I often get people who fill out the form on webuildpages.com that have no clue as to how Search Engine Optimization works (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
I have no problem with the "talk" of how search engines rank sites (I do it all the time….words on the pages, theme of site, resource, links, yada yada)….but what do you do when someone comes to you that has learned things all wrong….they believe that out there there’s some SEO magic bullet that will get them #1 in all engines for all their targeted phrases they want?
Case in point, I got this email today:
I am looking for a company that can do my advertising for me. I do not want to do a pay per click. I know there are companies out there where you pay them a flat Fee and than they just get you in the top of all seach engines and keep you there for a flat price every month so what would it cost to do that?
here is my site www.XXXXXXXXX.com
and do you make websites where you get it in the top 10 and you link it to this so it will be in the top 10 of all search engines?
I don’t mind those who say " I want to be #1, how does this work, and what will it take?" I do this every day….but for those who believe there’s an SEO magic bullet to be #1 for everything everywhere, I really don’t want to talk with them….I just feel that they’ll listen to me for second…and then think "this guy’s not telling me about the SEO magic bullet…he doesn’t know what he’s doing…when I’m done here, I’m going to contact the next guy until I get one who’ll guarantee #1 in all the engines"….and he just might find that someone to tell him what he wants to hear.
Am I passing on lost opportunities? What would you do with email leads like these?
7 Responses
I try to spend as little time on them as possible. Maybe send them a politely worded email saying you’re booked solid for the next 6-24 months and pointing them towards one of the SEO consultant directories.
I think some people manage to learn just enough about a subject to think that they don’t have anything else to learn. These people can be dumber than a box of hair.
/-marshall
Well, that’s a tough one. You want to educate these kinds of people, to help them understand how hard seo work can be. However, these kinds of people “know a guy” who’s used those types of services before, and was pleased with them. At that point, it almost seems pointless to pursue the sale because they have already set themselves up for dissapointment.
Heck, you should tell them that you don’t know of anyone that can show results on that type of service, but encourage them to find someone who can and get them to let you know when they do find them. You could even offer them a reward for finding the silver bullet. Then they will go out and self-educate, and then hopefully come back to you after they realize that those schemes don’t work.
Please treat the very savvy folks I refer to other SEOs with respect 😉
Seriously, the best response is “sorry I’m busy for the next few months/years/decades, please take a look at the seoconsultants Web site”.
It’s not a lost opportunity, it’s saving yourself a huge headache.
You think those are the problem? Easily educated. 🙂
It’s the ones who say that they want a PR6, know SEO, and will correct me if they see I’m doing it wrong. I’ve received that before. 🙂
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