

Offer HN: SEO Help - SebastianSh

Hi guys!<p>I've been lurking here for a while, and I feel like giving something to the community.<p>You all, who help out the entrepreneurs, are more valuable than you think.<p>I want to help your startup with SEO.
On-page optimization, keyword-usage, titles, descriptions, link building advice, even some Internet Marketing advice.<p>I've been working as an SEO consultant (on my own) in Sweden for almost two years.<p>In spite of me being in Sweden, most of my clients are from the US, and I've even held a couple of speaking gigs in LA, SF and NY for SMBs.<p>Some clients: IKEA, Scandinavian Airlines (through marketing firms I work with), as well as some niche clothing stores.<p>You could ask your questions here or email hn.seohelp@gmail.com<p>I need: The URL of the website; some keywords and what your site is about.<p>Have a great day, everyone!
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etherealG
Google have a great SEO Starter Guide up at
[http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-
optimiza...](http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-
starter-guide.pdf) . I would love to hear how your techniques in a more
general sense are different from or build on top of what Google are already
providing for free to the public?

~~~
patio11
Google's Starter Guide is to SEO as "Teach Yourself Javascript in 24 Hours" is
to programming. It is kind of difficult to describe the ocean in terms of the
marginal change in experience from getting your feet wet.

~~~
etherealG
I get the analogy, but after quite a lot of time making websites, I'm still
not sure what I should do besides what is mentioned in this doc to improve
organic listings. Perhaps you can take a small area of that ocean and give me
an example?

~~~
seociety
From what I can remember, Google's SEO guides are more focused to on-site
optimization; "design well and provide good content, the rest will come
naturally".

While an SEO consultant might use this approach it is not quite the most
proactive strategy. SEO comprises of so many things outsite on-site
optimization.

I encourage you to read SEO Warrior, a book published by O'Reilly that covers
different aspects on the topic.

We have also been using the #seo channel on irc.freenode.net in an attempt to
build a collaborating SEO community. You are welcome to stop by and ask away.

~~~
SebastianSh
Yeah, you're right there.

Basically, Google is saying that if you build amazing content, and structure
your website accordingly, you will get high quality backlinks.

If you've spent one day trying to get your site a better rank you know that
it's almost impossible. Especially if you're a nobody.

You should be careful recommending books on SEO.

Google and other search engines tweak their algorithms daily, and many things
can be outdated.

Join IRC-channels and forums - learn from others mistakes (know where it went
wrong), and simply put - just do it.

The worst thing that could happen is if you get sandboxed (removed.)

------
Yaggo
Just out of curiosity; I would like to see your own pages.

~~~
vog
I find it somewhat odd that SebastianSh is unable (or unwilling) to grant that
simple request.

In other professions (web design, software development, etc) this is usually a
sign of missing expertise. What kind of designer or programmer wouldn't
proudly show his/her latest creations when asked to do so?

However, in this case there might be another reason. Maybe the customers don't
want to be used as a reference? This leads to an interesting question:

Is it bad for business to publicly admit the use of SEO techniques?

~~~
SebastianSh
I don't actually do any SEO work for the people asking for help - I simply
give them advice and suggestions on how to improve their sites.

You are right about publicly admitting to have used SEO. A lot of my clients
have requested NDAs, but some haven't. Unfortunately for them, admitting to
have used SEO in their minds devalues the company.

------
iuguy
You might want to try some of Patrick's tips (of Bingo Card Creator fame)
here:

[http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/07/17/seo-for-software-
compani...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/07/17/seo-for-software-companies/)

I'd also suggest taking a look at <http://www.seobook.com/>

The one thing I would say is to look very carefully at what you want to
achieve via SEO. I'm fairly certain that the majority of potential customers
in our sector (information security) don't want to fill in a form, although we
do have a few visitors. For us our site is more about communicating what we do
for our customers, than getting people to invite us to do work for them, but
of course that's a world of difference from trying to get someone to sign up
to a web app.

~~~
ErrantX
_I'm fairly certain that the majority of potential customers in our sector
(information security) don't want to fill in a form, although we do have a few
visitors._

We are in the same sector and have had great success with the "step signup"
process - i.e. contact forms.

YMMV. But mid-range corporates feel happy about such things.

Random observation; but for anything related to corporate purchasing the more
finicky you make it (within reason) the better it is liked. Middle managers
are overjoyed to ring you up, ask for a costing, then ring again for an
invoice and finally a third time to give you card details.

~~~
iuguy
That's quite interesting. Most of the people visiting our site come from other
marketing channels and are (at least looking at the heatmaps and a/b testing
results) generally checking us out.

