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I’m a great fan of the Yoast/WordPress combo.But you would need an e-commerce solution on top of that. It could range from Shopify to one of the WordPress plug-ins. It all depends on how complicated your e-commerce is. The developer I worked with on my Magento site (three years old) says he wouldn’t make that choice today. Updates and day-to-day management are just too exasperating.

Agree with the answers, but not the idea that Magento is especially SEO friendly. Input of image tags on products is a royal pain!

Ummm, this isn't what you asked....

...but is it out of the question to re-consider this:

"However, we're going to keep the site on the current domain while we ease customers into the new **name."**This is a mistake, IMHO,  and you should do everything possible to persuade the client to re-think the plan.

Best practice, as I'm sure you know, is to do page-level redirects from each page on the old site to its closest corresponding page on the new site.

Is the company name changing...or just the domain name?

In any event, I can't see an elegant way of doing what you propose...only of mitigating the damage and confusion that will inevitably result.

I'm sure others, more technically knowledgable than I, can weigh in on damage control. But why damage yourself at all?

I don't think this is really a technical  SEO issue at all.

It's a fundamental marketing and branding issue, IMHO. So much better to zoom up to 30,000 feet and address the larger issue.

**Bottom line: the way to make the change is, well, to make the change! All at once. **

The most common mistakes:

• Too many links
• Too many items -- overall length is too long

Therefore:

• **Lack of focus **

In most cases there should be a single, clear call to action....but it can be included two or three times.

I've seen all too many newsletters that bury the call to action as the 18th of 24 links!

If there is great and useful content, it might be wiser to send shorter but more frequent newsletters. Some should have no specific product plugs...just great info. Counter-intuitive, I know!

If the audience is college students, you might want to consider embedding 60-seond videos videos.

I have quite a bit of experience in travel and education and would be happy to talk to you offline.

Agreed.

Also: PPC is often used as a substitute for an overall SEO/Marketing strategy...instead of a component of an overall strategy.

It's best to turn down potential clients who think PPC can do it all, IMHO and experience.

I work with a developer who is doing this for a site.

He is using a WP plugin and then slicing.

I agree that around $200 is a reasonable cost under such circumstances.

PM me for details.

Yes, to all the above.

Like most things in life:

(1) The answer is "it all depends."

(2) Context is everything.

I have used a targeted and focused "directory" strategy  with great success in certain niches....

...but only in conjunction with other techniques: guest blogging, social media, frequent updates, etc...

Also: Whaddaya mean by directory? Different people have different ideas.

So blanket statements like "avoid directories' are off base. It would be better to say" "avoid crappy directories/"

You should also avoid crappy guest blogging and crappy content on your own site.

I agree the strategy is ill-conceived. Either it was executed by an incompetent company, or one that is into "churn and burn" tactics. By the time Google catches on,  it will have moved on to the next client.

You could do a whois lookup for clues that the sites are run by the same SEO company (or at least people trying to cover their tracks.) But what's the point?

As a former editor, I can tell just be reading the articles that they were likely written by the same semi-literate person. I'd even speculate the author is not a native English speaker. That said, it's clear the articles were written by a human in some semblance of English.

So it may take Google longer to spot that articles that it would for spun or computer-generated articles.  That said, there are big problems with articles. These include low word counts on  very thin sites. The Google algo is good at catching this -- eventually.

I'm guessing you're in the same situation I was. A competitor hired a sleazy SEO company. The SEO company used three techniques:

• links from article directories
• links from once-legit sites it had acquired and corrupted
• links from sites it had created itself

In all, there were more than 100 links from crappy articles. Eventually all but 3 were devalued. But it took almost a year.

As I said below, there is not  much you can do beyond focussing on what you can control: your own SEO efforts.

You could submit a spam report to Google. But short of criminal misconduct (my rival hacked my site and here is the police report) Google will almost certainly not take individual, manual action against your competitor. It generally looks for abusive patterns and rolls the information into algo updates.

I understand your frustration. But my tough lough advice is:

Stop fretting about what your rival is doing and get down to work on your site.

I agree with the above: it's almost certainly just a matter of time before the smackdown comes.

The wait can be frustrating, though.

Been there, done that, waited it out -- and it took almost a year.

In the meantime, just focus on the nuts and bolts of on-page, while building quality content and backlinks.

What else can you do?

If it's any consultation, the smackdown can be huge and sudden. When it finally comes.

Agree with most of the above.

