<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd"
	xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
>

<channel>
	<title>Search Engine Optimization Blog</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog</link>
	<description>Optimize for top 10 natural rankings</description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:07:10 +0000</pubDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5</generator>
	<language>en</language>
		<!-- podcast_generator="podPress/8.8" -->
		<copyright>&#xA9; </copyright>
		<managingEditor>admin@rankrover.com ()</managingEditor>
		<webMaster>admin@rankrover.com()</webMaster>
		<category></category>
		<itunes:keywords></itunes:keywords>
		<itunes:subtitle></itunes:subtitle>
		<itunes:summary>Optimize for top 10 natural rankings</itunes:summary>
		<itunes:author></itunes:author>
		<itunes:category text="Society &amp; Culture"/>
		<itunes:owner>
			<itunes:name></itunes:name>
			<itunes:email>admin@rankrover.com</itunes:email>
		</itunes:owner>
		<itunes:block>No</itunes:block>
		<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
		<itunes:image href="http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress_large.jpg" />
		<image>
			<url>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg</url>
			<title>Search Engine Optimization Blog</title>
			<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog</link>
			<width>144</width>
			<height>144</height>
		</image>
		<item>
		<title>Yahoo! Yahoo! Yahoo!</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/yahoo-yahoo-yahoo/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/yahoo-yahoo-yahoo/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:07:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Wall</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9574 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pThe WSJ a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122697024336935679.htmlreported/a that Jerry Yang is stepping down from the Yahoo! CEO role as soon as the board can find a replacement. May the bleeding soon stop. To appreciate the agony Jerry Yang lived through watch this Web 2.0 interview of him by John Battellebr /
object width=425 height=344br /
param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/7CrcXSiKbiAamp;hl=enamp;fs=1/param
param name=allowFullScreen value=true/param
param name=allowscriptaccess value=always/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/7CrcXSiKbiAamp;hl=enamp;fs=1 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowscriptaccess=always allowfullscreen=true width=425 height=344/embed/object/p
pTo appreciate the agony that Jerry put shareholders through, look at Yahoo!'s stock chartbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/yhoo-stock.png/p
pHow long until Microsoft buys Yahoo!?/p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pThe WSJ a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122697024336935679.htmlreported/a that Jerry Yang is stepping down from the Yahoo! CEO role as soon as the board can find a replacement. May the bleeding soon stop. To appreciate the agony Jerry Yang lived through watch this Web 2.0 interview of him by John Battellebr /
object width=425 height=344br /
param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/7CrcXSiKbiAamp;hl=enamp;fs=1/param
param name=allowFullScreen value=true/param
param name=allowscriptaccess value=always/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/7CrcXSiKbiAamp;hl=enamp;fs=1 type=application/x-shockwave-flash allowscriptaccess=always allowfullscreen=true width=425 height=344/embed/object/p
pTo appreciate the agony that Jerry put shareholders through, look at Yahoo!'s stock chartbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/yhoo-stock.png/p
pHow long until Microsoft buys Yahoo!?/p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/yahoo-yahoo-yahoo/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Free Search Marketing RFP Proposal Template</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/free-search-marketing-rfp-proposal-template/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/free-search-marketing-rfp-proposal-template/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:53:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Da Vanzo</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9569 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pIn response to my post yesterday A href=http://www.seobook.com/art-seo-proposalThe Art Of The SEO Proposal/a, we had a a href=http://www.seobook.com/art-seo-proposal#commentsfew comments/a from readers wanting to see examples of proposals. Thanks for the feedback, guys. It really helps us to cover areas you find most valuable./p
pI looked back through some old proposals looking for examples, and here's the one that earned me the most money:/p
blockquotep
Hi (name removed),/p
pIt was great to meet up and hear about your plans for (name removed)./p
pAs discussed, this email is to confirm the scope of the project./p
pI will undertake search marketing for (name removed) with the aim of generating new sales leads. The KPI will be based around increasing the volume of verifiable leads per month, and demonstrating these leads came from search engine visitors./p
pContract to follow./p
pKind regards,/p
pPeter
/p/blockquote
pFeel free to use it ;)/p
pThe problem with templates, and why I don't recommend relying on them, is that they aren't specific. There are no magic words that will ensure clients sign on the line. If you're pitching for thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars worth of work, then you need to do upfront research regarding the clients specific business problems, and that must flow through into your proposal. /p
pThe exception is if you're taking a throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach, in which case you just need to swap out a few details. Personally, when I receive such proposals, I bin them, and then make a mental note not to have anything to do with that company again. If they can't be bothered, then why should I?  /p
pThe proposal above, which was just an email, was arrived at after a working lunch. The client came to me by a word of mouth reference. This particular client was the internet marketing manager for a large, international bank. /p
pOver lunch, I asked questions about the clients business, the problems they faced, and what they hoped to achieve. I made it clear to the client before lunch that if I didn't see an opportunity to get them more business using search marketing, then I would tell them so. No hard feelings, and at least we'd have a nice lunch./p
pIt turned out that was the right thing to say for ithis particular client/i, as he had a dim view of search marketers - he'd engaged people in the past, and it hadn't worked out - and he was visibly relived when I started to talking about solving business problems, rather than rankings, links and tags. /p
pIn this instance, the proposal fit the client. He was already sold by the time I put something in writing, he just wanted to sign-off and get on with it. /p
pHowever, template guidelines can be useful, especially if you're struggling to know what to say. Proposals are a plan for solving a problem, and they outline the terms of engagement. You need to state what the problem is, explain how you're going to solve it, and explain why you're the best person to solve that problem./p
pOne of our readers, Hugo Guzman, from a href=http://www.zetainteractive.com/zetainteractive.com/a provided a a href=http://www.seobook.com/art-seo-proposal#32805great example of structure he uses/a, which I'll reproduce here:/p
blockquotep
1) Clear bullet points on scope of work (details, details, details)/p
p2) Emphasis on three main facets of SEO (site-side, link building, analytics). In many cases, it's our ability to demonstrate link building or analytics proficiency that wins the business./p
p3) Emphasis on the tie between SEO and social media/p
p5) Emphasis on the tie between SEO and content development/p
p6) Emphasis on our team's ability to work directly with client stakeholders (IT/Dev, marketing, PR, and even legal for some clients)/p
p7) Emphasis on our team's ability to take overall business goals into account (not just being SEO-centric)/p
p8) Emphasis on ROI (explaining how you will justify their monthly spend...again it's all about the details)/p
p9) Emphasis on the idea that SEO is ongoing and not a one-time engagement/p
p10) Emphasis on the importance of baking SEO into redesigns, site migrations and even the addition of a single page of content/p
p11) Case studies and client testimonials/p
p12) Emphasis on our efforts to be thought leaders in the space (aka shameless plug for my blogging efforts over the years)/p/blockquote
pThat's a good a structure as any, and notice how Hugo emphasizes the need for details, details, details. There are no short-cut to specifics, and you need to understand the clients business in order to provide them. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Most clients will appreciate your level of interest. /p
pHere are a few other template ideas to get you started: /p
ul
liClearly state the problems you will solve. Grab a sales proposal response table to help you map out and address problems. Here's a a href=http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC012110171033.aspxfree response table template from Microsoft/a/li
liAddress the customers issues, one by one. Use the customers name frequently/li
liOrganize the proposal either a) exactly the way the customer has specified or b) by order of issues, from most important to the customer, to the least./li
liTry to articulate benefits, as opposed to features/i
liMost customers skim proposals, so use bold headings, graphics, and break the proposal up into themes. White space is your friend./li
/ul
pIn terms of structure, SEO proposals typically include the following:/p
ul
liCovering Letter - summarizes the main points. Briefly. If there are five other proposals sitting on the clients desk, what is going to entice the client to pick-up your one? Clue: it's about them, not you./li
liArticulate The Business Problem/li
liArticulate Measures of Success/KPI/li
liOutline Your Solution/li
liSpecify the work you will do - break it down into tasks. Don't go into cryptic detail concerning SEO minutiae. Keep it broad and general, and pitched in terms the customer will understand without resorting to a Google search./li
liProvide a time scale and budget/li
liProvide case studies, recommendations, and outline of your skills and qualifications. In my experience, case studies are pure gold. Clients want to know you're solved these types of problems before, which lessens the clients risk./li
/ul
pThere are, of course, a million ways ways to skin a cat. If people have any further suggestions and proposal examples they would like to share, please add them to the comments./p
h3Further Reading:/h3
ul
liA href=http://www.tkg.com/webdevelopmentrfpSample Web Development RFP/a/li
liA href=http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3098691Why an SEM RFP Is a Mistake, Part 1/a/li
liA href=http://www.vizioninteractive.com/search-engine-optimization-request-for-proposal-rfp/SEO Request for Proposal RFP/a/li
liA href=http://www.rimmkaufman.com/content/aprk-marketingprofs-sem-survey-2005-03-21.xlsSEM RFP (.XLS)/a/li
/ul
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pIn response to my post yesterday A href=http://www.seobook.com/art-seo-proposalThe Art Of The SEO Proposal/a, we had a a href=http://www.seobook.com/art-seo-proposal#commentsfew comments/a from readers wanting to see examples of proposals. Thanks for the feedback, guys. It really helps us to cover areas you find most valuable./p
pI looked back through some old proposals looking for examples, and here's the one that earned me the most money:/p
blockquotep
Hi (name removed),/p
pIt was great to meet up and hear about your plans for (name removed)./p
pAs discussed, this email is to confirm the scope of the project./p
pI will undertake search marketing for (name removed) with the aim of generating new sales leads. The KPI will be based around increasing the volume of verifiable leads per month, and demonstrating these leads came from search engine visitors./p
pContract to follow./p
pKind regards,/p
pPeter
/p/blockquote
pFeel free to use it ;)/p
pThe problem with templates, and why I don't recommend relying on them, is that they aren't specific. There are no magic words that will ensure clients sign on the line. If you're pitching for thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars worth of work, then you need to do upfront research regarding the clients specific business problems, and that must flow through into your proposal. /p
pThe exception is if you're taking a throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach, in which case you just need to swap out a few details. Personally, when I receive such proposals, I bin them, and then make a mental note not to have anything to do with that company again. If they can't be bothered, then why should I?  /p
pThe proposal above, which was just an email, was arrived at after a working lunch. The client came to me by a word of mouth reference. This particular client was the internet marketing manager for a large, international bank. /p
pOver lunch, I asked questions about the clients business, the problems they faced, and what they hoped to achieve. I made it clear to the client before lunch that if I didn't see an opportunity to get them more business using search marketing, then I would tell them so. No hard feelings, and at least we'd have a nice lunch./p
pIt turned out that was the right thing to say for ithis particular client/i, as he had a dim view of search marketers - he'd engaged people in the past, and it hadn't worked out - and he was visibly relived when I started to talking about solving business problems, rather than rankings, links and tags. /p
pIn this instance, the proposal fit the client. He was already sold by the time I put something in writing, he just wanted to sign-off and get on with it. /p
