I know there are those who have had bad experiences with outsourcing. I’ve read horror stories in blogs and forums and I completely empathize with the narrators. Few people understand better than I do what a let down it is to go into a relationship with such high hopes only to be left feeling disappointed.

There are two things I feel it is important to remember when considering negative experience posts about outsourcing.

#1. Experience is what you get when you are expecting something else.

#2. It takes at least two people to make a deal go bad.

For the purposes of this blog, when it comes to discussion of the economy, I don’t see the issue of a recession as being the challenge for the seo community. I see the biggest issue the industry faces, (and the best argument for outsourcing), is the fact that the industry is an increasingly more difficult and more competitive environment of which to attempt to maintain profit margins in.

It is taking more and more time, effort and resources almost daily to satisfy marketing objectives in this every expanding tech world. Each aspect of electronic  marketing takes a pretty hefty investment of educational capital. So when you consider having to be proficient in on site optimization, then off site, then analytics, then writing good copy, social media marketing, branding, conversions, PPC, pod casts, videos, mobile apps, etc. etc. etc. AND, online marketing is just now starting to come of age. It ain’t gonna get any easier kids.

There is real money online and that brings real companies with real assets who don’t give a damn that you are just a 5 man company. They see your market share as theirs and they kind of have a point.

So, you are left facing an ever dwindling list of choices.

Specialize on just one or two aspects and become an expert at those.

 I believe this is the best option for most small SME's. Especially those not comfortable with the concept of outsourcing or expanding their labor force in-house.

Allocate more of your time to read, study and learn to become good enough at more areas of online marketing to expand your offerings.

The problem here is you have to keep spending the time you are spending now to maintain the level of profits you have PLUS spend more time on education. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for enjoying the fruits of your labors.  Puts a new spin on the old adage, "you can't take it with you".  Spending all your time working AND going to cyber school begs the question to be re-phrased to "why have it in the first place if you don't have time to spend it ?"

Recruit, hire, train, supply and manage new employees.  

The problem here is not in the hourly wage or salary with benefits. The problem here is the expense in time and capital. You have a sizeable investment for each aspect of this process and you have to cover the risk for quite some time before you can expect a reasonable return. Then if they have to be let go, they quit or they get stolen by a competitor with deeper pockets, you lose!

There is no question that outsourcing can be a good solution to two of those problems that could limit growth. So, if you are considering outsourcing as an option, let me offer the benefit of my experience in the form of a couple of tips.

It’s not about the cost, it is about the quality.

There is nothing in this world that another can not produce cheaper with less quality. Those who consider price alone are this man’s legal prey.

There are a lot of smart people in India working at running outsourcing and BPO companies. Smart you want. You want someone who has the resources to recruit, hire, train and most importantly, MONITOR FOR QUALITY CONTROL.

No matter what you pay, if the quality is not there your profits will suffer. Value is the only commodity that will maintain profits. Quality is value whereas cheap is not. This is why I have never had any sympathy for those who buy 1000 links for $39 and then complain they got screwed.

Know What You Want.

If you could not hire a new person and provide a detailed job description, then you are likely going to be disappointed in your outsourcing company. They can not read your mind and can only provide what they understand you want.

In spite of popular misconception, India is not a country full of people who set up companies just to rip you off. The vast majority of outsourcing, BPO and KPO, (knowledge process outsourcing), are hard-working, honest businessmen who want nothing more than to provide you with the kind of service that keeps your business coming to them. They WANT to do a good job and will as long as you define what that job is.

Communication and Patience is the Key

If you can write a job description that a new hire could effectively execute, then you can find an outsourcing company that will do the same. The trick is in being able to communicate exactly what it is you want and if you are not getting what you want then accept that not only have THEY failed to provide what you were looking for, but also YOU failed to effectively communicate what you were wanting.

There are a lot of very well educated people in India and educated people speak and write English. However it is still a second language to them and there is also the issue of accents and culture. BUT in my experience it is not that different than hiring people in America.

I have had a lot of difficulties over the years with getting poor performance out of employees and blaming myself for not being clear as to what I had expected of them. That is certainly a problem because I always seem to have 15 things on my mind at any given time.

