Hi everyone, The idea bug just hit me. I've been messing with SEO and online stuff for years now and didn't realize the astronomical rates that some of the SEO companies charge for their services. $2k-$bizzillion a month, with 6 months minimum contract, to do title, meta tags B.S. with no mentions of link building, "the single most important part of achieving a high ranking website," says Aaron Wall, a highly respected authority in the SEO community. Do they charge for picking their nose too? Anyways, being a publicist I get links from CNN, Business 2.0, Yahoo Top News, Google Top News, Wired, etc., for my clients, which in turn gets high PR blogs to link too. If I were a ridiculously priced SEO company, how much would I charge for those links? Of course with the keyword research and all that stuff. Of course I can't just get those links at will. It has to be part of an integrated publicity package for a worthwhile organization with solid market position who's looking for long term growth. -Jimmy-
Excellent post. This is the best part: The problem with SEO, IMO, is that it's all gray-hat. And it's all short-term. Guess what? Looking for news? CNN doesn't need SEO services for you to find them. Marketwatch.com doesn't need SEO either. Until this last PR update, Marketwatch was a PR 5! Only websites with little to no credibility need professional SEO. ...guess I need some professional SEO.
getting links from sites like CNN, Business 2.0, Yahoo Top News, Google Top News, Wired, etc., are highly desirable and for an seo firm will be a ahead of the league point. As for charging for such links, I guess it would be wise to charge them per month. Cost wise you will need to do a bit of research.
If it's part of an integrated package, sell it to the higher budget online companies which don't have a PR firm and who care about SEO. Small list of companies that qualify? I doubt it. I bet there are dozens of people on this forum, mostly with relatively new companies with the marketing budgets to give it a try.