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@hugoguzmanWhile brokers are still alive and kicking they are not spending. I have two sites that are in the lead selling industry. They are literally in the top 3 positions for both. The traffic has been cut in half and the budgets cut by 90%. In the real estate industry you also have a lot of agents who have been burnt a bit by the template based design sites. The same "great" template with a different color scheme! for every broker with built in link exchanges! {sarcasm} so now a LOT of these brokers and agents have a bitter taste in their mouth in regard to SEO and the internet. I still talk to brokers all the time that think there is no one searching for homes in their city online. I do a quick keyword search on, say adwords tool, and pull up a good 3500 searches per month. You mix the feeling of being "burnt" with the lack of good information.
@reubenyau -Yes exactly. While they may even be getting calls from PPC or leads, they find it hard to justify the expense of SEO or SEM when they cant quantify that expense. This is true even with a lot of different metrics. I've used heat mapping and shown certain clients real results that far outweighed their offline campaigns, but some just get stubborn with the idea.
@yetanotherbenPay is getting higher because companies need the experience to back it up. Also are you comparing a consultant based SEO client/business relationship to someone being hired on to a company? The two will always be different. The post is more for medium to small businesses who are not bringing on in house consultants.
Unfortunately the list is absent of the literally the most powerful paid directory online...
It should also be noted that Obama only carried 4 points over what was Bush's win in 04. So while there was much hype, even with his ability to fund raise, it wasn't as big of a win as led to be believed by the Media. Yes the electoral college looked different but analyze the popular vote as well as how close it was in battleground and swing states and the picture is painted quite differently.
@heymcd - obesity epidemic is from the high carb and thus low fat ideals. Go look at any "lower fat" or "no Fat" or "Low fat" product and compare it to the original. The one thing you're going to notice is the marked increase in sugar and carbs. Refined sugar type of carbs especially like our friend high fructose corn syrup. These are the no fiber kind of carbs. Why is diabetes so rampant now as compared to just 25 years ago? what is the problem with type II diabetes? The inability to properly use sugars or insulin resistance. What is a carb? a sugar...
Just felt like that needed to be said even on a post about the internet ;)... Look at the changes in the american diet especially and you will see a VERY distinct difference and that difference is sugar and the low fat craze.
Simply put a CEO helms a company. They are the captain. When the captain goes out, in this case, aligns with a governing party, it goes without saying that the alignment they have made goes along with how they "feel". This then goes to how they "govern" IE run the business. It says that their ideals are aligned with that of the "governing" party for which they have aligned themselves.
When a CEO comes out and says "I back Obama" or "I backMcCain" it is safe to assume that the ideals they carry in the "outside world" are carried over in their business life as well. I've never once seen an instance such as this where they back one person in their personal life, but back the ideals of another in their corporate life.
Essentially when a CEO comes out and says "I back so and so", whether you choose to believe it or not, they are saying that their company is backing them as well. This brings along with it the ramifications of that administration and their policies.
I will say Google is based in Mountain View, California did anyone really expect anyone to come out of their praising McCain? lol We're talking about the most left leaning area in the entire country. Makes most of the new england area pale in comparison.
What does that mean for Google? Not much like I just mentioned probably just business as usual. Should a CEO have come out and endorse a candidate? I don't think so. Not with Googles public policies especially. Do I think that swayed any independents? No.
He is also entitled to his opinion, but when it draws the line is when he comes out in public to make that opinion public. If he wasnt the CEO of Google, he wouldnt have even been given air time to begin with... and that is why he should not have endorsed a candidate.
The one thing I would add..
One problem I have is that I am constantly running into the "marketing department" of a corporation or even sometimes individuals themselves that "read somewhere" about "such and such technique." So they "know all about what to do". They also have "name brand WYSIWYG design product" and begin to tell you that its just a simple "link here" and "link there"... Though there site does not rank and from first glance screams "SPAM!" or just horrible nav like "mypage1a.html".... and after taking five minutes to do the typical once over you see a mountain of corrective work just to get it to point 0. These are the clients you need to be VERY careful with...
I've got some Sparks sitting in the fridge right now... Nasty stuff.
This might be a tad paranoid, but going with the footprint theory I certainly wouldnt add anything SEOMOZ to any of my clients site. Calling attention to yourself or to your clients that they are under "SEO supervision" especially after the past issues with SEOMOZ having no problem playing "tattle tale" on other sites like a certain directory that shall go unnamed... doesnt sound like such a great idea.