But I don’t have nearly as much of a problem with performance from employees here yet I explain myself in pretty much the same way as I always have. What is the difference?

Then difference is that even though English is a second language, they listen because they WANT to understand and perform above my expectations. That is a part of the culture here. Doing a good job is an honor and to do poorly reflects badly not only on you but on your family as well.

In India, the majority of people who have a college degree got that degree through the sacrifices made by their parents and family. Often those sacrifices can be extreme. To earn a degree and then perform poorly is a kind of slap in the face to all the people who worked very hard to give you the opportunity in the first place.

Of course there are exception and people are people all over the world. But the point is simply that if you know what you want and can communicate that honestly and clearly you can expect to get quality results.

There are a LOT of good reasons that most of the largest corporations on the planet use outsourcing to grow their business, and so can you by using outsourcing as a way to keep up with the ever changing face of online marketing.

SME's are now in a position to capitalize on the same things the big boys have been getting for a long time now. And that thing is not just cost savings. It is quality that can only be gained by recruiting, training and managing smart people who can produce superior results.

Peace Y’all

G

It seems we’re all so busy trying to give our kids all the things we DIDN’T have that we forget to give them the things we did.

A few months back I had a lapse of almost a month between posts. I was chastised severely by thousands of avid Guru readers, (ok, ok 4 avid guru readers), and knew that I was not accepting that launching a blog and expecting to build a following comes with a responsibility beyond just posting whenever you feel like it.

Ok I accept. I've taken up valuable time from busy people by insinuating there would be fresh content to learn from or at least engage with, on some kind of regular basis and now I have a responsibility to deliver.

When I had that month long lapse and finally returned, I made some lame excuse about being busy and not having time and the blog not being a source of income and my dog ate my homework and my grandmother got sick and I had a flat and -----------

Nothing more than excuses. Later after some reflection and with the taste of foot still lingering in my mouth, I realized that we're all busy. It's a busy world and if I expect people to give me some of their time I better be willing to give them some of mine as well.

So I started thinking about how to arrange my schedule so I could devote more time to blogging while still providing some unique, informational, educational and entertaining,(or at least a way to kill time while looking busy), value to the reader.

Of course desire holds no sway over time and time is the enemy in this instance because while I accept my responsibility to my readers there is no denying that still my first duty lies with paying clients. I have taken their time AND money so what’s s stressed SEO to do?

I have resources. 11 years of promoting websites for profit has afforded me some value assets that I can bring to bear when the need arises. In fact I have one of those assets that most SEO’s would cut off another’s’ right arm for. A very smart, well educated, holding a degree in journalism content developer. A good friend, a long term employee and a man who can put out 1000 words of optimized, well researched, quality content in an hour. His name is Jake Lowery.

Meet Jake Lowery

Jake is a news hound. He has more rss feeds than Google has zeros. He is a man of wide and varied interests and knowledgeable in a LOT of areas including online marketing and SEO. So it dawned on me he would be very useful to me if I asked him to browse through the plethora of SEO/Marketing articles produced every day and send me the ones that he felt would be of the most interest to the seo community at large in the form of a question. He’ll feed me the meat of an  article and formulate it into a question asking my opinion.

I will still write my weekly articles as I always have but now I will have an additional offering to my blog with a more direct editorial flair as well. If you have a question you are still free to send them to me massa@techndu.com and if I choose yours I will post it, (complete with links to you), along with my "editorial" answer.

Questions for the week of 4-11-08

1. Jim Boykin says he has been asked to speak at a conference on Buying Websites for SEO. http://www.jimboykin.com/buying-websites-seo/

He says he’s not sure if he wants to talk about the subject in public, although he has posted on it before.http://www.jimboykin.com/screw-the-sandbox-buy-and-old-site/ 

Guru, you have never been shy about sharing your secrets, so I’d like to know if you think it is wiser, and faster, to buy an old site with lots of back links, or to work on a new site and build you own links.

Guru: Jim has been doing this stuff a long time and  knows more about search engines and the tools that help dominate the results of those engines than just about anybody. Jim is also a world class SEO and knows how to take a site with existing links pointing to existing content and still convert the traffic that would generate to a new topic, service or product that may or may not be totally, closely or not at all related to the old content.

