Read this article from Google about the subject of hiring an SEO firm

Also, this fellow, Clay Butler has put together a great top ten list of SEO scams so he has earned a link from me as I agreee with what he points out.

Ongoing monthly fees should not be for SEO monitoring. SEO should be paid for and when it is completed the client should reap the benefits. If you are paying monthly fees it should only be for Pay Per Clicks like Google Adwords or Yahoo clicks, ongoing organic marketing and promotion efforts , or damn good cutting edge advice and coaching from a proven industry leader with quantified results and a track record that proves their worth! Just because someone states on their Website that they are an expert does not mean they really even know what they are doing. I especially laugh at companies that go one time to a certification program, get some good info, then have the audacity to put on their Website that they are “Certified SEO Experts” Ha! Certification programs in SEO do not certify expertise, they only certify completion of a curriculum. Expertise goes WAY beyond that and the true SEO experts are a rare find indeed. I’d venture to say that maybe 1/1000 of those claimants to the title “SEO expert,” actually can deliver expertise in our industry. So yes, beware of firms who use hyped up jargon too.

Mostly, just do your homework. Make sure you get to talk to the person who will be actually doing your SEO work! and stay away from companies who want you to empty your bank account just for an assesment!!!

Optimized regards,

Robert

* Fantasy Sports Consumer Trends
* Fantasy Content
* Evolution of the High Stakes/High Prizes Fantasy Contest
* New Applications of the Fantasy Model

Yummy Lunch.

* Pitch Me
* New Fantasy Sports Documentaries
* Enhancing Your Web Presence Through Search Engine Optimization
* Research into the Fantasy Sports Industry
* Conference Conclusion
* FSTA Expert Fantasy Baseball Draft

Our panel on SEO went great! I had the pleasure of being accompanied by Mary Bowling from Blizzard Internet Marketing, and also Mike Belasco from SEOverflow. We were very well recieved.

Conference was great. I’d come again.

I can’t help but assume that this data will be incorporated into an algorithm update, one that is designed to shift weight away from the IBL (in bound links) Bohemoth, which has become a bane and frustration at Google as they struggle with the rampant practice of buying text links for popularity. I don’t buy links so I am inclined to welcome this type of an update. If site popularity is influenced more heavily by who subscribes to your feed (if you have one) then this brings Google ever closer to a social media model as they would be using more peer review to determine a sites trustworthiness based upon real data showing feed subscriber behavior.

I guess if a site doesn’t have a feed this should be part of the equation also so maybe Subscriber popularity would just be used as part of ranking sites that do have a feed.

And if you have a feed, start paying more attention to it, and nurture it so it is lively and useful and you will gain subscribers and not see any rank fall over just this matter. Make your Feed content excellent or maybe stop feeding to avoid a feed slacker penalty.

It’s all just a hunch. But I am curious,

What do you think about this?

Robert

I jumped on board a couple weeks ago and am having some fun with it. Interesting to hear what my associates and other  industry leaders are doing “at the moment.”

It is a free sign up at Twitter, then you locate friends and build up your list of who you are “following,” then most of them will end up following you. Curious little Social toy. Lots of url plugs. Check it out: www.twitter.com

This place was great because of all the room and space it had. In past years, the Nine Irishmen got so crowded and packed with “networking marketers” that everyone had to get very intimate with many strangers in order to get around. I used to try and find a good chair in the corner and see who came to me. This year though, everyone could move freely, with many entrances and exits, friendly bar staff. I really got a good chance to chat with everyone I hoped to this year and was able to meet some good new connections. I was a bit saddened when it was over after about 3 hours but while it was going it was the best PubCon I’ve been too in four.

About an hour in to the event, Danny Sullivan shows up! He must have chartered a jet from the Chicago SES event to get there that quick but I for one was real happy to see him make it.

Here is a link to the PubCon page. See ya next year at it.

Robert

Tuesday and Thursday each had five tracks equaling 25 sessions each day and Wednesday had 15 sessions. since I could only go to 13 sessions physically, these are the ones I went to:

Tuesday, December 4
Social Marketing - Leveling the Playing Field
This was a good introduction to the major social media environments like Delicious, Digg and Facebook.

Monetizing Social Media Traffic
This was a really good session for people who are already in the social media optimization and marketing.

Reputation Monitoring and Management
I’ve been to this session a couple times before but this was the best one. About using Press and the Blogosphere for reputation issues.

Link Baiting - 96 Different Strategies
I was headed over to hear Dr. Ralph Wilson Speak on e-mail marketing as I used to subscribe to his newsletter myself back in 2001 and 2002, but the title of 96 strategies sucked me in. “96″ was actually more of a gimmick for the talk title but nevertheless, I found it an interesting group and presentation.