It seems like they make money off of your data one way and if you try to opt out (which it seems like you really cant) in the future they or the companies they are getting their data from (you know small companies like Yahoo, Google, etc...) could use those "lists" against thousands of sites. Think about what happened with link exchanges and the big daddy update in 05...
It's sad when SEO's appear to be trying to capitalize and cannibalize on not only other SEO's but it appears the industry as a whole.
Story: SEO-Time for a Reality Check
First of all best reference I've heard to Gallagher and Andy Gibb in a very long time. Though not sure if everyone will get that reference haha
Your rant is spot on. It becomes a "chore" to try to RE educate the public about the value of SEO and the true differences offered between the different services and the wide pricing changes. 90% of our clients have come to us from other "SEO's" (and I use that term loosely) who were doing the typical $200 - $600 a month. They make big promises and never deliver. I've had several of those type of clients say to me that they dont trust the industry now and will I take money after we achieve ranking for them. I simply told them both that I will not pay for their previous choice of SEO. Both are long term clients that gladly will give a phone referral at a moments notice for me now. With the economy you're just going to get more and more of these types of clients.
Story: Digg Answers 20 Questions
I think it's funny the SEO's backing Google's decision and can't differentiate what Donna is saying, in both here and in her blog.
Please everyone reread this post:
"I think we all agree with that. Google should certainly discount whatever it wants to discount. But don't punish people for not putting some ridiculous tag on a link. You don't want to count the link...don't. But don't force anyone to do anything special with that link...and then mess with them if they don't. See the difference?"
I personally STILL feel this, even if just in the timing of it, goes back to the time of the year. MASS breakdown of rankings and penalizations, right before Christmas... Funny how Google does this EVERY year around this time. Now bloggers dont need adwords, far from it, but I dropped on my PR, but I picked up natural links (though my sites still rank) but there some that are noticing drops in SERPS and PR. Ecommerce sites that rely on Christmas time to get them into the black than have to rely on Adwords to get the customers they need. Googles quarterly profits skyrocket, but it looks semi normal due to the time of the year. When you can change your algo to control how much business you create thats, well thats business and its a beautiful thing. The problem is Google is providing something that just about everyone uses and there comes a point with corporate responsibility. However, at $600+ a share it is actual ILLEGAL for them NOT to do EVERYTHING they can to make their investors as much money as possible. However, I am now putting Google in just about the same category as the oil companies which is right where they should be.
Well, having ten years of doing "this", my "speculation" tends to be more based on saved factual data compiled over the years of running some of the top sites in their respective industries. Million dollar PPC campaigns on some... So speculation to you is fact to me. Funny $600+ dollars a share tends to back my speculation, over your fact ;) Quarterly profit reports do as well :D
Story: Link Buying Poll
It will no longer be "link buying" but what it really should have always been on topic traffic advertising. I've advertised on sites before, but on sites with relevance that I knew would drive traffic, the juice, if any, was secondary, but of course always appreciated ;)
Well, since no one has said it yet, I feel I have to:
"Can't we all just get along"...
Weird thing is I was going to mention how much Rand and Michael look alike, might be the facial hair... Anyway, I know Michael through some of the sites, cool cat in my opinion, I don't know Rand, but everything I have heard up to this point has been positive, so Im not going to get into the whole back and forth. The blog post, in my opinion, would not have had so much scrutiny I feel if there wasnt some kind of animosity there. Meaning if I had written it and I found flaws I think I would have said "I feel he is really reitterating the point on #4, but giving you a different slant" instead of "deja vu". Now whether its because Michael has found consistant problems with content on SEOmoz in the past, or if Rand truly did kick his pupp, I don't know. If I found constant errors, yeah I would go off too if I thought people were holding one persons word to a higher standard and I kept seeing flaws in it all over the place. Also I dont have a dog, but you kick my cat, and we are going to have a major problem :)
So I say read between the lines, pick out what you want to pick out. For now this has become a personal discussion and attacks back and forth and is only going to get uglier. If it were on one of the forums (yeah this isnt a forum, but its a community) that I am admin on it would be locked, I dont delete, I like the free information flow, but for now I think this is just going to become a bigger pissing match back and forth. For the record I will always win that one :)
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Story: Economic Downturn Cleaning House In the World of SEO