#JCSURGE WebDesign

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Hiring an SEO Expert? Consider These 5 Things…

With so many SEO companies out there, it can become overwhelming to choose one that fits your company. Here are five considerations when choosing an SEO expert that works for YOU.

Read the full article here: "Hiring an SEO Expert? Consider These 5 Things…"

1. Communication and Listening Skills

It’s one thing for someone to understand search engine optimization and another thing for someone to effectively implement the right SEO strategy for your business. This is because many people in the SEO field may possess the right know-how, but may not understand how to bring it to your business where it can be profitable.

They need to ask you questions regarding your goals, your comfort level with being involved in the project, and other outside-the-box questions that will ensure you’re clearly understood. Lack of understanding on the SEO team’s side is a sure-fire way to have a bad SEO experience.

2. English Speaking and Cultural Familiarity

Hiring overseas is becoming more common, especially with more affordable talent being found in countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, and South America. That being said, it’s important to gauge their familiarity with your local customs. If you’re hiring an SEO expert, you want them to have strong verbal and written communication skills that go above and beyond basic English. Have they worked with American businesses before? Do they know the differences in time zones and how that affects business?

3. Creativity and Authenticity

When an SEO expert templates the same process over and over again, it can feel as if your website isn’t authentic or unique. It might rank well, but the lack of creativity may pose a problem if you’re trying to build a unique brand and surge your business forward. In other words, it may come off as if they are blatantly trying to manipulate the search engine algorithm which can sometimes lead to a bad user experience and cause prospects to exit your site.

Make sure that your SEO provider values authenticity and creativity just as much as they value repetition and solid systems.

4. Do They Understand Overall Digital Marketing?

Make sure you ask them, for clarification on what responsibilities are theirs and what responsibilities you need to take on. We’ve found a common theme that experts in the search engine space will not touch website design, Facebook advertising, or other important digital marketing strategies.

5. References and Testimonials

Do they have a track record of success? If they do, can you read client testimonials and reviews? What about case studies? We all know the importance of doing our homework, but oftentimes we are so caught up in the seller’s pitch or have our confirmation biases overwhelm us that we forget to do this basic step.

Get the SEO Experts at JCSURGE

If you’re looking to hire a professional SEO agency, consider reaching out to our team at JCSURGE. We work with local and national business executives across the United States to increase their search visibility.

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Web Developer vs Designer

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What Makes a Good HVAC Website and Why?

Why Should You Work on Your HVAC Site?

When it comes to getting more calls for your heating and cooling business online, your best asset will be your website. In fact, if you disregard your website you’re disregarding one of the most valuable assets of your entire business. A good website that is cared for the right way will generate tons of visits per month from Google and other search engines AND be able to convert those visitors into paying customers.

If you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t care to learn new tricks and is okay with being “average” then stop reading because you’ll be wasting your time. That being said, if you’re set on providing your area with quality HVAC service, get ready to take some notes!

Make a Clear Call to Action. A Call-to-Action or CTA refers to an item that encourages a user to do something. If you take a look the top competitors in your area you’ll likely see they have buttons and links all around their site saying things like “CALL NOW FOR A FREE ESTIMATE” “Schedule an Estimate” or something along those lines. There are two kinds of CTA, the Soft CTA and Hard CTA.

Include Videos if You Can. Videos are the killer weapon of SEO and online marketing. They do two VERY important things: they increase your session rate on your site, and they engage with your users so they’re more likely to take action.

Make Sure Your Website is Mobile Friendly. To test if your website is responsive, simply shrink your browser’s width as much as you can.

List Your Prices (ranges). This is one that many contractors are afraid of doing. They fear that giving their prices out will show their competitors how much they’re charging and that potential customers will use it as a shopping price and go somewhere else. But here’s the thing, sharing your price range makes people feel safe!!

Don’t Worry About Exact Price Tags. Now I’m not suggesting that you put your exact price, because you may change them according to the situation. What I am saying, is you should put a price range of what a service will typically cost.

Create Relevant Content and Pages. Create a blog post, landing page, location page, and anything relevant to what you provide at your HVAC company.

Post Photos of Your Team. When you’re hiring someone to show up at your house, or business, you want to know what they look like. Adding a face to a name helps build trust and most sites that rank high include a team photo somewhere on their site.

Make Sure Your Site Load Time is Fast. A website that has a long site load time will lose visitors, period. People have such short attention spans that if your site takes longer than 5 seconds, you can forget about those users ever calling you for a job.

