Search Engine Marketing Blog » SEO Industry http://www.matthewsdiehl.com by Matthew S. Diehl Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:52:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 There is NO Such Thing as Free SEO http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/there-is-no-such-thing-as-free-seo/ http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/there-is-no-such-thing-as-free-seo/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:45:13 +0000 matthewdiehl http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/?p=639 Related posts:]]>

seo-is-not-free-rant

I swear, if hear or see one more person from the SEO industry use the words “free” and “SEO” in this format – “SEO is Free” – I am going to lose it (Actually, I think I am losing it right now).

Lets get this straight: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE SEO!

Can I make it any more clear?

SEO is not free and never will be free. There are these two things called time and money that make it not free. These are the costs of SEO for every single website whether you hire an SEO consultant or if you are going diy.

The phrase “SEO is Free” just makes you sound like an asshat. This is what gets our industry in trouble. This is why Danny Sullivan has to defend SEO against morons who call us spammers, evildoers and opportunitsts.

So this is me saying – Knock it off already. Don’t make me pull this blog over, come back there and seperate you from the idea that saying “SEO is Free” is acceptable.

what-really-grinds-my-gears

Also, don’t give me this bullshit about what you actually mean is that SEO is free in that fact that you can get better ROI over the long run. Then just say that and don’t say SEO is Free!

The value of SEO as a high ROI online marketing method has been proven again and again. Companies would not be buying it if it was not delivering them value. We do not ever need to pitch an organization for SEO saying that it is Free. We are so beyond this and it is time to wipe it from our vernacular.

In closing, just stop. Seriously, stop.

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]]> http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/there-is-no-such-thing-as-free-seo/feed/ 5 Insurance for Your Search Engine Rankings http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/insurance-for-your-search-engine-rankings/ http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/insurance-for-your-search-engine-rankings/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:57:13 +0000 matthewdiehl http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/?p=182 Related posts:]]>

Early yesterday morning Brett Tabke (@btabke) dropped a quick tweet on Twitter about starting a new SEO biz model that would offer insurance for your rankings – The Tweet.

search-rankings-insurance

Here is the conversation that ensued:
@rogerdooley: @btabke I think applying for a direct federal bailout for lost rankings would be better…

@btabke: @rogerdooley, it is actually an intriguing biz idea. The major problem being mitigating the risk. There are no SEO hedge funds

@graywolf: @btabke so instead off (of) “accidental” fires we’d half (have) self paid link narc reports?

@btabke: But @graywolf, if you stayed in the fortune 250 range, I think you could mitigate risk. matt can only have so many fat finger days

@graywolf: @btabke heh true just have to worry about the occasional BMW cloaking faux pas

@btabke: @graywolf Ya, there would be “sub-prime” factors to worry about. But even then, BMW made a comeback, so no long term payout there.

@enzenhofer: @btabke as seo has value and links are the currency there is defenity a market for advanced SEO products – and we will call it “Madoff SEO”

@btabke: @enzenhofer lol No, we call it “affiliate marketing”

Brett mentions that he would concider staying in the Future 250 range of clients for offering insurance but are these really the clients that would need this protection?

I think that the “security blanket” of ranking insurance would really be a product/service that would benefit small and medium businesses because traffic from the search engines can make or break their business and they would want to protect that. But… would they be able to afford such a plan?

What do you think about offering insurance for rankings? (Please specify if you are a SEO consumer or SEO provider – Thanks!)

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]]> http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/insurance-for-your-search-engine-rankings/feed/ 0 Rock & A Hard Place – Rank Reporting for Clients http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/rock-a-hard-place-rank-reporting-for-clients/ http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/seo-industry/rock-a-hard-place-rank-reporting-for-clients/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:23:15 +0000 matthewdiehl http://www.matthewsdiehl.com/?p=180 Related posts:]]>

Rank reporting is no longer a relevant measure of return on investment (ROI) for search engine optimization campaigns.  This has been common knowledge in the SEO industry for some time but what about your clients?

rock-hard-place-simpsons

Rank reporting comes with a new disclaimer – Results May Vary.

With the increased usage of Personal and Universal search features being offered by the search engines, the search engine results pages (SERPs) vary greatly from user to user and location to location. This has had a major impact on the how accurate and accountable the ranking reports you offer to your clients are.

Many Search Engine Marketers are steering clear of ranking reports and offering their clients analytics based reporting. These reports include measurable site attributes including traffic and conversions. This has now become the de facto standard for reporting in the SEO industry.

However, clients are hesitant to let go of their ranking reports even with the disclaimer attached. SEO to everyone outside of the SEO industry boils down to ranking. Bruce Clay and industry leaders can say “Rank reports are dead” until the end of time but until the clients and the world learns that our efforts go beyond ranking they will always be around.

So, do you continue to offer your clients ranking reports on top of additional analytics reports or cut them completely from your reporting?

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