Link Buying
This is one that I would think people would just shy away from but I found my self in session. At times it tuned into a Googlebash and Matt Cutts, sitting in the back row, was getting hit hard by panelists (who obviously were mostly hard practitioners of link buying). At one point a panelist asked the audience, “How many of you buy, or know someone who buys links?” (a very cleverly crafted question!) and about 70% of the room, including myself, raised their hands. I gasped! I have never bought a link for me or a client in my carreer. I started thinking how God must like me to allow me and my clients to do so well when such vast numbers are buying links! I agree with what Stephan Spencer said from the audience, that all this link buying will catch up to the buyers within five years they will be wrecked for having participated today. It is karmically correct I suppose. This was a volatile and charged session and one I am glad I decided to attend.

Wednesday, December 5
Domain Names and Trademarks - Legal Issues
This was just as it sounds. I’ve attended this session in past years but wanted to again. I have a couple of clients , as well as myself, who are dealing with legal issues on the Web. I got some great notes and advice from the lawyers on this panel.

Interactive Site Reviews - Focus on Social Media
This was a site clinic where domains were critiqued based on Social Media marketing efforts. So so session.

Interactive Site Reviews - Focus on Organic
I went to this one because of the amount of one on one site clinics I do weekly. Panelists reviewed sites and critiqued them based upon their organic optimization.

This day ended with a reception with Google Engineers and a game of Werewolf that was thrown by SEOMOZ and was a big hit. I had fun.

Thursday December 6
CSS and HTML Coding Today
I attended this session last year and it was better than this years session which had two “no shows” on the panel. But it was good to rehash the CSS and HTML topics, which I use a lot in my site rehabilitations, even though it was CSS basics, it is okay because that’s what it is really about, getting back to the basics. I do have a question for Brett, if panelists are to hung over to show up for their session, would that mean that next year someone else can sit on that panel?” Because I recoded my site to CSS with absolute positioning in November and December of 2002. Wouldn’t that make me one of the search marketing pioneers for this subject? If I were on this panel I would have gone to bed early the night before. Maybe next year I will pitch for being on this panel.

International and European Site Optimization
Just as it sounds. I went to this session because I currently have three international clients, one in Thailand, Hong Kong and the UK. Good stuff but a little complicated. Sticky issues were addressed.

Multivariate Testing and Conversion Tweaking
This session was about ways to improve your sites conversion through controlled, split and multivariate testing. Google Optimizer was demonstrated also. Good session.

Competitive Intelligence
This session was identical to last years session on same subject. Presenters even used the same Powerpoint presentations as last year. Nothing new here but it was still good to revisit the old stuff.

Tools of the Trade
I went to this one the past two years and they were real good both times. This year was nearly the same as the past two but not much was discussed about any new tools that have not already been covered in past years. Obviously some of the better tools are spendy yet there are some great tools that are free too.

MSN threw a private party in the Ghost Room on the roof of the Palms. I didn’t get an Invite, it was just for Live Ad Center spenders, something I tend to wean clients off of, but I got in as a guest of a big spender. Great coconut shrimp and sushi. Actually it was one of the nicer search conference networking social afterparties I’ve been too. My son sure would have liked me to win one of those xbox 360’s but I did not play for them in all fairness since I was just a guest and not invited. It was from 7-9.

At 9 many went over to Venetian for the charity poker tournament. It was a great event; too bad I was out after 9 hands. My opponent tripled up his kings over my aces and nines on the river and we were both all in after the flop when I paired my ace and nine. O well, I got a really cool shirt and helped some good charities also.

So, that is about it for this review of the Webmaster World Conference in Las Vegas, 2007. Stay tuned for a review of the PubCon portion of the event.

Robert

PubCon.com

I’ll tell you more when I return. Or maybe while I am there I can blog some of it, maybe!
Robert

These droves of independent, so-called “SEO’s,” are trampling the industry’s credibility with frivolous, kindergarten claims of collegiate SEO knowledge, which are not in accord with their real abilities, and who are thereby devaluing and commodifying the real, dignified and important craft/service of SEO in the public eye. Every week new prospects tell me nightmare stories involving their previous “SEO firm/company/consultant etc.!” How many of these stories would it take to make a decent sellable e-book?

So what can we take home from this matter? Easy, If you are actually a good SEO and you see things like search dynasties and wannabe optimizers eroding at your SEO livelihood, then find another Web industry niche to perfect and sell, then package it up and bundle your SEO acumen as a value add to hiring you. If you haven’t made it rich with SEO by now, then by SEO alone, you probably never will. SEO related searches will continue to increase while SEO profits will continue to disperse. The real future of Internet marketing riches lies in other search marketing niches, not in search engine optimization practices.

Today, SEO isn’t what it was yesterday. In fact the reality of SEO is so fast changing, that it’s history has become a moving target.

Robert Wright

I also posted this Nov 27 07 here: http://scobleizer.com/2007/02/08/the-search-engine-guru-schools-calacanis/ but since I wrote it, i decided to put it on my blog also.

