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Website Design & SEO

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  • 21-01-2014 10:02pm
    #1
    farrell2121
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭


    Has anyone had dealings with ProSeo ? They have an address for Malahide but are based in Monaghan.

    I am hoping I have not made a huge mistake, deposit already made.

    All feedback appreciated


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    #2
    IRE60
    Registered Users Posts: 1,881 ✭✭✭IRE60


    farrell2121 wrote: »
    Has anyone had dealings with ProSeo ? They have an address for Malahide but are based in Monaghan.

    I am hoping I have not made a huge mistake, deposit already made.

    All feedback appreciated

    The "huge mistake" is making a deposit then asking this question - would you not have done some research first.


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    #3
    farrell2121
    Registered Users Posts: 45 ✭farrell2121


    Yes, I am aware of this. Individual concerned seemed very convincing and all 'research' I did seemed convincing. But I am still waiting for my website and being asked to purchase images.

    All very very frustrating and annoying. A lesson learned. But I will get to the bottom of it.


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    #4
    megaten
    Registered Users Posts: 1,892 ✭✭✭megaten


    farrell2121 wrote: »
    Yes, I am aware of this. Individual concerned seemed very convincing and all 'research' I did seemed convincing. But I am still waiting for my website and being asked to purchase images.

    All very very frustrating and annoying. A lesson learned. But I will get to the bottom of it.

    Stock photography can be pretty expensive so if it wasn't accounted for in the original website budget that probably why your being asked.


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    #5
    IRE60
    Registered Users Posts: 1,881 ✭✭✭IRE60


    farrell2121 wrote: »
    Yes, I am aware of this. Individual concerned seemed very convincing and all 'research' I did seemed convincing. But I am still waiting for my website and being asked to purchase images.

    All very very frustrating and annoying. A lesson learned. But I will get to the bottom of it.

    Ok the comment may have been a bit critical - given I've had my arse in a sling once or twice you really need something positive to work off:

    My concern was not on the SEO side - but a tad broader. I looked at the web design bit http://www.proseo.ie/web-design/.

    There is a slider there rotating through some designs - now nobody is saying that they have created them - they are just there, on their website.

    I looked at the slider and then the actual websites - and, at times, there is a substantial between the visual and the actual site?!

    Also one live site has a link at the bottom saying the development and seo were completed by someone else other than ProSeo - but then why would they be displaying this site on their slider? They may have done it prior to the guy who claims he has done it.

    Its the skeptic in me...

    As for the images - tell them to fcuk off and you'll do the images yourself as that wasn't part of the deal. You can see if you can source commercial free images instead.

    Can you tell me this:
    are you far into this in terms of work complete;
    is the deposit a high % of the overall - looking to see what a back-out strategy might be.
    Anything on paper re- timelines./benchmarks service levels
    Can you PM me your current URL so that I can assess if you can get images elsewhere (for naught) or do you have one? If not maybe a brief spec so that you can formulate some fallback if things go tits up.

    C


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    #6
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    From what I have looked at, I see a lot of walk not matching the talk: some design credits claims not matching, some ranking claims not matching actual ranks (not that the claims were great in the first place), fundamental semantic hierarchy mistakes, poor keyword treatment, no evidence of Humming bird knowledge.... to name a few.

    There is a significant credibility gap imo.


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    #7
    markscullyie
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭markscullyie


    "We Guarantee 100% To Improve Your Current Ranking"

    That statement alone at the top of the page should have been a clear warning to stay away. No respectable agency will ever guarantee you top keyword rankings due to the diverse number of factors that can impact this.

    Personally I would also be quite hesitant to ever hire a Web Design agency to do any form of SEO. They're totally different skill sets.


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    #8
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    markscullyie wrote: »
    Personally I would also be quite hesitant to ever hire a Web Design agency to do any form of SEO. They're totally different skill sets.

    Can't agree with that at all. There are far too many design and SEO considerations which are inter-dependent: content, content types, social, scenarios, nav, loadings, ... to name a few.


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    #9
    markscullyie
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭markscullyie


    You understand my comment is aimed at web development agencies? If you're recruiting a web development agency to be in charge of your SEO Campaign by expecting them to understand the integral details of Technical SEO, Content Strategy etc, then that's a recipe for disaster.


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    #10
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    While the vast majority of web design/dev agencies are poor imo, I think you're tarring them all with a brush too wide. There are some, but very few, agencies who are competent across the many requisite skill sets, the big problem is trying to find them as there are so few of them. It's just too sweeping a statement.


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    #11
    markscullyie
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭markscullyie


    I'm just basing it on experiences I've had. I could name a lot of widely regarded agencies in Ireland who actively advertise these services but have caused significant problems for their clients, but I won't.

    I would be open to hearing any recommendations you do have, as believe me, they are incredibly hard to find.

    There are a worryingly large number of developers who consider SEO a part of their skillset, and I'm certainly not saying they can't apply appropriate markup, ensure the site is crawlable etc.. but, it's worth being very careful here.


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    #12
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    As with your own experiences, sure, the vast majority of them have a walk which doesn't come close to the talk. It's an unregulated business with virtually no barrier to entry so that's unsurprising really and yes it means you have to be careful, very careful. That doesn't mean that quality is not out there amongst all the noise.

    As for recommendations, most would be competitors so can't help you there.


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    #13
    mark8511
    Registered Users Posts: 37 ✭mark8511


    markscullyie wrote: »
    "We Guarantee 100% To Improve Your Current Ranking"

    That statement alone at the top of the page should have been a clear warning to stay away. No respectable agency will ever guarantee you top keyword rankings due to the diverse number of factors that can impact this.

    Personally I would also be quite hesitant to ever hire a Web Design agency to do any form of SEO. They're totally different skill sets.

    VERY True, No one can Guarantee a ranking even before looking at your website, I hope as an SEO Expert, one can only give you a time frame for ranking once he/she reviewed your website, keywords competitiveness and your competitors.

    Even google have mentioned on their blog:

    https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35291?hl=en

    I advise to contact to those who are appearing on top in google for keywords like - seo ireland, seo services ireland or link building ireland because they can be there just by following google guide and will be helpful.

    On 2nd side of it: It is not necessary that a good web designer will be good seo. I think we should left this task to experts.


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    #14
    jackkarter
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭jackkarter


    farrell2121 wrote: »
    Yes, I am aware of this. Individual concerned seemed very convincing and all 'research' I did seemed convincing. But I am still waiting for my website and being asked to purchase images.

    All very very frustrating and annoying. A lesson learned. But I will get to the bottom of it.

    Get them to finish the job with temporary images, you can easily replace them yourself at any time.


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    #15
    jackkarter
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭jackkarter


    markscullyie wrote: »
    "We Guarantee 100% To Improve Your Current Ranking"

    That statement alone at the top of the page should have been a clear warning to stay away. No respectable agency will ever guarantee you top keyword rankings due to the diverse number of factors that can impact this.

    Personally I would also be quite hesitant to ever hire a Web Design agency to do any form of SEO. They're totally different skill sets.

    There is a subtle difference between guaranteeing "Improvement" and "Top rankings" It's not hard to move a site from #150 to #149. It's when people claim top 3 guaranteed without knowing the budget or competition that I get concerned.

    SEO's can be a bit precious about their profession. Who says a web designer can't optimise a site correctly? I would say a website designer would know more about it then people who don't know how to build a site given the knowledge of CSS and HTML thats required.

    I always say to clients, look for historical rankings, not whats ranking today. If they wont show examples of their clients sites over a sustained period of time, that should not have a problem showing their own over a 12 month period.


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