[Keep It Green Maids]

I'm wondering how many companies out there make an actual effort with search engine optimization, and more specifically SEO. For those who don't know what SEO it is, it is how your site ranks and appears on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Take for example if someone were to search for "houston cleaning service" or "*your town* cleaning service" or maid service or any number of variation. If you're not on the first page, more importantly either at the top, or within the Google local + listings on the first page, then you're missing out on a lot of business.

If you do make an effort to focus on SEO, do you do it yourself or do you hire someone to do it for you?

 

[kowalsks88]

From what I've heard, SEO takes a lot of practice. I think it's better to do it yourself, you can really learn some useful tips that could help your business grow. Do you have any knowledge in it? Have you tried SEO before?

 

[David Murphy]

We've done in-house SEO (part of my job), but also recently hired an outside company to help out as SEO can be very time consuming. It is especially difficult in a large(ish) market like Denver. Unless you have the resources to pay a competent SEO company ($1000 / month or thereabouts, and you may not see results for several months), however, DIY optimization may be your best option.

Stay away from "bargain" SEO companies or ones that promise "number 1 rankings within 60 days." The search engines are not that simple, at best they are lying through their teeth or they will give you #1 rankings for useless keywords ("yes, I'm number one for 'denver's most wonderful group of qualified carpet cleaning & tile maintenance professionals'! Oh wait, that only gets 2 searches per year."), and at the worst they will rocket you up to 1st place in two weeks until Google catches their spam and removes your website from its search results.

If you're doing SEO yourself, first optimize your site (there are great guides all over - check out http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo), then remember that "Content is King." It can be difficult to create interesting, shareable content for the cleaning industry, but that's what will gradually pull your site to the top of the search engine results. :yes:

 

[sprintcar93]

Personally, I'll be letting all my area cleaning competition use the internet while I go out and get customers and make money within days. I realize most people don't want to put out the blood, sweat and tears... and more sweat that I do to get customers so the internet is great for most everyone else. For $1000 I can have 5000 flyers passed out, get 15 new customers and make about $3000-$5000 back within a month.

I have talked with SEO providers and offered them 50% of the profit for the life of a customer they can bring in. Problem is, none want to take me up on the offer. When I find one that will do that and believe in their own service, we will see if SEO or flyers is more profitable with house cleaning. My money goes on flyers.

 

[sprintcar93]

Only 4 hours after you post and it's removed already? :thumbdown:

 

[CI Carpet Cleaning]

SEO is very time consuming to learn and do correctly. Do research on SEO companies that provide a quality service at a reasonable rate. Stay away from the fast talking black hat guys that will promise you the world and deliver nothing. Keep in mind SEO is a process that takes a great deal of time to show results.

 

[OneTime]

Personally, I'll be letting all my area cleaning competition use the internet while I go out and get customers and make money within days. I realize most people don't want to put out the blood, sweat and tears... and more sweat that I do to get customers so the internet is great for most everyone else. For $1000 I can have 5000 flyers passed out, get 15 new customers and make about $3000-$5000 back within a month.

I have talked with SEO providers and offered them 50% of the profit for the life of a customer they can bring in. Problem is, none want to take me up on the offer. When I find one that will do that and believe in their own service, we will see if SEO or flyers is more profitable with house cleaning. My money goes on flyers.

Ofcourse not a single SEO company will take you up on that offer, it's borderline ridiculous. Carpet Cleaning doesn't generate enough $ for someone to want 50% of your 'profit'.

5000 flyers and get 15 new customers that's less than 1% ROI. While I'm not completely against flyers, I'm 95% against it. It's a good stratergy to have long term and to fill in the marketing gaps, but my biggest issue with Flyers(besides the .0% ROI) is you're what I call..."Blind Fishing"

You're throwing about bait into a sea of unknown, can you catch something? Yes, if they HAPPEN to be around and see your bait and then they have to REALLY want to eat your bait.

OR, would it be more prudent to get to a fishery where thousands of fish are in an Olympic style pool, already looking for bait. Then, it's just a matter of tossing in your line and waiting.

Now i'm not saying it's easy, or that it can be done overnight. For anyone to think you can get SEO done(specially with the new updates) within a few weeks, is out of their mind. Takes time and is well worth it. The issue is finding someone that knows what they're doing. I do my own and have a partner that does it, so I know it's getting done properly. The issue is most carpet cleaners can't see past their noses and think it's too expensive to have the right firm handle your SEO.

To the OP, I see you're in the Houston area, it's a 'competitive' market to try and go after, I would say your best bet to help you figure out the proper Keywords is to start a PPC campaign that is honed in and optimized to maximize ROI. I have a buddy that owns a maid service that is now in Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio and he spends A LOT on PPC.

GL and if you need any help, please feel free to shoot me a PM

 

[Trojancarpetcare]

I neither have the time nor want to do SEO so I do a bit and leave the rest to a professional. For me it is important to have a strong web presence.