In my opinion, if you are not confident of your own skills to do relatively the same thing, then I believe you are wasting your time and a valuable resource to someone who does know. I believe that placement without conversion it the epitome of futility. To get a top placement just for the sake of generating non-converting traffic is a complete waste of time and money. To do it with old domains that you purchase for the placement benefit without knowing how to convert, you just made less than no money. Now you also wasted the money you spent on the domain. If you are one of those people, ---- call me. I’ve got some great old domains I’d let go pretty cheap.

Jim hesitates to discuss it publicly because he knows that when he does, far too many people who don’t know what they are doing and are simply looking for a quick buck, (which this is not by the way), will be competing with him for the domains that he could have monetized. He is not actually referring to those who do know what they are doing because most of them are his friends and peers and he knows that they will feel much like he does and pretty much keep their mouth shut and make their money.

He also knows that when a technique is found that does offer an advantage to the technically capable, it does not pose a great threat to Google as long as it appears relevant and they have little motivation to be overly concerned. Meaning that there is a technique that may be available for a long time. He also knows that as long as the ignoratti doesn’t start posting on every SEO forum and blog, (making it appear that Google is not in control of their results), there would be plenty of resources out there for him and all the SEO’s that understand how to use it to go around. He also knows that when it becomes a public relations thorn in the side of Google, you can bet that technique is not long for this world. 

Next  Question

3. I received an email advertising a service offering a talking avatar as a way to increase sales from your site. Do gimmicks like this really work? http://www.sitepal.com/

Those things seem soo real don’t they? So warm, so caring. NOT!

Would you buy something from a cartoon?

The only benefit they have in my opinion is if they can add some entertainment value to the site. But even then I think a handy widget would still produce more sales. If anything, they distract from your message.

If you do feel they add some intrinsic value to your site and you want to use them, I recommend at least staying focused on a benefit and NOT a feature.

Have the little cartoon say things THEY want to hear.

It’ll make you skinny

It’ll make your hair grow

It’ll make your momma love you

It’ll make your friends jealous

No one will be able to tell how small your --------

Well, you get the idea.

A perfect illustration of my point is a success story I found at the sitepal site itself. It took me to a carpet cleaning site in New York. When you click the scarry little womans head she starts telling you how long they been in business, what tools they use, how cute they are and how they enjoy long walks on the beach, (I don't know what she said actually. It didn't interest me enough to keep listening.)

I think it would be more effective if the little head said things like

We'll make your house quit stinking

Don't get crap on your fingers, let us pick up the poop

See for yourself if you think they increase sales http://carpet-cleaning-ny-nj.com/ Then come back and tell me if you stayed awake through the entire cartoon.

Peace Y’all

G

How the hell did you get a bean stuck up your nose in the first place dammit!

I've mentioned before how I find it strange that I get more questions by email than by comments on the Ask the SEO Guru blog but at the end of the day, I'm just glad to be getting asked anything by anybody from anywhere.

I recommend that you never be afraid to ask anything from anyone if you're sincere. Most people are flattered that you respect them enough to ask their advice or opinion and if you've read anything from the Guru's blog you already know how I feel about flattery.

When asking for something you want from someone else, always appeal to their own self-interest and never to their mercy or gratitude.

Well, today I got an email from someone who was sincere and the Guru was flattered that he had a question he thought I could help with. After replying and answering his question it occured to me that there are probably a lot of other people who may have the same type of question. And it is the kind of question that you would have a difficult time finding answers for in a search so I think it's important that someone post this kind of info.

It doesn't have to be very good to be the best when  you're the only one. THAT is the secret behind the value proposition of unique content.

So today I'm going to post the email exchange in the hopes that it helps more than just the person asking me specifically. I'll remove names to protect the guilty. The Guru's responses are in bold.

{note: The reference to The Google Story comes from this blog post http://massa.techndu.com/2008/03/17/TheGoogleStory.aspx}

******************************************************************************************************************

I've enjoyed reading The Google Story - it was a real good recommendation. Are there others that you would recommend that might help to understand the industry and help me to get better at this stuff?

