Archives for the month of: March, 2010

Verified SEO: The Latest SEO Scam?

March 30, 2010 //
6

The SEO world joined forces this week in a bid to rid the world of a small slice of the SEO scamming world.  Due to its reputation as a “dark” or “mystical” art the world of SEO is one which is littered with companies trying their best to scam innocent companies and individuals out of their hard earned money.

A small number of them however have decided that the best prey are the SEO companies themselves and by leveraging the naivety of their potential customers a way to make money out of SEO companies is to offer up accreditations, rankings or verifications to help them gain new customers.  Great idea hey!? In theory yes, if these verifications had any substance behind them and weren’t based purely on commercial gain for the company providing the service.

One I have been aware of for a while is topseos.com. a company claiming to rank SEO companies on the service they provide and then supplies them with badges listing their rankings to use on their website and emails etc.   I came across them a couple of years ago and thought it would be good to get the SEO company I work for reviewed and listed so we could use it in marketing collateral, after all, looking at the criteria we ticked all the boxes to rank well.  So we contacted them to ask for a review and inclusion in their rankings and how we got included. Their response? “You need to pay” or to put more detail on it, you have to pay anything from £400 per month to £1800 a month to be considered for rankings.  Hardly sounds impartial does it!

Seoconsultants.com is in the process of calling out topseosso I will happily leave them to it. But topseos is not the only one at it, and not the only one being called out.

The latest company to enter this market is Verified SEO. Apparently a group of “industry experts” who will gladly verify you are indeed a bonafied SEO professional all for $99 a month (previously $199). This week however the world of SEO decided enough is enough and challenged verified SEO (in the form of Rishi Lakhani) to prove they really are SEO industry experts.  After all, if they were that good, we would have heard of them right? But the more the SEO community digs into the story behind verified SEO the less substance there appears to be behind their claims, and thus far, there has been no official response from the “industry experts” behind the project.  I guess they are just another bunch of SEO snake oil salesmen looking to make a quick buck off unsuspecting companies.

Id like to lend me weight behind the campaign and proclaim, that I am proud that neither I, nor my company, is a verified SEO, or a top SEO!

Just Say No to Verified SEOtopseos

Update:

Verified SEO, in the form of the founder Charles Preston, have now had their say in a comment stream which can be seen here.  Charles’ argument is that Verified SEO is a legitimate service but one that was not thought out well enough.  He says the service was not meant to be any form of scam, just a legitimate verification service for SEO providers.  The service has since been discontinued after all of the controversy.

Categories Search Engine Optimisation

Pretty Girls and Wankers

March 23, 2010 //
1

Chat Roulette seems to be the social platform of the moment with countless mentions across the twittersphere, blog networks (including this one now!) and a Google trends chart which is pretty impressive.

Google Trends for Chat Roulette
Google Trends for Chat Roulette

But is Chat Roulette really a social platform that has any legs?  Or a fad which is just symptomatic of the modern obsession with anything that is quick, meaningless, and mildly social.

 
If you havent been on Chat Roulette I suggest you give it a try.  Its basically a form of chat room where you see a video fo the person you are chatting to (webcam allowing) and when you are bored, you skip to the next person.  An endless stream of online “friends” to chat to.
 
It all seems a little pointless to me, the whole point of Chat Roulette is that you are eventually going to hit the next button on them (known as nexting) and move on to the next person.  That doesnt really sound very social to me, reltionships arent going to be built, or real engagement gained, through micro conversations with somebody you are never likely to encounter again.
 
On top of this, one of the biggest reasons Chat Roulette has attracted so many comments and news stories is the fact it has become a playground for exhibitionists around the world, looking to expose themselves from the comfort of their own home.  Mostly men I may add, and likely to be getting off on the fact that another large demographic for Chat Roulette is teen girls.  Does a platform built on pretty girls and wankers really have a future?  Certainly not in the mainstream.  More likely it moves towards the porn market and becomes the evolution of webcam girls.
 
If you want to learn more about the users of Chat Roulette and how it is being used, check out this nice little microstudy video.  See how much more attention he gets as a pretty girl! 

Categories Online Video

Which Client Gets More?

March 17, 2010 //
0

Agency client relationships can be interesting to say the least. I have a fair amount of agency side experience dealing with clients who I have been providing digital marketing services for and I can safely say that no two relationships are the same. I’ve dealt with clients who don’t seem to want to speak with you, clients who never leave you alone, clients who understand digital marketing, clients who don’t and all variations of client in between. But who gets the most out of the agency? Which is the best client for building a conducive long term relationship?

Mid adult businessman yelling on mobile phone outdoorsThe constantly demanding client often gets what they want in the short term, they will huff and puff and in many cases their account manager will be pressured into running around like an idiot to service them.  Long term however this client is going to lose out.  When it comes to added value, client niceties, or the impending contract renewal this client isn’t going to get treated the best.  The agency will realise they are over-servicing(assuming they are) and demand a higher fee, or the account manager will begin to resent the client and deliver substandard service or at least minimal effort will be put into their work.  Ultimately the client is going to lose out.

On the flip side you have the client who leaves the agency to it, and doesn’t engage them too much in their work.  This is great from a cost efficiency stand point for the agency, but is it going to make them work hard for their cash?  Not in the long term.  Work will be put in for a while but as soon as a conflict of time occurs, or workloads increase, it is likely to be this client who misses out.

I suppose its a question of timing.  Be strong and demanding when you have to be, but make sure you respect your agencies work and the time it takes and let them get on with it.  If you are happy with your agency, don’t be demanding for the sake of it, they will only resent you for it.

Categories Digital Marketing