My Plan to Out the SEO Sheisters…Are You With Me?
I Am Sick of It.
I’m sick of the phone calls from SEO companies. I think my company gets at least two calls a day from shady search engine optimization companies, and 99% of the time they are from the snake oil salesmen that give the SEO industry its terrible reputation.
The people who call are slick sales types, or the lackeys of slick sales types who work to prey on small and large businesses that have no real knowledge about search engines and how they work.
And now I’m sick of it. And I want to do something about it. And I need your help.
I think it’s time to start outing these SEO sheisters, right here on the good ol’ Intarweb. And I think anyone who wants to make the SEO community a better place should chip in and help me. Here’s what I’m thinking…
The Plan
- Anyone who gets calls from an SEO company, any SEO company, should immediately ask the caller to give you their first name, last name and company name…write it down.
- Tell the SEO salesperson that you would like to record the phone call and post the call on the Internet. If they ask why, tell them that you want to make sure they are willing to stand behind what they tell you. Assure them that if they tell the truth and know what they are talking about, they have nothing to worry about. (I have a pretty good feeling this will end almost every inbound call SEO conversation you have – but if someone agrees, go to step 3).
- Start recording the conversation. (You can use an iPod with a recording attachment along with a cheap adapter from Radio Shack with most phones.)
- Ask them to once again state their first and last name, company name, and have them verbally verify that it is OK for you to record the conversation and use the recording however you want, including posting it on the Internet.
- If they say yes, start asking them tough questions about SEO. Have them explain their process, get details, make sure you dig deep into the areas that seem incorrect to you. Do your best to test their knowledge and figure out if they are competent SEOs or if they are SEO Sheister.
- Final step - Take the audio recording of the conversation and either send it to me (if there is enough interest I will start up a blog just for this) or post it on your own blog. If you post on your own blog, make sure you use appropriate SEO techniques to rank for the SEO company’s name.
- Repeat.
My Hope
I am hoping that doing this will help out the bad seeds in the SEO industry. I am hoping that if enough people do this, the companies will start telling the truth or at least think twice before lying. I am hoping that doing this will make SEO companies think twice before making that outgoing call to find the next sucker. Will it work? I don’t know. But I think we should try…
I Need Your Help
It is time for the SEO and online community to start policing itself. It is time to start outing these companies. It’s time for the Diggers out there that hate SEO so much to show the world why by outing the jerks. It’s time for the big name SEO gurus to start protecting the reputation of the industry that they have profited from for years.
So what do you say Danny, Rand, Greg, Michael, Barry, Jill, Eric, Jeremy, and Bruce? Are you ready to stand up for your industry? Are you ready to start fighting back?
It’s time. I need your help. Who’s with me?
Comments
Seems like a lot of work. Why don't you just promote the fact that if you're called out of the blue for anything (SEO, whatever), just hang up. Rarely does anyone get a call out of the blue for something they need or want from that's also from someone offering a quality product.
Posted by: Danny Sullivan | February 27, 2007 05:51 AM
Hey Danny – an honor to have you stop by MP…
I agree that this seems like a lot of work, but as a former boiler room stockbroker, I can tell you that hanging up will not deter these sales people. Back in my cold calling days I made about 200 cold calls per day – and whenever someone hung up on me I would shrug my shoulders and make the next call. Knowing that, I don’t think the hang up is going to make a difference in this situation.
On the other hand, if we make these sheisters feel like they are being hunted down, and that we are on to them, we might very well make them think twice before they pick up their phones. Even better, we will make selling bad SEO services so unpleasant that they will find other markets to move into…maybe social media marketing…joking.
Posted by: James | February 27, 2007 08:17 PM