Search Engine Marketing Blog: piloSEO

Good SEOs are not cheap but the rewards for an online business can be astronomical. Many businesses understand this but there are still a bunch of companies out there that try find the cheapest SEO provider available rather than paying a bit more for high quality SEO service. Of course, in the end these same businesses are getting walloped in the SERPs by their competition who conducted exhaustive research and found the best SEO. Their competitors realized that the additional cost associated with a professional SEO would bring them increased revenues and profits in the long run. SEO is a specialized service and while almost everyone who designs websites claims they do SEO, real SEO professionals provide a valuable service and bring extensive expertise that only comes with an immersion into the SEO world.

Would you use your life insurance guy for stock advice?

Both are in the financial industry but they are completely different disciplines. I know I prefer to consult a stock broker or investment adviser for stock and investment advice and my insurance agent to discuss insurance options. Why is SEO different? I kind of chuckle when I see EVERY web developer (or hosting company) offer ultra cheap or even free SEO service with their design or hosting package. That is until I see the “SEO” service they are providing. Most of the time it is outdated service that never worked in the first place. Even if the additional cost is minimal it is not going to be worth it. If you want to succeed in a competitive industry you need someone who knows SEO and real SEOs are not going to be cheap. The money spent on real SEO will end up being beneficial in the long run though.

If I got arrested I would not try to find the cheapest lawyer

No, if I got arrested I would try to find the BEST lawyer. Of course, since I never ever do anything that would lead to me being arrested I don’t have to worry about this :>) but my point is when I need a professional I want to hire the best professional I can. Sure, there are some who would be out of my price range but I am going to do what I can to get the best lawyer that I can afford. Business owners should use the same logic when it comes to hiring an SEO. If you want to be successful you need to find the right person for every job. Find the best hosting company you can afford, the best developer you can afford, the best IT professional you can afford, and the best SEO you can afford. Each of these professionals provide a highly specialized service and will end up helping you put your best foot forward. Many businesses will spend whatever it takes for hosting and design and then skimp on SEO. In the end that beautiful web site with rock solid hosting ends up getting no visitors and all the money spent is never returned. Spend a bit extra for that professional SEO to take advantage of your beatiful webiste. SEO can be expensive but when all of the work done on your site pays off it will all be worth it.

Popularity: 26% [?]

This is something I have wanted to get off of my chest for a while and since I have some free time now I guess I can finally do it. It seems that many of my relatives think that since I work in the Internet industry they believe that I am an IT professional. Whenever they have an issue with their computers they want me to fix them. Honestly, I have no problem taking a look and attempting to figure out their problem. I am always willing to help when I can but when it comes to more complex issues I am just not capable of helping. I can deal with most simple tasks and even some intermediate problems but just because I am a search marketing professional does not mean I can fix your computer when it blows up.

Just because I work in search does not mean I am the family IT guy

I am not Nick Burns and if I was you would probably not want to ask me to help anyway. The biggest issues is simply a lack of understanding about what I do. Many of my relatives simply don’t understand what SEO is. They assume that since I work in a tech focused field that I am a computer guru.  I suppose it is partially my fault because I have grown tired of trying to explain what it is that I do. It does not seem to matter though. No matter how much I explain it some of my relatives simply can’t grasp it. They can’t understand why I can’t help them fix their 6 year old spyware/malware/virus infected computers. So I have given up. From now on if I can’t help I will just tell them the Intertubes have been updated and they need a new computer to get there. If that does not work I can always send them to Geek Squad.

Popularity: 22% [?]

So, for the third day in a row Twitter has taken a crap on me. What’s the deal here. I understand that sites go down on occasion but three days in a row is freaking ridiculous. I have just recently started becoming more active in Twitter but this significant down time is really starting to turn me off.

I like Twitter but my fondness is fading

And it has nothing to do with Twitter when it is actually working. My frustration is with the fact that it is down far too often. One of the reasons I enjoy it is because of the immediate and constant communication. That all goes out the window when it goes down every day in the middle of the afternoon. If Twitter wants to expand beyond its current user base these down time issues need to be fixed because mainstream users will not stick around at a micro-blogging service that is not accessible half of the day.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Doing some research for a potential client lead me to a couple of interesting sites that are kicking ass in a very competitive space. These two sites are obviously owned by the same person and they offer almost identical information but they are both dominating for many of the same keywords in this competitive space. They are using an interesting tactic to gain backlinks while avoiding the potential pitfalls of straight up link exchanges. And it appears to be working because they own valuable SERP real estate for some extremely lucrative keywords.

Not really exchanging links

While they do have a link to us page they are not really trading links. Essentially they are offering something of value in exchange for a link to their site. In both cases they are offering SEO advice to anyone willing to link to them. I have included two screenshots, one from each site, that show exactly what they are doing. I do not want to give away the industry because it would be very easy to find out who they are but I can tell you that it is totally unrelated to SEO, SEM, or anything related to online marketing. Check out the screenshots below to see their un-reciprocal link scheme.

Site #1

Site #2

Interesting way around reciprocal linking while still using the same tactics

This is an interesting method to build links using tactics that evolved from the reciprocal linking orgy of the past. Both sites have a link to us page that are in a sense offering non-monetary compensation for a link. I don’t think this violates any guidelines but is really close to the edge. I don’t know that there is something to penalize here but I am sure that there could come a time when those links are no longer passing any value. For now they are working and although I would not attempt using this type of link building method it looks like it is quite lucrative.

Disclaimer: I am not posting this to out anyone (which is why I did not link to the sites or mention the industry) or to give advice for link building. I do not believe this is a viable long term strategy but it appears to be working right now.

Popularity: 22% [?]

I just popped into Digg a few minutes ago (a bit after I got a message stating that they were updating and would be back soon) and noticed they have a new comment system. It looks a lot cleaner and seems to be quite a bit faster. I have not interacted it with the new system much but the look and feel is much more user friendly at first blush. Here is a screenshot of the new layout and you can check out the Digg Blog to learn more about the new system.

Popularity: 20% [?]