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A new SEO directory is in the process of being built. This one is different and better than those that have come before it. It features a top notch prolevel design and operation. It is also affiliate and self promotion free. It looks to be a true community service project and learning site for the author.
I've always be apprehensive about discussing new SEO directories because we've seen so many come and go. Some end up as cluttered affiliate sites within a few months of launch - some end up with suspect listings (eg: self promotion city) - and others are never kept up to date.
We not affiliated with the site or the author - I just think it is time for such a quality resource to get some air time.
The new directory is now accepting submissions for an official launch within a few months.
[seoconsultants.com...]
I'm sure there are many who will wonder what I am up to or who is behind all of this. Well, keep an eye on the site over the next couple of months and the picture will become clearer. As Brett stated, this directory will be affiliate and self promotion free.
We are still under development and just wrapped up a second look and feel. We may end up making further changes based on feedback received between now and our estimated launch date of 06.01.2002. There is much to do on the backend and I'm focused on that at the moment.
I'm excited to announce that we just converted the directory over to CSS and Absolute Positioning for testing purposes. We are still using <tables> for some content, but for the most part layout is being controlled through CSS.
I'm sure many will wonder how we will support the directory without advertising. Well, me too! Nah, we've got some financial support in the background and a few people who want to see this directory succeed. Our financial support comes from outside the SEO industry.
We are accepting URL submissions and will be following up with a secondary e-mail which will contain further questions based on information you provided during submission. We will be reviewing all sites before including them in the directory. The criteria guidelines are being developed now. I'm almost certain that 9 out of 10 submissions coming from here will qualify for inclusion, this is a free directory.
Our focus is on quality and not quantity. We don't expect this to be a directory full of thousands of consultants/companies, we'd be satisfied with an initial database startup of 300 or 400 quality SEO's. We've already been mentioned in I-Search and have been contacted by other resources for Press Release information.
Again, thanks Brett! Its not everyday that I see you post links to resources such as this. Your support of the directory is much appreciated along with all the other members here at Webmaster World. If anyone needs additional information, please feel free to sticky me and I'll respond as quickly as I can.
I sometimes forget that many people do not know they can hit the S (or any letter in the alpha) key while having that dropdown selected and it will take them to the first S in the list.
Now, how do you optimize for an SEO consultants directory? LOL.
PS. I like the setup- clean , navigable, very worthy of prospective clients!
But then, nobody has said that anyone will have to fess up about their subcontracters, so maybe not... ;)
Just a bit of feedback on the submission form, the budget box is a bit too ambiguous (Brett, why doesn't my spell checker work!) I could do work for all of the levels indicated depending on the criteria of the client, whether you include submission fees, whether you run campaigns for PPC so maybe rather than budgets have the sort of functions someone carries out (e.g. a lot of companies offer a one hit service for a fixed fee, others don't.) I'd hate to think that something as emotive as a price sensitive database would kick a lot of the great SEO experts in to touch.
A prime example of this type of database would be on something like hosting, a huge % of the searches are for budget hosting because it's in the database and if you are trying to promote quality then having the price as one of the key criteria IMHO may not be the best route to go down.
Apart from that I think the concept is sound and wish you luck with the project.
right
Another quick bit of feedback, which category in the drop down would $3500 go in ? Think you need another nbanding in there!
Okay, took care of that one, an oversight on my part. Thanks for the catch!
I'd hate to think that something as emotive as a price sensitive database would kick a lot of the great SEO experts in to touch.
Remember, we are still in development and are modifying as we receive feedback from various SEO communities. The budget range is clearly an option and yes it does have its limitations. That is why we ask for an average price range (from/to) on the URL submission form. If a visitor wants to add the budget range to their search criteria then that will refine the results even further to bring up consultants who have specified their average price range.
Now that I reply to this post, I think it is definitely too ambiguous but want to get a little more feedback before removing it completely. I know in my 6+ years of doing SEO that many referrals have come my way that have budgets that don't work with my business model. I don't want the visitors making inquiries on consultants if their budget does not permit. Man, if I would have charged for all those 15, 30, 45 and 60 minute initial telcons, I'd be retired right now!
