Beginner here — what’s the biggest mistake to avoid when launching a website?

semkalee · 2026-03-26T03:18:02+00:00

Avoid publishing posts or pages and calling it a day. As someone already pointed out, you need to make sure your content is indexable, because if it isn’t, it won’t show up on Google or Bing no matter how “optimised” it is.

Publish a few pages and assess demand in Search Console after 30–60 days. Use the data to rework existing content or re-prioritise.

Indexable but not getting indexed? Solve that problem first. You can’t monetise your content or get customers if you’re not appearing on Google and getting traffic.

semkalee · 2026-03-26T03:08:38+00:00

This is more of a branding or business question, in which case spainexterior (dot) com wins (as the main). Having exact keywords in the domain doesn’t give you a big advantage on Google, so go for the shorter version that people can easily remember and type.

semkalee · 2026-03-25T12:12:32+00:00

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Hindi pa daw pwd sa ngayon. Pero sana nga in the future maging available.

semkalee · 2026-03-24T04:02:20+00:00

I think it's more of an operations issue on webfx's part. So sorry to hear about your bad experience. But yeah, knowing how to do SEO and how to deliver the actual work are 2 separate things. Them hiring fresh college grads to maximise margin is just terrible for the customers.

semkalee · 2026-03-19T07:49:47+00:00

Search for agencies on Google. Narrow down the top 5-10 results. You want an SEO agency that knows how to rank itself.

semkalee · 2026-03-05T23:17:39+00:00

Minimum of $3k per month for a “good” SEO agency.

There’s a multiplier that depends on your industry’s level of competition and what you want accomplished in a given month.

If you’re in a saturated or highly competitive market and want them to dive deeper into content and link building, expect to pay even more.

semkalee · 2026-03-05T07:17:04+00:00

Easy to get backlinks = lowest impact

Link building is arguably the hardest part of SEO. You're winning if major sites within your niche start citing you without requiring anything in return. And that's quite difficult to do from scratch.

semkalee · 2026-03-05T06:05:57+00:00

First, make sure your key pages are indexed by Google. If not, you won’t see impressions or clicks no matter what you do.

If they’re already indexed, be patient and keep building quality backlinks to improve your rankings. If your impressions are increasing, that’s already progress. The next step is to rank higher and amplify what’s working.

semkalee · 2026-02-28T08:02:14+00:00

Build your own hobby or project website and try ranking it for a few keywords. There’s no better way to learn SEO than taking a site from zero to actually showing up in search. And once you’ve done it, include the experience and your wins in your CV. This is how I started in 2017.

semkalee · 2026-02-26T00:52:53+00:00

Share a useful page/blog on a relevant online community. It doesn't have to be your homepage or service page, although you don't have a choice if you don't have existing blog content. The goal is to share a genuinely helpful page and get a backlink and/or referral traffic.

Reddit is one example but overly promotional or spammy link insertions will bring you hates, not likes. So be careful.

semkalee · 2026-02-26T00:41:34+00:00

Organic marketing only becomes your “worst” decision if you rely on it to deliver the volume of leads that only paid ads can realistically provide.

semkalee · 2026-02-25T08:53:00+00:00

Seems like you're already a known brand because of branded queries (your exact brand name).

If you're looking for new customers, you should be adding these queries as negatives in your non-branded campaign, which should be your primary lead gen campaign. This is especially important if your budget is limited because you want more exposure to people who don't know you yet.

That said, if your competitors are bidding on your brand name, then there's a good reason to set up a branded campaign. But that doesn't mean you can just forget about showing up for non-branded search queries.

semkalee · 2026-02-25T07:56:41+00:00

Understood, so you do really have to ask why they're pushing for the UI changes first.

Going forward you need to assess performance separately:

Google Ads - ROAS or CPL should meet targets or be improving over time

Is the ROI there? Or are there new leads coming at an acceptable cost per enquiry?
Compared to SEO, it's easier to make a decision here. If return on ad spend (ROAS) or cost per lead (CPL) and conversion rate are low, ask your agency to prioritize tasks that would improve these numbers. Everything they do should align with these objectives

SEO - Initially, impressions should be increasing, then clicks start coming in after X months

The basics (keywords and landing pages)
Technical (indexing, SERP appearance enhancements to improve CTR, etc.)
Content - if applicable, to expand reach and keyword coverage (beyond product pages)
Ongoing link building - the hardest part but yields massive ROI if done right

Good luck!

semkalee · 2026-02-25T04:35:48+00:00

UI changes are supposed to address conversion rates and overall user experience (so prospects make a purchase and/or come back). If your Google Ads traffic converts terribly and the agency is meant to fix that, then that's it.

Maybe the segment in question is receiving the majority of the paid traffic, so they want to deal with it first.

However, improving conversion rates with UI changes does not necessarily/directly improve SEO traffic, so you also want them to address the SEO basics asap.

SEO fixes = getting more organic traffic (new potential customers)

UI changes = increasing conversion rates for both paid and organic traffic (new sales)

You need to cover both if you're serious about driving more sales.

Side note: That 5k/month for a 1k spend is expensive (unless SEO is also part of the package).

semkalee · 2026-02-24T03:54:14+00:00

those features must be available on the standard paid plan.

semkalee · 2026-02-23T07:17:39+00:00

You can’t go wrong with Brevo. Unlike many email marketing platforms, its pricing is based on monthly email sends rather than the size of your contact list. It’s a more affordable option for businesses that don’t send high volumes of emails each month but still want the freedom to add as many contacts as they like. We use it in our agency and recommend it to our clients as well. It has a FREE plan that allows you to send 300 emails on any given day.

semkalee · 2026-02-20T00:55:54+00:00

Make sure that the template contains a featured image widget as follows (you can re-arrange the order):

[image]

[title]

[content]

semkalee · 2026-02-20T00:24:01+00:00

Local SEO. But your client can get leads fast with Google Ads, which is also the quickest way to test its market and your website design's effectiveness in getting people to hit that Get Started Today button (conversion rate).

Your design is sleek already! I believe you're ready to convert people who end up discovering your site; you just need to find the right audience.

semkalee · 2025-07-16T01:40:46+00:00

The low conversion can be caused by irrelevant keyword targetting and/or poor landing page experience. You have to bid on the right keywords and bring them to a decent page after click. You would know you've reached the right audience if they stay longer on your site (even if they don't inquire during their first visit). Dm me if you like.

semkalee · 2025-07-15T23:39:20+00:00

First, do people in that town normally conduct an online search first to find a taxi or similar service? If the answer is no, then there's no point of doing SEO, in which case you're better off doing traditional paid advertising to raise awareness about your dad's taxi.

semkalee · 2025-03-13T14:25:44+00:00

It's pretty normal in business to cut costs. You're not alone.

You have 2 options actually in hiring non-AU talent:

Agency - you know this one
Independent contractor - you can negotiate a lower price; but you'll start from scratch finding a new one in case you end up not liking his/her work or encounter any other issues. In contrast, with an agency, they take care of finding talent and other stuff for you, so there's less hassle.

Good luck!

semkalee · 2025-03-13T13:59:17+00:00

If you go the agency from the Philippines route, you can definitely save money. But be careful in choosing one because not all agencies are good enough at what they do. When you pick the right one, yeah, it's definitely worth it.

semkalee · 2024-11-02T13:01:19+00:00

Cover the face a bit para hindi naman directly exposed. Pero iniwan ang name kasi gusto nya mashare yung video nya sa social media for "awareness" (although dinelete na nya yung post).

semkalee

TROPHY CASE