As a complete newcomer to the world of SEO, I've been reading through the posts here with great interest.

I have a new-ish site that needs to rank much better in search engines, and from what I've read I need to do the following: link building, directory submission, blog posting and forum commenting. All good, except I have no idea of how to go about this.

My question is, are there people out there who specialise in such things, specific to the type of business to be promoted? Is this an expensive service and would I be better off trying to do it myself? Are there pitfalls to the DIY approach, such as dodgy directories that would get me 'blacklisted'?

I have done some initial searches for 'blog posting services' and only come up with companies that seem to post randomly on the web with no consideration for the type of service offered. My business is quite specialised - page-turning software - and I would need people to talk intelligently about the system in appropriate sites, not just post up the same old press release every time. The same goes for directories and reciprocal links - surely these should be relevant to the service offered? Or am I missing the point here?

There are companies out there that offer link building services, but personally I think they're over priced and not as successful as they like to make out. I had a friend who worked for one a while back and they basically just made blogs, dozens of them, and generated poor links from them.

My advice is to learn yourself. SEO and link building aren't rocket science, and with a little study into it, and by watching Matt Cutts' videos on YouTube, you can get the hang of it quickly.

I would suggest meeting with an SEO consultant for him to

1) educate you on the basics
2) analyze what has already been done
3) analyze what needs to be done
4) educate you in terms of expectations (SEO is a long continuous process, some clients tend to expect immediate results and short turn around time)

Unfortunately the industry is saturated with low-quality agencies and independents. Ask for a referral!

Feel free to message me for questions.

Cheers.

There many SEO companies that comes up with different SEO services. And it is true that they might be a little expensive but somehow it's worth it for it will give you more profit on your site. I highly suggest to try to do your SEO by yourself to save money. SEO can be done by anyone. It only takes time to learn enough but it surely pays off!

Get a few good books and get the basics. You'll learn more by doing, and figuring out what works.

The best way is to find blogs and forums that is relevant with your niche.
Stay natural when posting, not just post links to whatever thread you think you can leave links from there. Bear in mind that forums are not for dropping links, it is an online community that engage interaction among the members. As for the blog, still - look for blogs that relates with your niche this could help you a lot not just PR but SERP as well and stay on topic.

My blog..(one of them) is about a year old.....3700 comments...

Some of those are obviously paid posters...(deleted)
Their posts are crap....have to be paid posters or stupid people....
Do not bother with paid posters...
Unless you can find some with brains...

Just participate in non-spam and high traffic forums like this at the start, put a sig link to your site. Learn more about SEO and you will gain the knowledge by experimenting on the replies given by experts. Absorb only what you think will be good for your site.
Regards,

Originally Posted by anna1098

As a complete newcomer to the world of SEO, I've been reading through the posts here with great interest.

I have a new-ish site that needs to rank much better in search engines, and from what I've read I need to do the following: link building, directory submission, blog posting and forum commenting. All good, except I have no idea of how to go about this.

Just Google "SEO spamming services"