Have you got a link to one of your sites with the step signup process?

~~~
ErrantX
Our marketing channel is usually word of mouth; so "sign up" works quite well.
It is essentially "email us but with tactile feedback". We are in the same
sector - but the product/services are somewhat different (along the lines of
"help help we have a serious problem save us yesterday") so the demographic is
probably fairly different.

And traffic from the sites are relatively low compared to someone being given
our phone #, so it might have skewed data.

Unfortunately I can't really share more than that publicly (employers choice,
not mine). But feel free to email me if you want (address in profile).

------
SebastianSh
Hi guys!

Wow - I'm glad so many of you emailed.

A lot of creative apps and sites.

I have replied to 5 and have 10 to go.

Keep 'em coming!

@yaggo;

What kind of pages? My personal site/consultant site?

~~~
vog
_> What kind of pages? My personal site/consultant site?_

I don't know what yaggo was thinking, but I'd like to see simply some sites
that you optimized for search engines - no matter whether those are your own
sites or sites of your customers.

------
dbingham
Hey Sebastian, great offer! I'd love if you'd take a look at Fridge to Food:
<http://www.fridgetofood.com>

Keywords: recipe sharing, foodie community, ingredient search

Honestly, I could use help coming up with other keywords. I've been having
trouble boiling down the concept into a few keywords. The best I can do is
TasteSpotting meets StackOverflow (and eventually LocalHarvest).

Shoot me an e-mail at dbingham@fridgetofood.com. Thanks!

~~~
Travis
I think your site is great, but I'd like to share a frustration that I have
with EVERY recipe site:

I can't find "connected" recipes that use common ingredients. Sure, there are
sites where I can enter my ingredients and get recipes, but for a guy like me
(single, 28, lives alone, professional job) I'd rather be told what to buy
that will make N dishes.

In short, I want to buy the fewest ingredients (without having to research and
crossreference) that will make a variety of delicious dishes.

Something like this may exist. If so, please point me towards it.

~~~
dbingham
I have no idea if anything exists to do that. I've never found it if it does.
I have no idea how to do that, either. But I'll certainly keep it in mind.
Maybe once I've whittled down the todo list I'll come back to it and see if I
can solve it.

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shrikant
This might be officially time for SearchYC.com to add an "Offer HN" section!

------
vgurgov
Please check out <http://Videolla.com>: Monetization for video, paid video.
Video hosting for paid premium video content.

On videolla you can: host, stream, distribute, publish, rent, sell, subscribe,
donate your videos.

Also let me know if you have any paid video tutorials on SEO that you are
willing to sell(Its very hot topic!)

------
klon
From a fellow swede. I've tried to follow SEO best practices on the startup I
co-founded, <http://www.klicktrack.com/> but certainly have things I can
improve. I would greatly appreciate if you could have a look. We provide a
turn-key download store for labels and artists.

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dvpwebdesign
Hello Sebastian, this is a timely offer! I've recently looked into SEO and
applied what i believe are the 'basics' for on-page optimisation, ie keyword
usage, titles, descriptions etc on my 2 sites <http://dipeshparmar.com> and
<http://dvpwebdesign.com>. But i'm a bit lost with link building, reciprocal
linking, and web marketing in general? SEO seems a really complex subject,
which seemingly can take many months to implement, can you give me any advice?
If so, you can email me at info@dvpwebdesign.com.

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goldins
Hi. I appreciate the service you're providing to the community! I would also
like to add that there are keyword suggestion tools such as google's
(<https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal>) that might be worth
checking out. What is your take on these tools? I assume it doesn't hurt to
use them, but how helpful are the suggestions?

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raarky
Heya,

Would love to hear your thoughts on the site I'm working on right now:
<http://www.snowboardfinder.com> It's a finder and price comparison site for
snowboard gear.

keywords: snowboards, snowboard gear, snowboard prices

i guess i need to come up with a bunch more keywords.

Anyways, any help would be absolutely appreciated :D

:D

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asanwal
Sebastian - Thanks for generous offer. Just sent you an email.

These Offer HN strings have made HN like any other place on the web.

~~~
Indyan
"These Offer HN strings have made HN unlike any other place on the web".
There, fixed.

~~~
asanwal
Thanks for catching that.

------
rushabh
Thanks for the offer Sebastian.. Here is my site:

<https://www.erpnext.com>

It is an affordable, online ERP solution for small and medium businesses into
manufacturing, distribution, retail or services.

Keywords: erp, crm, saas, open source, smb

Any help would be welcome :-)

------
SebastianSh
I have now replied to about 50 emails, and I've got about 30 more in my inbox.

I will answer them later this evening.