pHowever, template guidelines can be useful, especially if you're struggling to know what to say. Proposals are a plan for solving a problem, and they outline the terms of engagement. You need to state what the problem is, explain how you're going to solve it, and explain why you're the best person to solve that problem./p
pOne of our readers, Hugo Guzman, from a href=http://www.zetainteractive.com/zetainteractive.com/a provided a a href=http://www.seobook.com/art-seo-proposal#32805great example of structure he uses/a, which I'll reproduce here:/p
blockquotep
1) Clear bullet points on scope of work (details, details, details)/p
p2) Emphasis on three main facets of SEO (site-side, link building, analytics). In many cases, it's our ability to demonstrate link building or analytics proficiency that wins the business./p
p3) Emphasis on the tie between SEO and social media/p
p5) Emphasis on the tie between SEO and content development/p
p6) Emphasis on our team's ability to work directly with client stakeholders (IT/Dev, marketing, PR, and even legal for some clients)/p
p7) Emphasis on our team's ability to take overall business goals into account (not just being SEO-centric)/p
p8) Emphasis on ROI (explaining how you will justify their monthly spend...again it's all about the details)/p
p9) Emphasis on the idea that SEO is ongoing and not a one-time engagement/p
p10) Emphasis on the importance of baking SEO into redesigns, site migrations and even the addition of a single page of content/p
p11) Case studies and client testimonials/p
p12) Emphasis on our efforts to be thought leaders in the space (aka shameless plug for my blogging efforts over the years)/p/blockquote
pThat's a good a structure as any, and notice how Hugo emphasizes the need for details, details, details. There are no short-cut to specifics, and you need to understand the clients business in order to provide them. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Most clients will appreciate your level of interest. /p
pHere are a few other template ideas to get you started: /p
ul
liClearly state the problems you will solve. Grab a sales proposal response table to help you map out and address problems. Here's a a href=http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC012110171033.aspxfree response table template from Microsoft/a/li
liAddress the customers issues, one by one. Use the customers name frequently/li
liOrganize the proposal either a) exactly the way the customer has specified or b) by order of issues, from most important to the customer, to the least./li
liTry to articulate benefits, as opposed to features/i
liMost customers skim proposals, so use bold headings, graphics, and break the proposal up into themes. White space is your friend./li
/ul
pIn terms of structure, SEO proposals typically include the following:/p
ul
liCovering Letter - summarizes the main points. Briefly. If there are five other proposals sitting on the clients desk, what is going to entice the client to pick-up your one? Clue: it's about them, not you./li
liArticulate The Business Problem/li
liArticulate Measures of Success/KPI/li
liOutline Your Solution/li
liSpecify the work you will do - break it down into tasks. Don't go into cryptic detail concerning SEO minutiae. Keep it broad and general, and pitched in terms the customer will understand without resorting to a Google search./li
liProvide a time scale and budget/li
liProvide case studies, recommendations, and outline of your skills and qualifications. In my experience, case studies are pure gold. Clients want to know you're solved these types of problems before, which lessens the clients risk./li
/ul
pThere are, of course, a million ways ways to skin a cat. If people have any further suggestions and proposal examples they would like to share, please add them to the comments./p
h3Further Reading:/h3
ul
liA href=http://www.tkg.com/webdevelopmentrfpSample Web Development RFP/a/li
liA href=http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3098691Why an SEM RFP Is a Mistake, Part 1/a/li
liA href=http://www.vizioninteractive.com/search-engine-optimization-request-for-proposal-rfp/SEO Request for Proposal RFP/a/li
liA href=http://www.rimmkaufman.com/content/aprk-marketingprofs-sem-survey-2005-03-21.xlsSEM RFP (.XLS)/a/li
/ul
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/free-search-marketing-rfp-proposal-template/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Google Finance Adds AdSense Ads</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/google-finance-adds-adsense-ads/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/google-finance-adds-adsense-ads/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:25:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Wall</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9566 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pGoogle recently added a big ugly AdSense block to Google Finance. It looks poorly integrated and noisy.br /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/google-finance-adsense.png/p
pI am surprised they didn't look to take a page out of Yahoo!'s book on this front. Yahoo!'s ads offer more in the lines of branding, and they also sell custom research reports (likely on a CPA model).br /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/yhoo-finance-ads.pngbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/yhoo-goog-reports.png/p
pAnyone who thinks Google has fully tapped out its revenue potential needs to be reminded that Google and YouTube are leading downstream destinations from Google. /p
pa href=http://www.semrush.com/img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-top-100.png border=0/a/p
pMany of these onebox and universal search destinations (Finance, maps/local, product search, real estate, movies, travel, video, lyrics, books) can be monetized at much higher rates than whatever AdSense is yielding, and Google sees all the AdWords data, so they can tackle any new vertical they want (employment? education? healthcare? finance? ) and compete based on under-monetizing themselves in the short term, aggressive launchtime public relations, and giving themselves free traffic from the search results./p
pAs long as Google does not a href=http://www.skrenta.com/2008/02/the_peanut_butter_jar_is_empty.htmldestroy their brand/a, a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?ex=1312776000punt on user privacy/a, a href=http://www.seobook.com/will-people-view-google-microsoftraise anti-trust concerns/a, or lose a href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/06/google-open-access-copyrighta major copyright battle/a they have lots of upside left./p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pGoogle recently added a big ugly AdSense block to Google Finance. It looks poorly integrated and noisy.br /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/google-finance-adsense.png/p
pI am surprised they didn't look to take a page out of Yahoo!'s book on this front. Yahoo!'s ads offer more in the lines of branding, and they also sell custom research reports (likely on a CPA model).br /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/yhoo-finance-ads.pngbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/yhoo-goog-reports.png/p
pAnyone who thinks Google has fully tapped out its revenue potential needs to be reminded that Google and YouTube are leading downstream destinations from Google. /p
pa href=http://www.semrush.com/img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-top-100.png border=0/a/p
pMany of these onebox and universal search destinations (Finance, maps/local, product search, real estate, movies, travel, video, lyrics, books) can be monetized at much higher rates than whatever AdSense is yielding, and Google sees all the AdWords data, so they can tackle any new vertical they want (employment? education? healthcare? finance? ) and compete based on under-monetizing themselves in the short term, aggressive launchtime public relations, and giving themselves free traffic from the search results./p
pAs long as Google does not a href=http://www.skrenta.com/2008/02/the_peanut_butter_jar_is_empty.htmldestroy their brand/a, a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/technology/09aol.html?ex=1312776000punt on user privacy/a, a href=http://www.seobook.com/will-people-view-google-microsoftraise anti-trust concerns/a, or lose a href=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/nov/06/google-open-access-copyrighta major copyright battle/a they have lots of upside left./p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/google-finance-adds-adsense-ads/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Art Of The SEO Proposal</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/the-art-of-the-seo-proposal/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/the-art-of-the-seo-proposal/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:49:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Da Vanzo</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9545 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pimg src=/images/seoproposal.jpg/p
pFollowing on from last weeks post, a href=http://www.seobook.com/how-be-seo-service-providerHow To Be An SEO Service Provider/a, we'll now take a look at the art of the SEO proposal./p
pPitching and proposal writing is a time consuming business, so ideally you want to put your efforts where they will get the most reward. Here are a few tips on how to land the best clients, and how to avoid wasting your time./p
h3It's Not About You, It's About Them/h3
pThe first rule when pitching or writing a proposal is to put yourself in your clients shoes. /p
pWhat would be your concerns? What would be holding you back from handing over thousands of dollars for SEO services? You'll need to anticipate those concerns, and be able to counter them in order to win the job./p
pIn my experience, here are the most common concerns you'll come up against: /p
ul
liWill it work?/li
liIs my money better spent elsewhere?/li
liHow does this help me achieve my goals?/li
liAm I being ripped off?/li
liWill this make me look stupid?/li
/ul
pTo overcome these objections, it is a good idea to have case studies and references prepared. Use before and after scenarios which demonstrate how your skills solved a problem and added value. Here's a a href=http://www.xs4all.nl/~nevejan/oro.oro/transcripties/html/whalentrans.htmlgreat one/a by a href=http://www.highrankings.com/Jill Whalen/a./p
pThe killer hook is at the end:/p
blockquotep
High rankings are great, but what do they mean to a business? We talked to Doctor Bowler from Georgetown Surgical recently, and asked him, was he getting new business from the Internet? He was getting two to four new patients a week with his old website, and he's currently getting 50 to 70 new patients a week. That's a dramatic difference: he was nearly going bankrupt and was close to shutting up shop, and now he has to hire a new surgeon.
/p/blockquote
pNow, who wouldn't buy that!/p
pDemonstrate the value of your services over and above what your service costs to provide. For example, try to show revenue increases, as Jill did. You could also show traffic increases, and value these clicks against the PPC prices for these same keyword terms./p
pimg src=/images/golfing-keyword.png/p
pA variety of tools, including A href=https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandboxGoogle Traffic Estimator/a, can help you estimate the value of search traffic. /p
pReferences are also valuable, because clients often seek out independent verification of what you're saying. bTreat every client you have as a potential future salesperson/b./p
pIf you're new to the game, and don't yet have any case studies or references, then consider doing a few freebie jobs. Theses jobs are essentially a marketing spend i.e. you spend time, but in return you'll be able to create case studies and get the references you need. /p
pDon't give away your services to just anyone. The bigger the names, the better. You'll be associated with success. High profile charity organizations might be a good place to start./p
pa href=http://www.quicksprout.com/ Neil Patel/a got his start by giving free SEO tips to top tech bloggers. Bloggers have a big reach and lots of link equity that can be leveraged, so helping them can work just like helping a charity. /p
pProbably the most valuable thing you can do, in terms of landing a sale, is to make a real effort to understand the clients business. Find out who their competition is, research their market sector, and ask questions. Most business people will appreciate you going the extra mile to truly understand them, and the issues they face./p
h3It's Not About Them, It's About You/h3
pThe flip-side of the argument is is this pitch worth your time?/p
pThe unfortunate reality is that some clients are not clients at all. They might be competitors trying to find out your pricing structures and strategic approach. They might be tire-kickers trying to scope the market. They could be bottom feeders who want the earth, yet are only willing to pay a few hundred dollars./p
pYou need to quickly identify these people, for the sake of both your business, and your sanity. Make sure you're only giving away detailed strategy and pricing information if you're close to the sale. To exclude bottom feeders, mention a minimum starting price early on./p
pIn my post a href=http://www.seobook.com/how-be-seo-service-providerHow To Be An SEO Service Provider/a, I question if it's a good idea to use the SEO client model at all:/p
blockquotep
Here is why I think some of you might be selling yourself short if you sell your hard won skills to clients./p
pIf you can return real value to clients i.e. not just ranking and traffic, but real tangible, value - then why aren't you keeping all that value for yourself? Why not compete with them instead? How about partnering with people so you get to keep an on-going share of their business? If you can position sites in lucrative keyword areas, that is a very valuable skill. Can clients even afford to pay what you're really worth? If you're really good at SEO, do you really need clients? 
