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What does the C & D letter say? What is the threat? All the subsequent steps? Or do you just keep it vague and menacing (eg. "any and all remedies, including legal remedies")

Excellent answers.

On top of everything else, how about some out of the box thinking: public shaming.

It's a risky strategy, so it needs careful consideration.

But it's pretty clear your client is the victim of dirty pool.

We're talking truth and justice and virtue here, folks. Forces of darkness vs. forces of light.

If I were still a TV news director, and someone on my staff suggested this as a story idea, I'd jump all over it.

And the company that copied the site would not emerge looking good.

I have had mixed results: about six of eight submissions accepted within the last year. But nothing in the last 90 days.

I agree with the Twitter follow suggestion, but don't consider it even "a little grey hat."

My team and I have been able to get about one in five people we follow to follow us back. And we've seen more than a few convert into valued customers.

The best strategy is to be both selective and transparent. Don't go on a blitz where you follow hundreds of people from a few sources on a single day. Be very targeted. Follow people slowly and incrementally, after first providing something of value on your own Twitter feed....and jumping into discussions where you can provide expertise.

Too many people go on fishing expeditions in which they randomly follow people from targeted Twitter feeds. The targets may click over to your Twitter feed out of curiosity, but be turned off by one marketing message after another, but no real content. Or they may follow you -- and then have nothing more to do with you ever again.

Forgive me, but I just can't resist recommending myself. Shameless! But, hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

See my SEOMOZ profile and the Linkedin link.

Work samples available via email on request.

Agree. There are only a handful of the "old time" article directories that still rank. But this may be a  historical artifact that doesn't apply to new content. At least that's what a handful of my experiments to date suggest.

Ditto. Often use them, with no problems.

Higher QS means you get more clicks for the same amount of money. Too many people accept automated suggestions to up the buy. They should focus on improved QS first. It's all a matter of well the trigger words, ads, and landing page relate to each other.

I say nay....at least for now...and at least on the basis of the limited information you were able to provide.

I have two clients in exactly this situation. Let's say one is in the health and wellness business and the other is in the gourmet food business.

I agree that tailored keywords are important. But I'd move heaven and earth on an organic search strategy for several months before even attempting PPC. By that I mean super-premium, high quality editorial content or interactive features  -- and a handcrafted link-building strategy that targets MSM outlets. We're talking commissioning articles from established writers or paying for interactive apps.

I'd also encourage your client's very top execs to grovel for links from their partners, suppliers, clients. The idea that approval can happen at the "web guy" or even marketing dept.  level is comical. You have to pretend you're just the "tech guy" -- even if the stategy is all yours. Then you fight like hell over "billing" -- a bit like Hollywood.

I'd also invest a lot of effort into reviews and recommendations, both on-site and on third party sites.

All that said, YMMV. It all depends on the industry and the client and the competitive landscape.

I have one client who offers a super-premieum service  -- for whom I've implemented an Adwords cmpaign. The CTR is miniscule. So is the cost. ...about $9 a day. And it's paid off big.

But I just use the CPC as a supplement to other stuff. My overarching point is you should try other stuff first.

Hmmmm...."feeding data to Google with rich snippets"

Not sure how much importance Google would attach to reviews on a company's own website.

I can say that I've had great success with authentic customer reviews posted on  Yelp, Google Places, Handyman review sites, etc...

it's a very difficult, hand crafted approach that takes a lot of time and effort. But it's paid off.

Thanks. Very helpful.

Here's my problem -- which is actually a pretty good problem to have.

My client is a speciality service provider in an extremely competitive field. It charges 3 to 5 times what others do for providing a super-premium level of service. It doesn't have -- nor does it want -- many customers. I can't go into details, but let's just say the business model is a bit like the charity or premium newsletter publishing model. It is extremely hard to recruit new members -- but once recruited, members tend to stay for a long time at high price points. Personal referral is key.

