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Ruben,
Thank you for your response, it certainly solidifies the stance I'm taking with my client. I certainly like to give people the benefit of the doubt as everyone in SEO has their own experience and perspectives. SEO is not black and white but in the case of this proposal, I needed some outside opinions because that price point to any business owner is just too appealing. That is, until their #1 sales channel is gone lol!
Thanks Ruben!
Kevin
Hey everyone!
I have a client that got a $500 proposal from some agency that summarized their work as follows. I'm literally copy and pasting this:
This is a national company with a strong brand. Nowhere in this "proposal" is any mention of onsite optimization, any real content marketing, infographics, brand mentions, nothing...
I have explained at length that the tasks they are suggesting are a terrible idea, that they will likely get penalized and that most budgets at this range are usually ill advised. The agency has even admitted that they source this overseas to illegitimate firms.
I would love it if I could go to this meeting and have some community feedback as to why this is a bad idea. Please share your experiences, best practices and why most of these tasks are going to get them penalized.
Thanks everyone 
Kevin
We are revamping our website and as a main feature on the homepage, we will have a informational video. Behind the video will be a full-width image. I would like the video player to blend in with the background image without borders or the other typical stuff you'd see on a video player before you click to watch the video.
I would like to have the video player be without borders and I need it to also include an initial image. That image would be a continuation of the background image that's already there so that it' blends. There will obviously be a call to action within that image, but i just want it to look clean until the user clicks the play button.
Any ideas? I'm having a hard time finding examples to give.
Kevin
Oh how I wish Google used SEOmoz data in their algorithm!
Unfortunately this isn't the case, so there are many other metrics we need to be looking at. The first redflag on your site that I saw is that your a local marriage counselor and that you have THAT many links. Over 6k links to a locally-focused site isn't completely unbelievable, but it seems excessive. Upon looking into it, it would appear that the domain has a ton of directory submissions and if I looked futher, I'd guess I'd find some low-quality article submissions (I apologize if that is not the case).
If you're not ranking well anymore, it's a fair bet that you have too many low quality links. I would look into doing some higher quality link building like infographics, industry-specific and local directories (different than what you have) and guest blogging.
While your current website might not be a problem, that doesn't mean it's the best that it could be. I would look into a redesign or getting it up on something simple like WordPress. I would imagine your bounce rate is pretty high (just an assumption). There are several on page conversion aspects that you're missing such as a readily available phone number, no forms or calls to action, trust factors and just overall appearance.
Does that help? I can elaborate on parts if you'd like.
Good luck, Robert!
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
It's debatable on whether Google takes no-followed links into consideration. I've heard arguments on both sides but where they are most beneficial is creating discussion on a forum or comment board to boost your brands image.
I know comment linking is easy, but do not get caught up in it. In my early days I had the "lazy seo" mentality (as much as I want to deny it), and one of my personal sites got dinged hard. I actually blogged about it when I used to work at SEO.com here: http://www.seo.com/blog/staying-off-googles-naughty-list/
Here is an article about how JC Penney got slammed for buying links: http://www.seo.com/blog/seo-jcpenney-disaster/
There are ways of link building that aren't spammy, but like I mentioned, any legitimate link building tactic can BECOME spammy if you are lazy.
I forgot to mention, but infographics are a great way to build links as well, but don't have the "if I build it, they will come" mentality. You need to promote it and share it for it to grow
I hope this is helping Zora!
Kevin Phelps
Hey Zora,
The thing to note about link building is that you need to do it with your brand in mind, not for the purpose of manipulating the search engines. Excellent link building methods include:
Do not get mixed up in this garbage:
Make sure you understand what Google means by "paid" links. This doesn't mean hiring an agency to help you is a "paid" link since you're paying them. A "paid" link is a purchase where you are dealing directly with the site owner that is irrelevant and holds no value whatsoever. The recommended link building methods above have other purposes besides just the link.
You should check out our infographic we made to help people with guest blogging. I think you'd like it: http://www.guestblogposter.com/beginners-guide-guest-blogging-infographic/
Just remember, any of these link building methods can become spammy. It's how you treat them that makes them effective. Do not over due it either. Make sure you are varying your anchor text and don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't do all guest posting or all directories. Mix it up and be legitimate!
Does that help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
Their phones would be ringing off the hook if they allowed this. The best way to get questions answered is here, the webmaster tool forum or asking somebody that is experienced.
Adwords people aren't going to help. I doubt they know more than an experienced SEO.
With that said, whats your question?
Kevin Phelps
Google is a joke ever since Penguin and Panda so I hope my real example shows you that you can't leave anything up to them.
Youtube is always a solid choice, but make sure you're optimizing the titles, descriptions and categories with the keywords you want to rank for. Don't over do it though. Make sure you also build a video sitemap afterwards.
SEOmoz uses Wistia I believe so they might be a good example to follow.
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
I would never assume that Google will give credit to the rightful owner. We published an infographic on guest blogging months ago and several people picked it up. Our company STILL doesn't get the recognition it deserves: https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Beginners+Guide+to+Guest+Blogging&pws=0&hl=en&num=10
We in fact aren't even on the first page which blows my mind.
It's going to be a pain in the butt but you'll need to differentiate those pages to a fair degree and disassociate them as much as you can if they are trying to rank for the same keyword. Google may just see one of them as too similar and ignore one of the domains all together, or just certain pages.
I suppose using a canonical tag could resolve this, but it will still make one of the sites next to meaningless. If you want both sites to perform, you'll need to treat them as truly different sites, with different content, different pages, different hosting, etc.
Does that help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
What funny timing. Did my answer in the other thread work?
Kevin
Is it Google reporting that speed to you? 4.9 sounds like a long time, but I'm thinking it might be just a little slower than average. Under a second would be phenomenal! I'm not sure even the biggest online retailers have an average load time of under a second.
How much traffic are you getting? Does it justify a dedicated server? I've always had a good experience with Hostmonster/Bluehost, but I'm sure some would disagree. I know DreamHost lets you increase and decrease your resources which would be nice for Christmas time to prevent your site from going down.
I've also heard excellent things about cloudspace.com and midphase.com.
Does that help?