Morning Folks!!
I get more spam from SEO folks than any other group except the Viagra crowd, but why?? If they were that good why would they have to resort to spam? So most SEO guys are FAKERS! That’s the truth friends. There are some real ones, probably a few hundred. But the masses of SEO types are nothing but spammers that sell a bag a smoke liable to disappear by the time you read this or never appear at all.
Want the best SEO guy? Do a damn Google search! Pretty easy to find the winner! Meet Mic Tienken. He is the #1 guy at the moment. He may be dethroned by the time you read this.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
PS: To clarify, I am talking about email spamming as well as telemarketing spamming.
Rick, you asked, "If they were that good why would they have to resort to spam?"
The answer is simple: The issue you raised has little to do with being good or bad. Because there is virtually zero cost associated with the daily distribution of billions of pieces of unsolicited spam solicitation emails, there's nothing but upside. The more sent, the better (statistically speaking anyway), so why not?
The question, it seems to me, would be whether any of the clients of these SEO guys are nonetheless spending money on Adsense or other fee based marketing programs because their respective websites are not ranking high enough to generate meaningful visitor traffic.
Posted by: Mark | June 11, 2009 at 08:07 AM
Hey Rick, thanks for the plug! I actually have a web development/SEO firm called über web services - (http://www.uberwebservices.com).
I enjoyed your blog and I'm going to make a link to it.
-Mic Tienken
Posted by: micadelic | June 11, 2009 at 08:37 AM
Ah,
But if you wanted the "most cost effective seo guy" you'd get someone else
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS274&q=most+cost+effective+seo+guy&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
Its all about Key word relevance.... ;)
Posted by: UFO | June 11, 2009 at 09:06 AM
Rick, I love your stuff but I gotta call foul on this post. You used an really poor example for an SEO related search...almost nobody would do the search you did in any serious vein. Do a "serious" SEO search that a prospective client might use to find a vendor and you'll see much better results that would not be easily spammed.
Posted by: Todd Mintz | June 11, 2009 at 09:10 AM
Todd,
You have a good point but remember that good site marketing is about more than site rankings, it is also viral and social. I rank for plenty of other searches in my area that are relevant but I also have a bunch of these off the wall type searches that occasionally go viral and send tons of traffic, and business my way. Just like today, Rick stumbled upon it, and blogged about it, and now you guys are talking about it.
That's marketing!
Posted by: micadelic | June 11, 2009 at 09:26 AM
To clarify my point... I did not make a site to rank for "the best seo guy" because I thought people would search for "the best seo guy" when they were looking for site marketing help. I made it on the off chance that exactly what happened today would happen and it would go viral. I never expected that a ton of traffic would be driven to me merely from that keyword search. I've been planning to put a blog at that domain about SEO but I've just been too busy working for my clients (something I really should be doing right now!).
-Mic
Posted by: micadelic | June 11, 2009 at 09:32 AM
Puzzled why guys claim to be SEO experts. Google is the expert because they have control. I can get ranked in the first 5 in google all day long, but I have been doing this for 12 years and I don't try to sell my service. What for? Why would I share competitive secrets it took me years to learn? Everyone focuses on traffic and click through income. Those are crumbs of a much larger pie. Want to make real money, develop your domain, bring real traffic to it, market it, and sell it. Its a frigen domain name, not a real house you live in.
Posted by: Bruce Tedeschi | June 11, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Mic, I realized your effort was focused on branding which is definitely smart...but I'm guessing your clients came to you from more "conventional" searches :.)
Posted by: Todd Mintz | June 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Bruce,
Because I am not really focused very much on my own domain(s). I provide this service for my clients who do not have the in-house expertise to make it happen. Frankly, almost all of my actual business comes from referrals and word of mouth but I do get a few here and there from people who find me through Google. The "SEO expert" space is so saturated online it's really next to impossible to get top rankings on non-localized searches because there are so many spam sites and black-hat tactic practitioners. Sorry Bruce, but the business world needs "SEO experts" and people to help them market their sites just as much as they need attorneys, marketing agencies, and ISPs, and web developers.
Posted by: micadelic | June 11, 2009 at 12:43 PM
I think everyone should lighten up and watch this video on the apprentice here in the UK. As you will notice we do things differently, listen very closely to the words and you'll pick up some great insights.. Nb: This video whilst on youtube has language that might not be appropriate for "sensitive ears". Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxi6QDwQyLU
Posted by: UFO | June 11, 2009 at 01:47 PM
Haha!
love the example you used Rick! lol..
Mic Tienken.
www.bestSEOGUYintheworld.com
I'm ritz,
and I have www.thebestDOMAINNAMESintheworld.com
:)
best wishes from
Mauritius, Indian Ocean!