The Cluetrain Manifesto --- by 4 guys I don't remember their names right now
Don't Make Me Think -- by Steve Krug
The Purple Cow ---- by Seth godin
The Tipping Point ---- by Malcolm Gladwell
The Long Tail --by Chris Anderson
Marketing Warfare by Jack Trout and Al Ries

Also Guru, I was wondering if you had any recommendations with regard to how to start a SEO business... I've considered starting a big PPC push with little campaign on AdCenter, Yahoo, and AdWords to try to get a few leads and hopefully develop a couple decent sized PPC clients - I figure if I can get a couple good PPC clients then in time I can upsell them to SEO services. Hell, maybe I should be trying to sell them SEO first... I dunno. I sure know that if I can get a couple of decent clients then it could mean some more work for you guys too.

I can tell you how I did it in 5 easy steps! (except for the RSS stuff. they didn't have that stuff when I started out. in fact when I started out we had to walk to the library to use a computer and it was uphill all the way. BOTH WAYS!)

What is a Hi Powered Link?

One that establishes trust in content related to a contextual theme or topic.

It is not about page rank and it is not about an authority site or a hub. It CAN be, but when it is, it is purely incidental.

It’s not even about Google or any search engine. A hi-powered link doesn’t get it’s power because a search engine trusts it. A link gets it’s power because PEOPLE trust it and that is what makes search engines want to trust it. Not the other way around.

One big misconception within the SEM community, (that I’m actually grateful for because it has given me a huge edge over my competitors;), is that hi-powered links gets their power from being on theme. I hate to invalidate anyone but the sad truth is that most of the people I’ve seen making that comment have not thought the statement through and obviously have no idea of what “on theme” really means.

Conventional wisdom from within the SEO ignoratti, would have us all searching at Google for our keyword  inurl , intitle, etc. to find “good” link request targets. All that does is get us begging our direct competitors to please send your best prospects to me.

A little better advice is to research out competitors backlinks and target those sites for a link. The thinking seeming to be that if they linked to a guy just like me and now that guy is placed better than I am, they’ll probably link to me too. Anyone that has actually tried this knows that it doesn’t work well enough to justify the time spent on the process. Now if Yahoo site explorer showed how much our competitors paid for each link, maybe THAT would make the time invested to results returned ratio much better. Until then, it’s pretty much a pound in an ounce out proposition.      

Rooting For Free Links

When I’m rooting for free links, I pay VERY little attention to theme. At least as it’s commonly known.

When you’re paying for links, you get to negotiate the link AND THE TERMS. What to say how, when and where to put it.  But when you’re digging for link worms, you are at the mercy of the human being whose fingers can click on the upload button of that site’s file transfer protocol.

So you see, we’re not dealing with content, or context, or websites, or THEMES. It just looks that way. We’re actually dealing with people.

So how do you REALLY determine the “theme” of a site?

WHEN IT MAKES SENSE TO ANOTHER HUMAN FOR YOUR LINK TO BE THERE.

When your link being right there makes sense to someone besides just you, it is on theme! Keep in mind though, you have ulterior motivations beyond the original intent of the target site. You’re opinion of what makes sense doesn’t count in this instance.

So, just because your link would make sense to be right there, doesn’t mean the human running the site NEEDS to put it there. There is a LOT of things he has available to put there that makes as much sense to his visitors as your link does. Unless you built that site too, the original intent of the target site did not have YOUR search engine placements as an objective.

What makes the human running the site decide to use your link to add value to his site?

The same things that make any human want to do anything. 

In the last post I wrote,  What do you REALLY want, a PR 8 link or to be on the first page of search results?   I explained some of the basic human motivations:

Either it makes them money, saves them time, provides added value to their visitors or they believe it makes them look good or smart or benevolent to their visitors, their peers, their friends, their relatives, to the search engines, award sites or just about anyone that can make them a buck or stroke their ego. 

Isn’t it funny how often search engines have little to do with search engine placement? That’s because a search engine can’t do anything until AFTER a human creates something for them to do. Once you accept that concept, all that’s really left is why would they do something for you? Answer that and links of the free persuasion become yours for the asking.

Does it REALLY work GURU?

Can you REALLY get relevant hi-powered links just by saying something people that can provide them want to hear? Well it works for the GURU.

