SEO gurus are everywhere. Why aren’t there any good ones?

There aren’t!

I have yet to see ANY. If there are any reading this article, please feel free to contact me. People contact me on a daily basis looking for SEO and I can’t help them all. I need nothing in return other than to know the SMBs are in good hands.

That brings me to my first point of why there are no good SEOs.

1. You can’t afford the good ones

If you own a small business, I won’t help you, and neither will anyone else. Which sucks, as I owned a small business for 13 years and I LOVE small business. (Interested in DIY? See my DIY SMB SEO guide.) Note: some industries, such as attorneys, orthodontists, and other competitive niches will need significant additional help in addition to the SEO guide.

At this point in time I only have the capacity to assist people in high competition niches who make decent money on converted leads. These people have thousands, sometimes millions of dollars to spend on advertising, and that is because they’ve been in business for 10 or 20 years and/or know that when they convert a lead they’re going to make a significant return on their investment back on their SEO efforts. Just the other day one of my top clients told me I could literally sit around drinking beer til 2029 and he’d have no problem with it at all since I’ve already made him so much money. You can’t make this stuff up! You know you’re killing it when you’re offered 13 years of paid vacation. Could I do SEO for 8 small businesses instead of 1 “good” client? Yes, but, it is 8x the communication, 8x the invoicing, etc- you get the picture, and, it isn’t as challenging.

Every once in a while I’ll take one on, and their niche is always very, very easy, but in most cases I am a better fit for a real estate broker or law firm, etc.

2. Good SEOs don’t offer SEO.

There are several people who completely understand the value of ranking in search and creating amazing content. These people have gone on to open their own companies. These companies may or may not have anything to do with Internet marketing. Look at DMV.org and other sites run by Internet savvy individuals- they make money on advertisements. I know folks in the affiliate marketing world raking in $200k/yr. At the end of the day if you thoroughly understand SEO you’re either not offering it, or you’re only offering it because you truly enjoy it.

3. Everyone is an SEO expert

seo experts

I know what you’re thinking: “But Len, there ARE good SEOs out there!”

Nope. You wrong!

You have the SEO salespeople out there- People knocking on your door telling you the value of inbound leads. Really? Then you have the gurus who sit on social media all day long- I mean, if there were money to be made in social media, every child in the United States of America would be a multimillionaire, yet they’re infatuated with getting a social share like some sort of 14yr old who checks Instagram every 90 seconds. Then there’s the email that comes in 20x a day, the robocalls from “Google”, and every web designer, content writer, real estate agent and hairdresser dishing out SEO advice. Nobody cares! When I meet people in the real world, 99% of the time I tell them that I work on computer networks. I would never publicly admit that I am in the SEO industry, because, it sucks that bad. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my job, but if you see someone at a BNI meeting or at a conference and they are trying to tell you about SEO or offering an SEO service and you get that flight instinct, trust your gut and RUN!

run

4. SEO people are lying

You arrive on their beautiful website and see that they offer a white hat, holistic, organic, no-nonsense approach. You hire them. 6 months later your website is penalized for breaking every rule in the book! It’s crazy. I’ve even seen these SEOs screwing over attorneys and churches and trying to sell fake kidneys to people dying in hospitals.

5. SEO Consultants can’t “do” SEO.

Every once in a while I discover a consultant who actually knows what they’re talking about, but, they’re far too ignorant to actually IMPLEMENT their own words. So, they know great content and powerful links rank a site, but then they just sit around TALKING about SEO. Instead of writing content or getting these links, they will just preach about on-site factors, HTTPS, mobile friendliness, breadcrumbs and other little tidbits that nobody in their right mind cares about. In the grand scheme of things all these little dinky issues are valid SEO points, however it mostly all boils down to quality links and great content, or even, and I hate to admit this, great links and “good” content.

/rant

Len
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On February 28, 2016   /   SEO News & Tips   /   Leave a comment

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