Perhaps now we'll finally learn the answer to the oft-asked question: How many SEO companies are there in the world?
mivox, that one depends on what how you go about classifying an SEO company. If I count the number of web sites that have surfaced in just these past 12 months, there are probably over 10,000. But, if I dig deep, I'd only find 500 or so that would be worthy of inclusion into the directory and be truly classified as an SEO Company.
No affiliates, no advertising, no spam. Just pure and simple SEO. A one page resume attached to the search results and links to that consultants or company's web site. I'm familiar with many of the companies that have submitted URL's to date and see them consistently appearing in the SERP's. That is just one of the criteria for inclusion into the directory. That's the part that is going to take some time. The criteria.
Give us some time and we'll get everything taken care of. I've got three full months of research and testing to do before we go live. With feedback from various members in the community, it may go a little quicker than that. Thanks to all who have submitted URL's and are participating in this thread.
This is what I was kinda trying to get going when I was asking how would you rank SEO Pros.
Hello Tapolyai! Actually they seem to have a respectable service going. I signed up when they first came into the market and I do receive RFP's every now and then. They also have very good positioning in the SERP's on industry specific phrases. The rest of you can battle for search engine optimization, we'll go after the secondary phrases! ;)
Our business model is going to be a little different. I'm not into the whole RFP, send out for three to five bids type of thing. SEO is not something that can be bid with any degree of accuracy. Each of us have our own unique talents and styles and we charge accordingly. We also provide other related services that the prospect may not have thought about so we just added value to the equation. And of course, a slightly higher price.
We want to provide a gateway for visitors to locate a diversified group of quality SEO's from major countries around the world. Part of our submission and review process includes the completion of a resume which will be served as focused results to the visitor. Our Consultants Profile Page will assist the visitor in determining the core criteria of their research. From there they will have the option to visit the consultants site.
Miriam
Just wanted to come back and provide an update for the SEO Consultants Directory. We've pretty much finalized the database functionality and will be reviewing and adding all previous submissions over the next five days.
For those of you who have not submitted to the directory, now would be a good time.
We have some neat little features in place for Consultants to manage their listing. It kind of works like this...
When you first submit your URL, the submission goes into a pending review status. We then review the submission, communicate any questions we might have to the email you provided and then approve or disapprove the request.
Once approved, your main submission information appears in the Consultants Profile page which is linked to the SERP's.
You'll then receive an email with a link asking you to login and complete your Consultants Profile. Once you've completed the profile page, that goes into pending review status. When approved (24-48 hours), your Consultant Profile is complete and will now show in its entirety.
We are still finalizing a few minor details and will get those taken care of prior to our 06.01.2002 launch date.
Search functions are operative and working as planned. This directory is not spammable, there is no secret algorithm. This is a Sequel database with a few programming twists to randomize the results. We've set it up this way so all members get equal visibility in the SERP's.
Your disclaimer >> SEO Consultants does not endorse the practices, nor do we guarantee the services and/or products of members listed in our directory. But, we can assure you that these consultants have been reviewed by our staff as to their integrity, level of service, and overall search engine optimization capabilities. <<
As I understand your organization is an advocate of this niche fast growing industry segment, and similar to an Industry Association.
SEO needs an advocate that can assist quality companies to be recognized and help turn the focus off the spammers and/or less adequate companies.
I believe policies and best practices can be a vendor's friend and act as a "SEO Watchdog". Companies that submit for review should sign a disclaimer and reviews are posted "good and bad". This would immediately add control to who submits and an extra measure to develop an archive that at some day could endorse the practices of its members.
Although I don't suggest your organization be liable a members actions I would hope that "review" means more than merely reviewing their web site, seeing where they rank.
Food for thought - "we can assure you that these consultants have been reviewed by our staff as to their integrity, level of service, and overall search engine optimization capabilities."
"assure" doesn't mean much - what happens if, and when your assurance fails.
Spammers give assurances before they get their money.
