Bill Hartzer SEO Consultant: Practicing SEO Since 1996

“If you build it, they will come.” You have probably heard that quote, and it couldn’t be more appropriate to describe a web presence on the internet today. A website needs SEO and website marketing, though, to drive traffic and sales from the search engines. It’s not enough to just build and launch a website. If you have the budget, you can pay for traffic through PPC (Pay Per Click), or paid social media ads, such as Facebook ads. Those methods work, but only if you have the right content on your website, your website is optimized properly, and you have enough content. That’s where SEO (search engine optimization) comes into play. You need an SEO Consultant. You need SEO Consultant Bill Hartzer.

It is easy to get up your website up and running. But how many people will really come visit your website? You not only have to build a great website, in today’s internet world it is necessary to take advantage of the services of someone like Bill Hartzer, a SEO Consultant who provides SEO consulting.

You need someone who will help you drive the right visitors to your website. Someone who has a lot of actual experience doing the work in a way that doesn’t violate search engine guidelines.

Someone like Bill Hartzer.

Bill Hartzer, speaking about SEO Audits at the Engage 2017 conference in March 2017.

Bill Hartzer Gets You ROI From Your Website

Once you build a great website, how do you achieve the maximum ROI (Return on Investment)? It’s all about how you market your business. You should combine the very best marketing strategies along with Search Engine Optimization strategies. That is where I can come into the equation. I have been practicing organic (natural) SEO, trying to get websites visibility, since 1996. Together, with my extensive Website Marketing, SEO, Content Marketing, and Social Media Marketing experience, I can help you deliver the ROI for your dollar. When many have only been in the industry for a few years, I’ve been doing this since 1996. Back in the 1990s, I optimized websites for better search rankings in Altavista.com and the Excite.com search engines, as well as MSN back in the 1990s. Now, I focus on Google, but also for Bing, as well.

I have seen websites come and go over the years. There are many that started back in the mid-1990s. I’ve watched them grow to multi-million dollar businesses. And even more that I’ve helped over the years. I know what works and what doesn’t.

SEO Consultant

As an SEO consultant, my SEO consulting efforts are as big as Texas! In fact, back in 2004, I was one of the original co-founders of the DFWSEM Association, the Dallas/Fort Worth Search Engine Marketing Association. I wrote an extensive Dallas SEO History, which is continuing to evolve as I write this.
As an SEO Consultant, my primary focus and expertise is providing highly technical SEO Audits and Link Audits of websites, as well as link cleaning services. With Google Algorithm updates such as Google Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird, it is especially important to have a technical SEO audit and a link audit performed on your website.
Many of Google’s search engine algorithms like Google Panda and Google Penguin are now process in “real time”, meaning that these algorithms aren’t rolled out manually on a certain date. Now, if you have an issue with content on your website (related to Google Panda) or links (related to Google Penguin), then once you identify and fix the SEO issues on your website, it will only be a matter of time until your website recovers.
Even if you have not seen a traffic decrease in the past, you might see a large decrease in organic search traffic if your website is not compliant with Webmaster Guidelines and your link profile is not cleaned up.

Bill Hartzer speaking at the State of Search conference in Dallas, Texas in 2016.

SEO Consulting Services

While I specialize in highly technical SEO audits of websites, I also provide ongoing monthly SEO Consultant services. I always prefer to begin all new projects with an SEO audit to find out the issues that need to be addressed. Then, I can continue to provide the actual work that’s recommended in the results of the audit. For example, every website isn’t perfect–I rarely, if ever, find a website that doesn’t have technical issues that need to be addressed. Those issues need to be addressed first, which is usually done in the first month or first few months of ongoing SEO services. Then, I like to build on the positives and what is working for you and your website to bring more qualified visitors.
Local SEO Consultant

If you are a business where your primary customers visitor your location (or you do business in your local area), then you are you showing up in the Google Maps listings? The search engine is now showing only 3 local businesses for many keyword searches. If you’re not in the top 3, then you won’t be found. It’s not just about your website–you need a great local presence. Having trouble with your local listings? You need local SEO. Maybe your local business listing shows a photo like this that you’re not happy about? Contact me for help with your local business listings.
As a Google Local Guide and Google Street View Trusted photographer, I understand Local SEO, and as a Google SEO consultant, I know what it takes to get your business to show up in Google’s search results. Whether it’s the organic or natural listings, or the Google Maps listings, my experience is top notch.

Read one of my recent articles on Local SEO, titled 52 Local SEO Strategies for SMBs over at Search Engine Journal.
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Google My Business Updates: Effect on Local SEO

Just recently, Google has updated their Google My Business services to include the option to include features like Google Posts and the creation of a Google My Business website. Read my important warnings and notes about these two new features. There are some things you need to know about Google Posts and information about the new Google My Business Websites. If you don’t have a website then Google My Business Website, as a feature, can be good. But if you already have a website then read about my warning about these websites!