I don’t make it a habit to criticize search engines but sometimes I just got to rant or I’ll bust. You know what I mean.

Unfortunately, Google has recently decided to kick the entire SEO community square in the groin, by disabling the ability for us to see which of our Web pages need more work, and/or updating, in order to be worthy contenders and be listed in Googles “main” database/index. In other words, we can no longer see which pages are in the inferior Google database, the one known as “supplemental” index, or the “this page sucks so it ain’t going public in Google” database. Suddenly, supplemental pages are no longer labeled as such in Google. Some of us clever SEO’s do know of a way (or perhaps ways) to determine this valuable information, but it involves a process which takes 50 times longer to get our findings, which means that the consumer has to pay for (many) more SEO hours to get this information, which was like free candy for an SEO in the past. This is a real low blow from Google (and it really blows), one which by design hinders SEO analysis of sites who are struggling or falling in Google. This action makes it much harder to troubleshoot basic Google search marketing issues which commonly plague sites across the Web. The deliberate omission of this very important data marks a sad day in the history of search marketing. The trend I am seeing with my old friend Google, regarding the subject of “SEO” and organic positioning is not one I want to dwell upon. Thank God for search diversity and new search technologies and environments, which give us hope that we can succeed online without being strong armed into revenue shares with the moguls who already own the Web and who strive to own the world. And you all know those (plural) of whom I speak! The search scenario and even the search arena is fast changing friends. You must stay on your toes, be ever vigilant and saavy or fall into the poorhouse with the masses.

Bad news comes and goes but Google will be here at least till Armageddon. So we’ll make the best with what she’ll give us while we search for, and innovate, even better, more personal, accurate and affordable, if not free solutions. I don’t want to hurt Google or any business nor anyone or anything, I just want to help my clients evolve and prosper and to feed and educate my children. Is it too much to ask that I also be able to be employed by my spherical self, rather than be ultimately forced to work for some huge mega-merged cubical corporation?

And so, Mr. Web Guru wept (but in the now, I smile and I am happy).

Robert

Look, SMX Social was a great show. Danny Sullivan was great! The new staff was great! The panelists were great! the topics were great! The attendees were great! The food was even palatable. The hard chairs on day one sucked. But they got swapped for better chairs the second day, as if by a miracle.

The presentations were very helpful. And since Matt Cutts wasn’t in da house, the presenters were very relaxed and candid and forthright and even revealing. A couple of the “presenters” could use an ego check for sure. But all in all and root in all, I was very pleased with the panel selections, which were well suited to the subject of social media; too many names to list for now. Of course a few stand out in my memory. Among the presenters, the “I am certainly proud of myself” award went to Diggster specialist and SMO, Neil Patel.

Mr. Rand Fishkin, kudos my man. If I did not work for Mr. Web Guru, I would be happy to work for you. At SMX Advanced in Seattle you impressed me, but in New York you really shined. Rand is my new Search Marketing hero. He is probably wondering then, why I am not paying for a subscription to his members site? Well, truth is that I’m a one-man show with a couple of very talented designers and programmers in the fold but not in the employee status. Lucky me. Therefore, I just don’t have much time for newsletter. I am actually forcing “read time” into my weekly schedule to get involved in the social media phenomenon, but I have a workload to fulfill that keeps me real busy. I make time for essential and crucial reading, usually data laden white papers and occasional, select blog posts and a book or two a year to home study related web niches I want to become proficient at. I do prefer my annual events though, like SMX, PubCon and Search Engine Workshops, where I can really put aside what I already know [works] and focus on learning and discovery of emerging strategies and tactics (often I will find the best gems off the clock like at lunch or at an after party off site). What I do daily, since 1997, has always genuinely helped my clients to succeed and grow wealthy online. For the most part, forums (I don’t like forums, as I was mob raped at one of the first ones I visited years ago the “ihelpyou” forum) and newsletters and blogs, take time away from my clients (and more importantly my family) and MUCH of the information easily accessible online is debatable, and even easily refutable. When I get time to read a subscription again, yours Rand, will be the first I’d pay for, at least today. Keep up the excellence and professionalism you exude. Rand is the founder of the SEOMOZ blog.

Mr. Danny Sullivan, thank you for another excellent SMX event. Some day, if I come to enough SMX’s, you won’t have to squint and look at my ID tag to get my name when I say hi to you. It is Robert Wright (a good ‘ol English name, from: Shipwright), my ancestors likely built the ships that brought your ancestors to New York. But now you’ve come to New York to ship me home with some great and timely information. My hat is tipped to you also.
And Lui, I was also impressed with you. Christine is real lucky to have you on board!

I may have been a good panelist for this event. I have dabbled in Social Networking sites and taught my clients to get involved in them (the newer Web 2.0esque versions, not just groups and forums) since 2004.

All of the presentations at this SMX event were very good. I would attend it again.

Robert