/p/blockquote
pUnlike PPC, SEO is a strategy that requires significant client buy-in in order to work well. The reality is that the bigger the client, the less likely you are going to get your way until you've proven your worth. It's a catch 22 situation. /p
pTest the clients expectations early and be upfront about what it's going to take. For example, who has control over the website? i.e. are you talking to the right person? How much are you going to be able to alter the website? Why do they deserve to be number one? What are they prepared to do to get there?/p
h3 It's About You And The Client/h3
pThe happy medium is to land a client you can work with for mutual benefit./p
pWhen I was doing SEO for clients, I wrote up an ideal client profile. If the prospective client fell outside this profile, I wouldn't take the proposal any further./p
pFor me, the ideal SEO client:/p
ul
liHas reasonable expectations/li
liRuns a profitable business/li
liDoes not compete in saturated markets/li
liIs already ranking, but not near as well as they should/li
liHas some knowledge about SEO already/li
liIs a known brand/li
/ul
pThere are exceptions, of course, but clients who fit this profile were a lot easier to deal with, and a lot more profitable than the alternative. /p
pOne area I found that really makes a difference is how much the client knows about SEO. If a client has the wrong idea about SEO, then you're going to be spending a lot of your time educating both them and their design teams. This can be a long, costly unproductive process./p
pOne way to get around this is to start with PPC. /p
pPPC is low impact. You can use PPC to demonstrate to the client that the traffic is there, and that s/he is missing out on it. If the PPC spend is high, you can then demonstrate how you can create cost efficiencies by getting that traffic at a lower cost, using SEO. It's a good way to educate clients by showing, rather than telling. /p
h3Align Metrics With Business Goals/h3
pA lot of SEOs don't do this, and I suspect it's the prime reason the industry has earned a bad reputation./p
pFor example, a lot of SEO is sold on the basis that the client will get an increase in rankings. /p
pSo what? /p
pAn increase in ranking is meaningless unless it translates to a desired action. Some clients will be fooled by such metrics for a while, but they are unlikely to remain so. /p
pEventually, they will look at their marketing spend, then look at their traffic numbers. If those referrals from search engines aren't heading up, then you're unlikely to get on-going work. If you're not getting on-going work, then you'll spend a lot of your time on the expensive sales process as you churn and burn your way through clients. Not that this isn't a valid business model, but it can be a difficult way to go about things. /p
pLikewise, traffic can be a poor metric. /p
pIt works for a while, but unless the client is solely preoccupied with traffic numbers i.e. sites that sell advertising based on page view numbers tend to focus a lot on pure traffic volume, then you're unlikely to get long term business. The traffic needs to turn into a relationship, a sale, or an inquiry. Marketing spend, in all businesses, needs to be justified in terms of the bottom line.  Everything, eventually, comes back to revenue./p
pIf you can help the client increase revenue, then you'll make yourself indispensable. Show how SEO fits into their business objectives, which is why making an effort to understand their business is so important. At that point, you can start to reorient their web strategy around SEO. /p
pNot only does this give you more sway, but it increases the chances of future work. For example, you could turn a brochure-web strategy into a publication strategy, which then opens up more content writing opportunities. The client is not going to be able to change a thing until they talk to you first./p
pIf you're in it for the long term, then that's where you want to be. /p
h3Further Reading/h3
ul
lia href=http://training.seobook.com/selling-seo-servicesSelling SEO Services Membership Area/a/li
lia href=http://www.canadabusiness.ca/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1104766631778amp;pagename=CBSC_AB%2FCBSC_WebPage%2FCBSC_WebPage_Tempamp;c=CBSC_WebPageWriting A Business Proposal/a/li
lia href=http://www.tkg.com/SEOAndMarketing.htmlExample Of SEO RFP/a/li
/ul
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pimg src=/images/seoproposal.jpg/p
pFollowing on from last weeks post, a href=http://www.seobook.com/how-be-seo-service-providerHow To Be An SEO Service Provider/a, we'll now take a look at the art of the SEO proposal./p
pPitching and proposal writing is a time consuming business, so ideally you want to put your efforts where they will get the most reward. Here are a few tips on how to land the best clients, and how to avoid wasting your time./p
h3It's Not About You, It's About Them/h3
pThe first rule when pitching or writing a proposal is to put yourself in your clients shoes. /p
pWhat would be your concerns? What would be holding you back from handing over thousands of dollars for SEO services? You'll need to anticipate those concerns, and be able to counter them in order to win the job./p
pIn my experience, here are the most common concerns you'll come up against: /p
ul
liWill it work?/li
liIs my money better spent elsewhere?/li
liHow does this help me achieve my goals?/li
liAm I being ripped off?/li
liWill this make me look stupid?/li
/ul
pTo overcome these objections, it is a good idea to have case studies and references prepared. Use before and after scenarios which demonstrate how your skills solved a problem and added value. Here's a a href=http://www.xs4all.nl/~nevejan/oro.oro/transcripties/html/whalentrans.htmlgreat one/a by a href=http://www.highrankings.com/Jill Whalen/a./p
pThe killer hook is at the end:/p
blockquotep
High rankings are great, but what do they mean to a business? We talked to Doctor Bowler from Georgetown Surgical recently, and asked him, was he getting new business from the Internet? He was getting two to four new patients a week with his old website, and he's currently getting 50 to 70 new patients a week. That's a dramatic difference: he was nearly going bankrupt and was close to shutting up shop, and now he has to hire a new surgeon.
/p/blockquote
pNow, who wouldn't buy that!/p
pDemonstrate the value of your services over and above what your service costs to provide. For example, try to show revenue increases, as Jill did. You could also show traffic increases, and value these clicks against the PPC prices for these same keyword terms./p
pimg src=/images/golfing-keyword.png/p
pA variety of tools, including A href=https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandboxGoogle Traffic Estimator/a, can help you estimate the value of search traffic. /p
pReferences are also valuable, because clients often seek out independent verification of what you're saying. bTreat every client you have as a potential future salesperson/b./p
pIf you're new to the game, and don't yet have any case studies or references, then consider doing a few freebie jobs. Theses jobs are essentially a marketing spend i.e. you spend time, but in return you'll be able to create case studies and get the references you need. /p
pDon't give away your services to just anyone. The bigger the names, the better. You'll be associated with success. High profile charity organizations might be a good place to start./p
pa href=http://www.quicksprout.com/ Neil Patel/a got his start by giving free SEO tips to top tech bloggers. Bloggers have a big reach and lots of link equity that can be leveraged, so helping them can work just like helping a charity. /p
pProbably the most valuable thing you can do, in terms of landing a sale, is to make a real effort to understand the clients business. Find out who their competition is, research their market sector, and ask questions. Most business people will appreciate you going the extra mile to truly understand them, and the issues they face./p
h3It's Not About Them, It's About You/h3
pThe flip-side of the argument is is this pitch worth your time?/p
pThe unfortunate reality is that some clients are not clients at all. They might be competitors trying to find out your pricing structures and strategic approach. They might be tire-kickers trying to scope the market. They could be bottom feeders who want the earth, yet are only willing to pay a few hundred dollars./p
pYou need to quickly identify these people, for the sake of both your business, and your sanity. Make sure you're only giving away detailed strategy and pricing information if you're close to the sale. To exclude bottom feeders, mention a minimum starting price early on./p
pIn my post a href=http://www.seobook.com/how-be-seo-service-providerHow To Be An SEO Service Provider/a, I question if it's a good idea to use the SEO client model at all:/p
blockquotep
Here is why I think some of you might be selling yourself short if you sell your hard won skills to clients./p
pIf you can return real value to clients i.e. not just ranking and traffic, but real tangible, value - then why aren't you keeping all that value for yourself? Why not compete with them instead? How about partnering with people so you get to keep an on-going share of their business? If you can position sites in lucrative keyword areas, that is a very valuable skill. Can clients even afford to pay what you're really worth? If you're really good at SEO, do you really need clients? 
/p/blockquote
pUnlike PPC, SEO is a strategy that requires significant client buy-in in order to work well. The reality is that the bigger the client, the less likely you are going to get your way until you've proven your worth. It's a catch 22 situation. /p
pTest the clients expectations early and be upfront about what it's going to take. For example, who has control over the website? i.e. are you talking to the right person? How much are you going to be able to alter the website? Why do they deserve to be number one? What are they prepared to do to get there?/p
h3 It's About You And The Client/h3
pThe happy medium is to land a client you can work with for mutual benefit./p
pWhen I was doing SEO for clients, I wrote up an ideal client profile. If the prospective client fell outside this profile, I wouldn't take the proposal any further./p
pFor me, the ideal SEO client:/p
ul
liHas reasonable expectations/li
liRuns a profitable business/li
liDoes not compete in saturated markets/li
liIs already ranking, but not near as well as they should/li
liHas some knowledge about SEO already/li
liIs a known brand/li
/ul
pThere are exceptions, of course, but clients who fit this profile were a lot easier to deal with, and a lot more profitable than the alternative. /p
pOne area I found that really makes a difference is how much the client knows about SEO. If a client has the wrong idea about SEO, then you're going to be spending a lot of your time educating both them and their design teams. This can be a long, costly unproductive process./p
pOne way to get around this is to start with PPC. /p
pPPC is low impact. You can use PPC to demonstrate to the client that the traffic is there, and that s/he is missing out on it. If the PPC spend is high, you can then demonstrate how you can create cost efficiencies by getting that traffic at a lower cost, using SEO. It's a good way to educate clients by showing, rather than telling. /p
h3Align Metrics With Business Goals/h3
pA lot of SEOs don't do this, and I suspect it's the prime reason the industry has earned a bad reputation./p
pFor example, a lot of SEO is sold on the basis that the client will get an increase in rankings. /p
pSo what? /p
pAn increase in ranking is meaningless unless it translates to a desired action. Some clients will be fooled by such metrics for a while, but they are unlikely to remain so. /p
pEventually, they will look at their marketing spend, then look at their traffic numbers. If those referrals from search engines aren't heading up, then you're unlikely to get on-going work. If you're not getting on-going work, then you'll spend a lot of your time on the expensive sales process as you churn and burn your way through clients. Not that this isn't a valid business model, but it can be a difficult way to go about things. /p
pLikewise, traffic can be a poor metric. /p
pIt works for a while, but unless the client is solely preoccupied with traffic numbers i.e. sites that sell advertising based on page view numbers tend to focus a lot on pure traffic volume, then you're unlikely to get long term business. The traffic needs to turn into a relationship, a sale, or an inquiry. Marketing spend, in all businesses, needs to be justified in terms of the bottom line.  Everything, eventually, comes back to revenue./p
pIf you can help the client increase revenue, then you'll make yourself indispensable. Show how SEO fits into their business objectives, which is why making an effort to understand their business is so important. At that point, you can start to reorient their web strategy around SEO. /p
pNot only does this give you more sway, but it increases the chances of future work. For example, you could turn a brochure-web strategy into a publication strategy, which then opens up more content writing opportunities. The client is not going to be able to change a thing until they talk to you first./p
pIf you're in it for the long term, then that's where you want to be. /p
h3Further Reading/h3
ul
lia href=http://training.seobook.com/selling-seo-servicesSelling SEO Services Membership Area/a/li
lia href=http://www.canadabusiness.ca/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1104766631778amp;pagename=CBSC_AB%2FCBSC_WebPage%2FCBSC_WebPage_Tempamp;c=CBSC_WebPageWriting A Business Proposal/a/li
lia href=http://www.tkg.com/SEOAndMarketing.htmlExample Of SEO RFP/a/li
/ul
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/the-art-of-the-seo-proposal/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Google&#8217;s Relevancy Algorithms Change by Keyword: Longtail vs Core Category Words</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/googles-relevancy-algorithms-change-by-keyword-longtail-vs-core-category-words/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/googles-relevancy-algorithms-change-by-keyword-longtail-vs-core-category-words/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:44:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Wall</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9539 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[h3Changes in Search/h3
pIn recent years a href=http://www.seobook.com/archives/002023.shtmlpersonalization/a, localization, a href=http://www.seobook.com/google-universal-searchuniversal search/a, a href=http://www.seobook.com/seo-tips-google-search-suggestsearch suggestion/a, and specialized algorithms like a href=http://www.seobook.com/archives/002295.shtmlquery deserves freshness/a have altered the landscape of search. But even outside of these add-ons, Google's core relevancy algorithms are (at least to some degree) query dependent. /p
h3Competitive Keywords/h3
pWhen there are many matching search results for a given search query, Google places a lot of weight on core domain age amp;  authority and on external signals of quality like link quality, link diversity, link anchor text and perhaps other signals of quality like usage data and a a href=http://www.seobook.com/archives/001661.shtmlLocalRank/a boost. For competitive queries where there are many matches a href=http://www.seobook.com/video-page-seo-tips-googleon page optimization/a is not given as much weight. /p