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dawie
Url:<http://tabtrick.com/>

Keywords: Custom Facebook Page, Facebook Business Page, Facebook Fan Page,
Facebook Template, Welcome Tab

Description of my site: I have Facebook Page creator that allows user to
easily customize their Facebook Page.

------
robstar
This is amazing - I sent you an email about www.Jobdeals.com
(<http://www.Jobdeals.com>) if you have some time.

We're a local services marketplace .. because we cover such a wide market, I'm
not sure which keywords we should be focusing on..

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jonstjohn
I have a special kind of problem with my website on rock climbing weather -
the most important forecast pages do not have a lot of text other than the
forecast. Advice would be appreciated! <http://www.climbingweather.com>

------
Thomaschaaf
<http://suplify.me>

We're building support software. As in a ticketing system which aggregates all
support tickets from email(imap), twitter, facebook and others.

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LabSlice
Sebastian, a great and timely offer, as I've just kicked off my startup at
<http://LabSlice.com>. I've sent you an email and would love to hear your
feedback!

------
danielnicollet
Wow. I need this and just contacted you. Thanks! Our site is at
<http://commerce.exorbyte.com> and we need this type of help.

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edsrzf
I don't currently have a website that I'd like to SEO, but I will in the
future. Maybe those who get help would be willing to post the advice they
receive, so that all of us benefit?

~~~
SebastianSh
If you're interested in SEO and would like to learn, I recommend you start
reading <http://www.seomoz.org/blog>

SEOMoz is a great SEO-company, and they have an incredibly useful blog. From
novice to advance!

~~~
moge
I second SEOMoz. First learned of them in Mixergy and I have found his blog to
be a great resource.

------
codyguy
Thanks for the offer. Will be emailing you. FYI -
<http://www.thebatchwatermarks.com>

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garrettgillas
I would definitely like some link love. We're still working on our MVP so most
of the on-site issues are up in the air. Sending an email now.

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SebastianSh
I got about 450 emails from you guys. I'm replying to each and every one of
them. It's taking some time - but I'm doing my best!

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mrtron
Is my posterous blog with a custom domain (troysimpson.co) suffering from SEO
problems from the redirect?

~~~
bobbywilson0
It actually isn't a redirect if you have it set up correctly. Did you
configure your DNS to point to the Posterous server? If so, your domain should
be directly bound to Posterous without a redirect.

------
Concours
thanks for the offer sebastian, I've followed some SEO best practices on my
site <http://www.gmbhnews.com/make-mobile-site/> , maybe you can take a look,
I'll welcome any advice.

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dlib
What's the first thing you look at when optimizing a site for SEO?

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mootothemax
Thanks, fantastic offer - will be sending you an email shortly :-)

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knoxos
Thank you for your nice offer! Will drop you an email.

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angelbit
Sorry, the account was created two hours ago, don't have a personal site and
any proof that has worked for IKEA or others.

PS: SEO must find the correct keywords for a site not the client...

~~~
SebastianSh
I created this account 2 hours ago, yes - but your point is?

I read HN every day,I read the comments, and I understand the culture here.

I was thinking I could give something back to the community by answering some
questions.

"SEO must find the correct keywords for a site not the client" - I don't quite
understand what you meant by this, so please elaborate.

Proof and a personal site; I'm not here to promote my business and I'm not
here to brag about my clients/past clients. I simply stated that I have worked
with them, and whether or not you chose to believe me or not - your choice!

~~~
angelbit
"I read HN every day,I read the comments, and I understand the culture here. I
was thinking I could give something back to the community by answering some
questions."

why don't aswer to questions on HN instead of use e-mail? isn't "community" to
share with all SEO tips?

"SEO must find the correct keywords for a site not the client"

part of SEO job is to find the correct keywords for a site and optimize for
those, no? but you say "I need: The URL of the website; some keywords"

In conclusion i'm work every day with SEO/SEM and in this sector the word
"free" is used often for ulterior motives, hence my doubts...why a pro SEO
should work for free?(work is time and time is money)...all here.

Have a nice day ;)

~~~
SebastianSh
Some people want secrecy, and some don't.

Those who posted here, shall receive a reply here.

I don't have any motives behind this, except I want to help people out.
Startups have very limited budgets, and maybe someone would like to hire me,
and maybe I could end up having a good relationship with other entrepreneurs.

Networking first, money second.

I'm employed by a company who deals with printers, cartridges and paper, so I
have some free time on my hands :)

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almost
Thanks for the offer, I'll email you in a minute!

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mnguyen
Thanks SebastianSH, sent you an email!

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zohaibr
Thanks for your offer!

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joelackner
email outbound! thanks for your time and effort.