Need Help With Your HVAC SEO?

If you’re looking for an SEO agency to help your grow your HVAC business, then consider reaching out to us at JCSURGE. Our team works with local contractors across the United States to help them generate more phone calls and grow their online presence. We’ll walk you through exactly what can be done to improve your website, and how you can start getting more visits per month!

JCSURGE LLC 401 E 74th St New York, NY 10021 Email: info@jcsurge.com Phone: (917) 747-423

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How to Reclaim Control of Your Domain and Website From Your Provider?

So you’re looking to upgrade your website, hire an SEO company, or simply want to keep your property secured in your hands. Whatever the reason is, you likely came across an issue when reclaiming your domain name and website. But don’t worry, we’ll break down everything you need to know about how to get your website’s ownership back in your hands.

Read the full article: “How to Reclaim Control of Your Domain and Website From Your Provider?”

The Big “IF”

IF you bought a domain you own it, unless of course, you signed otherwise. Now, this is not legal advice, but almost all website agencies will clearly state that they own the domain or that you own the domain. At JCSURGE, we clearly state that the domain is property of the client. Even if we buy and or host their domain, if one of our customers requests a transfer we will comply.

Identity Who Has Control of Your Website and Domain

This is an obvious point to most people, but there have been many times where a local business owner tells us they own the website but don’t own the domain or vice versa.

Start with your domain

Your domain is what your customers and prospects type in to find your business. It’s what Google uses to rank your business against your competitors. So above all, it’s the most important asset you have when it comes to your digital marketing.

Getting your login details

Most of the time when we speak with a local business owner and find this information for them, they recall registering with that company.

The next step is to get your login details. For this you will need two things (at least): a username, and password.

What if I hired someone else to buy my website?

We had this issue once with a customer, actually several times, and it’s always a challenge. But you’re going to have to get ahold of that person or their team. By using the lookup tool mentioned above you can clearly state the company they bought the domain from.

Transferring Your Website’s Content

Before beginning this process you’ll want to get a backup of your website. You can do this a number of ways. The first option is to ask your current provider to give you a backup of your current website. Most of the time they will be happy to give you a backup or at least give you FTP access so you or a developer can download the contents independently.

Transferring Your Domain to Your Own Hands From Your Previous Provider

Please note that if your domain was set up within 60 days, you CANNOT transfer it. This is according to ICANN’s policy of domain transfer.

Once your previous web designer or marketing agency is willing to release the domain name into your custody, you’ll need to prepare a transfer.

Doing this is different from website to website. However here is the basic principle:

You’re going to have to request a transfer (most platforms like Namecheap and GoDaddy have their own in-depth articles on how to do this). To do this, contact your previous provider and their team, and ask them to ‘unlock’ your domain.

You will need to also request the domain authorization code from them in order to continue. This is a code that verifies the ownership of the domain. You will need it when you request a transfer.

Because there are so many domain registrar companies, it would take forever for us to walk you through each one and their steps. Here are the top 5 most common registrar’s and their domain transfer process.

Namecheap

GoDaddy

Hostinger

Host Gator

Sitegounrd

You may choose to transfer the domain to a different company in which case you should always double-check with their policies and process.

Getting Your Website Hosted

The next step is to get your website on a hosting platform. While some companies may have a free hosting option available, many will require you to do a bit of technical setup with your domain, some will automatically host your website and provide you with a builder (e.g., Wix).

At JCSURGE we typically separate our domains from hosting companies. We don’t like to rely on one company too much. We use Hostinger to host our websites and Namecheap to manage our domains.

Transferring Nameservers

Once you have your domain in your hands, whether you’re using Namecheap, GoDaddy, or any other registrar, you will want to point your domain’s nameservers to the address of your hosting provider. Different hosting companies will have different nameservers. Some will require 2, others will require you to enter up to 4. Check with your hosting company to find out exactly what nameservers you need to enter on your domain.

Uploading and Unloading Your Website

If you have a backup file of your website, load it up using Filezilla, or hire a developer to do this task for you. It should take no more than a day for the majority of local business sites.

Looking to Get a New Website?

If you’re looking to get a new website for your local business consider hiring our SEO and Web Design team at JCSURGE. We provide local business owners with unbeatable search engine optimization and website redesign service. We’ll help you regain ownership of your website as we have done for many business owners all across the United States.

Contact us today for a free quote & video audit explaining the process.

JCSURGE LLC 401 E 74th St Unit#1B New York, NY 10021 (917) 747-4234 info@jcsurge.com

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