h3Long Tail Low Competition Keywords/h3
pFor search relevancy algorithms where there are fewer matches and fewer external signals of quality available, Google must put more weight on the content of individual pages. Where there is no community to rely upon Google must trust publishers. And while each longtail ranking might have little value the nickels and quarters add up. Their limited search volume and value leads many competitors to skip over them as they do not appear in most keyword research tools. /p
pIn a recent blog post the Google AdWords team a href=http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/11/reach-more-customers-with-broad-match.htmlasked/a Did you know that 20% of the queries Google receives each day are ones we haven’t seen in at least 90 days, if at all?/p
pThe same post highlighted that broad match currently accounts for over 1/3 of all clicks and conversions for advertisers, worldwide and that Google recently improved the search query report to provide more granular detail on which queries are triggering ads for your broad match keywords./p
h3A Comparison/h3
pThis graphic makes no attempt to be 100% correct for any given query, but just to show an illustrative difference between competitive keywords and non-competitive keywords./p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/competitive-keywords-vs-longtail-keywords.jpg/p
pIf you are starting a new site and have built little to no offsite signals of quality you can expect to rank for longtail phrases first. As your site builds authority you can compete for some of the head keywords./p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[h3Changes in Search/h3
pIn recent years a href=http://www.seobook.com/archives/002023.shtmlpersonalization/a, localization, a href=http://www.seobook.com/google-universal-searchuniversal search/a, a href=http://www.seobook.com/seo-tips-google-search-suggestsearch suggestion/a, and specialized algorithms like a href=http://www.seobook.com/archives/002295.shtmlquery deserves freshness/a have altered the landscape of search. But even outside of these add-ons, Google's core relevancy algorithms are (at least to some degree) query dependent. /p
h3Competitive Keywords/h3
pWhen there are many matching search results for a given search query, Google places a lot of weight on core domain age amp;  authority and on external signals of quality like link quality, link diversity, link anchor text and perhaps other signals of quality like usage data and a a href=http://www.seobook.com/archives/001661.shtmlLocalRank/a boost. For competitive queries where there are many matches a href=http://www.seobook.com/video-page-seo-tips-googleon page optimization/a is not given as much weight. /p
h3Long Tail Low Competition Keywords/h3
pFor search relevancy algorithms where there are fewer matches and fewer external signals of quality available, Google must put more weight on the content of individual pages. Where there is no community to rely upon Google must trust publishers. And while each longtail ranking might have little value the nickels and quarters add up. Their limited search volume and value leads many competitors to skip over them as they do not appear in most keyword research tools. /p
pIn a recent blog post the Google AdWords team a href=http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/11/reach-more-customers-with-broad-match.htmlasked/a Did you know that 20% of the queries Google receives each day are ones we haven’t seen in at least 90 days, if at all?/p
pThe same post highlighted that broad match currently accounts for over 1/3 of all clicks and conversions for advertisers, worldwide and that Google recently improved the search query report to provide more granular detail on which queries are triggering ads for your broad match keywords./p
h3A Comparison/h3
pThis graphic makes no attempt to be 100% correct for any given query, but just to show an illustrative difference between competitive keywords and non-competitive keywords./p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/competitive-keywords-vs-longtail-keywords.jpg/p
pIf you are starting a new site and have built little to no offsite signals of quality you can expect to rank for longtail phrases first. As your site builds authority you can compete for some of the head keywords./p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/googles-relevancy-algorithms-change-by-keyword-longtail-vs-core-category-words/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Word of Mouth Marketing vs Search: When Top Google Rankings Are Worthless</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/word-of-mouth-marketing-vs-search-when-top-google-rankings-are-worthless/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/word-of-mouth-marketing-vs-search-when-top-google-rankings-are-worthless/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:05:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Wall</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9390 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pAs an SEO professional it is easy to over-estimate a href=http://training.seobook.com/google-ranking-valuethe value of top search engine rankings/a. After all, we sell  traffic and rankings.  In some cases (thin affiliate sites, for instance) good SEO is the difference between a website worth $34 dollars and $34 million dollars, but for many service based businesses top rankings have little to no value./p
h3Top Rankings for the Wrong Keywords Can Harm Businesses/h3
pOne of my clients who sold expensive physical products with high shipping costs saw that there was a lot of search volume for their keywords using words like discount and cheap as modifiers. We ranked that site for those keywords, but we regretted doing so. /p
pThat client's business almost got destroyed through the combination of... /p
ul
lihaving more leads than they could possible handle (causing customer service quality to drop and them to miss some good leads)/li
liChargebacks from sleazy customers that would steal the product and then claim they never got it. (As it turns out, some leads are worth less than nothing)./li
/ul
pWhen you service clients shopping on price you often end up with a negative profit margin. Unfortunately, unlike during the late 90's, you can't make up for losses through high growth by selling your company's stock to suckers. :)/p
h3Rankings Do Not Sell Intangible Items or High End Services/h3
pIt is a bit of a paradox, but is something that should be discussed and explained more often than it is. About 3 years ago this site stopped ranking in Google for seo book because Google filtered out many sites that were aggressive with anchor text. Given that this site is linked to by SEO savvy people, the odds of it getting lots of focused anchor text aligned with the brand keywords are quite high./p
pIn spite of this site selling a how SEO ebook, sales during the month strongwhen the site was not even ranking for its own brand name/strong were (at that time) 85% of the all time peak in sales. Imagine seeing a site selling SEO information not even ranking for its own name, and then buying SEO information from that site...that is exactly what hundreds of people did, thanks to word of mouth marketing. /p
pIf Google banned this site we would still get lots of sales because so many people talk about us and recommend us./p
h3Brands Sell High End Services/h3
pa href=http://blogs.msdn.com/adcenter/archive/2008/02/22/brand-vs-generic-keywords.aspxBranded keywords convert to sales at a much higher rate than non-branded keywords/a. /p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/brand-keywords-generic-keywords.png/p
pMany of a href=http://www.wordtracker.com/reports.htmlthe most valuable and frequently searched keywords/a are branded searches. When someone searches for a brand they show they are (typically) trusting of that brand, and highly interested in related offers. /p
pThis site has over 1,000,000 inbound links and ranks for keywords like emSEO/em. And yet if you look at our top referring keywords, most of them are brand related. /p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/compete-seobook-top-words.png/p
pYes Google sends us that traffic, but that demand was created through branding and word of mouth marketing. Even if Google did not exist, most of those searchers would still find their way to this website. And those are the type of people who have a high conversion rate and are loyal customers.br /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/brand-related-keywords-ads.png/p
h3Word of Mouth Sells /h3
pOn a few occasions this site has been recommended on top marketing blogs like Copyblogger and Seth Godin's blog. On such occasions this site usually earns far more from that mention than it does from THOUSANDS of searchers visiting the site./p
h3Who do You Trust?/h3
pI spoke with guys like a href=http://sethgodin.typepad.com/Seth Godin/a, a href=http://www.copyblogger.com/Brian Clark/a, and a href=http://www.useit.com/Jakob Nielsen/a at a multi-billion dollar hedge fund's conference about a month ago. The reason they wanted to pay me to speak (and put us up in the Ritz-Carlton hotel) is because some of the companies they invested in asked them to have me come speak. During lunch at the conference I sat next to the external legal team from the hedge fund. I said to the lawyer next to me I bet all of your business comes from word of mouth he replied yes. In fact our marketing budget is $0./p
pCompare the value of a recommendation of a company you are invested in or partnered with to what Google recommends. Google has no problem recommending a href=http://www.google.com/search?q=search+engine+submissionsearch engine submission scams/a and in some cases even a href=http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/why_google_running_ads_known_malware_sitesmalware/a. They recommend... /p
ul
liwhatever is popular/li
liwhatever is controversial/li
liwhatever pays them the most per click/li
/ul
pGoogle can spend a lot cleaning up their marketplace, but there will always be offers that are below radar, just within the law, just outside of the law, and ones that are only legal because the law has not yet caught up with the market./p
pPeople often want to buy scams (lose 60 pounds in a month, guaranteed!!!), and Google gives them what they want./p
h3High End SEOs Do Not Attract Ideal Clients From Ranking/h3
pa href=http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/be-careful-of-w.htmlBe careful who you work for/a! I spoke with numerous friends who run service based SEO businesses, and they all agreed that less than 1% of the people who contact them are actually worth working for./p
pWhen a client asks for an RFP they typically are not worth working with, because they are not yet sold on you and your services and are uncertain what they want. The type of person who finds your marketing company via a search engine ranking is still a shopper, not a committed buyer. They will likely a href=http://www.johnon.com/293/seo-consulting-2.htmlbuy cheap, get scammed/a, and then go from there. /p
h3How to Get High Value SEO Leads Actually Worth Servicing/h3
pIf 99% of leads are crap, how do you access the 1% that have value? Easy.../p
ul
listrongSpeak at conferences/strong - I can't tell you how many clients have said they saw me speak at a conference...but almost all of the big spenders did. The people who attend these are spending thousands of dollars on learning already...it is a much bigger jump to go from $0 to $2,000 than it is to go from $2,000 to $20,000. /li
listrongWork for companies worth promoting amp; provide great service/strong - this is a no-brainer, but as Charlie Munger says The best source of new legal work is the work on your desk. Many of our clients have either recommended other companies hire us, or had staff move on to roles at new companies and want to hire us again./li
/ul
pSome SEOs speak at 20 or 30 conferences a year...existing primarily in the role of traveling salesman. They generate leads, while underwaged and underskilled people service the clients. Rarely do the people who know what they are doing work on the accounts, but the steady speaking engagements bring in new clients. /p
h3Search Isn't All Bad/h3
pSearch rankings help build awareness, invite low risk interactions (comments, reviews, etc.) that help show social proof of value, and can be a low cost lead source. But you still have to develop a relationship and build trust to sell.  /p
pIt is not that search is a poor lead channel...it is just that we trust humans more than machines, and that will probably remain true long after you and I die./p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pAs an SEO professional it is easy to over-estimate a href=http://training.seobook.com/google-ranking-valuethe value of top search engine rankings/a. After all, we sell  traffic and rankings.  In some cases (thin affiliate sites, for instance) good SEO is the difference between a website worth $34 dollars and $34 million dollars, but for many service based businesses top rankings have little to no value./p
h3Top Rankings for the Wrong Keywords Can Harm Businesses/h3
pOne of my clients who sold expensive physical products with high shipping costs saw that there was a lot of search volume for their keywords using words like discount and cheap as modifiers. We ranked that site for those keywords, but we regretted doing so. /p
pThat client's business almost got destroyed through the combination of... /p
ul
lihaving more leads than they could possible handle (causing customer service quality to drop and them to miss some good leads)/li
liChargebacks from sleazy customers that would steal the product and then claim they never got it. (As it turns out, some leads are worth less than nothing)./li
/ul
pWhen you service clients shopping on price you often end up with a negative profit margin. Unfortunately, unlike during the late 90's, you can't make up for losses through high growth by selling your company's stock to suckers. :)/p
h3Rankings Do Not Sell Intangible Items or High End Services/h3
pIt is a bit of a paradox, but is something that should be discussed and explained more often than it is. About 3 years ago this site stopped ranking in Google for seo book because Google filtered out many sites that were aggressive with anchor text. Given that this site is linked to by SEO savvy people, the odds of it getting lots of focused anchor text aligned with the brand keywords are quite high./p
pIn spite of this site selling a how SEO ebook, sales during the month strongwhen the site was not even ranking for its own brand name/strong were (at that time) 85% of the all time peak in sales. Imagine seeing a site selling SEO information not even ranking for its own name, and then buying SEO information from that site...that is exactly what hundreds of people did, thanks to word of mouth marketing. /p
pIf Google banned this site we would still get lots of sales because so many people talk about us and recommend us./p
h3Brands Sell High End Services/h3
pa href=http://blogs.msdn.com/adcenter/archive/2008/02/22/brand-vs-generic-keywords.aspxBranded keywords convert to sales at a much higher rate than non-branded keywords/a. /p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/brand-keywords-generic-keywords.png/p
