How to Recognize a Bad SEO Article
In the SEO News (seo-news.com) July 2nd, Issue #277 has their main article, written by Enzo F. Cesario of BrandSplat.com- the article is titled, “How to Recognize a Bad SEO Company.”
It’s not a bad artticle. I agree with a lot of what Mr. Cesario says – however, in a section toward the bottom, “Be Cautious of SEO Firms That Say They Can Optimize And Promote Your Site For A Low, Monthly Fee” and the second paragraph says, “…Not-so-legitimate fees could include monthly re-submittíng of your site to search engines, “tweaking” your code to keep up with changes and …”.
I take exception ot that statement and find it incredible that he would say that.
One of the main reasons you keep on an SEO specialist or Firm is to maintain your SEO Strategy until you achieve your goals. When a competitor moves ahead of you, you have to adjust your strategy. When you are in at #6 and you want to get to #3, you have to adjust to get there. I call it tuning.
The paragraph goes on, “… The worthwhile companies that charge a monthly fee will usually be able to tell you exactly how much it is per month to generate blog entries or generate and distribute articles or press releases. And it won’t be for the low, low price of $79.95.”
Here we go again. Someone is going to tell me how I should price my services, how to be competitive or otherwise run my business. Perhaps some one in the current White House Administration has been reading his dribble as well.
GO to his website and see what they do, what their product is. It is call Brandcasting and they say it isn’t expensive.
“BRANDCASTING IS NOT EXPENSIVE.
Less than most PPC campaigns. Brandsplat starts iBrandcasting at $2,395 per month with a one-time set up fee of $1,995. “
Now, I don’t know about you, but $4,400 is not what I would call pocket change. It seems like his comment above about charging $79.95 was is some, disjointed way, trying to justify his cost.
I now dub him, Enzo “Obama” Cesario!
And I cannot believe that SEO-News published this with both eyes open.
July 11th, 2009 at 7:36 PM
What examples can this guy provide? Went to his site and there is not a single example that this company has ever done a single thing, let alone be able to write an article on it.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:21 AM
It is pretty bold Erik. It is very typical of a lot of what’s going on today in SEM (the umbrella for SEO and PPC) – where there are people with no experience that have to get started somehow – and rather than talk on subject, they have to criticize others for something they know very little or nothing about.
There’s also a video out there by some VP at HP (or other high and mighty) where she speaks out of her realm.
C’est la vie.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Brandcasting is too expensive and I can’t really understand what they are trying to do. If anyone (Admin) can help me to ‘know what it is?’, that would be of great help. They are talking only about the article creating and submitting. I don’t know what content they are going to create for $2,395.
July 14th, 2009 at 6:41 PM
I know, right?
July 16th, 2009 at 10:56 PM
Pricing in SEO is something that could be argued forever. Some people do monthly fees, some people do pricing based on moving the site to the intended goal (first page) regardless of time, some do hourly rates. Even locality can make a huge difference.
I think the prices aren’t what most people should shop SEOs for – it should be more for the results that can be provided. Only after THAT you can start considering prices. If you can’t show proven results, then why pay even $79.95?
July 17th, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Good point. How you charge is certainly one of the more difficult decisions you make as a business person. As far as people shopping SEO, it is one of the more controversial subjects as well – and as you say, Prove It – should be the first question anyone asks before hiring. I prefer to let prospective clients talk to my existing clients to get some first hand info about what they liked. That usually seals the deal.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Keyword Elite Review…
Awesome information you have here. Thanks for sharing….
September 11th, 2009 at 12:31 AM
You can recognize a bad SEO article using page ranks as well.. There are numerous ways to recognize such articles. Angeline @ marcus evans scam
September 11th, 2009 at 12:33 AM
Good article..!
September 14th, 2009 at 7:37 AM
I’d actually like to agree with both of you. Usually you get more or less what you pay for when you do SEO but it is also true that it is cheaper than a lot of other strategies for online marketing. Of course it is possible to deliver very cheap SEO services but tbh doesn’t most of the companies that do this just give you a set of new meta-tags and a couple of link directory submissions?
September 21st, 2009 at 4:44 PM
great info, I had no idea! thanks so much for posting!
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 AM
Awesome information you have here. Thanks for sharing….
October 19th, 2009 at 4:10 AM
Good read, thanks. Seo is important. Looking for good free rank checking software.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:42 PM
Interesting enough is that most seo service provides wont list their rates on their site…..
What are they hiding…. Get it all out there so a customer can make a decision…
November 12th, 2009 at 11:17 PM
This is such an important topic, I wish more people would write about it, not just spamming other people’s ideas. Researched content is hard to find on the Internet these days.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:36 PM
Good post mate!! Keep ‘em flowing!
January 25th, 2010 at 10:07 PM
Good post. I have read some real dud articles where people thought they were going to help their off page SEO.
Thanks
Bill
February 21st, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Thanks for sharing it
March 4th, 2010 at 9:52 AM
My pleasure. I get so wrapped up in work I forget to write fresh content. I do more on my Twitter and Facebook pages.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:04 AM
Thanks Bill. One of the things I find most common is how much people new to the SEO profession really don’t know and try to push onto clients or prospective clients. Nothing offsets experience. Sure they have to start somewhere but don’t be so brazen with your approach.
Good places to start are with bigger companies to get experience, like Cobalt out in Seattle, WA or others. Get your feet wet and dirty then you can track a little mud.
March 4th, 2010 at 10:21 AM
a late reply to SEO Services:
One of the reasons many do not post their rates is because they take the “quote the job” approach. Meaning that they feel each is unique enough to require careful consideration of the work/man-hours involved. I can appreciate that approach as I have been “burned” many times by trying to do a “one fee fits all” approach, and it doesn’t. Some clients are demanding and will try to squeeze every bit of your time out of you until you have gone over budget for their project.
I am going to do a post “types of clients” here in the very near future to provide some insight after 13 years of doing this. What to watch out for when interviewing clients and what to make sure you ask in the intake interviews to avoid “scope creep” later on in the project.