I need an SEO reality check?

[imisidro]

Ok -- one of the first things you need to avoid are SEOs who will "GUARANTEE" you top 10 rankings in your keyword phrases. That's a sure sign that this SEO company does not know anything and as you've seen -- your money will just go down the drain.

It takes time for new sites to rank well -- unless you are competing for obscure terms. For example, most of the 1-2 phrase keywords are locked in by sites that have been in operation prior to 2000. To beat them, it will take a lot of work on the SEO as well as in your part developing content.

Some SEOs get around this by saying that they've been able to get top 10 rankings to keywords -- however, those are typically long winded 6-10 phrase keywords that hardly anyone is competing on.

Search engines have gotten smart about the SEO tactics. In linking for example, SEs don't care if you have 1000 links -- what they want are links from authority sites and links from sites within your sector. You can get 1000 links from every nook and cranny on the web that's not related to your site -- and instead of ranking, you can even be penalized.

More than trickeries, develop QUALITY content on your website which your visitors will love and search engines will love, and other sites will freely link to.

You've basically wasted your time and money.