pMany of a href=http://www.wordtracker.com/reports.htmlthe most valuable and frequently searched keywords/a are branded searches. When someone searches for a brand they show they are (typically) trusting of that brand, and highly interested in related offers. /p
pThis site has over 1,000,000 inbound links and ranks for keywords like emSEO/em. And yet if you look at our top referring keywords, most of them are brand related. /p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/compete-seobook-top-words.png/p
pYes Google sends us that traffic, but that demand was created through branding and word of mouth marketing. Even if Google did not exist, most of those searchers would still find their way to this website. And those are the type of people who have a high conversion rate and are loyal customers.br /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/brand-related-keywords-ads.png/p
h3Word of Mouth Sells /h3
pOn a few occasions this site has been recommended on top marketing blogs like Copyblogger and Seth Godin's blog. On such occasions this site usually earns far more from that mention than it does from THOUSANDS of searchers visiting the site./p
h3Who do You Trust?/h3
pI spoke with guys like a href=http://sethgodin.typepad.com/Seth Godin/a, a href=http://www.copyblogger.com/Brian Clark/a, and a href=http://www.useit.com/Jakob Nielsen/a at a multi-billion dollar hedge fund's conference about a month ago. The reason they wanted to pay me to speak (and put us up in the Ritz-Carlton hotel) is because some of the companies they invested in asked them to have me come speak. During lunch at the conference I sat next to the external legal team from the hedge fund. I said to the lawyer next to me I bet all of your business comes from word of mouth he replied yes. In fact our marketing budget is $0./p
pCompare the value of a recommendation of a company you are invested in or partnered with to what Google recommends. Google has no problem recommending a href=http://www.google.com/search?q=search+engine+submissionsearch engine submission scams/a and in some cases even a href=http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/why_google_running_ads_known_malware_sitesmalware/a. They recommend... /p
ul
liwhatever is popular/li
liwhatever is controversial/li
liwhatever pays them the most per click/li
/ul
pGoogle can spend a lot cleaning up their marketplace, but there will always be offers that are below radar, just within the law, just outside of the law, and ones that are only legal because the law has not yet caught up with the market./p
pPeople often want to buy scams (lose 60 pounds in a month, guaranteed!!!), and Google gives them what they want./p
h3High End SEOs Do Not Attract Ideal Clients From Ranking/h3
pa href=http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/be-careful-of-w.htmlBe careful who you work for/a! I spoke with numerous friends who run service based SEO businesses, and they all agreed that less than 1% of the people who contact them are actually worth working for./p
pWhen a client asks for an RFP they typically are not worth working with, because they are not yet sold on you and your services and are uncertain what they want. The type of person who finds your marketing company via a search engine ranking is still a shopper, not a committed buyer. They will likely a href=http://www.johnon.com/293/seo-consulting-2.htmlbuy cheap, get scammed/a, and then go from there. /p
h3How to Get High Value SEO Leads Actually Worth Servicing/h3
pIf 99% of leads are crap, how do you access the 1% that have value? Easy.../p
ul
listrongSpeak at conferences/strong - I can't tell you how many clients have said they saw me speak at a conference...but almost all of the big spenders did. The people who attend these are spending thousands of dollars on learning already...it is a much bigger jump to go from $0 to $2,000 than it is to go from $2,000 to $20,000. /li
listrongWork for companies worth promoting amp; provide great service/strong - this is a no-brainer, but as Charlie Munger says The best source of new legal work is the work on your desk. Many of our clients have either recommended other companies hire us, or had staff move on to roles at new companies and want to hire us again./li
/ul
pSome SEOs speak at 20 or 30 conferences a year...existing primarily in the role of traveling salesman. They generate leads, while underwaged and underskilled people service the clients. Rarely do the people who know what they are doing work on the accounts, but the steady speaking engagements bring in new clients. /p
h3Search Isn't All Bad/h3
pSearch rankings help build awareness, invite low risk interactions (comments, reviews, etc.) that help show social proof of value, and can be a low cost lead source. But you still have to develop a relationship and build trust to sell.  /p
pIt is not that search is a poor lead channel...it is just that we trust humans more than machines, and that will probably remain true long after you and I die./p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/word-of-mouth-marketing-vs-search-when-top-google-rankings-are-worthless/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How To Be An SEO Service Provider</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/how-to-be-an-seo-service-provider/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/how-to-be-an-seo-service-provider/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:59:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Da Vanzo</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9519 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pimg src=/images/seoagency.jpg/p
pWhen we asked for questions from our readers on topics they'd like to see covered, we received a few requests on how to set up an SEO agency and position the service./p
pHere's my take on it:/p
pbDon't do it!/b/p
pOK, I'm being facetious :)  But before you run out and sell your SEO skills, let's take a look at the issues, ways to get around them, and how to position your service so you get the greatest reward for your efforts./p
pI'll also explain why selling your SEO services might be selling yourself short. /p
h3SEO As A Career/h3
pThe news is good. According to a href=http://www.sempo.org/news/releases/08-05-08SEMPO/a, pay scales for SEOs are looking healthy: /p
blockquotep
Of those respondents with up to one year's experience, 60% reported annual salaries in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. Compensation tracks strongly with experience. At the next level, two to three years experience, almost 34% reported salaries in the $50,000 to $80,000 range. At the more seasoned end of the spectrum, of those professionals with nine or more years experience, just under 40% are earning between $90,000 and $140,000 annually.
/p/blockquote
pHowever, let's take a closer look at those numbers:/p
blockquotep
 More than 33% of the survey respondents said they managed both pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns and organic search marketing efforts. Another 35% said they worked primarily in PPC; some 20% worked primarily in organic search
/p/blockquote
pMost activity in the search marketing space is not SEO. It is PPC./p
pThe reason for this is because SEO is a long term strategy, yet a lot of marketing spend is dictated by short budget cycles. In order to land work, you must be able to demonstrate value reasonably quickly. PPC provides a way to do this. Once businesses are sold on search as a channel, then they'll consider planning for the longer term search strategies, such as SEO.  /p
pThe exception is when the client is already sold on the value of SEO. This type of client, who doesn't have an existing provider, or hasn't already moved the function in house, might be hard to find. /p
pThere is no harm learning both. PPC can teach you a lot a lot about SEO - mainly in terms of keyword research - and it increases your options. /p
h3Is Running A Business Really What You Want To Do?/h3
pThere is a big difference between knowing how to do SEO and selling a service to clients./p
pFor starters, there is the level of competition. Try searching for a href=http://www.google.com/search?hl=enamp;q=seo+provideramp;btnG=Searchseo providers/a. As you can see, the world isn't short of SEO providers! And a lot of them are competing on price. /p
pIn an industry with such a low barrier to entry, how will you stand out from the rest? You'll need to give prospective clients a good reason why your service is better than the others on offer. How do you intend to match or better the credentials of established operators? How can you differentiate your service? /p
pSecondly, how do you propose to sell your services? /p
pThe sales cycle is a significant cost, both in terms of time and resources. You can put a lot of effort into writing proposals, attending conferences, pitching presentations, and networking. None of this is guaranteed to pay off. And if you do land the work, how much time will you have to both do the SEO work and put in the sales effort required to land the next client? Can you scale up and take on qualified people quickly if that happens?/p
pThirdly, do you have sufficient cash reserves to live on while you're waiting for your first client to pay up? Cash flow can kill a small business, even those businesses which have a a lot of prospective work in the pipeline. The bills wait for no man. /p
pYou get my drift. There are  many other considerations before deciding to run your own business, but the takeaway point in terms of SEO is this: determine what you like doing best./p
pIf you like doing just SEO work, consider joining an established agency. They will take care of all the other details. If you want to build your own business empire, doing so mostly involves management, sales and administration. And, if you still have some time left over, some SEO. /p
h3Pay Models/h3
pHow will you be remunerated for your efforts?/p
pMost commonly, SEOs bill by the hour, or by the job. They set performance metrics, such as rankings and/or traffic numbers, and the job is completed when those metrics are achieved. The SEO might be able to get ongoing work in the form of reporting, or by extending the scope of the SEO project. The upside is that such a deal is simple. The downside is this needs to be sold over and over again. When you run out of hours to bill, you've hit the ceiling on your earnings potential, unless you raise your rates, or take on new people. /p
pIf you are confident of your skills, and can provide real value to a company - and that means boosting their sales and being able to prove it was you who made that happen - then consider partnership deals. /p
pFor example, one high profile SEO I know operates exclusively this way. He doesn't sell his services by the hour, he looks for businesses he can partner with, he boosts their earnings by implementing a robust, long term SEO campaign, then takes a share of their profit. This provides a healthy on-going revenue stream, without having to sell the service over and over again.  /p
pThis type of deal requires a great deal of trust and transparency, but it is worth doing if you are sure you can deliver value, and can find a solid, reliable partner. /p
pSome SEOs work on a Pay On Performance basis. This is a risky strategy, unless you are certain you can deliver the desired results. All the risk lies with you, and, really, you'd need to charge in such a way that accommodates this risk. Unfortunately, the type of clients who ask for pay-on-performance SEO deals are unlikely to be generous payers./p
h3The Future/h3
pWhile search engines deliver value, businesses will pay to be seen on them./p
pSEO sits awkwardly amongst other marketing channels. The search engines will always try to make PPC attractive, because that's how the search engines make their money. /p
pAt the same time, they'll try to negate the ivalue proposition/i of SEO, because SEO competes with PPC. SEOs are only useful to search engines in that they help spread the word about search engines, and they help sites get crawled. But don't think the search engines are going to do you, or your business model, any favors.  /p
pThis situation doesn't make the SEOs job impossible, but I'm sure many people would agree that offering SEO as a service is a lot harder than it once was. A few years ago, all you had to do was add a few keywords terms to the copy and titles, point a few links at a site, wait one month, run a ranking report, and voila! You're an SEO provider. /p
pNot any more./p
pSEO has become a much more holistic strategy. It requires a greater level of buy in from clients, designers, programmers, and all the other people who's toes you might tread on./p
pBut there is plenty of life in the game yet. A lot of SEOs do great business, as can be seen from the huge popularity of the conference circuit. A lot of marketing spend is A href=http://www.sempo.org/news/releases/03-17-08moving from other channels/a into search. By selling your services to others, you not only have an occupation, you gain insight into how other businesses work, which is a valuable education in itself.  /p
pI'll be going into greater detail on the workings of SEO consultancy in the coming months.  /p
h3Don't do it :) /h3
pHere is why I think some of you might be selling yourself short if you sell your hard won skills to clients. /p
pIf you can return real value to clients i.e. not just ranking and traffic, but real tangible, value - then why aren't you keeping all that value for yourself? Why not compete with them instead? How about partnering with people so you get to keep an on-going share of their business? If you can position sites in lucrative keyword areas, that is a very valuable skill. Can clients even afford to pay what you're really worth?  /p
pIf you're really good at SEO, do you really need clients? ;)/p
h3Further Reading:/h3
ul
lia href=http://training.seobook.com/selling-seo-servicesSelling SEO Services (Members Area)/a/li
lia href=http://www.sempo.org/homeSearch Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)/a/li
lia href=http://www.seobook.com/conferences/Search Engine Conference Calendar/a/li
lia href=http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-industry-survey-resultsSEO Industry Report Survey Results/a/li
/ul
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pimg src=/images/seoagency.jpg/p
pWhen we asked for questions from our readers on topics they'd like to see covered, we received a few requests on how to set up an SEO agency and position the service./p
pHere's my take on it:/p
pbDon't do it!/b/p
pOK, I'm being facetious :)  But before you run out and sell your SEO skills, let's take a look at the issues, ways to get around them, and how to position your service so you get the greatest reward for your efforts./p
pI'll also explain why selling your SEO services might be selling yourself short. /p
h3SEO As A Career/h3
pThe news is good. According to a href=http://www.sempo.org/news/releases/08-05-08SEMPO/a, pay scales for SEOs are looking healthy: /p
blockquotep
Of those respondents with up to one year's experience, 60% reported annual salaries in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. Compensation tracks strongly with experience. At the next level, two to three years experience, almost 34% reported salaries in the $50,000 to $80,000 range. At the more seasoned end of the spectrum, of those professionals with nine or more years experience, just under 40% are earning between $90,000 and $140,000 annually.