People I Know Of Who Have Worked Hard, Contributed Something of Real Value and Deserve A Hi Powered, Guru Themed Link

Debra Mastaler  -- Link  Genius

I love having discussions with smart people. I recently got lucky enough to have one with a very smart young lady who has done a LOT to influence this industry for the better. Her name is Debra Mastaler and she writes a killer blog here --- http://thelinkspiel.blogspot.com/

 She is the Link Genius! Not hard on the eyes either.

How do I know she’s so smart? Because she said this about me.

“But you know Bob, you have a wonderful solid reputation in the seo community, I call it the smith barney syndrome:  you talk and people listen.”

Aaron Wall. I should put a permanent link to him. Oh wait. I did already!

http://www.seobook.com/blog

Seriously, a true internet resource. He gives much more than he has too and while I have no idea of how much he gets, he deserves more.

If you are not paying close attention to what Aaron tells you, YOU LOSE!

Guy Kawasaki – Here’s a dude who has gotten it from the very beginning.

Have a link on me Guy!

Guy Kawasaki knows how to market online. I’ve read a LOT of his stuff over the years and have never failed to be impressed. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from him. He tells me about a new project he’s just launched that happens to mention my blog and would I be kind enough to blog about his site.

Well, I follow the link he sent me to http://seo.alltop.com/. There I find a really pretty cool concept where under the topic of SEO I find tons of the most hi-end, well read and well respected industry blogs with easy to read headlines including mine!  I was elated and ego inflated.

Bobby Pham -- The Link Building and SEO Blog

http://www.bphamlinkbuilding.com/articles/the-truth-about-pagerank/

I wasn’t familiar with Bobby until I saw him in my referrers. Naturally, I looked and when I did I realized how smart Bobby was and he instantly became a friend. How do I know he’s so smart? Because he said this about me:

“Here’s a great article that talks more about the decreasing value of pagerank.” That links to

http://massa.techndu.com/2008/03/26/FranklyPageRankIDontGiveADamn.aspx

Ken Jones is next up on the smart person list.

http://www.seopscentre.com

How do I know he’s smart? Because he said this about the Guru.

The Chess Club
The smart kids.  You may not understand all of the big words that these guys use, but you can’t shake the feeling that they really know what they’re talking about.

The word club links to me and the word chess links to Bill Slawski,  (another really smart cookie http://www.seobythesea.com/)

Ken really put out a unique post that illustrates creativity and a keen awareness of the industry. Dang it! Another blog to have add to my must read list.

Here’s someone I should have said something nice about long ago.  

Wiep Knol from http://wiep.net/ If you want to  know how to pronounce that, http://wiep.net/talk/branding/7-ways-to-not-pronounce-my-name-correctly/

http://thehouseofoojah.com/news/index.php

A concept similar to Guy Kawasaki’s but I link to it because whoever is running the House of Foojah,(love that name), had the mental wherewithal to list the Guru along with many other SEO loudmouth, errr, experts.

*******************************************************************************

Oh, believe me, THIS person is getting a Guru link!

http://www.page5network.com/blog/

links to every article I WRITE.

I predict this site to be the winner of this years best SEO news blog in the history of blogs. It’s quality really does set the standard for the industry and blows me away everday I read it!

http://www.searchengineland.com

******************************************************************************

Finally, I want to give links to three men I have had the great fortune to know and learn from for a long time now. But that is not why I’m giving them link smooches. I’m doing it so you will go to their sites and read their stuff.

These men really are three of the smartest men with a very unique insight into the business of search marketing. They are absolutely brilliant and they definetly do not follow the herd.

These men consistently give away tips and advice that will absolutely unscrew your head and force you to think. If you are not reading them, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Sometimes I have to read their posts two or three times to understand it because they are often over my head BUT they are worth every word I have to look up. They have taught me soooo much and I’m so grateful. I feel by encouraging you to become familiar with them I doing the seo community a great service. The more people read them, the better off the entire industry will be.

Michael Martinez http://seo-theory.com

Be sure and start with this page and take the test. You’ll more in an hour than your competitors that don’t read it will learn in a year!

http://seo-theory.com/wordpress/2008/04/02/the-seo-theory-self-test/

I’m very proud to consider him a friend.

