Archive for the 'CEO, not SEO Stuff' Category

One of my clients whom enjoys very nice rankings just forwarded me an email which he’d been responding to. The initial email to my client read:

I was doing some due diligence for a current client and came to your site. I was wondering how someone can purchase a product off the website. If I wasn’t in the interactive business a really scaled through the site I would never know.
 
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know your site needs a ‘Call to Action’ to increase conversions. Let me know if you need help.
 
Good luck,
XXXXXXX

Now the kicker is who it is signed by…a MAJOR BIG SEO Company.

My client, not knowing who this company is, responded with:

We require new clients to call in orders. We’ve had web stores in the past, and our return rate goes up to around 4%.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

(to Me with the phone number plastered all over my clients pages, with the “We Love Phone Calls” makes it pretty clear that if you want something, you need to call up the company….but hey, I could always look over the process for a “call to action”…if there’s really a problem)

The guy from the Big SEO Company then responded back to my client with this:

The only question I have Bob, is if you were given an opportunity to increase revenues a minimum of 30% in 60-90 days through a strategic online marketing campaign while lowering your cost per sale and increasing your conversion rates…would you do it?

and another excerpt from the following email exchange from the BIG SEO Company.

There are some deficiencies, although easy to fix over time on the organic side…

It was this last line that I really took offense to, and I would have ignored it, but damn, this is a Big ole SEO company telling my client he’s got “Deficiencies….on the organic side….”. This client Rules in the rankings, and has for a few years now. Deficiencies my ass!

So what I’m wondering is if the initial email was a “spam” that they send to every site they come accross…hey, you need a “call to action”….respond to me and I know you’re interested in making your site better, and I’m going to make you a crazy promise with no guarantees, but I’ll charge you 10K+ per month for 12 months for you to find that that wasn’t a great decision.

When I contacted back my client I told him:

You should ask him for a few examples of these “deficiences” and also ask him how he thinks he can increase your organic rankings. Also ask him what link services he sells….I’d actually love to see his answers.

Anyone else get emails like this from MAJOR SEO Companies?

Results of what I found when I asked you to tell me your favorite website hosting companies.

Wow, 51 posts in 25 hours - (even if 15 were my own comments - it’s still a lot).

I had to ask that the other thread be closed to comments - I don’t have time to keep calling hosting companies and asking thier tech support staff questions. That was fun, time to move on for now. We can play that game another time again.

This is what I found  - 7 Website Hosting Companies (see how I choose them from all these comments)

My first test has been “Will someone answer the phone if I call them”.

Those’s who’s passed are:
http://www.rackspace.com (due to your comments)
http://www.natnet.com/hosting/
http://www.wedohosting.com
http://www.swiftco.net
http://www.alentus.com
http://www.cyberwurx.com
http://www.liquidweb.com (maybe)

Let me ask you, what do you look for in a hosting company?

What questions would you ask yourself in selecting a hosting company?

What questions would you ask the hosting company?

Technorati Tags: website hosting, web hosting, web host

Website Hosting Companies.

We work with several hundred hosting companies. I hate 98% of them. In fact, I hate so many of them, that the only website hosting company’s name I do remember are the ones that I hate the most.

If you could only choose 1 website hosting company to work with, what website hosting company would that be?

Feel free to add links, just not affiliate links

If you work for a hosting company, tell me, but also tell me your best competitor.

Technorati Tags: website hosting, web hosting, website hosting companies

I said what I felt had to be said. It was said - it was read. time to move on.

There’s an article out about why some of the moderators left SEOChat, why the traffic has taken a big ole dip.

A few weeks ago I did a poll called "If you could only read one FORUM which would you choose? "

And I was amazed that SEO Chat was only at 1%. I left SEO Chat maybe a year ago… Since day 1 I’d been a huge lurker there. We even had some some "flaming type stuff" a few times where I’d try to ride in and defend my name and company. <— link to seo chat Jim debates

I was memeber #2 of SEO Chat, and Darrin (creator) and I became competitors ("Google Dance") and friends.  Before Darrin sold it, he offered it to me for a steal….but I was saving for adoption, so I had to pass…..I’ve since always looked at it as "I could have had it", and I was really sad to see the 1% number for people who still "lived" there…man, I wish I could take it over now…..naw….I don’t have time for that!

PS - I never released the results of the "One Forum" poll because 2 days before I pulled it there was some abnormal activity and the sharp spikes at the end skewed what the poll had looked like for a few weeks.

So I just got this lead from a guy who say’s he can’t afford our services, but he’s willing to offer a trade….and it sounds so tempting….it’s a hotel in south america in a rainforest, near Mayan ruins, near 2 national parks, it’s on the coast where you can snorkel and scuba dive, and great fishing…sounds like so much fun.  I think I’ll have to pass though….too hard to explain to my employees why they’re working away on some project that’s not bringing us any $, while I’m off having a grand ole time on vacation…

A few years ago I did a trade for a trip to Scotland in exchange for some links….now that was a great deal, and I had an awesome time.

(how about them bonny knees of mine? (that’s my wife Mary with me if you were wondering)).

How about you guys? You ever take deals like these?

I Just read an article on MarketingVox called "Strong Internet Marketing M&A Forecast for 2006" which was based on a recent survey (pdf) , done by investment bank AdMedia Partners, called "Merger and Acquisition Prospects for Marketing Services and Internet Marketing Firms (pdf)".

The survey has all sorts of graphs, tables and number charts in it, but my favorite part is the comments from some of the respondents:

“Big agencies are under tremendous client pressure to get ‘smart’ about new and online media – they will buy the intelligence.”

"Consulting and SEO income opportunities are abounding.” A second advised, “Focus on the Internet. Hard dollars are showing up there. Product placement, branded content, creating co-owned ideas that generate revenues, vehicles that will continue to pay dividends.”

“I expect the long overdue acquisitions of online agencies by large traditional agencies will accelerate. Large traditional shops will need to bite the bullet on valuations, but probably won’t regret it.”

"I believe the industry as a whole is under-valued, especially small-medium sized companies with a proven track record and unharnessed potential given necessary access to market and working capital.”

A lot of this makes sense…especially that last quote. I could say more….but I won’t right now.