I am planning to open up a SEO/Internet Marketing Company - I need your advice...

bigben1755 · 01-31-2008, 08:53 PM

Dear Forum Members,

I've been in Internet Business since 1994. I started as a web designer then moved to web development, now I am working as an IT Project Manager in a company. I was always intriqued by seo and recently i decided to quit whatever I do and setup a company.

I have around $15-20K, but I don't even know where to spend that money. I went to Borders today and bought 3 books. I am planning to use a client as case study and get customers but I have tons of questions to ask, would you guys help me?

Here are some of my questions:

1- What would you recommend to someone like me as a first step?

2- How should I charge my clients? I am very much interested in residual income, so I guess a base amount then a monthly fee for 1-2 years, right?

3- Would you recommend any shows, expos etc?

Thank you very much...

tdd1984 · 01-31-2008, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigben1755

Dear Forum Members,

I've been in Internet Business since 1994. I started as a web designer then moved to web development, now I am working as an IT Project Manager in a company. I was always intriqued by seo and recently i decided to quit whatever I do and setup a company.

I have around $15-20K, but I don't even know where to spend that money. I went to Borders today and bought 3 books. I am planning to use a client as case study and get customers but I have tons of questions to ask, would you guys help me?

Here are some of my questions:

1- What would you recommend to someone like me as a first step?

2- How should I charge my clients? I am very much interested in residual income, so I guess a base amount then a monthly fee for 1-2 years, right?

3- Would you recommend any shows, expos etc?

Thank you very much...

That should be for you to figure out

invest it into PPC or Links

bigben1755 · 02-01-2008, 08:02 AM

Thank you tdd1984 but i am not sure why I would invest that money in Links or PPC, do you mean in order to promote my services?

~DaRk-EyE~ · 02-01-2008, 08:41 AM

I suggest you should learn what SEO is all about first...
Try to allocate time in understanding the whole SEO process and start with the basic...
As long as you are eager to learn more that's the time you'll have the passion to venture in this field...
As you go on you'll discover techniques and strategies on how to be successful in SEO/Internet Marketing...

Seo Madrid · 02-01-2008, 09:07 AM

I'd invest my money in hiring a sales force, someone with contacts in the market. It takes quite a lot of time to create a website and rank it against people that have been there for ages.

In terms of how to charge your clients, I guess it depends on the service that you provide. Ie on PPC I'd charge a management fee, on SEO consultancy I'd charge per consultant hour, on link building, I'd charge based on number of quality links...

doogers · 02-01-2008, 09:14 AM

I would get a good website going. and get it ranked so that potential clients see that you rank well. If you rank well then you can help them rank well.

ezhel · 02-01-2008, 10:09 AM

I suggest to study the basic SEO and learn how to choose the right keywords and how to promote your site. and also just stick to the forum and you will learn a lot from this.

marthrock · 02-01-2008, 10:35 AM

Doogers is right. Madrid's second sentence is pretty accurate. Tough to start a company without any success stories. if you can do it for one, then you can do it for another, though each situation is going to be slightly different. But you did say you have a client as a case study. were you succesfull with seo for them? If so, duplicate it. Create your own site, seo it locally, advertise locally, and see what you can do. Also might want to work out some barter deals with some local vendors...

bigben1755 · 02-01-2008, 11:40 AM

Thank you to all of you for your comments. Please keep them coming. My SEO experience is about www.cheaphondaparts.com, they are ranked 4th on google for the phrase "honda accessories", what do you say?

backgammonnn123 · 02-06-2008, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigben1755

Thank you to all of you for your comments. Please keep them coming. My SEO experience is about www.cheaphondaparts.com, they are ranked 4th on google for the phrase "honda accessories", what do you say?

Pm sent

stacy131 · 02-06-2008, 06:13 AM

I've never heard of anyone opening a company first and then deciding to learn the trade. You got it all backwards.