/p/blockquote
pHowever, let's take a closer look at those numbers:/p
blockquotep
 More than 33% of the survey respondents said they managed both pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns and organic search marketing efforts. Another 35% said they worked primarily in PPC; some 20% worked primarily in organic search
/p/blockquote
pMost activity in the search marketing space is not SEO. It is PPC./p
pThe reason for this is because SEO is a long term strategy, yet a lot of marketing spend is dictated by short budget cycles. In order to land work, you must be able to demonstrate value reasonably quickly. PPC provides a way to do this. Once businesses are sold on search as a channel, then they'll consider planning for the longer term search strategies, such as SEO.  /p
pThe exception is when the client is already sold on the value of SEO. This type of client, who doesn't have an existing provider, or hasn't already moved the function in house, might be hard to find. /p
pThere is no harm learning both. PPC can teach you a lot a lot about SEO - mainly in terms of keyword research - and it increases your options. /p
h3Is Running A Business Really What You Want To Do?/h3
pThere is a big difference between knowing how to do SEO and selling a service to clients./p
pFor starters, there is the level of competition. Try searching for a href=http://www.google.com/search?hl=enamp;q=seo+provideramp;btnG=Searchseo providers/a. As you can see, the world isn't short of SEO providers! And a lot of them are competing on price. /p
pIn an industry with such a low barrier to entry, how will you stand out from the rest? You'll need to give prospective clients a good reason why your service is better than the others on offer. How do you intend to match or better the credentials of established operators? How can you differentiate your service? /p
pSecondly, how do you propose to sell your services? /p
pThe sales cycle is a significant cost, both in terms of time and resources. You can put a lot of effort into writing proposals, attending conferences, pitching presentations, and networking. None of this is guaranteed to pay off. And if you do land the work, how much time will you have to both do the SEO work and put in the sales effort required to land the next client? Can you scale up and take on qualified people quickly if that happens?/p
pThirdly, do you have sufficient cash reserves to live on while you're waiting for your first client to pay up? Cash flow can kill a small business, even those businesses which have a a lot of prospective work in the pipeline. The bills wait for no man. /p
pYou get my drift. There are  many other considerations before deciding to run your own business, but the takeaway point in terms of SEO is this: determine what you like doing best./p
pIf you like doing just SEO work, consider joining an established agency. They will take care of all the other details. If you want to build your own business empire, doing so mostly involves management, sales and administration. And, if you still have some time left over, some SEO. /p
h3Pay Models/h3
pHow will you be remunerated for your efforts?/p
pMost commonly, SEOs bill by the hour, or by the job. They set performance metrics, such as rankings and/or traffic numbers, and the job is completed when those metrics are achieved. The SEO might be able to get ongoing work in the form of reporting, or by extending the scope of the SEO project. The upside is that such a deal is simple. The downside is this needs to be sold over and over again. When you run out of hours to bill, you've hit the ceiling on your earnings potential, unless you raise your rates, or take on new people. /p
pIf you are confident of your skills, and can provide real value to a company - and that means boosting their sales and being able to prove it was you who made that happen - then consider partnership deals. /p
pFor example, one high profile SEO I know operates exclusively this way. He doesn't sell his services by the hour, he looks for businesses he can partner with, he boosts their earnings by implementing a robust, long term SEO campaign, then takes a share of their profit. This provides a healthy on-going revenue stream, without having to sell the service over and over again.  /p
pThis type of deal requires a great deal of trust and transparency, but it is worth doing if you are sure you can deliver value, and can find a solid, reliable partner. /p
pSome SEOs work on a Pay On Performance basis. This is a risky strategy, unless you are certain you can deliver the desired results. All the risk lies with you, and, really, you'd need to charge in such a way that accommodates this risk. Unfortunately, the type of clients who ask for pay-on-performance SEO deals are unlikely to be generous payers./p
h3The Future/h3
pWhile search engines deliver value, businesses will pay to be seen on them./p
pSEO sits awkwardly amongst other marketing channels. The search engines will always try to make PPC attractive, because that's how the search engines make their money. /p
pAt the same time, they'll try to negate the ivalue proposition/i of SEO, because SEO competes with PPC. SEOs are only useful to search engines in that they help spread the word about search engines, and they help sites get crawled. But don't think the search engines are going to do you, or your business model, any favors.  /p
pThis situation doesn't make the SEOs job impossible, but I'm sure many people would agree that offering SEO as a service is a lot harder than it once was. A few years ago, all you had to do was add a few keywords terms to the copy and titles, point a few links at a site, wait one month, run a ranking report, and voila! You're an SEO provider. /p
pNot any more./p
pSEO has become a much more holistic strategy. It requires a greater level of buy in from clients, designers, programmers, and all the other people who's toes you might tread on./p
pBut there is plenty of life in the game yet. A lot of SEOs do great business, as can be seen from the huge popularity of the conference circuit. A lot of marketing spend is A href=http://www.sempo.org/news/releases/03-17-08moving from other channels/a into search. By selling your services to others, you not only have an occupation, you gain insight into how other businesses work, which is a valuable education in itself.  /p
pI'll be going into greater detail on the workings of SEO consultancy in the coming months.  /p
h3Don't do it :) /h3
pHere is why I think some of you might be selling yourself short if you sell your hard won skills to clients. /p
pIf you can return real value to clients i.e. not just ranking and traffic, but real tangible, value - then why aren't you keeping all that value for yourself? Why not compete with them instead? How about partnering with people so you get to keep an on-going share of their business? If you can position sites in lucrative keyword areas, that is a very valuable skill. Can clients even afford to pay what you're really worth?  /p
pIf you're really good at SEO, do you really need clients? ;)/p
h3Further Reading:/h3
ul
lia href=http://training.seobook.com/selling-seo-servicesSelling SEO Services (Members Area)/a/li
lia href=http://www.sempo.org/homeSearch Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO)/a/li
lia href=http://www.seobook.com/conferences/Search Engine Conference Calendar/a/li
lia href=http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-industry-survey-resultsSEO Industry Report Survey Results/a/li
/ul
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/how-to-be-an-seo-service-provider/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Social Media Marketing A Waste Of Time?</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/is-social-media-marketing-a-waste-of-time/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/is-social-media-marketing-a-waste-of-time/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:48:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>PeterD</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9511 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pimg src=/images/lemmings.jpg/p
pSocial media is the next big thing! No, it's ithe/i big thing! It is here, now, and it is big! Let's face it, if you're not aboard the cluetrain to social media marketing city, you're sitting on that station alone!/p
pA pity, then, that social media traffic is a href=http://www.seobook.com/can-you-trust-marketing-statisticsso often worthless/a. /p
pWorthless?/p
pLet's look at the market signals. Why is it that you pay dollars per click on Google Adwords for financial keywords, yet the same keywords on social networks are priced at five cents? /p
pThis suggests to me one of two things. Either the social networks are seriously underestimating the value of their own traffic, or most of the people on social networks aren't interested in commercial messages. If they were, then the bid values would closely match those of Google Adwords.  /p
pI think the latter is the most likely scenario. Social media traffic isn't priced higher, because it isn't translating into revenue for the advertisers. This isn't happening because the intent of the users when engaged with social media is not conducive to selling stuff. /p
pOf course, social media traffic isn't all bad. We'll look at some ways you can benefit from it. But firstly, let's compare and contrast some aspects of social media marketing and search marketing, in order to help clarify the value proposition.  /p
h31. Traffic Is Not An Asset, Traffic Is A Cost/h3
pTraffic only becomes an asset when it translates into something else. When it becomes a bookmark, a sign-up, a link, or helps establish a genuine relationship. It must also result in an increase in revenue. If it doesn't, then traffic remains an expense./p
pWhat is the value of 10,000 Diggers hitting your site to look at, say, a picture of a monkey riding a bicycle? Zero. The trouble is that a lot of marketers are watching the web scorecard - that spike in the visitor stats that shows the number of visits - and using that as a marketing metric. Hey, I'm popular!. /p
pSure, with 10,000 teenagers amused by a picture of a monkey riding a bicycle. But how is that helping boost revenue?/p
pThere isn't a lot of meaning to such a relationship. It is low value./p
blockquotep
a href=http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/silly-traffic.htmlThis is a truth of the Internet/a: When traffic comes to your site without focused intent, it bounces. 75% of all unfocused visitors leave within three seconds.Any site, anywhere, anytime. 75% bounce rate within three seconds. By unfocused, I mean people who visit via Digg or Stumbleupon or even a typical Google search.....I'm just looking, is no fun for most retailers. Yet they continue to pay high rent for high-traffic locations, and invest time and money in window displays. Very few retailers lament all the traffic that walks by the front door without ever walking in. A long time ago, they realized that the shoppers with focused intent are far more valuable. Smart retailers work hard to get focused people to walk in the door and to keep the riff raff walking on down the sidewalk..
/p/blockquote
h32. Uncontrolled Message/h3
pIt is difficult to control the message. Released into the wild of social networks, the message can just as easily result in negative effects as positive ones. /p
pCheck out this a href=http://cre8pc.com/blog/archives/198sad experience of being dugg/a, from Kim at Cre8Pc:/p
blockquotep
Since I logged off last night around midnight, 12 hours later, over 23,000 people have been to this blog. The reason is that someone dugg about the post I wrote, where I shared a resource I found useful. That post was dugg and the incoming traffic this blog is receiving is to that specific blog post I wrote....Diggers complained about everything from the site design of the site I wrote about, to how stupid I was to write about it at all.....Which part of this Digg activity am I supposed to be happy about, now that something I wrote has officially been slaughtered there?
/p/blockquote
pKim wasn't trying to get on Digg as part of a marketing strategy, but it shows how unpredictable the benefits of social media exposure can be. /p
pPerhaps this might explain why A href=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/26/google-walks-away-from-digg-deal/Digg has been left at the altar a few times?/a It suggests to me that it might be difficult to extract real commercial value from such environments. Part of the problem is structural. Digg is free and open and anonymous, which leads to a a href=http://dieoff.org/page95.htmtragedy of the commons/a. /p
pAt the risk of blowing our own horn, part of the reason our SEO community is valuable is because people have to pay for it. People have provided a signal of interest lacking on most broad social networks. There are no questions from a member named MakeEasyMoneyOnlineTodayRightNow asking how to get his adsense earnings up to $1 a day. The price of admission helps protect the community from the tragedy of the commons./p
h33. Branding Is Often An Excuse For Failed Marketing Campaigns/h3
pIt's a brand spend!. Marketers say that a lot./p
pWhat they often mean is we can find no no measurable return./p
pReturn on brand spend is very difficult to measure, and even more difficult to isolate in a channel such as online social media marketing. Did visitors remember our brand? Did it affect their future buying decisions? Was the brand association positive or negative?/p
pWho knows?/p
pIf you're thinking of engaging a social media marketer, and they use brand building as a metric, ask them to explain how they will demonstrate an increased, favorable level of brand awareness. If they mention traffic numbers, ask them how that squares with my first point Traffic Is Not An Asset, It Is A Cost./p
pTo my mind, any commercial endeavor must ultimately come back to revenue./p
h34. Level Of Interaction/h3
pWhat are people doing on social networks?/p
pOn the likes of Facebook, they are engaged in social activities. They are catching up with their friends. They are playing games. Marketing messages in this context are about as welcome as an Amway salesperson at a bachelor party./p
pConsider the context of the message. Search marketing works well because the searcher has already signaled their intent, and that intent may well be commercial. It's like walking into a shop, and asking to buy a watch. The relationship and interaction is direct and obvious. The context of social media is more like a cocktail party. People are there to socialize, not enter into commercial interactions. They may do so, but the relationship is fuzzy and indirect./p
pTo overcome this obstacle, look for social networks, or network groups, where the users demonstrate clear, commercial intent. Alternatively, have a clear idea of how you're going to progress fuzzy indirect visitors to desired action. /p
h35. Time/h3
pSocial media marketing is time consuming. /p
pBuilding your social networks. Responding to friends. Is there are measurable return for the time spent? What is the opportunity cost of that time?/p
pFor example, compare the time you need to get a commercial message on the front page of Digg, with getting a commercial message on the front page of Google. With Adwords, I can do it in seconds./p
pWith Digg, I'd be unlikely to get a marketing message to the top, unless I'd previously developed relationships with all the right people and/or gamed the system, which, in itself, takes a lot of time. Even then, the marketing message, unless heavily disguised, will likely be despised by a community rabidly opposed to any message with an obvious commercial imperative./p
pIs this time well spent on either channel? Once again, a cost/benefit analysis, where the benefits are clear and measurable, will provide the answer./p
h36. Rampant Stupidity amp; Useless Distractions/h3
pI guess no-one ever went broke underestimating human stupidity, but one really has to question the marketing value of a href=http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/11/the_social_graf_1.phpthese types of approaches/a:/p
blockquotep
iThe Coca-Cola Company will feature its Sprite brand on a new Facebook Page and will invite users to add an application to their account called Sprite Sips. People will be able to create, configure and interact with an animated Sprite Sips character. For consumers in the United States, the experience can be enhanced by entering a PIN code found under the cap of every 20 oz. bottle of Sprite to unlock special features and accessories. The Sprite Sips character provides a means for interacting with friends on Facebook /i/p
pFacebook, which distinguished itself by being the anti-MySpace, is now determined to out-MySpace MySpace. bIt's a nifty system: First you get your users to entrust their personal data to you, and then you not only sell that data to advertisers but you get the users to be the vector for the ads. And what do the users get in return? An animated Sprite Sips character to interact with/b.
