Hi Simon

Sounds like you need a “search engine optimisation” company (SEO). There have been all sorts of discussion about the pros and cons and the return on investment of SEO but my short take on it is:

1. It works. It is worth doing.

2. Get someone else to do it. Particularly if you've got a little money and not much time. I've tried various DIY tools in the past with some success but by the time you account for the time required to do it well I think it makes more sense to outsource. If you do decide to do it yourself you could do a lot worse than going to http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm and just following the instructions there. (NB the Bruce Clay site, though US, is great for SEO stuff generally, including the popular “search engine relationship chart” showing what feeds off what which can be downloaded at http://www.bruceclay.com/searchenginechart.pdf)

[On SEO resources, the following 2 links are worthwhile:

1. http://www.traffick.com/directory/seo/publications.asp - links to most of the best stuff on the web to do specifically with SEO

2. http://www.wilsonweb.com/search/search_results.cfm?page=1&criteria_required=You+must+enter+something+to+search+for.&querytype=simple&criteria=SEO – that's a search on “SEO” on WilsonWeb, always a good source of online marketing information. You'll see here articles on how to choose a SEO company, things to consider etc. which might help you in your quest]

If you fancy sticking to your lazy approach, you could splash out $119 and buy the newly updated “Buyers” Guide to Search Engine Optimization & Positioning Firms” which is published by MarketingSherpa. It's 144 pages worth, reviewing 68 firms, including 17 UK companies, and gives advice on which firm you should hire to help you get higher search engine rankings and how much you should pay. It can be bought from http://sherpastore.com/page.cfm/1759?a=home. Common consensus is that the report is a little too US-centric for UK taste but it is a good place to start (for shortlisting, understanding the subject etc.) – you're still going to have to do the agency vetting despite the rankings it gives.

The usual (UK) SEO suspects are:
(NB excuse the lack of URLs as I don't have them to hand and you should be able to find them in a search engine :) )

Absolute Internet
Advanced Positions
BigMouthMedia
Cybersavvy
DVisions
MakeMeTop
Media Co UK
NetBooster
Neutralize
Outrider (UK)
Panlogic
Planetaria
Rank4U
Search Engine Solutions
Search Engineers
Sitelynx
Spannerworks
WebEvolve
Webgravity
WebOptimiser
Webplacing
Web Search Workshop

So which is best? As ever it depends on your requirements, who you get on with, what their clients say, whether they can demonstrate past successes, whether they understand your business etc. etc. I haven't worked enough with any of the above so unfortunately I cannot give any firm recommendations one way or the other yet. I am working with one of them at the moment, though, and we do intend to publish a full Case Study at the end of it, so watch out for that.

However, the grapevine has had a fare amount to say about some of these companies. Obviously you can only trust the grapevine so far, if at all, but it says:

- WebGravity, Netbooster = bad
- DVisions, Outrider, WebOptimiser, BigMouthMedia, Webplacing, Spannerworks = good

I haven't yet had enough experience of SEO to say for sure but by personal hunch is that it is not worth paying a big expensive agency to do your SEO work unless you are the kind of big organisation that needs the comforts of working with other big companies (the “nobody gets fired for hiring IBM” mentality) who meet criteria such as levels of financial backing, global reach and so on. My impression is that SEO is specialist enough that it is not worth doing yourself but not so specialist that you need to pay rocket scientist fees to get it done. I'd look seriously at the smaller, regional (and therefore cheaper) companies (like Search Engineers, Web Search Workshop, WebEvolve etc.).

And finally, don't forget pay per click. Not the same as SEO, of course, but the likes of Overture and eSpotting can also do great things for your traffic.

Hi Simon

I run Vivid Lime (www.vividlime.com), we are a boutique SEO and PPC agency, we can do all the other digital work but try and stick to our knitting which is optimising and paid listings.

Let me know if you would like to talk - no push and no obligation - promise!

You can view us in the agency directory in e-consultancy or come straight to our site.

Gareth

T: 0207 4221899
On 11:39:51 13 February 2002 neeco wrote:
>i need a bit of advice...i work for a major uk publsihing
>company and we need someone to manage our appearance in
>search engines. submitting us.
>that kind of thing.
>
>has anyone got any experience of this?
>which companies are good to use?
>
>we would rather pay a company than pay for software like
>submit-it as that takes time and we don't really have any!
>we are being lazy basically and want to hand it to the
>experts.
>
>can anyone point me in the right direction?
>
>thanks
>
>simon

Hi there,

No offence but i think DMOZ is a pile of poo to be honest and why on earth Google has anything to do with it i still have no idea. It takes ages to get a site registered in the first instance and as for regular updated content you can forget it.

Directory submissions are still an important aspect of Search Engine Marketing and providing you pick the right category and take some time and effort with your directory submissions, i feel that they can help you obtain better rankings.

I wouldn't bother with submission services myself. If you have a large site go for setting up a decent sitemap and submit that to the engines, or take advantage of Googles new sitemap service. I've never submitted any of my client sites to Google for example but have relied on developing good incoming links. Directories are a good sauce of one way inbound links for this reason.

Regards to all,

Andrew Allfrey
http://www.eprominence.co.uk

On 15:37:45 13 September 2005 jbovard wrote:
>Directory submissions are the most oversold/overhyped
>aspect of SEO going around at the moment.
>
>There are much more lower hanging fruit in my opinion.
>
>I still think that a DMOZ listing is more useful than the
>rest of them put together. and its free.
>http://www.Dmoz.org
>
>Do you mind me asking why you are so focussed on
>submissions?
>
>Is not ranking and conversion equally if not more
>important?
>
>jon
>
>
>On 15:01:26 13 September 2005 GarethHolmes wrote:
>>Hi Simon
>>
>>I run Vivid Lime (www.vividlime.com), we are a
>boutique
>>SEO and PPC agency, we can do all the other digital
>work
>>but try and stick to our knitting which is optimising
>and
>>paid listings.
>>
>>Let me know if you would like to talk - no push and no
>>obligation - promise!
>>
>>You can view us in the agency directory in
>e-consultancy
>>or come straight to our site.
>>
>>Gareth
>>
>>
>>T: 0207 4221899
>>On 11:39:51 13 February 2002 neeco wrote:
>>>i need a bit of advice...i work for a major uk
>>publsihing
>>>company and we need someone to manage our
>appearance
>>in
>>>search engines. submitting us.
>>>that kind of thing.
>>>
>>>has anyone got any experience of this?
>>>which companies are good to use?
>>>
>>>we would rather pay a company than pay for
>software
>>like
>>>submit-it as that takes time and we don't really
>have
>>any!
>>>we are being lazy basically and want to hand it to
>the
>>>experts.
>>>
>>>can anyone point me in the right direction?
>>>
>>>thanks
>>>
>>>simon