Carpet cleaning Los Angeles

Carpet cleaning Pasadena

 

[acleanerbusiness]

I neither have the time nor want to do SEO so I do a bit and leave the rest to a professional. For me it is important to have a strong web presence.

That's exactly what A Cleaner Business does. We get your site up and live in just 24 hours to start promoting your cleaning business, all while gaining top ranks on search engines. Our cleaning websites are professionally built with amazing features and functionality along with Search Engine Optimization built in. A Cleaner Business is the online marketing solution for any cleaning business looking to grow their business.

 

[OverTheTop]

Now i'm not saying it's easy, or that it can be done overnight. For anyone to think you can get SEO done(specially with the new updates) within a few weeks, is out of their mind. Takes time and is well worth it. The issue is finding someone that knows what they're doing. I do my own and have a partner that does it, so I know it's getting done properly. The issue is most carpet cleaners can't see past their noses and think it's too expensive to have the right firm handle your SEO.

I don't even know where to begin...this thread is full of so many myths and misunderstandings.

I do SEO work, build websites and host....so I've done SEO for new sites as well as aged sites. A few weeks might be cutting it but I've ranked pages at #1 on short tail kewords in as little as 3 weeks. Long tail keywords are even easier. It really comes down to how long it takes google to crawl and index the backlinks.

I looked at two of your sites and...well, you have no off page SEO at all really. 99% of your backlinks are forum posts and/or are from low trust pages. Your site has really low trust numbers. Your anchor text isn't varied and your unique referring domain to backlink ratio is really low. Both of these are tied to the huge number of forum sig links and no other backlinks.

Your on page KW density is good but you have multiple H1 tags which is a big no-no.

You rank 34 for carpet cleaning katy and I looked at the #1 guy and beating him is possible with some work. Beating the #2 guy is almost a guarantee since his SEO is almost nill.

• fix your header tags
• get some PR2+ dofollows
• vary your anchor text
• Stay away from low trust links

Do these and you'll climb to page 1 pretty quickly

The amount of work you get being at #1 and #2 is generally worth the expense of hiring out your SEO. It's not hard to learn but for most guys with less than 5 websites, you are better off making money doing what you do than reading dry SEO books.

Since I used you as an example...I'll help you if you want to fix these things or give you a discount on me doing it.

 

[ftgjr]

Create back links to your sight. Ask some friends if the would allow you to link to their site and vice verse.

 

[Katycarpetcleaner]

SEO is definitely for the tortoise not the hare, it's slow and steady wins the race, especially in very large markets. It also is a moving finish line, with the rules constantly changing. If you don't have the time and patience to learn and do your own SEO, leave it to a good SEO professional. Of course those are either hard to find or expensive or both. You still have to explore all outlets for business and when you find one that works best for you, allocate more of your time and efforts in that direction, but don't ignore the other outlets. Proper SEO can be your pot at the end of the rainbow...but it is a long road to oz. Good luck

 

[Runktur]

Better

One of the most powerful one which now exists more in every software field .It is necessary as to have more frequency.

 

[casefunding]

SEO is the practice of improving and promoting a web site in order to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines. If you're thinking about hiring an SEO, the earlier the better. Its a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time. A great time to hire is when you're considering a site redesign, or planning to launch a new site. That way, you and your SEO can ensure that your site is designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. However, a good SEO can also help improve an existing site. But, the world of SEO is complex, but most people can easily understand the basics. Even a small amount of knowledge can make a big difference. For the most part, SEO education is free and available on the web, including guides like this. Combine this with a little practice and you are well on your way to becoming a guru.

 

[adverd]

SEO is an acronym for "search engine optimization" or "search engine optimizer." Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

• Review of your site content or structure
• Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
• Content development
• Management of online business development campaigns

 

[Cleantastic]

With cleaning being a highly active area when it comes to competitors, it is very important to improve the SEO to get the competitive edge over the competitors. It can be done cost free, but only takes time.

 

[selena adams]

Hiring a good SEO service is a really good option. What you have to do is just to select the cheapest and best company for that!!!

 

[bedrik]

Good to see the details here about SEO.

 

[greenglobetips]

Well,doing SEO really take's time to get on the first page of google..Took me 1 month to get one of company im working be on first page.

So,if you're doing SEO,do some research for you're keyword that you want to use.Use google keyword tool also to get your best keywords.and dont use the high competition keywords.

Doing social media helps also for you're business..

Also,if you got the business running,better to use the google places.

cheers.

 

[Cleantastic]

I'm doing the marketing for our company and SEO is a major point of it, you have to be seen!!

- Back linking is free and easy
- Check for all local directories organic and paid
- Google places is ideal
- Social media (twitter, facebook, youtube, squidoo)
- Forums
- Sponsor events, charities etc...

So much but getting there!

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www.cleantastic.co.nz

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