Qualified Visitors Mean More Sales and More ROI
Not only do you have to have a website that is functional for your website visitors, you need to use the latest SEO services to drive qualified visitors to your site. Qualified visitors are truly interested in what you sell and the services you provide, they will stay longer on your website, and even come back again and again. Using the proper organic/natural SEO techniques and the services of a qualified consultant will help drive those visitors to your website: those visitors who end up becoming your best customers.

Experienced SEO Consultant

Bill Hartzer, a practicing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Consultant since 1996, can help you identify your goals. Where your ideal customers are? How do you qualify them, even before they come to your website? Using the best practices and the latest techniques, Bill can help you identify your ideal customers–and where they hang out online. And what those customers are searching for when they are looking to do business with you.

How Can an SEO consultant Drive More Qualified Visitors for Less Money?

Bill Hartzer, as an SEO consultant, has been actively driving traffic to websites since 1996, even before search engines like Google entered the picture. Using SEO Best Practices and his technical know-how, I have been using website content creation and SEO techniques to get the “free traffic” from the search engines and from other websites. By making sure that your website is optimized properly for the search engines, search engine optimization can mean a big boost to your bottom line: you may be able to reduce your overall monthly Pay Per Click (PPC) spend.

Whether your business needs more visitors and more sales overall, or whether you need a very specific part of website marketing such as an SEO Audit, Link Building (link earning), and even Social Media Account Setup and Management, I can handle it for you.

Here are the services that I provide, as an SEO consultant:

If you are looking for more information about SEO and how it can help you expand your business online, and you already have a website, you may want to start reading my SEO tips, which will help you understand some of the changes involved that may be needed on your website that makes it more search engine friendly.

SEO Consultant?

SEO Agency?

When you’re thinking of hiring someone to help with your website’s SEO, you need to ask yourself this question: Should you hire an SEO Consultant or a SEO Agency? There are lots of differences between SEO Consultants and SEO Agencies, and even Digital Marketing agencies or Digital Marketing Firms. It comes down to expertise. Now, with search engine optimization being so complicated, as well as search engine marketing, social media marketing, Facebook advertising, and even YouTube optimization being complicated, there are consultants and agencies that are specializing in certain areas of digital marketing. Because it’s so complicated, I recommend figuring out exactly what you need and then finding the best specialist in that area.

There are times when you need to hire an agency or digital marketing firm to help provide overall strategy. There are times when you need to hire an SEO Consultant because your search engine rankings all of a sudden have taken a dive–and traffic from organic search is way down. I certainly do not recommend hiring a search engine marketing (Pay Per Click PPC firm) to handle your website’s SEO. They may say that they can do your website’s SEO as well as your PPC, but are they really experts? I personally know the SEO industry very well, having been involved with DFWSEM (I founded the organization back in 2004).

I can tell you honestly that there are, hands-down, several people, several experts, several SEO firms that I would hire to handle my PPC campaigns. But no way would I ever hire them to do anything related to my website’s SEO. And it’s not just SEO consultants and SEO firms, as well as PPC agencies. Hire an SEO Consultant when you need SEO help. Hire a PPC Consultant when you need help with your Google AdWords account.

Differences Between SEO Consultants and SEO Agencies

What really is the difference between an SEO consultant and an SEO agency? Typically, the difference between the two is the number of people you work with. When you hire an SEO consultant, you know who you’re dealing with–they’re going to be the one who does the actual work and the consulting. When you hire an SEO agency, you typically deal with a sales person, who is never going to be person who is actually doing the work and the consulting.

SEO Consultant – They’re the one actually doing the work on your account. You first deal with them (perhaps in a sales-type manner) and then you’ll talk directly with them on a regular basis for updates. SEO Consultants tend to have a smaller list of accounts that they deal with, due to time constraints. They may be more expensive, though, especially if you retain them to work on your account on a monthly basis.
SEO Agency – You deal with a salesperson, not the one doing the work on your account. Then, typically you are assigned an account manager (not the person doing the actual work). You’ll typically talk to that person on a weekly or monthly basis, and they’ll interpret, in the best way they can, what’s really happening with your account. In many larger agencies (and in some smaller agencies as well), the person who is actually doing the work rarely talks to you, they’re too busy working on lots of different accounts, fixing and optimizing lots of websites on a daily basis. SEO Agencies tend to have lots of accounts, and they may be cheaper for you in the long run, though.

There are positives to working with an SEO consultant versus an SEO agency. And there are also negatives. I’ve written a lot more about the differences between an SEO consultant and an SEO agency. Read my in depth article about the differences between SEO firms and SEO Consultants.