/p/blockquote
pAre people going to then talk about Sprite in a way that would increase the sales of Sprite? Really? /p
pI can barely imagine this would work for a teen audience. Such an approach has no chance with an adult audience. Keep in mind that most people who are heavily active on generalist social network sites are a href=http://www.marketinghub.info/social-networking-demographics/likely to fit in the 15-25 year old range/a, although there is evidence to suggest this age range might be changing. Look at it this way - how many stories about hip-replacements ever make it top the top of Reddit?/p
pThere are a lot of messages that just aren't going to work on social media. Wrong time, wrong place. /p
blockquotep
Media buyers — the agency people who book campaigns — report that the college social network is a truly terrible target. They're mainly students, with low disposable income, of course; but, beyond that, the users appear to be too busy leaving messages for each other to show much interest in advertising. Facebook's members appear indifferent even to movie advertising aimed at their demographic. Clickthrough rates, the percentage of time users click on an ad, average 0.04% — just 400 clicks in every 1m views — according to one a href=http://valleywag.com/tech/advertising/facebook-consistently-the-worst-performing-site-242234.phpreport seen by Valleywag/a.
/p/blockquote
h37. Difficult To Scale/h3
pIt is easy to scale up a television campaign. Buy more airtime. It is easy to scale up an Adwords campaign. Increase the number of keyword terms and/or bids. How do you scale up a social media campaign? You can't re-create viral. Viral is hit and miss. All word of mouth is hit and miss. How many people can you cost-effectively follow on Twitter?/p
pSocial media tends to pay dividends in the long-term. Social media, generally speaking, A href=http://www.seobook.com/influencer-theory-garbageis hard to influence/a, but by understanding your field well and creating relationships in your niche, you can learn to create the types of content that influencers will pick up on.  Like the mavens in a href=http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.htmlThe Tipping Point/a, they will spread your message for you. /p
pForging such meaningful relationships won't happen overnight. /p
h3Where Social Media Pays Off/h3
pOk, I admit it. This post has been a bit of a rant :)/p
pIt's not all bad news./p
pWhilst not a replacement for a marketing strategy, social media can be a viable component of a wider marketing strategy. It can be used to generate buzz. It can be used to attract links. One well placed article can achieve both these ends. If that buzz, and those links, can then be translated into a valuable relationship, and perhaps better Google rankings for commercial keywords, then the social media approach may well pay dividends.  /p
pIn order to do this, social media must be back-ended with content geared towards establishing a valuable relationship, rather than one-off visits./p
pMarketing exists for one purpose: to sell stuff. If it doesn't do that, then it isn't marketing. /p
pThe key to evaluating social media marketing, like with with all media spends, lies in tracking and cost/benefit analysis. If traffic provides you with a measurable return on investment, then the marketing spend is justified. The only traffic worth anything is that which ultimately results in revenue producing interaction./p
pThe problem I find with social media traffic is that so little of it ever does. /p
pYour mileage may vary./p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pimg src=/images/lemmings.jpg/p
pSocial media is the next big thing! No, it's ithe/i big thing! It is here, now, and it is big! Let's face it, if you're not aboard the cluetrain to social media marketing city, you're sitting on that station alone!/p
pA pity, then, that social media traffic is a href=http://www.seobook.com/can-you-trust-marketing-statisticsso often worthless/a. /p
pWorthless?/p
pLet's look at the market signals. Why is it that you pay dollars per click on Google Adwords for financial keywords, yet the same keywords on social networks are priced at five cents? /p
pThis suggests to me one of two things. Either the social networks are seriously underestimating the value of their own traffic, or most of the people on social networks aren't interested in commercial messages. If they were, then the bid values would closely match those of Google Adwords.  /p
pI think the latter is the most likely scenario. Social media traffic isn't priced higher, because it isn't translating into revenue for the advertisers. This isn't happening because the intent of the users when engaged with social media is not conducive to selling stuff. /p
pOf course, social media traffic isn't all bad. We'll look at some ways you can benefit from it. But firstly, let's compare and contrast some aspects of social media marketing and search marketing, in order to help clarify the value proposition.  /p
h31. Traffic Is Not An Asset, Traffic Is A Cost/h3
pTraffic only becomes an asset when it translates into something else. When it becomes a bookmark, a sign-up, a link, or helps establish a genuine relationship. It must also result in an increase in revenue. If it doesn't, then traffic remains an expense./p
pWhat is the value of 10,000 Diggers hitting your site to look at, say, a picture of a monkey riding a bicycle? Zero. The trouble is that a lot of marketers are watching the web scorecard - that spike in the visitor stats that shows the number of visits - and using that as a marketing metric. Hey, I'm popular!. /p
pSure, with 10,000 teenagers amused by a picture of a monkey riding a bicycle. But how is that helping boost revenue?/p
pThere isn't a lot of meaning to such a relationship. It is low value./p
blockquotep
a href=http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/silly-traffic.htmlThis is a truth of the Internet/a: When traffic comes to your site without focused intent, it bounces. 75% of all unfocused visitors leave within three seconds.Any site, anywhere, anytime. 75% bounce rate within three seconds. By unfocused, I mean people who visit via Digg or Stumbleupon or even a typical Google search.....I'm just looking, is no fun for most retailers. Yet they continue to pay high rent for high-traffic locations, and invest time and money in window displays. Very few retailers lament all the traffic that walks by the front door without ever walking in. A long time ago, they realized that the shoppers with focused intent are far more valuable. Smart retailers work hard to get focused people to walk in the door and to keep the riff raff walking on down the sidewalk..
/p/blockquote
h32. Uncontrolled Message/h3
pIt is difficult to control the message. Released into the wild of social networks, the message can just as easily result in negative effects as positive ones. /p
pCheck out this a href=http://cre8pc.com/blog/archives/198sad experience of being dugg/a, from Kim at Cre8Pc:/p
blockquotep
Since I logged off last night around midnight, 12 hours later, over 23,000 people have been to this blog. The reason is that someone dugg about the post I wrote, where I shared a resource I found useful. That post was dugg and the incoming traffic this blog is receiving is to that specific blog post I wrote....Diggers complained about everything from the site design of the site I wrote about, to how stupid I was to write about it at all.....Which part of this Digg activity am I supposed to be happy about, now that something I wrote has officially been slaughtered there?
/p/blockquote
pKim wasn't trying to get on Digg as part of a marketing strategy, but it shows how unpredictable the benefits of social media exposure can be. /p
pPerhaps this might explain why A href=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/26/google-walks-away-from-digg-deal/Digg has been left at the altar a few times?/a It suggests to me that it might be difficult to extract real commercial value from such environments. Part of the problem is structural. Digg is free and open and anonymous, which leads to a a href=http://dieoff.org/page95.htmtragedy of the commons/a. /p
pAt the risk of blowing our own horn, part of the reason our SEO community is valuable is because people have to pay for it. People have provided a signal of interest lacking on most broad social networks. There are no questions from a member named MakeEasyMoneyOnlineTodayRightNow asking how to get his adsense earnings up to $1 a day. The price of admission helps protect the community from the tragedy of the commons./p
h33. Branding Is Often An Excuse For Failed Marketing Campaigns/h3
pIt's a brand spend!. Marketers say that a lot./p
pWhat they often mean is we can find no no measurable return./p
pReturn on brand spend is very difficult to measure, and even more difficult to isolate in a channel such as online social media marketing. Did visitors remember our brand? Did it affect their future buying decisions? Was the brand association positive or negative?/p
pWho knows?/p
pIf you're thinking of engaging a social media marketer, and they use brand building as a metric, ask them to explain how they will demonstrate an increased, favorable level of brand awareness. If they mention traffic numbers, ask them how that squares with my first point Traffic Is Not An Asset, It Is A Cost./p
pTo my mind, any commercial endeavor must ultimately come back to revenue./p
h34. Level Of Interaction/h3
pWhat are people doing on social networks?/p
pOn the likes of Facebook, they are engaged in social activities. They are catching up with their friends. They are playing games. Marketing messages in this context are about as welcome as an Amway salesperson at a bachelor party./p
pConsider the context of the message. Search marketing works well because the searcher has already signaled their intent, and that intent may well be commercial. It's like walking into a shop, and asking to buy a watch. The relationship and interaction is direct and obvious. The context of social media is more like a cocktail party. People are there to socialize, not enter into commercial interactions. They may do so, but the relationship is fuzzy and indirect./p
pTo overcome this obstacle, look for social networks, or network groups, where the users demonstrate clear, commercial intent. Alternatively, have a clear idea of how you're going to progress fuzzy indirect visitors to desired action. /p
h35. Time/h3
pSocial media marketing is time consuming. /p
pBuilding your social networks. Responding to friends. Is there are measurable return for the time spent? What is the opportunity cost of that time?/p
pFor example, compare the time you need to get a commercial message on the front page of Digg, with getting a commercial message on the front page of Google. With Adwords, I can do it in seconds./p
pWith Digg, I'd be unlikely to get a marketing message to the top, unless I'd previously developed relationships with all the right people and/or gamed the system, which, in itself, takes a lot of time. Even then, the marketing message, unless heavily disguised, will likely be despised by a community rabidly opposed to any message with an obvious commercial imperative./p
pIs this time well spent on either channel? Once again, a cost/benefit analysis, where the benefits are clear and measurable, will provide the answer./p
h36. Rampant Stupidity amp; Useless Distractions/h3
pI guess no-one ever went broke underestimating human stupidity, but one really has to question the marketing value of a href=http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/11/the_social_graf_1.phpthese types of approaches/a:/p
blockquotep
iThe Coca-Cola Company will feature its Sprite brand on a new Facebook Page and will invite users to add an application to their account called Sprite Sips. People will be able to create, configure and interact with an animated Sprite Sips character. For consumers in the United States, the experience can be enhanced by entering a PIN code found under the cap of every 20 oz. bottle of Sprite to unlock special features and accessories. The Sprite Sips character provides a means for interacting with friends on Facebook /i/p
pFacebook, which distinguished itself by being the anti-MySpace, is now determined to out-MySpace MySpace. bIt's a nifty system: First you get your users to entrust their personal data to you, and then you not only sell that data to advertisers but you get the users to be the vector for the ads. And what do the users get in return? An animated Sprite Sips character to interact with/b.
/p/blockquote
pAre people going to then talk about Sprite in a way that would increase the sales of Sprite? Really? /p
pI can barely imagine this would work for a teen audience. Such an approach has no chance with an adult audience. Keep in mind that most people who are heavily active on generalist social network sites are a href=http://www.marketinghub.info/social-networking-demographics/likely to fit in the 15-25 year old range/a, although there is evidence to suggest this age range might be changing. Look at it this way - how many stories about hip-replacements ever make it top the top of Reddit?/p
pThere are a lot of messages that just aren't going to work on social media. Wrong time, wrong place. /p
blockquotep
Media buyers — the agency people who book campaigns — report that the college social network is a truly terrible target. They're mainly students, with low disposable income, of course; but, beyond that, the users appear to be too busy leaving messages for each other to show much interest in advertising. Facebook's members appear indifferent even to movie advertising aimed at their demographic. Clickthrough rates, the percentage of time users click on an ad, average 0.04% — just 400 clicks in every 1m views — according to one a href=http://valleywag.com/tech/advertising/facebook-consistently-the-worst-performing-site-242234.phpreport seen by Valleywag/a.
