The reason that the Wright Brothers got it right, and were the first ones to fly, is because while everyone else was working on manufacturing the most powerful engines, they were working on the plane itself, particularly making it lighter and giving it the wings it needed to fly.

So instead of focusing exclusively on “tricks” to achieve top rankings, focus on the message and the offers that will make people want to do business with you in the first place. This is not only the thing that will make a page relevant and drive pagerank; it’s also the relevance that will turn browsers into buyers.

Thank you Andy, and I am sorry to contradict you, but SEO and DM are 100% analogous, and SEO should be, if it is not already, held similarly accountable for results. Google offers A/B Splits, Multivariate Testing, Continuous process improvement and all. If it’s not results-accountable, that’s the fault of the practitioner, not the medium.

I’m sure paid SEO consultants have a role, just like anyone else who knows more than the average businessperson about a particular area of expertise. I just agree with Andy that it’s no magic bullet, especially if folks follow the link back to your site and don’t find what they wanted.

There really CAN BE an “if you build it people will come” aspect to a good web site, but you have to have something worth coming for if you want them to come back. And, by the way, by building that content, you’re automatically doing most of the things the optimizing pros would tell you to do and more.

Paul Race
Breakthrough Communications, Springfield Ohio

Still, thank you, Les, for the DM 101 primer, which we all follow regardless of SEO, which is not similarly accountable for results or ROI; Alan, I think your response is in agreement with my three points; and Ron, you humble me with your idea that I am smart enough to play the SEO game back at you!

Let’s hear from some buyers of SEO who can speak to their success and how their SEO providers delivered this!

And wouldn’t it be great if a business owner could buy SEO on a success fee, just as they buy consulting, investment banking, venture capital and other professional services, Jeff. But time will tell who survives in the professional services business as making our clients more successful, profitable and wealthy will always separate successful providers from pretenders!

I have to agree with some of the people here that your take on it is a bit shaky. Whoever told you that you were tricking the search engines was not a professional.

I also think many SEO experts will take a lot of money tweaking a site that might have been better used on a writer just putting out a lot of quality content.

You could also be brilliant, if your goal with writing this was to get a bunch of SEO Experts to link to your website - their sites would be well optimized and you would get a nice bump.

I am going to take a chance and say that was part of your rational.

Any good professional knows that facts speak volumes … and any consultant worth his weight in salt would base suggestions and recommendations on fact and not speculation.

Are some SEOs snake oil salemen … yes. Are some management consultants snake oil salesmen … again yes. Should all management consultants be regarded as snake oil salesmen, or their advice disgarded as ‘weak’ … no.

In the future … make sure you’re speaking based on fact before making an ass out of yourself.

In the end … you’ve now showed that people are also gambling on business consultants.