[Colin Day]

At the moment, my website by Mark is getting me lots of extra work compared to this time last year. If something [Google] does give, it'll be Mark I'll employ to find a solution, you can bet your bottom dollar he'll be ahead of the game He knows what he's doing/talking about and he offers good value and on-going support....

 

[garry22]

From Google Webmaster Tools...

Link schemes
 
Your site's ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to you. The quantity, quality, and relevance of links count towards your rating. The sites that link to you can provide context about the subject matter of your site, and can indicate its quality and popularity. However, some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact your site's ranking in search results. Examples of link schemes can include:

•Links intended to manipulate PageRank
•Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
•Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging ("Link to me and I'll link to you.")
•Buying or selling links that pass PageRank
The best way to get other sites to create relevant links to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly gain popularity in the Internet community. The more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their readers and link to it. Before making any single decision, you should ask yourself the question: Is this going to be beneficial for my page's visitors?

It is not only the number of links you have pointing to your site that matters, but also the quality and relevance of those links. Creating good content pays off: Links are usually editorial votes given by choice, and the buzzing blogger community can be an excellent place to generate interest.

[/size]

Here's the link...   http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66356

[Adam P]

that's correct mike kind of. they aren't penalising but removing the benefit more and more from the domain name matching the keywords so those who pay now for this method will be paying again soon as it is happening.

obviously you can say it's hard to know what google may do in the future but it is something they are working on. google don't like link networks and will penalise and get better at finding it, google plan to remove the power keyword domain names have. it'd be silly to continue using these methods to gain serp.

out of interest can people do a search on google for 'carpet cleaning websites' and tell me the first 5/6 results?

[garry22]

You are third Adam

[Adam P]

cool

[jim mca]

Adam why do you want to list for carpet cleaning websites

[Adam P]

never tried to get it to list for that search term. it's not our main site either so it's doing well considering its position. guess they realise how awesome i am or something.

[derek west]

marks first and second. 

[Adam P]

give it time considering his site has been there a lot longer, has a lot more links and keywords in the domain, and the search term is a lot more related to his site, mine isn't that far behind.

[Colin Day]

I'll still stick with who I can trust.... "Mark" the "Bunny Boiler", as he will soon be known

[Carpet Dawg]

I think we should create 9 optimised websites  

The term "carpet cleaning websites" gets low traffic. 210 a month global and 36 local searches a month according to google. Probably less that in real life. Thats why its so easy to rank for it. Try ranking for "live sex cams" or "prada hangbags".

Common sense.

[Adam P]

fair enough colin. he's the pro after all i'm just a carpet cleaner what do i know. i'm not trying to convince you not to use mark but put my un-educated thoughts into this thread for the op and anyone else in a similar position.

[Colin Day]

fair enough colin. he's the pro after all i'm just a carpet cleaner what do i know. i'm not trying to convince you not to use mark but put my un-educated thoughts into this thread for the op and anyone else in a similar position.

I'll be honest... I CBA'd with all the terminology and computer speak. I don't understand it all and it bores me rigid. I pay Mark and he gets me work, that's all I'm bothered about. If the goal posts move with Google, I trust Mark will be one step ahead.... What more could "I" ask for? 

[Adam P]

for the price he charges not much else. it takes the fuss away from you, doesn't cost an arm and a leg and currently gets results.

staying one step ahead means you got to keep looking at what's going on. i keep checking and posting some of what i see, and that is google saying link networks are a no no, and keyword domains will lose the bonus they've been having, which imo is the 2 main ways his sites rank (though sometimes highly) at all.

what you're saying colin is you'll react rather then anticipate. i know which one i'd rather do.

[wynne jones]

I think Colin's attitude is perfectly reasonable in fact I think more carpet cleaners should think like that. Whilst we are responsible for cleaning carpets, balancing the books and marketing, this does not mean we have to get bogged down in these things, in fact the most successful don't even clean carpets themselves.

There's too much time and not enough money, this is the main reason carpet cleaners seem to be so fixated on web design and seo. It's like a displacement activity to relieve the anxiety of an empty diary.

Sadly, much of what is learned today will be defunct tomorrow. Get good at finding good people, unless you want a change in career.  

[Adam P]

meh. websites are important. seo is importan.

i'd want to stay up to date with what's going on with seo to the best of my ability because it's the number one way customers will look for what they need. If i owned a store in my town selling easter eggs i'd want to stay clued up on more then just how to make an easter egg.

[Colin Day]

meh. websites are important. seo is importan.

i'd want to stay up to date with what's going on with seo to the best of my ability because it's the number one way customers will look for what they need. If i owned a store in my town selling easter eggs i'd want to stay clued up on more then just how to make an easter egg.

I have better things to spend my valuable spare time on, like bringing up 3 children.... I don't need to worry about website's and seo, why would I want the added unnecessary stress....? I agree seo and website's are important, which is why I use Mark's services.....

I strive to give the best service I can to each and every customer, by continually learning and keeping my eye on the ball in the world of cleaning products and practices.....

[wynne jones]

meh. websites are important. seo is importan.

I agree, it's really important as nowadays, it's an important part of your marketing mix. But if you are not interested in it or have the capacity you would be daft not to find someone who can do it for you and hand over some cash. This doesn't mean you're out of control and don't know what's going on.

It's no different to having an accountant. Let them do what they are good at or you hate doing, just make sure you are monitoring it and have enough of an idea to know what you want. 

[jim mca]

Adam why moan about what mark is doing if its not for you then do your own
thing but stop snipping as mark is only trying to make a living the same as
everybody on here Ive got one of his sites cost £230 at the time first job got
me over £2000 could have done a freebie but wanted something more pro
looking then again could have spent £1000 on a super dooper not cheating
site and made nothing 

[Adam P]

wow surprising. give some advice (which is the whole point of this thread) and get flammed.

the op ASKED FOR ADVICE FOR SOMEONE WHO DOES GOOD SEO. he didn't want to hear one persons opinion, especially i don't imagine he wanted to hear the opinions of people who don't know what they are talking about in this area either. As mark is charging for this service I think the on site SEO on mark's sites are generally poor. the results are only there because of off site reasons and i also feel soon things will change as they are against googles guide lines, and i'm not the only one on here that thinks that. is this against the rules now?

this thread started by giving advice directly to the first post and then naturally progressed to what it is now. I don't see why colin needs to explain how he feels mark is ahead of the curve when colin hasn't got any experience in this area, but the point of this thread was to give different views and i appreciate why he uses his services (and that quite simply is because mark's sites are currently getting colin work). colin is right in that get on with what you're good at. what i think i have knowledge in is the question in this thread. what i've said isn't unfair and i've even said i see why people use his low cost service  as they do get low cost results.

what you've said jim is basically "shut up as i don't want to read your different opinion".

in another thread the op asked for good acid rinse. are we not allowed to give more then one view in that thread either? am i allowed to say i don't use fibre and fabric rinse because it's expensive and that i prefer rinse x from cleansmart or is this classed as moaning at prochem?

this is what the op asked for...

a good website designer with 1. very good seo . 2. not a very cheap one , and 3. not a rip-off one

1. imo mark's site aren't very good seo. if you think getting results mean they've got very good seo then this just shows your lack of knowledge in the area and perhaps maybe you should be the one to stop snipping.

2. mark's sites are very cheap. £200 for a website is really nothing to what people should be paying. trouble is people don't appreciate them as much as they should

3. i hope i made it clear though that they aren't a rip off and you get everything you pay for. He isn't charging £200 but giving £50 work.

1 out of 3 for what the op is looking for