Oyster-Web

We paid www.oyster-web.co.uk to complete search engine optimisation on our site www.housenetwork.co.uk . We have an email confirming a guarantee that we would achieve top ten listings in google/yahoo by December of this year.

I know you all say don't touch a website that offers a guarantee, but this company are no:1 for all major search engine optimisation terms in google UK.

The reason for my posting is only to tell other people about their conduct over the last few months, and to warn against using them. It is not a character bashing posting, just the facts.

Our new coding, which oyster-web completed was loaded in early June, but in July of this year the guy who owned the web domain decided to leave the business setup and take the site with him. In doing so, he had many clients who had work outstanding (us being one of them) . He has now just informed us that without any more payment he cannot work on the site and he states our guarantee is not valid even though we have it in writing from his oyster-web.co.uk email account.

We have taken legal advise and we have a strong case due to the guarantee email received from oyster-web.co.uk. However, the costs of a case would be quite substantial, and before we decide our action, we wanted to help anyone thinking of using them.

As I say they have huge presence online and thats why we used them, but they are a tiny firm, taking on far too much work and going back on their word. Some people may have received a service from them in the past but that was before the change of setup.

We are an honest bunch at Housenetwork, and we really feel let down by the whole process of SEO - any tips for self SEO based on our current coding would be much appreciated.

Thanks for letting us know! People like this should be exposed for what they are! Treat a customer right and you will keep them - treat them like you have been treated and face a lawsuit!

I will be glad to have a look over your site and give you some suggestions!

Hope you get sorted!
Just looking at the code now - my suggestions are listed below;

1) Titles are too long and are targeted at more than one keyword - detracts from relevance
2) The meta description is a repeat of the keywords and is not a description - hence could be considered spam
3) Keywords stuffed in comment tags - doesn't work but is considered spam.
4) Javascript should be put in an external file
5) Non W3C standard compliant code
6) The code actualy looks quite well formed and has had proper optimisation - save for the W3C bit.

I would invest in some proper keyword research (which doesn't appear to have been done) and build some more content on that. Then this could be internaly linked where relevant. From there you should undertake a link building campaign and also submit to some relevant directories / sites which will give you a bit of a kick start.

Hope this helps. Feel free to email on tstolber@web-wizard.org.uk for more info.

If i remember you posted a request for help on SEOChat months ago didnt you, ie for someone to do the Search Engine Optimisation on your website.

Was this a result of that/

I'm confused...YOU don't own the domain, this guy who did work on it owns it? Sorry, but you've lost me.

We did ask for help, to see if the coding used by oyster-web.co.uk was good content. We never changed any of their coding and it is as per their original coding as of today.

They did complete the coding, but we have not received the link campaign support. The links were supposed to continue until the top ten placements were achieved, but they have stopped work, and want more money, which is against our agreement. I'm not one to ask for more than I expect, we would have been happy to achieve the results and pay substantial money to stay there.

I just had a feel that something was not right with them, hence my original posting. The customer service is not what it should be.

Hi Dazzlindonna,

Sorry for confusing you.

Our website is ours, nothing to do with oyster-web.co.uk. To explain:-

www.oyster-web.co.uk was part of a different company, but the domain name register (also the MD of the holding company) decided to leave the firm and take the domain name with him. Being No:1 in the UK, you can possibly see why, but he has done so and left all his outstanding clients with work uncompleted.

ah, ok, i see now. so essentially, the original company you hired is now a different company, right? i can see how that would make it difficult to get the original contract honored. maybe someone with experience in dealing with having contracts honored by companies that have folded or changed hands or something similar will have some advice for you. anyone out there?

I know I have a very strong case, but I wanted this posting to assist anyone else who might be looking to use them. If they can't honour a contract with someone they have been working with, then people must be warned.

The worry for me, is that as they are no: 1 for most SEO terms, people in the UK especially are going to think the same as us and simply go with them on the back of their own performance.

We had been listed on their site as a client along with approximately 20 others, but were removed on Thursday evening. I spoke to the owner on the same day about our rankings, and he did not say anything at all, just simply removed us after.

I know why - because we would have contacted all the other companies listed and we would have all got together. If these are the tricks they use people must be made aware of this conduct.

Is there no SEO Association in the UK? - if not why not!

This company have never been an Oyster Web Client, Oyster Web Have never done any work on this site, Oyster Web have never recieved any payment from this client.

I do not care how much I have to spend in legal costs against this company but rest assured I will be seeking substantial damages.

Because of the legal nature of this thread I will not post again until some legal decission has been made in a court of law. I will keep you all informed of the judgement.

Peter Hoggan
Oyster Web

Should the forum allow this kind of unproven post that could damage a company's credability.

Hey hey hey! here we go again! There are pros and cons to having these threads. So far it appears to be my word against his. Maybe the thread should be frozen.


Dave

Although I cannot comment on any of the above; freezing this thread would fly against the notion of a democratic web, whether I like it or not!

Peter Hoggan
Oyster Web

When searching for a good SEO company or freelancer. Please ask for a portfolio, then contact those clients by e-mail or phine and ask what they think of the company. Were they happy? Did they get their moneys worth? How was the customer service? It doesn't take that long and can save you a lot of BS. I have no objection to providing clients with my portfolio and waiting for them to check on me. I am sure they will choose me because I have completely satisfied the majority of my clients. Also I would never make a guarentee that I can get someone specific listings, Sure anything is possible with enough time, effort, money. But It is unethical to make guarentees of something that you really have no say in, like SE algorithms. My only promise is that the client will get more traffic and sales with my help.

We made it perfectly clear to Peter Hoggan that we would advise people of their actions of how they treated us, and we informed him we would anounce it on forums, we have not hidden that fact from him at all, so its no surprise he has come on. I have not attacked his character just stated the facts.

If he feels he has a case, I would welcome his actions. We have screen grabs of his site confirming us as a client, within they portfolio. We have emails from Peter and his staff, and we have other documentation - that I do not want to comment on until we take our action against him.