You only need to view the source of your competitors sites to find their keywords and your halfway there. Has google ever actually stated how the algorithms really work, when they change them, how they rank pages and all the other over posh terms they use to try and extract a cash flow from people who know no better. In doing this you are chasing goal posts that google could move at anytime they wish, Bing could be the next thing and then its change again. Who knows "exactly what you mean and gives back exactly what you want".
So long as your website allows enough people to find you at a sensible price who gives a ..... You pays your money and takes your chance.
halyway there with just viewing competition keywords? as mentioned seo is greatly under appreciated. this is great though as for those who appreciate seo, they can easily benefit from it.
the op is doing domestic work, good luck to him if he decides to try and make a website and then seo on his own. the competition is far far greater for this area compared to drive way cleaning.
people are ranking well from doing little seo and making their own website because they have little competition. Perphaps this is down to the area of cleaning, or the location, or both, but that doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
unfortunately i feel if the op makes his own website, he will see little to no benefits directly from it, and it will end up being another website that can't compete with compeition. The only benefit (but then it may not be one) is if someone offline notices a web address on things like business cards/vehicles etc, so assumes without looking that they must be a bit more official.
the benefits of having a professional website are great and shouldn't be overlooked. you get one decent job from the website and bam you have paid for it, then another and bam you can pay for decent ongoing seo etc. plus on top of that, due to a large amount of competition the op will have to be paying to advertise to be found, and with the cost of places like yell.com you risk wasting money if there is better alternatives listed along side you.
Hi Green solutions.
As much as I agree with certain aspects of your post. I also disagree with some parts as well.
I am MCSE & MCP Certified and have worked in the computer industry in the states for many years and in the UK working my socks off. Yes it does require skill, knowledge to build a website site.
what area of computer industry? as much as you propobably do have relevent background, i hope you can appreciate that at the moment it's like saying i clean houses so i know how to professionally clean hospitals.
As for SEO it a money making scheme. It all is. including the hosting. Easy money if you have the kit. Either from home or business. So she could go a step further and actually save on hosting and host it from home. That way no fees whatsoever.
SEO is only KEYWORDS. Google even has the tools for SEO. Then you could get technical not too much and link from relevant sites. This will help in your ranking. There are many other ways but it can be done by them and they can acheieve a great result.
Dave
host it from home? hosting is a money making scheme? sorry to sound pedanctic but i really don't understand how you can say this. my host charges £17 for the most basic package with a free domain name for one year, this is great hosting and costs litterally nothing. How can this be a money making scheme when they are on just pounds a month?
hosting it from home is even more money to the op, she will have to pay to buy a server, then maintain it, then have it running 24/7, else if she turns it off, her website is unfindable. She will also have to buy a decent one as one big factor for websites is the loading time, anything more then a couple seconds and most users will try else where.