I believe your resource is needed but should be more vendor focused.
And its members - should actively drive it that way.
I've been at the SEO game since 1996 and know most everyone who is anybody in this industry. There are quite a few newcomers and that is where we need to be careful.
We've got reputable contacts in the more recognized countries who are more or less acting as watchdogs over the directory. If they see that we've included someone who may not be performing quality SEO, then the listing gets pulled.
You can tell a lot from an SEO's web site. I can read through the content and tell if they are using techniques that are not under the safe practices umbrella. I don't have problems with some of the strategies used by some of the top SEO's in the industry. Why? Because they typically use them in a safe and correct manner. Its the ones who abuse the strategies and take them beyond safe practices.
Yes, a good portion of our review and acceptance is determined by the consultants web presence. Not only their presence, but the content that makes up that presence. We do not plan on being the authority on who is the best SEO, we'll leave that up to the clients.
Our goal is to present a directory of quality SEO's from around the world using a similar review method that the main directories use. We've just added a few more bits of initial information to save the prospect from doing hours of research digging through the SERP's.
Also, we will not be including anyone who does not go through the submission process. We won't be data mining the ODP or Yahoo! for companies to include in the directory. Our initial positions in the SE's should generate enough traffic to populate the directory. We also rely on resources like Webmaster World and other forums that we participate in.
In my perfect world, all the participating SEO's here at Webmasterworld and a few other resources would comprise the bulk of the directory. We currently have just over 150 submissions to review and I'm sure there will be many more over the next few weeks now that the directory is almost complete and you see what we have to offer. The bottom line... We are building a vortal for the SEO industry.
Our next step is to determine the best method to get the spiders into the database content. We have a few plans on the drawing board but nothing that has been decided on as of yet. We have a few more resources to tap into before making a final decision.
We're in our infancy stages and will be stumbling somewhat during this initial startup. That's okay, its the nature of the beast. I'll guarantee you one thing; this will not sit and collect dust! I personally will not allow that to happen. We've got over 100 hours in the backend development and untold hours on the front end. Not to mention the hours that will be invested on an ongoing basis.
Just bear with us while we go through the growing stages. You watch, this will grow into something worth being a part of, and you have my word on that. If you don't know me, that doesn't mean much. If you do know me, then you know that I am a man of my word!
Thank you Pageoneresults for the directed comments.
For those of you in Canada, when you receive snail mail, how are the addresses formatted? Same question for UK and Australia.
We want to make sure that everything is perfect when it comes to this directory. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated! When replying, indicate the address format like this...
Line 1: Usually Company Name
Line 2: Usually Contact Name
Line 3:
Line 4:
Line 5:
Line 6:
P.S. We are also open to all other comments concerning the site and its functionality.
Postal code is always
"letter" "number" "letter"
a space or hyphen
"number" "letter" "number"
Hey Brett, we're almost there! After you posted this topic, that solidified my commitment to making this SEO Consultants Directory [seoconsultants.com] a success. It even works like a charm in Opera and degrades somewhat respectfully if you have your CSS turned off!
I've got the entire holiday weekend devoted to reviewing, approving and populating the database. Yes, I know, get a life! Well, right now, the directory is my life!
Line 1: Willy Widget
Line 2: Widgets SEO Company
Line 3: 1234 Kings Road,
Line 4: Swindon,
Line 5: Wiltshire, England
Line 6: SN1* 7TG
Postcode can have another number here
Hope this helps
Will be submitting my site asap
Not sure that the Irish postcode formatted differently?
Line 4: Swindon (what is Swindon)
Line 5: Wiltshire, England (what is Wiltshire)
Are they referred to as Towns? Provinces? Cities?
Line 1: Willy Widget
Line 2: Widgets SEO Company
Line 3: 1234 Kings Road,
Line 4: Swindon, Swindon would be a village, town or city
Line 5: Wiltshire, England
Wiltshire is a county (they don't use provinces or states)
pageoneresults please remember you and I are "Colonials", England thought of counties is the address before we had states and provinces!
History Lesson 123 LOL.