Next is John Andrews. http://www.johnon.com/

John is so far ahead of the pack it’s difficult for me to find the right words to describe his approach and his pragmatic approach not only to the practice but to the philosophy and the politics as well. He shows you how to look at the REASONS search works like it does. He is really pretty amazing. If you ever get the chance, argue with him. He’ll teach you a lot, but if you ask him to teach you, you’ll get nowhere with him.  

I’m very proud to consider him a friend.

Last but far from least, is Ralph Tegtmeier. Most know him as Fantomaster. http://www.fantomaster.com

Here’s a guy who dances to the beat of his own drummer. He is absolutely brilliant, educated and entertaining. He possess the clarity of mind of a laser targeting device, wit as sharp as a razor and the sense of humor to make him very entertaining as well as enlightening. He is what I call a real character. A kind of leading man type too. Must work out a lot because he has those big biceps and the six pack to go with it.

Peace Y’all

G

If you put that bug on your sister I’m gonna slap the fire outta you!

Can you be honest enough with yourself to answer that one simple question?

With a blog titled Ask the SEO Guru, you could assume I believe I know what SEO means. Well, you’d be wrong. I called it the Ask the SEO Guru not because I know what it means but rather because I know the rest of the world seems to “THINK” they know what it means. As a marketing vehicle it works! As for putting me in a position to define the term, it fails.

It fails not because I don’t provide SEO services. I’m actually one of the best. It fails to enable me to define it because the meaning of the acronym SEO is not objective, it is completely subjective. It means whatever you think it means and if I happen to think it means something different and tell you so as a consultant to a prospective client, I lose.

Web Definitions for Subjective

taking place within the mind and modified by individual bias; "a subjective judgment"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 

Web Definitions for Objective

undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena; "an objective appraisal"; "objective evidence"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn 

old fart wisdom

With the dominate discussions regarding seo within the seo community being about links, the perception becomes that the definition of seo is building links. If I knew what SEO really meant even I might agree but after over a decade as an online business development specialist, I’ve learned to believe it is whatever you believe it is IF I want your trust.

Experience has taught me I can argue with you and even get you to agree with my bias but I’m then left in a situation of winning the battle and losing the war. No one likes to be convinced that they are wrong or laboring under a misconception due to lack of understanding or practical application.

I offer this little tidbit of old fart wisdom.

Respect is the ultimate human validation. We all want respect and should demand it.

While we can not force others to respect us, we certainly have the option of not giving our money to those who don’t.

Your prospects have the same option and telling someone their opinion is wrong is invalidating them and showing a lack of respect for their beliefs. Bad juju I assure you.

My biggest challenge in providing a service that exceeds the clients expectations has been over clients telling me to do their link building but they only want GOOD links. The single word “good” may the MOST subjective term of all and getting them to tell me their definition or to accept mine without me knowing what theirs is, has been a huge challenge.

Is a GOOD link one that moves you up in the serps? Is a GOOD link one that has a high PR? Is a GOOD link one that doesn’t link to a BAD neighborhood? How many sites make up a BAD neighborhood?  Is a GOOD link one that matches your theme?  What is a THEME and why would someone targeting the same customers as you with the same keywords you want give you a link and invite his visitors to go to you?? Believe me - they don’t yet every seo forum has someone telling you to only get on THEME links without telling you what that is.    

See what I mean? We all think we KNOW what a good and a bad link is ----- until we’re asked to define it. You give me any set of criteria and I will instruct my staff to get you EXACTLY what you wanted IF we can both agree on what good and bad is. If you don’t tell me what YOU think it is, I’m going to take my fee and get the links that I think are good.

To me a good link is one that improves your visibility for targeted terms the most  with the least risk.

In other words, if not instructed otherwise, iI ALWAYS go for the links that I am most sure will get those first page placements with no risk! That may or may not have anything to do with PR, authority, or even theme. It has to do with research and MANUALLY adding value to the link hosting target site.

So if I can’t get you to define good and bad how do I tell you what I think it is without invalidating you? If you don't tell me what you want, I'm going to move the site but there are simply too many people who don't understand the process or how the engines really work and they have unrealistic expectations. They seem to expect me to "know" how to get pr 7 authority links from direct competitors for free. I can get number 1's for target terms all day long and really fast too, but I can't get pr 7 authority links from direct competitors for free.