And I'd add a more basic critique. I read the page twice, but am still unclear what I get for 3 months @ $350. Is it just analysis and no implementation? Few clients will wait that long for an analysis. Many expect to see analysis AND  implementation AND and results....um...yesterday.

There are also a few unhelpful typos.

Keri:

You are such an instigator! Sounds like you are angling for a joint blog post from me and EGOL.

In your evll and nefarious way.

NYAH-HAH-HAH.

<<evil grin="">></evil>

I agree with EGOL. I would decline a "pay for performance" model because too much is out of my control: client cooperation, algo updates, new competitors.

Performance and accountability are important. Who could argue with that?

But just because previous providers  haven't delivered, it doesn't necessarily follow that shifting to a pay for performance model is the way to go. This often degenerates into the futile pursuit of phoney metrics, eg. ranking for non-competitive terms, social media shares, etc...

You need to find a provider you trust with a track record of delivering results. Limiting yourself to those who will accept pay for performance compensation may limit your search -- and your bottom line results.

Yes, many thanks. This is exactly what I was looking for.

I need someone with a KeyWord Spy subscription and experience (or a similar tool that has Canadian data)  to do a one time CPC report that answers these questions:

(1) Who are my client's main competitors in paid search?

(2) What is the estimated  ad spend by the the five top competitors?

(3) What keywords and ads are working best for the competitors?

(4)) What is the CPC for the top 20 keywords in the niche.

(5)) Any topline suggestions for my client re: next steps.

That's it! I don't want to be overwhelmed with masses of extraneous detail. This should be an easy assignment for someone with required expertise. Possibility of more work to implement and/or optimize CPC campaign.

Reply via PM with experience. Ideally, send a sample past report (okay to black out client names)

Thanks for the courtesy.

Not to belabour the point (so this will be my last response):

But I never said cold calling was ineffective.

I just said that it was wrong.

In the grand scheme of the universe, it annoys people, gives business a black eye, and invites government regulation that over reaches.

Thanks for the response, but we'll have to agree to disagree.

I maintain my position: cold calling is wrong. I would never try it.

Most sensible people already hang up. More people should.

And then fewer people would cold call.

And the world would be a better place.

Of course,  it's reasonable to expect a skilled professional who is actively seeking work to spend some time on the company website learning about company culture.

But most of your top prospects won't be in that category. They already have good  jobs. If they hear about you opening at all, it will be from a seeing the posting elsewhere. As written, the description will discourage them from even clicking through to your site.

Please see this Moz job posting for an example of a well written developer posting. It stands on its own, but also includes links to specific places on the site. So it works equally well on site and offsite,

Thanks for the even-tempered and genuinely curious response!

Oddly enough, I think we are all saying the same thing...but in different ways: excellence is paramount and everyone needs team players with a broad general understanding of the big picture.

So this kinda reminds me of a B movie scene where the bad guy says to the tied up hero: "We are not so different -- you and I. NYAH-HA-HA"

Like you, I am not a developer. I started off as a TV writer, producer, and director before moving online in the late 90's. Along the way, I have held executive and editorial posts at places like PBS and The Environmental Defence Fund where I managed teams of developers, among others.

So I think I know how developers think. Some of my best...(oh, never mind.)

A developer would look at your job post and leap to the  conclusion that your company would be a bad place to work. He would think "the bosses" are clueless about development, his skills wouldn't  be respected, and he should take his talent elsewhere.

Think of it as "reverse hiring." You have to sell your company if you want really top notch talent.

Instead, your job post just throws in a whole bunch of stuff. It's almost comical....at least to a developer. They would conclude the company is run by idiots.

A better approach would be to:

• focus on just a few skills

• talk a lot about your company and its culture

-show how the devloper's skills would be respected and how they would fit into the bigger picture

After all, most top notch developers can master new skills quickly. But too many companies still screen by ticking things off checklists. It's the wrong approach. Making sure there is a good cultural fit is much more important.

Okay, so this is a kinda ridiculous, long shot whim du jour. But it's so intriguing I can't resist.

Last week, GA reveals that my client had 6 queries (vs. 0 since the beginning of time) in the format:

Large Red Widgets #3 in Obscure Suburb (of my client's head office)

Large Red Widgets #3 just happen to be expensive and profitable.

My question: is there a snowball's chance in hell of tracking this query any further? I'll take what I can get --  since not many people are interested in red widgets #3 in said obscure suburb. I'd like enough info so a sales rep can follow up. These folks are not shy.

Thoughts? Next steps? Idiot proof instructions on where specifically to look in GA?