your website banned from Google in the long run. Some of these services even tweak the meta keywords tag of your web pages, which is a sure sign that they do not know what they're doing.
SEO is more than building a few links, adding a few keywords to your web pages. There's nothing that you can 'install' on your website and that's it.
The right visitors from search engines are crucial to the success of any website. It's important to understand that search engine optimiation is not a one-off project. If you focus on short-lived optimization tactics, you will get short-lived results.
It's much better to develop a long-term search engine optimization strategy. Tools and services that look expensive can save you money in the long run because you will get much better results.
If you use the right tools, you can get things done as efficiently as possible. You still have to do some work but tools like SEOprofiler will guide you through the process and they will help you save time by automating things like regular SEO audits:
Source: IBP Newsletter