After many trials and errors, I have finally found a way that seems to solve the problem.

                                                                                  The Insertion Order

We’ve used an in-house form for years called an Insertion Order. It’s purpose was to let the prospect know what to expect from us and to protect the company and the client.

Even with the insertion order we were still having  too many conflicts over the ambiguous definition of good/bad links so this past couple of months I added some specifics telling the client EXACTLY what we would do, where, when and how.

This forces the client to either give me his definition or accept mine. It has helped to resolve issues so much that I feel I can’t be the only one having these kinds of issues and that there is no good reason I shouldn’t share the content of my insertion order with the community.

You are free to use any part or all of the form if you like but remember I am not an attorney and while this can be used as a legally binding document, I am not representing it as such.

All I can tell you is when I did take it to an attorney, they came back with a 6 page contract that anyone would be crazy to sign without taking it to their attorney and starting a lengthy, (and expensive), negotiations process. Mine is easy to understand and it’s purpose is clear. BUT IT IS NOT REPRESENTED AS A LEGAL DOCUMENT AS I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY.

                                                                               Insertion Order

Thank you for choosing us as your SEO services provider. Please find below and outline of the activities and procedures we intend to perform to increase your visibility in the organic results of internet search engines and related websites.

1.      Key word research

 We will utilize a variety of internet tools and software to perform research to identify which keywords are most suitable as well as most likely to secure targeted visitors to your site.

Once our research is completed, we will provide you the list and allow you to approve all or any part of the list you would like us to promote.

I    Agree / Disagree ________________________

Comments

 ___________________________________________________________

2.       On page Optimization

We will review and make suggestions of changes to titles, tags and optimize content for proper H tag headings, bolded or italicized text, keyword density and grammar.

  I   Agree / Disagree ____________________________

Comments

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3.      Internal linking structure.

We will carefully review the website and optimize internal linking structure to increase the flow of link popularity, ease of navigation and to increase conversion percentages. 

  I   Agree / Disagree _________________________________

Comments

___________________________________________________________
 

4.      Directory submission

By doing keyword research, we locate, review and target directories where it would make sense to an end user for your site to be there. We will carefully select the appropriate categories and always submit your site manually focusing on the visible details such as your title, description and most appropriate url.

I   Agree / Disagree __________________________________

Comments

___________________________________________________________

5.      Article distribution

We will research, identify and review article distribution sites that we feel give us the most chance of increased visibility and link popularity. Select the ones we feel are most suitable and manually submit your article. We will also seek to establish ongoing relationships with the ones that we feel offer the most benefit.

  I   Agree / Disagree _______________________________________

Comments

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6.      Press Release Service

We will take your press releases, (we have on staff journalists who can create them for you), and distribute them to internet services for the purposes of establishing you as an industry authority and increasing your visibility and link popularity.

  I   Agree / Disagree ______________________________________

Comments

__________________________________________________________

7.      Blog Creation

We will create tightly focused and keyword targeted content using a combination of on staff writers and our custom-made software. We will then circulate that content through our network to post.

  I  Agree / Disagree _________________________________________________

Comments

 __________________________________________________________

8.      Link building

We will use different methods of link building on an on-going basis. These methods will include

·         One way link building

·         Two way link building

·         Three-way link building

·          a report will be sent to each week detailing the methods and the results.

·         Some link building techniques such as paid directory reviews may incur additional fees. These fees will NOT be paid until we submit a proposal and it is accepted and the fees paid by you to Techndu to pay on your behalf.

                 I  Agree / Disagree ________________________________________

                Comments

              _____________________________________________________________

9.      Specialty Link Building

At your request, we will research and locate unique linking opportunities. These may include things commonly known as link bait as well as finding available link opportunities on a one time basis. We will notify you of these opportunities and discuss the advantages and any additional costs involved.

  I   Agree / Disagree _________________________________________

Comments
___________________________________________________________
 

10.  Social bookmarking

We will circulate your site among our network of users and encourage them to book mark your site/s. we will then provide reports for your review.

  I   Agree / Disagree ________________________________________

Comments
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