SEO for a small business / Internet Advancement

I have a small website that I have had up and running for about 6 months. I was an amateur in all phases when I started (still am). I was contacted by Internet Advancement about optimizing my website. At the time I didn't even have a clue what seo was. At any rate I eventually signed up with Internet Advancement.

I have read some post about them on here. Most of what I read wasn't very positive. Does anybody have a more recent opinion on this company. I am aware they did settle some lawsuits but they explained it as a technicality.

I have noticed an increase in traffic to the site. However, it is my understanding that it takes about 6 months to really start showing up on the search engines anyway. So what I am wondering is my increase in traffic related to IA or just a natural increase with exposure. Up to this point the majority of traffic is still arriving through Google Adwords. The keywords that I have with IA don't rank with Google at all.

I am wondering if I would be better off going in a new direction with the seo. I know that it is an important part of the site but I don't know if I can do it adequately on my own.

Any suggestions or input would be appreciated.
Thanks
Ronnie


http://www.crossroadsdiecast.com

They do not look like a good company at all:

http://www.searchenginegenie.com/seo-bl ... ement.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... efs12.html
http://www.mallasch.com/web/story.php?sid=188

I would look into getting a refund as you are entitled. There are so many companies out there taking advantage of people are not to knowledgeable about search engine optimization, and I am sorry this happened to you. My family owns a small jewelry business, and I would be very upset if this kind of thing ever happened to them (god thing their son is an SEO ) In the future, if you will trust an SEO firm (which are out there), just remember that no one can guarantee top placement in any engine.

It's like what we tell clients, our goal is to get you to page one for your most important search terms, but we cannot guarantee it.

Thanks for your input.

I received a keyword ranking report from IA today. I do appear to be ranking on some of the smaller search engines. Nothing with Google though.

Is there a way to check keywords for searches in the past month? Some of the figures that they gave me I am not sure about.

Thanks

Ronnie

http://www.crossroadsdiecast.com

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchi ... uggestion/

Will show the results from the Overture (Yahoo Search MArketing) network.

When ever i get an email promising "top position in search engines" i think to myself.... if they can do that why are they 1) sending emails 2) Offering the service at all. Why not just spend your time making sites that appear top for a highly competitive term?

Strangly enough these sites often appear nowhere in a search for "search engine optimization".

They will take your money and then give basic obvious advice that you could get on any forum.

Link, links, and more links to sites with high rankings! I've started giving 8 inbound links to anyone that does a 30 day trial. I'm ranked 4 with Google, not bad considering we've only been in business for one year. Fill free to take advantage of me.

Jaosn