36 replies to this topic

[Pianist718]

I am very close to hiring an SEO Company where a guy tells me that the reason they charge $2,200 every month for as long as we work with them is because they do the same kind of job every month.

He is saying that others who charge $4,000 at a start and then just $200 are just looking to grab a nice amount at the beginning and not care for those extra $200 a month coming in. (Though ... he is not insulting others).


When I ask him what will happen after we work for 8 month for example and get to Top 5 in a fairly competitive market and then decide to end the SEO service ...he is saying that we will drop pretty fast if we don't keep on giving $2,200 a month for doing the same job as they are going to be doing in the first 3 months. As they say, their tactic is Link Building.

Can I believe these things? What is your take on it>? Is it true that in a market where there are 3.5 mill sites competing for a keyword after reaching Top 5 you can drop very fast in a month if you don't go on building links...?

[AaronNimocks]

I would say yes and no.

If he is just doing link building then it seems he will be paying for people to put links to your site for a monthly fee. If thats true then yes you will drop after you stop paying and your links go away. I wouldnt work with this company.

[Jill]

When I ask him what will happen after we work for 8 month for example and get to Top 5 in a fairly competitive market and then decide to end the SEO service ...he is saying that we will drop pretty fast if we don't keep on giving $2,200 a month for doing the same job as they are going to be doing in the first 3 months. As they say, their tactic is Link Building.

Unless they are putting your site on their server and can then remove it when you stop paying, there's no reason to suspect you would drop in the rankings. That's an old trick that SEO companies like to say to scare people into keeping on paying for their services.

The truth that many SEO companies don't want their clients to know is that most of the work is done up front and once it is done and once you see decent rankings, there's really not a whole lot more to do. Yeah, you can continue to build links, but one would hope that after a certain time period that your site is so good that it begins to retain its own natural links.

Now, the company should have just been honest with you and said that they were amortizing the job over the life of the contract. Most of the work is usually done in the first 3 months or so, from my experience, although many SEO companies work differently.

The fact that they told you you would drop pretty fast if you stopped paying them would be a big warning sign for me, and I would be very wary of hiring them.

May I ask what it was about this particular company out of the thousands that exist that got you close to signing with them?

[Pianist718]

Jill ..... as I am in marketing I noticed the great job this salesperson was doing. I even told him that I don't want to make a misstake in choosing an SEO company by the professionalism of a saleperson, because we are looking for SEo not salespeople.

This guy was the only one who would answer all questions without holding back. And ... he did speak common sence. Only problem is ... the $$$ hungry.

[Scottie]

I'd run from that deal. I don't do business with people who try to mislead me.

As Jill said, there's no issue with a monthly fee if that's part of the "total" fee for working on your site, but the threats that you would lose your rankings if you didn't pay them $2,200 a month sounds manipulative and frankly, unethical.

[lyn]

The only time I ran into that, the "links tactic" was doorway pages. Once you stop paying the fees, they take down the doorway from their servers, and that's why the rankings drop.
I would have a hard time trusting this deal.

L.

[OldWelshGuy]

The doorway page thing is likely, as is the fact that they might have some srt of link farming system in place that they themselves control. If this is the case, then just as in the bought link scenario, once you stop paying, you will be removed from the network. I am not suggesting that they are using a bad link farming network, they might be using a legitimate one, like controlling the footer links on scripts they have designed and released for free etc.

Either way though, as everyone knows, the bulk of the work is up front. Keyword research alone takes forever, then everypage on the site needs to be looked at etc. Seems to me that it is absolutely logical that the bulk of the cost is up front (unless as Jill mentioned they spread the payments over a 12 month contract and absorb the up front cost.

[Jill]

Pianist718, if you want to pm me the company, I can at least let you know what I know about them. I get a lot of complaints about some specific companies, and if it's one of those I could let you know to beware.

Of course, the company in question will just tell you that I'm a competitor so I would obviously bad mouth them, but if they are legit I would have no reason to do that. I'm not looking for your business, and pretty much have too much as it is!

Let me know if you want me to check them out.

[randfish]

Pianist - This is the 3rd forum I've visited today with this exact post from you. This is typically considered "spamming" and you'd do well to heed the advice of the members here and at the others - I've noted that all are remakably similiar...

[Jill]

Hi Rand,

We don't generally consider that spamming unless the poster never comes back to clarify or answer the posts.

Pianist has been posting here for a few weeks and is certainly welcome to ask whatever questions come to mind, even if he asks them on other forums. (He will of course find the most accurate, best info here, so it's really not necessary for him to go elsewhere, but to each his own! )

[Pianist718]

Jill :-) I am the kind of a guy who listens to anyone who has something to say on the subject.

There is a good quote ... "God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth, if we use them accordingly (in same ratio) we will be better off"

I enjoy these forums. Thank you for all the feedback and valuable advise everyone gives out here. It is appreciated.

[Bri]

Well just to jump on the band wagon with everyone else here. Ya, sounds like a misleading sales pitch.

I agree with Jill, in that once he has optimized you site and done it well, there shouldn't be much reason for it to drop in ranking unless he made detrimental changes. Making it sound as though, as soon as you stop giving him a check you'll fall off the mountain is very unrealistic. If you terminate your relationship with a seo professional, it is not as though you go back to start do pass go or collect $200 and need to start over from scratch. You will just need to find someone to optimized once your ranking begins to drop, which could take a while as well.

[Jill]

You will just need to find someone to optimized once your ranking begins to drop, which could take a while as well.

And even then, if you've done it right, they may never drop. There are still sites out there I optimized in the late 90's that I haven't touched since then and they're doing better than ever.

It's always been a pet peeve of mine to make sure my clients know that they don't have to keep paying me once the work is done. Some like peace of mind, and to be able to call or email with questions. Some like ongoing reporting and stuff, but none of it is necessary for the rankings themselves.

When I started telling this dirty little secret many years ago, I can assure you that many SEO companies were NOT in the least bit happy with me.

Too bad for them!

[AlDugan]

I think Freetrades had a very good point. If this company claims their tactic is link building and is asking for a set monthly fee forever, then they probably are not putting much effort into actually optimizing the site... Instead they just buy a bunch of text links for whatever amount under the $2200/mo. they charge and pocket the difference.

Doesn't sound like much of a service if you ask me.

[projectphp]

IMHO, SEo is a big lot of work once, and a lot of little work afterwards. At the start the project pretty much defines itself. Here is what si required, here is what we need to do, make plans to do it.

I don't like monthly fees, cause I can never really justiify them, but there are clients that do need constant attention. With new products monthly, and an evolving site, monthly fees can make sense. Even then, after the initial upfronts, I can't ever imagine the fee needs to be the same month after month. I mean it is impossible to the same thing every month, unless that "same thing" is not very much

As Jill said, if that is a way to save you money, i.e. we do most work upfront, but charge you monthly to save you the cashflow, that might be a good idea, but the same work every month? Why? Aren't they going to fix the problems