Offer HN: SEO Help
I've been lurking here for a while, and I feel like giving something to the community.
You all, who help out the entrepreneurs, are more valuable than you think.
I want to help your startup with SEO. On-page optimization, keyword-usage, titles, descriptions, link building advice, even some Internet Marketing advice.
I've been working as an SEO consultant (on my own) in Sweden for almost two years.
In spite of me being in Sweden, most of my clients are from the US, and I've even held a couple of speaking gigs in LA, SF and NY for SMBs.
Some clients: IKEA, Scandinavian Airlines (through marketing firms I work with), as well as some niche clothing stores.
You could ask your questions here or email hn.seohelp@gmail.com
I need: The URL of the website; some keywords and what your site is about.
Have a great day, everyone!
60 comments
[ 0.24 ms ] story [ 311 ms ] threadIn other professions (web design, software development, etc) this is usually a sign of missing expertise. What kind of designer or programmer wouldn't proudly show his/her latest creations when asked to do so?
However, in this case there might be another reason. Maybe the customers don't want to be used as a reference? This leads to an interesting question:
Is it bad for business to publicly admit the use of SEO techniques?
You are right about publicly admitting to have used SEO. A lot of my clients have requested NDAs, but some haven't. Unfortunately for them, admitting to have used SEO in their minds devalues the company.
On videolla you can: host, stream, distribute, publish, rent, sell, subscribe, donate your videos.
Also let me know if you have any paid video tutorials on SEO that you are willing to sell(Its very hot topic!)
Keywords: recipe sharing, foodie community, ingredient search
Honestly, I could use help coming up with other keywords. I've been having trouble boiling down the concept into a few keywords. The best I can do is TasteSpotting meets StackOverflow (and eventually LocalHarvest).
Shoot me an e-mail at dbingham@fridgetofood.com. Thanks!
I can't find "connected" recipes that use common ingredients. Sure, there are sites where I can enter my ingredients and get recipes, but for a guy like me (single, 28, lives alone, professional job) I'd rather be told what to buy that will make N dishes.
In short, I want to buy the fewest ingredients (without having to research and crossreference) that will make a variety of delicious dishes.
Something like this may exist. If so, please point me towards it.
While an SEO consultant might use this approach it is not quite the most proactive strategy. SEO comprises of so many things outsite on-site optimization.
I encourage you to read SEO Warrior, a book published by O'Reilly that covers different aspects on the topic.
We have also been using the #seo channel on irc.freenode.net in an attempt to build a collaborating SEO community. You are welcome to stop by and ask away.
Basically, Google is saying that if you build amazing content, and structure your website accordingly, you will get high quality backlinks.
If you've spent one day trying to get your site a better rank you know that it's almost impossible. Especially if you're a nobody.
You should be careful recommending books on SEO.
Google and other search engines tweak their algorithms daily, and many things can be outdated.
Join IRC-channels and forums - learn from others mistakes (know where it went wrong), and simply put - just do it.
The worst thing that could happen is if you get sandboxed (removed.)
Here's some actual helpful advice, for software companies: you should provide as many reasons as possible why linking to your website helps out the linker. There are as many ways to do this as there are ways to motivate people. One obvious one which non-programmers find difficult to duplicate is to provide some functionality for other people's websites via copy/paste code (called a widget), then promoting the widget. The widget contains a link back to the originating site, with anchor text that you pick.
For example, I have a client that produces something spiritually similar to help desk software. They should have a widget which lets you ask a question of BIG_CORP on BIG_CORP's website, with "[Help Desk] powered by $CLIENT." under it. The actual functionality is simple: submit a new issue straight into their help desk system. That's a triple win: BIG_CORP reduces support costs and gets higher customer loyalty, BIG_CORP's customers get a streamlined experience versus the traditional "email in a problem, get a ticket, pray a human sees it", and $CLIENT ranks higher for any help desk related keyword they care to target based entirely legitimately on their ability to convince BIG_CORP that they are the best help desk solution on the market.
Wow - I'm glad so many of you emailed.
A lot of creative apps and sites.
I have replied to 5 and have 10 to go.
Keep 'em coming!
@yaggo;
What kind of pages? My personal site/consultant site?
I don't know what yaggo was thinking, but I'd like to see simply some sites that you optimized for search engines - no matter whether those are your own sites or sites of your customers.
https://www.erpnext.com
It is an affordable, online ERP solution for small and medium businesses into manufacturing, distribution, retail or services.
Keywords: erp, crm, saas, open source, smb
Any help would be welcome :-)
PS: SEO must find the correct keywords for a site not the client...
I read HN every day,I read the comments, and I understand the culture here.
I was thinking I could give something back to the community by answering some questions.
"SEO must find the correct keywords for a site not the client" - I don't quite understand what you meant by this, so please elaborate.
Proof and a personal site; I'm not here to promote my business and I'm not here to brag about my clients/past clients. I simply stated that I have worked with them, and whether or not you chose to believe me or not - your choice!
why don't aswer to questions on HN instead of use e-mail? isn't "community" to share with all SEO tips?
"SEO must find the correct keywords for a site not the client"
part of SEO job is to find the correct keywords for a site and optimize for those, no? but you say "I need: The URL of the website; some keywords"
In conclusion i'm work every day with SEO/SEM and in this sector the word "free" is used often for ulterior motives, hence my doubts...why a pro SEO should work for free?(work is time and time is money)...all here.
Have a nice day ;)
Those who posted here, shall receive a reply here.
I don't have any motives behind this, except I want to help people out. Startups have very limited budgets, and maybe someone would like to hire me, and maybe I could end up having a good relationship with other entrepreneurs.
Networking first, money second.
I'm employed by a company who deals with printers, cartridges and paper, so I have some free time on my hands :)
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/07/17/seo-for-software-compani...
I'd also suggest taking a look at http://www.seobook.com/
The one thing I would say is to look very carefully at what you want to achieve via SEO. I'm fairly certain that the majority of potential customers in our sector (information security) don't want to fill in a form, although we do have a few visitors. For us our site is more about communicating what we do for our customers, than getting people to invite us to do work for them, but of course that's a world of difference from trying to get someone to sign up to a web app.
Basic SEO knowledge could point out flaws, but it does take some experience to make a plan/strategy and purpose.
"Would SEO help you or would it be pointless?"
If you own a pizzeria in Gainesville, FL - why should you rank #1 for the term "Pizza"?
I love what I do, and I hope people who get replies from me see that! :)
We are in the same sector and have had great success with the "step signup" process - i.e. contact forms.
YMMV. But mid-range corporates feel happy about such things.
Random observation; but for anything related to corporate purchasing the more finicky you make it (within reason) the better it is liked. Middle managers are overjoyed to ring you up, ask for a costing, then ring again for an invoice and finally a third time to give you card details.
Have you got a link to one of your sites with the step signup process?
And traffic from the sites are relatively low compared to someone being given our phone #, so it might have skewed data.
Unfortunately I can't really share more than that publicly (employers choice, not mine). But feel free to email me if you want (address in profile).
Would love to hear your thoughts on the site I'm working on right now: http://www.snowboardfinder.com It's a finder and price comparison site for snowboard gear.
keywords: snowboards, snowboard gear, snowboard prices
i guess i need to come up with a bunch more keywords.
Anyways, any help would be absolutely appreciated :D
:D
SEOMoz is a great SEO-company, and they have an incredibly useful blog. From novice to advance!
These Offer HN strings have made HN like any other place on the web.
We're building support software. As in a ticketing system which aggregates all support tickets from email(imap), twitter, facebook and others.
I will answer them later this evening.