Posted by: belshass | June 11, 2009 at 03:44 PM
Easy on the cold callers! It takes some real stones to work the phone all day everyday.
The phone in the hands of a seasoned sales professional is a lethal tool.
There are many in the domain world that would benefit from just 2-3 cold call professionals promoting their sites, services, and products.
Being the consummate traveling salesman, I'm a little surprised you link cold callers with those who hide behind the impersonal bits & bites of cyberspace.
I know cold callers are low on the totem pole, but they deserve better than being grouped with spammers!
Posted by: GhettoCaveMan | June 11, 2009 at 05:14 PM
Micadelic I agree we need SEM, I am talking more about the casual domainers that buy a name and then wonder why they can't get PR'd. It takes work as you know. Tx for the feedback though.
Posted by: Bruce Tedeschi | June 11, 2009 at 10:16 PM
This has been fun. GREAT day on my websites. Glad I became aware of Rick's blog, I'll continue to visit. Fun to hook up with other peeps interested in the same stuff! It's all good.
-Mic
Posted by: micadelic | June 11, 2009 at 11:45 PM
Instead of doing a search on "The Best SEO guy" - a completely non-competitive term that hardly anybody is searching for (you can verify that over at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal btw), why not search for the terms that the SEO should obviously be optimizing for given their sites or their client's sites? "The Best SEO guy" has waaay too much time on his hands if he has enough time to sit around and try to rank for non-competitive keyword terms to try make himself look good to people who don't know any better than to think that the fact he ranks for that term validates he must be the best.
If you really want to hire the best SEOs out there wouldn't a better strategy be to find out who is optimizing the sites that are ranking for keywords like "real estate", "investments", "checking", "jobs" and "viagra"? That's who you want to hire. There are alot of phonies out there but there really are smart, hard working SEOs who bust their asses night and day optimizing websites as well. You just don't hear from them because they are busy busting ass all the time. Except for when they take a break and post comments on blogs they like...
Posted by: Amanda | June 12, 2009 at 04:32 PM
@ Mic
You're the "best SEO guy" but you state:
"Glad I became aware of Rick's blog, I'll continue to visit. Fun to hook up with other peeps interested in the same stuff! It's all good."
Ouch bro... any good SEO guy knows the importance of domains in the mix, and Rick's Blog is one of the best known for learning about domain investing. This is something you, as an SEO expert, should have already known. Todd Mintz, SEO expert from Oregon knew this... so score one for Todd. (all in good fun, nobody really is keeping score!)
;-)
Posted by: Successclick | June 13, 2009 at 07:56 AM
I suppose I should leave this alone but...
@Amanda - I bust my ass night and day for clients getting them to rank very well thank you for highly competitive terms. I have a long and proven track record with lots of clients! But everyone needs to have a little fun sometimes. I also find time to golf, coach a baseball team, and spend quality time with the family. So yeah, I manged to squeeze in the approximate 30 minutes it took me to build the "Best SEO Guy" site which was really just a wild hair I had and I threw it up for fun.
And...
@Successclick - There are lots and lots and lots of very informative experts in the field out there and I'm sure I know of plenty that you don't. I have tons of resources bookmarked and I'm constantly reading articles linked by others on Twitter feeds etc. So just because I didn't know of Rick;s blog before this doesn't speak to my knowledge of the subject.
Sheesh!
Posted by: micadelic | July 06, 2009 at 11:52 PM
I just trackback this useful post onto our blog. Thanks for shared this awesome info.
Posted by: Sulumits Retsambew | August 05, 2009 at 02:53 AM
Like the author of this post, I also hate spammers but I am an SEO expert. In my profession, You cannot avoid an encounter with spammers. On my part I am trying to prove that I am a true blood SEO.
Posted by: seo search | October 12, 2009 at 10:03 PM
One thing I really hated when doing blogs is "SPAMMING". I really hate it because it plays a significant role in your brand's destruction online.
Posted by: decorating fabric | November 27, 2009 at 07:10 AM
Yes you are right some are spammers just like the viagra crowd. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: seo service | January 22, 2010 at 09:45 AM
@micadelic
You said "There are lots and lots and lots of very informative experts in the field out there and I'm sure I know of plenty that you don't."
Yep, I only know a few SEO guys, and that's because they're all the best of the best. But you're making the excuse that you don't know the BEST of the domainers because there are "lots and lots of very informative experts".
In the domain industry, you can easily say there are only about 25 great domain experts who post regularly, and you should have known about each of them as an "SEO expert".
It would be interesting to have you post the names of 10 blogs (with Rick's permission) you think are worthy of the "best" domain advice.
;-)
Posted by: Stephen Douglas | January 25, 2010 at 09:01 AM