Having SEO problems and need help!

[timafey]

Hey guys, i've been lurking on here for some time now, but never posted anything, but it looks like I need help with this one! I had a website that ranked consistently for my primary keywords on first page of google... that was until Penguin update. I use to pay for links and would get the ole bootleg 500 links/month plan and that seemed to work until the recent updates.
Side by side i had another website going that was built on HTML initially and is the website that has become my primary one. I was slowly trying to transition to this new website from the old site that ranked high, but didn't want to mess with it as it came up in the top pages. (new site is over a year old now) I never had any of the bootleg back-linking performed on this new site, however it does not rank well in searches at all. The new website has now been rebuilt on a Wordpress platform, I added MANY more pages/content and optimized the hell out of everything I can imagine. So I feel like a dead end almost... any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! The website was recently converted from the original HTML site (which didn't rank well either) to now a wordpress site about a month ago...

Also since the new website is the primary one, should I 301 redirect to my new site from the old one?

If you look into my profile you can see the website name, or I can post it here if its allowed with dot com link

Thanks!

Edit:
I didn't use Blackhat SEO practices, I paid for legit service, of article writing and submission. As in several articles were legitimately written by people, that I reviewed every month, and those articles were then submitted to multiple places building back links, no blackhat practices were ever used, the old website still ranks just not as high, its a PR1 website.

[Doodled]

I use to pay for links and would get the ole bootleg 500 links/month plan and that seemed to work until the recent updates.
...
Edit:
I didn't use Blackhat SEO practices

I would say buying 500 links per month is black hat!

But anyway your site says you are a local company so start by getting a proper, full and comprehensive listing on Google Places and in Bing.

301 redirects are always a good idea for people who have added your site to their favourites, created a genuine link somewhere etc.

Then I would have a proper SEO audit of your site carried out and start thinking about genuine link building.

BTW - I opened your home page about 5 minutes ago, it's still loading. Most of the content comes up straight away but there is some script still endlessly looping away somewhere.

[Test-ok]

Penguin really put the sting in the purchase link programs. If your old site was hit, I wouldn't 301 it to the clean one (you'll be going backwards).
You took the easy route on the first site and loved seeing your site rank quickly, until Google told you no..no. Now your new site is taking a lot more work and a much longer time period when doing thing the way Google wants. Stick with it, you will eventually reap some reward. Your not going to get that same rush or hi you got from your penguinized site, but you will get a self rewarding buzz from the new one and the buzz will last much longer. Almost sounds like a junkie..No?

[fathom]

Disavow the link profile as described in Google WMT... wait 3 weeks... problem solved... start promoting the domain again.

[timafey]

My other website is itwiredsolutions dot com its pulling some decent backlinks (backlinks are from relevant articles that were written and published to article submitting sites as I was told by a very reputable SEO company on elance) and although the website doesn't rank anywhere where it use to, would it still be beneficial to 301 it since its got some PR street credit?

Google places has been setup, yahoo is in review status current being setup as well, seems like there are too many opinions as to what works and what doesn't, but seems like most people recommend writing awesome content and traffic just comes to you, which isn't really the case...

[ryanlb]

I would say buying 500 links per month is black hat!

Hehe, this is indeed the likely culprit! Google's getting better and better at spotting bought or contrived traffic, and a lot of "black hat" SEO techniques yield short-term results but at a cost of medium-to-long term penalties. Rarely worth it, imho... Stick to white hat or, at absolute worst, grey hat techniques. Keep the content high and original, build backlinks and social media profiles, and maybe expand into other conventional SEO methods.

[Doodled]

seems like most people recommend writing awesome content and traffic just comes to you, which isn't really the case...

Sometimes no. It takes time for people to discover the awesome content and it takes time to write the awesome content. So when you value your time it can actually be better to spend on advertising than writing awesome content.

This said your new site is weak:
- I searched 'IT Services' in Atlanta on Google Places and you weren't there - have you optimised your entry properly?
- Your website is not complete and Google doesn't like /people are not going to link to half done websites. I see one article with no option for visitors to comment; many empty pages (Marketing and SEO for example); images with half baked alt tags; and so on.
- you look like a million other websites - clean and professional but bland and impersonal with generic photos littered everywhere. Your services are at the cutting edge of technology so be it articles or blogs make it sound like there is someone there that visitors can engage with.

My 10 cents!

[0johnlewis0]

HTML base works well than any other format i guess !! It is obvious that switching on to wordpress or any other base would drastically reduce your traffic !!
Make sure your website follows google guidelines and all authenticate tactics and also wrk on your on page optimization.
Your site will surely rank well !!
Good luck