/p/blockquote
h37. Difficult To Scale/h3
pIt is easy to scale up a television campaign. Buy more airtime. It is easy to scale up an Adwords campaign. Increase the number of keyword terms and/or bids. How do you scale up a social media campaign? You can't re-create viral. Viral is hit and miss. All word of mouth is hit and miss. How many people can you cost-effectively follow on Twitter?/p
pSocial media tends to pay dividends in the long-term. Social media, generally speaking, A href=http://www.seobook.com/influencer-theory-garbageis hard to influence/a, but by understanding your field well and creating relationships in your niche, you can learn to create the types of content that influencers will pick up on.  Like the mavens in a href=http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.htmlThe Tipping Point/a, they will spread your message for you. /p
pForging such meaningful relationships won't happen overnight. /p
h3Where Social Media Pays Off/h3
pOk, I admit it. This post has been a bit of a rant :)/p
pIt's not all bad news./p
pWhilst not a replacement for a marketing strategy, social media can be a viable component of a wider marketing strategy. It can be used to generate buzz. It can be used to attract links. One well placed article can achieve both these ends. If that buzz, and those links, can then be translated into a valuable relationship, and perhaps better Google rankings for commercial keywords, then the social media approach may well pay dividends.  /p
pIn order to do this, social media must be back-ended with content geared towards establishing a valuable relationship, rather than one-off visits./p
pMarketing exists for one purpose: to sell stuff. If it doesn't do that, then it isn't marketing. /p
pThe key to evaluating social media marketing, like with with all media spends, lies in tracking and cost/benefit analysis. If traffic provides you with a measurable return on investment, then the marketing spend is justified. The only traffic worth anything is that which ultimately results in revenue producing interaction./p
pThe problem I find with social media traffic is that so little of it ever does. /p
pYour mileage may vary./p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/is-social-media-marketing-a-waste-of-time/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Have Any SEO Questions? Please Ask!</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/have-any-seo-questions-please-ask/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/have-any-seo-questions-please-ask/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:33:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Wall</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9491 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pWe are always trying to come up with good content ideas to write about, but we would love to get your feedback on what you would like to read. Here is a href=http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=af15a Google Moderator page/a where you can submit SEO, marketing, link building, pay per click, domaining, search, webmaster, or blogging questions and/or topics that you would like us to write about. In addition you can vote on which topics you want us to cover. We can't write about everything, but we will try to write about many of the topics that are covered here./p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pWe are always trying to come up with good content ideas to write about, but we would love to get your feedback on what you would like to read. Here is a href=http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=af15a Google Moderator page/a where you can submit SEO, marketing, link building, pay per click, domaining, search, webmaster, or blogging questions and/or topics that you would like us to write about. In addition you can vote on which topics you want us to cover. We can't write about everything, but we will try to write about many of the topics that are covered here./p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/have-any-seo-questions-please-ask/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SEM Rush Search Marketing Research - Review of SEMRush.com</title>
		<link>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/sem-rush-search-marketing-research-review-of-semrushcom/2008/11/</link>
		<comments>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/sem-rush-search-marketing-research-review-of-semrushcom/2008/11/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:14:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Aaron Wall</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[RankRover]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">9480 at http://www.seobook.com</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush.png/p
h3What is SEM Rush?/h3
pA new competitive research tool by the name a href=http://www.semrush.com/SEMRush/a is being beta tested, backed by the same programmers who created a href=http://seodigger.com/SEO Digger/a. SEM Rush can be seen as a deeper extension of the SEO Digger project (adding PPC data and tracking AdWords keywords), and a competitor to services like a href=http://www.spyfu.com/SpyFu/a (which recently launched a href=http://www.spyfu.com/Kombat/SpyFu Kombat/a) and a href=http://compete.com/Compete.com/a. /p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/spyfu-kombat.png/p
h3SEM Rush vs Compete.com/h3
pThe big value add that SEM Rush has over a tool like Compete.com is that SEM Rush adds cost per click estimates (scraped from a href=https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandboxGoogle's Traffic Estimator tool/a) and estimated traffic volumes (from a href=https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternalthe Google AdWords keyword tool/a) near each keyword. Thus, rather than showing the traffic distribution to each site, this tool can list keyword emvalue/em distribution for the sites (keyword value * estimated traffic)./p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-top-100.png/p
h4Normalizing Data/h4
pUsing these estimates does not provide results that are as accurate as Compete.com's data licensing strategy, but if you own a site and know what it earns, you can set up a ratio to normalize the differences (at least to some extent, within the same vertical, for sites of similar size, using a similar business model)./p
pOne of our sites that earns about $5,000 a month shows a Google traffic value of close to $20,000 a month.br /
5,000/20,000 = 1/4 = 0.25/p
pA similar site in the same vertical shows $10,000br /
$10,000 * 0.25 = $2,500/p
h4Disclaimers With Normalizing Data/h4
pIt is hard to monetize traffic as well as Google does, so in virtually every competitive market your profit per visitor (after expenses) will generally be less than Google. Some reason why../p
ol
liIn some markets people are losing money to buy marketshare, while in other markets people may overbid just to block out competition. /li
liSome merchants simply have fatter profit margins and can afford to outbid affiliates./li
liIt is hard to integrate advertising in your site anywhere near as aggressively as Google does while still creating a site that will be able to gather enough links (and other signals of quality) to take a #1 organic ranking in competitive markets...so by default there will typically be some amount of slippage./li
liA site that offers editorial content wrapped in light ads will not convert eyeballs into cash anywhere near as well as a lead generation oriented affiliate site would. /li
/ol
h3SEM Rush Features/h3
h4Keyword Values amp; Volumes/h4
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-seo.png/p
pAs mentioned above, this data is scraped from the Google Traffic Estimator and the Google Keyword Tool. /p
h4Top Search Traffic Domains/h4
pA list of the top 100 domain names that are estimated to be a href=http://www.semrush.com/rank.phpthe highest value downstream traffic sources from Google/a./p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-top-100.png/p
pYou could get a similar list from a href=http://referralanalytics.compete.com/Compete.com's Referral Analytics/a by running a downstream report on Google.com, although I think that might also include traffic from some of Google's non-search properties like Reader. /p
h4Top Competitors/h4
pHere is a list of sites that rank for many of the same keywords that SEO Book ranks forbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/top-competitors.png/p
h4Overlapping Keywords/h4
pHere is a list of a few words where Seo Book and SEOmoz compete in the rankingsbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/seobook-vs-seomoz.png/p
h4Compare AdWords to Organic Search/h4
pThese are sites that rank for keywords that SEO Book is buying through AdWordsbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-organic-adwords.pngbr /
And these are sites that buy AdWords ads for keywords that this site ranks forbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-adwords-organic.png/p
h3Once Upon a Time.../h3
pI was going to create a tool similar to this one about a year ago, until I hired a programmer that was EPIC FAIL. The guy who managed that program is no longer selling programming services. /p
pI actually had 3 attempts at such a tool. I bought a GREAT domain name, spec'd out the project, then planned on doing it.../p
ul
liinvestor backed, who decided to back out/li
liself funded, but I hired... 1.) a programmer who mid-project decided he needed to make double what I make emworking part-time/em, then 2.) the worst programmers ever./li
licombination of heavily self funded with the guidance of a bad ass VC, but I backed out due to a need to focus on this site/li
/ul
pI spent most of this year focusing on trying to build our community and raise our editorial quality (both goals are going well, but require significant maintenance). We have had 4 strong hires in a row, so it seems like our luck has changed on that front. Recently I started working with a programmer who really clicks with me, often taking my ideas and making them way better than I intended. /p
pIf these guys had not made this tool I was going to try to take another run at something like this early next year...which brings up a good point that a friend (and wicked intelligent open source programmer) named a href=http://fplanque.com/François Planque/a told me. He said all he had to do was think up a good idea but not do it, and within 6 to 12 months if he had not done it, someone else would have already launched it. /p
pEntry cost is so low that a lot of great tools are going to get made in short order, but it is hard to win by sitting on a good idea. ;)/p
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush.png/p
h3What is SEM Rush?/h3
pA new competitive research tool by the name a href=http://www.semrush.com/SEMRush/a is being beta tested, backed by the same programmers who created a href=http://seodigger.com/SEO Digger/a. SEM Rush can be seen as a deeper extension of the SEO Digger project (adding PPC data and tracking AdWords keywords), and a competitor to services like a href=http://www.spyfu.com/SpyFu/a (which recently launched a href=http://www.spyfu.com/Kombat/SpyFu Kombat/a) and a href=http://compete.com/Compete.com/a. /p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/spyfu-kombat.png/p
h3SEM Rush vs Compete.com/h3
pThe big value add that SEM Rush has over a tool like Compete.com is that SEM Rush adds cost per click estimates (scraped from a href=https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandboxGoogle's Traffic Estimator tool/a) and estimated traffic volumes (from a href=https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternalthe Google AdWords keyword tool/a) near each keyword. Thus, rather than showing the traffic distribution to each site, this tool can list keyword emvalue/em distribution for the sites (keyword value * estimated traffic)./p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-top-100.png/p
h4Normalizing Data/h4
pUsing these estimates does not provide results that are as accurate as Compete.com's data licensing strategy, but if you own a site and know what it earns, you can set up a ratio to normalize the differences (at least to some extent, within the same vertical, for sites of similar size, using a similar business model)./p
pOne of our sites that earns about $5,000 a month shows a Google traffic value of close to $20,000 a month.br /
5,000/20,000 = 1/4 = 0.25/p
pA similar site in the same vertical shows $10,000br /
$10,000 * 0.25 = $2,500/p
h4Disclaimers With Normalizing Data/h4
pIt is hard to monetize traffic as well as Google does, so in virtually every competitive market your profit per visitor (after expenses) will generally be less than Google. Some reason why../p
ol
liIn some markets people are losing money to buy marketshare, while in other markets people may overbid just to block out competition. /li
liSome merchants simply have fatter profit margins and can afford to outbid affiliates./li
liIt is hard to integrate advertising in your site anywhere near as aggressively as Google does while still creating a site that will be able to gather enough links (and other signals of quality) to take a #1 organic ranking in competitive markets...so by default there will typically be some amount of slippage./li
liA site that offers editorial content wrapped in light ads will not convert eyeballs into cash anywhere near as well as a lead generation oriented affiliate site would. /li
/ol
h3SEM Rush Features/h3
h4Keyword Values amp; Volumes/h4
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-seo.png/p
pAs mentioned above, this data is scraped from the Google Traffic Estimator and the Google Keyword Tool. /p
h4Top Search Traffic Domains/h4
pA list of the top 100 domain names that are estimated to be a href=http://www.semrush.com/rank.phpthe highest value downstream traffic sources from Google/a./p
pimg src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-top-100.png/p
pYou could get a similar list from a href=http://referralanalytics.compete.com/Compete.com's Referral Analytics/a by running a downstream report on Google.com, although I think that might also include traffic from some of Google's non-search properties like Reader. /p
h4Top Competitors/h4
pHere is a list of sites that rank for many of the same keywords that SEO Book ranks forbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/top-competitors.png/p
h4Overlapping Keywords/h4
pHere is a list of a few words where Seo Book and SEOmoz compete in the rankingsbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/seobook-vs-seomoz.png/p
h4Compare AdWords to Organic Search/h4
pThese are sites that rank for keywords that SEO Book is buying through AdWordsbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-organic-adwords.pngbr /
And these are sites that buy AdWords ads for keywords that this site ranks forbr /
img src=http://www.seobook.com/images/semrush-adwords-organic.png/p
h3Once Upon a Time.../h3
pI was going to create a tool similar to this one about a year ago, until I hired a programmer that was EPIC FAIL. The guy who managed that program is no longer selling programming services. /p
pI actually had 3 attempts at such a tool. I bought a GREAT domain name, spec'd out the project, then planned on doing it.../p
ul
liinvestor backed, who decided to back out/li
liself funded, but I hired... 1.) a programmer who mid-project decided he needed to make double what I make emworking part-time/em, then 2.) the worst programmers ever./li
licombination of heavily self funded with the guidance of a bad ass VC, but I backed out due to a need to focus on this site/li
/ul
pI spent most of this year focusing on trying to build our community and raise our editorial quality (both goals are going well, but require significant maintenance). We have had 4 strong hires in a row, so it seems like our luck has changed on that front. Recently I started working with a programmer who really clicks with me, often taking my ideas and making them way better than I intended. /p
pIf these guys had not made this tool I was going to try to take another run at something like this early next year...which brings up a good point that a friend (and wicked intelligent open source programmer) named a href=http://fplanque.com/François Planque/a told me. He said all he had to do was think up a good idea but not do it, and within 6 to 12 months if he had not done it, someone else would have already launched it. /p
pEntry cost is so low that a lot of great tools are going to get made in short order, but it is hard to win by sitting on a good idea. ;)/p
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.rankrover.com/seo_blog/sem-rush-search-marketing-research-review-of-semrushcom/2008/11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
