At a recent Affiliate SummitI was asked if a 20,000 keywords meta tag was a good idea. Don’t believe me here’s the video:
So next time you think SEO has no future, remember that what we think of as common place simple SEO is still foreign to so many people as greywolf outlines so well.
While I was a bit short in this video, I really wanted to stress the point that this person was wasting their time, so while yes many of us should be reading these 10 books to save our SEO jobs so many of us need to still read up on the basics, so here are a few favorites, sorry if it is an SEOmoz love fest, but its good stuff:
Not too long ago the SEO community was set ablaze when shoemoney said SEO has no future, and I agree to some extent - Graywolf already covered that people still don’t follow the basics, and a few other major reasons why SEO DOES HAVE A FUTURE which I agree with 100%, but won’t re-hash he covered that well. The argument that is still NOT being talked about is the fact that shoemoney was somewhat right, that led me too this post!
Hey I LOVE SEO, I think you all know that. Fortunately I also LOVE marketing. As a result I read a LOT of marketing books. I recently got thinking…that SEO today really requires a lot of MARKETING savvy, not as much TECH savvy. I spoke about this in a recent presentation at the Affiliate Summit (yes I’ll be speaking in Boston!) where I walked the audience through the progression of SEO from needing tech savvy (1998) to marketing savvy (2003) - You can see the slides here:
What I was trying to illustrate back 4 months ago was that yes, SEO, as we know it is dying for some types of SEOs. For most of those SEO’s who have relied on TECH instead of MARKETING are going to really feel the pain when they can’t understand how to create things of value, that people want, fill a need, have a chance to go viral, CONVERT, is trackable, is easy to use, and respects people’s privacy.
Here are the 10 books I think you should be reading to be a good SEO:
So what does selecting an SEO company have to do with Vinny Chase? I’ll tell you, but first watch this video then read the inspiration below:
If you were Vinny, how would that experience have helped or not helped you choose an agent?
Here’s how this came to me…
This week we turned down the opportunity to work with a great organization because they required us to come in with a presentation for their selection committee. We don’t have canned presentations for “pitches.” Instead we like to sit down with a potential client figure out who they are, what makes them unique, what their needs are and THEN see if we are a good fit to help. After explaining this, it was still required for “participating firms” to have a thirty minute presentation or the deal was off (yes it had to be 30 minutes). So for now we walked away (remember walking away from deals is one of my ways to grow a stress free agency.)
When I am given the opportunity to speak with people about SEO/SEM, I tell all of them that the decision of selecting a search company is one that will be made with the GUT. Why? Because every SEO/SEM company is going to sound the same, talk the same game, and use the same shtick.
Every company will have slides on:
• The team’s experience
• How they alter on-site factors
• Their linking strategy
• Results for past clients
• Bid management
• Blah, blah, blah
While some may have one or two unique features, most people purchasing search marketing services (especially SEO) still don’t have enough knowledge of the space to know if those differentiating factors mean anything to their bottom line.
At the end of the lineup, most search companies will sound the same, leaving you to scratch your head and say, “What now. They all sound the same, so how do I pick?”
For those of you seeking great search companies, you will need to be Vinny Chase. Look for the company that shows some passion, something different, and is at least somewhat discriminating about the opportunities they take on.
If you want a second or third place search firm, ask them to come in and do a presentation or answer an RFP. The ones that jump at the opportunity without qualifying you are hungry for business.
In the search space where rip off artists are everywhere, the GOOD search companies that you WANT to work with will at least want to speak with you before running off to blindly answer an RFP/presentation. The ones that come on in with presentation in hand without first asking you about your goals and how you plan on achieving them, etc, etc might be dangerous, so do your due diligence on them.
All in all, If you want to make Medellin you need Billy Walsh (), not some suit!
Finally, let’s not forget the lesson learned at the end of this episode: After seeing so many canned, unoriginal presentations, Vinny decided to stay with Ari. When he arrived at Ari’s office to tell him, Ari proceeded to deliver the exact same type of canned presentation as all of his competition, prompting Vinny to can him!
The client may think they want a full presentation at the beginning of their search for a great SEO company, like Vinny thought when he began his search for a new agent, but they’re better off getting a company that doesn’t try to fit themselves into a mold and actually takes a chance doing something unique.
Inspiration for this post:
Rachael Levenson – she brought up this episode while in the car coming back from a results & ROI review up with a current client. Rachael, we gotta take more road trips!
Entourage – please come back soon. Without The Wire, Sopranos, and Sex & the City, the lineup is looking weak.
You know after seeing SEO just get crapped on by Amex, and reading this SEOMOZ post, This SEOMOZ list, the recent work by SEM compare & hearing the number of people mention how often they get phone calls from crappy SEO companies almost weekly, combined with the spam that even I get. I am going to do whatever I can to pitch in and help.
It is pretty obvious that I’ve always tried to do what I could to clean up the space in my own little way, whether it is the conversation I had last week with a prospect who didn’t fit SEER’s model, but I told - Hey, call me before you pick someone I’ll make sure you don’t get hosed to posts & I try to write about the issues that plague our industry when time allows.
But today I am asking for help, this idea is totally off the cuff, from the gut but help me round it out.
I was thinking, can we as SEO/SEM professionals do unbiased audits on companies? NOT because we want the business ourselves, but because we want to clean up the industry? I was thinking could we have a group of SEO professionals who fit the following criteria:
Has 4+ years experience
Is in-house or works for a company that does little to NO advertising
If you are asking why to little/no advertising, I think SEO companies who advertise HEAVILY are needy for new clients, if so I think that adds to the likelihood that they’ll “pitch” people they should be doing unbiased audits for
Can devote 2 hours per month to review proposals submitted for review (proposals would have to be over 25k for now)
Has an existing track record of trying to provide unbiased information and help the industry along
So far that is all I got, but remember I am writing this from the gut.
I can tear apart a proposal from an SEO company in 30 minutes, which means if I devote 2 hours a month I can hopefully help up to 4 people do one of two things:
Feel more confident about whom they selected
Realize some more questions they should ask before moving forward (or leaving the company altogether)
So the problems I see:
People pitching instead of helping
Confidential proposals shared with outsiders would be problematic (see below)
Companies wanting to sue instead of fixing the problems that cause them to not cut it (Looks like iCrossing filed a suit against marketingsherpa)
Involvement / time commitment - many of the people I would hope would come along to help are BUSY, but either way I’ll go this alone if I have to and find a way to tip toe around the landmines.
In theory if we could get 50 SEO’s each able to do 4 reviews a month that is 200 companies reviewed, and maybe privately we can rate the companies so that going forward we’d not have to waste our time. I know this is hairy, but I just am sick of the complaints about SEO, but they are warranted, SEO companies are shady and I for one want to be a part of the solution instead of the problem.
Any idea on how to keep myself out of the courtroom before I start taking requests?