As result of my efforts over the last 90 days, the client's SEO results have skyrocketed. After a couple of false starts, we have focussed on key terms the target demographic is likely to search, rather than the generic terms others in the industry use. We have also had great success with a social media strategy -- since the few people likely to be interested in paying such high prices know like-minded folks.

For the first time, my client is getting "walk in" prospects. They are delighted! But they are not really walk-ins. They have already found the site -- either through SERPs or Facebook or Twitter.

Now we need to get to the next level.

Here's the problem: the client's domain name sucks. It is short, but combines an acronym with one of the words in its long-version name. It uses the British spelling version of the long name fragment, even though most Canadians now use American spelling. And it is a .ca, rather than a dot.com

So I think we have to bite the bullet and change to the long, dot com version of the name, which is available and has the additional benefit of having embedded within it a key search term.

I am basically an editorial/content guy and not a tech guy. The IT guys at my firm are strongly encouraging me to make the change...in very "colorful" language. We can certainly do 301 redirects at the page level.

But I would like some additional validation before proceeding.

My questions are:

• how much link juice might we lose? I've seen the figure of 10% bandied around. Is it accurate?

• might we see a temporary dip in results? If so, how long would it last?

• what questions did I forget to ask? What additional info do you need to offer informed advice ?

Yes, I do track results and in almost all cases there is substantial page rank. When a directory stops ranking, we drop it from the list. We also max out on the listing by adding images, descriptions, product lists, categories, etc. It's very labor intensive. And you need intelligent people doing the work. It is not a rote, mechanical task. You have to be able to describe the company in anything from 160 characters to 500 words. And just cutting and pasting web copy seldom suffices.

I have a list of about 12 high quality, high domain authority free directories I use regularly -- supplemented by a few free directories specific to the subject matter. In each case, my team hand crafts detailed entries. There is really no other way.

If competitors have achieved some success with paid directories, I will occasionally duplicate the effort. But I recognize that any boost is likely to be short-lived.

I agree that other strategies can be more effective. But I fall short of disdaining entirely the use of paid directories

I agree that you are doing many of the right things.

As it happens, I have many Toronto small business clients who compete with much larger players.

In your case, I would suggest:

• A greater focus on Yelp and Google Places reviews. You need more recent reviews. And you can go beyond soliciting reviews on your blog.

• Consider a 90 second video for your home page that summarizes the value proposition and what sets you apart. It should include testimonials. See www.dccentre.ca for an example. See

http://www.youtube.com/user/KiddieProofers

for a YouTube Channel of 90 second videos focussing on consumer tips.

Rationale: Your site is excellent, but very dense and text heavy. It may be scaring people away. Videos might help. (And be sure to include Google video Maps) I would also experiment with  cutting back on content and carefuly monitoring changes in your bounce rate.

• Experiment with Google adwords if you have not already done so. Agencies like mine benefit from an in-house Google team that does the initial campaign set up and tweaks for 30 days. You might want to contact one. Just watch out for big mark ups!

Hope this helps.

-Daniel

KiddieProofers

Been there. Done that. No easy answers. Pursue all available remedies. Resign yourself to the fact that nothing may work, and you may have to start over.

Agree on business directories. It's also worked wonders for my clients, mostly small and medium-sized businesses. We have a list of about 10 high quality business directories. We supplement with a few others, specific to the industry. We:

• never pay for listings or enhancements

• take the time and trouble to do it right, hand-crafting answers to all fields -- including photos, logos and special offers (if available)

It's all very labor intensive. And it's not something that can be off-shored or entrusted to the intern. It requires some intelligence to understand the client's business and how best to complete the profile.

This is all rather tedious, but the payoff is big. It's really low hanging fruit more people should pick.

I had a terrific experience with Zeno SEO on a very tricky and delicate assignment. I am in Canada, Zeno is in the UK and client was mutlt-national.

You can talk to owner, Tom, on the phone quite easily when required and he always respond to email within 24 hours. More importantly, he under promises and over delivers. Very professional and a pleasure to work with -- including cool headed response to some minor crises along the way.