I know the SEO industry well. In fact, if you’re going to work with a SEO consultant, there are positives:

SEO Consultants, like myself, rarely outsource the work to others.
SEO consultants are experts in what they do: search engine optimization.
If you work with a local SEO in Dallas, you can meet with them in person.

If you work with or hire someone, like an SEO agency, you may be able to meet with them in person, but they will typically have a “sales person” (even if you meet with the CEO), and I can almost guarantee that they are NOT going to be the ones actually doing the work. They may talk like they know SEO, but honestly, most likely they could not actually write HTML code, and they aren’t working on SEO projects every day. They most likely have never sat down and tried to get a new link for a client website. I even know one SEO firm whose executives never ever write articles. Many think that the senior level staff at this agency are SEO and digital marketing experts because they read their articles all the time. But that content is produced entirely by their staff. And published in their name.

It’s all about transparency. I honestly believe that if you ask someone you hire to do a job, they should be the ones to answer, give you an honest answer about what’s going on. If they are doing the work for you, and they do not outsource the work to someone located overseas, they can give you an honest answer.

SEO Should Not Be a Nightmare

As an SEO consultant, I recently helped a local Dallas business recover from a nightmare. They hired a “specialty marketing company” who apparently only does SEO and online marketing in their industry. A nationwide “company” or “agency”. I have worked with this local Dallas business in the past, and they thought that they could save some money by not working with an SEO consultant. They hired this specialty marketing company. Exactly two weeks after they hired the SEO agency, ALL of their Google services, tied to their Google account, were banned by Google. Their Gmail account was suspended for sending spam. Their Google Plus account was suspended. And, worst of all, their Google My Business account was suspended, and their two locations inside that account were suspended. Contacting the company, the specialty marketing company would NOT fix the issue, they immediately refunded the money, and stop answering emails and calls to the company.

I stepped in, did the work necessary to recover the Gmail account, got the Google Plus account back for the local business. The Google My Business issues related to the suspended listings were more difficult to diagnose, but we’re back on track with the local company’s local listings and they’ve been claimed and verified. Their local reviews are still in tact, which is important.

Dealing with Negative SEO

Then there’s the whole issue surrounding Negative SEO. That’s when competitors of yours will resort to anything they can possibly do to get your website to rank below theirs in the search results. They will do things like create lots of bad, low quality, inappropriate links to your website. They think that by creating links to your website (bad links), your website will go down in the search engine results. Or, might even get banned in the search engines for having bad, low quality links. I’ve been a victim of negative SEO campaigns in the past, to this website. I know what it’s like. Companies and individuals hire me to help clean up negative SEO attacks on their websites. It can be frustrating and time consuming, especially if the links keep coming, over and over again, week after week. The process of dealing with Negative SEO involves identifying all of the links and then disavowing them with Google and even reaching out to webmasters and website owners to get the links removed. Do you have time to do that? Most likely not. Your time is better spent running your business.

Working with an SEO Expert

Working with a local SEO consultant, an SEO Expert, or an SEO consultant in general, you should be able to talk with them directly about your SEO and website issues. When you work with me, you can call me on my cell phone. I actually answer the phone if I’m not in a meeting or on a call. If it’s a Saturday afternoon and your website is down or all of a sudden your search engine rankings have gone dropped suddenly, you can call me. Or, worse, like that local business, your Gmail account is suspended and you cannot get into your Google My Business account, I will answer then phone and provide you with an honest answer.

Unlike many in the SEO industry, I have been actually doing SEO for my own websites, starting with my own small business back in 1996. I won’t detail how I got involved in SEO, that’s a long story. Ask me when we meet, and I’ll be happy to give you the full story of how I went from creating my own website in a text editor, writing HTML code, to selling the domain name and part of the business assets two years later.

I’ll tell you how I went on to do SEO in 9 different languages, in-house for a telecom software company. How I went on to start the first local Search Engine Marketing Association, an organization that is the poster-child for a lot of other local Search Engine Marketing Associations, like those in Houston, Salt Lake City, Portland, Minneapolis, and Raleigh. How I worked my way up through the ranks at digital marketing agencies and SEO firms. The search engine optimization expert at a web design firm, SEO company and SEO agency, Director of SEO, Senior SEO Analyst, and Senior Vice President of one of the nation’s premier Local SEO agencies.

An SEO Consultant That Gets Results

But, frankly, it’s not about my background in search engine optimization and internet marketing. It’s about getting results for your website–whether that means better search engine rankings, more traffic and sales, or more leads from your website. If you’re ready for actual measurable results from hiring an SEO consultant such as myself, feel free to get in touch.

I actually answer the phone.

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