12 replies to this topic

[jtaylor123]

Okay, I can understand wanting to be popular and having community, sure.

I guess I just don't understand why certain SEO companies put a ton of time into making all this stuff for their readers when the only people that are really going to use it is other SEO's. How does this help a business?

I suppose word of mouth and referrals and all that, but if the only people that really know about you are SEO's how is that going to help? Wouldn't they want potential business for themselves? ( and I do know some people are busy and have to turn away business, etc, so they might refer to others.)

I'm not a business person really, so maybe there's long term implications of stuff like that that I don't see.

[Randy]

Oh, I'm sure a lot of it is ego driven Jenny. There are humans involved after all, so there's always at least some ego in there.

Beyond that I think the reasons probably diverge pretty quickly.

There are some people who are simply Teachers by their nature. This is an affliction(?) that is actually quite common among professions like SEO since the general idea when it's a small or one-person SEO shop to do the initial work to get a site on track, then to arm the client with enough information to continue the process as they maintain their own site going forward.

When I was still an SEO it's how I approached things. I'd fix 'em up and try my best to teach the client how to clone what I was doing as best as they could going forward. It just wasn't all that appealing to me to require some type of monthly retainer, but even if I had the monthly retainer could never be worth as much as it should have been.

Then there are others who put stuff out there that may help other real webmasters, but is there more to enhance their standing within the SEO community. Sure it can gain them fame, but another way it can be a marketing tool is if it is read and agreed with by the folks who put on various seminars around the world. Getting invited to speak at one of these seminars not only further enhances the fame and massages the ego, but it also brings them business. Either by people who have heard the SEO speak and hires them or by being a neat thing to have on ones resume.

At the end of the day there are lots of reasons for someone to release their "secrets" into the wild. But the truth is there are no secrets, so publicizing them carries no possible harm and only good. Tis one of the few Win-Win situations one runs across in life.

[Scottie]

Some people do it to raise awareness of their expertise and brand themselves as an expert- it's not a bad strategy. In any field, you can pretty easily gain a reputation as an expert by publishing a newsletter or a blog regularly on that topic- ultimately it can lead to more business (if you also build trust) and possibly wider exposure through offline media.

There are others of us who as Randy said, just feel compelled to teach and share what we've learned.

[jtaylor123]

oh, I am most definitely greatful for the people that want to teach about this stuff!

I suppose I just had a few companies in mind, and was curious.

[SearchRank]

I guess I just don't understand why certain SEO companies put a ton of time into making all this stuff for their readers when the only people that are really going to use it is other SEO's. How does this help a business?

If you are referring to SEO and SEM sites that offer articles, blogs, tools, etc., there are a variety of good reasons why they do it besides attracting non SEO/SEM types.

Community is part of it, ego as Randy said but also to attract links, create buzz and to continue to build content. Blogs are a good example of this. Sure the majority of regular readers may be people already involved in the SEM industry but when you blog regularly, you add content that does get indexed and is is searchable by search engines, both of which can attract new visitors, whether those be people trying to learn about SEM, people looking to hire SEMs or even journalists looking to write on SEM.

[Jill]

To be helpful and to build credibility.

[Ignoramus]

I'll add my tuppence worth from a 'non SEO/SEM' professional point of view...

First, as already mentioned, many people just like to 'teach and share'. Of course, when you do this, it's nice to know you are appreciated so here's an example..

We are a small e-commerce company with a home grown web site. We've gradually managed to get first page rankings with all the major search engines (most of the time anyway).

The credit for this doesn't belong to us. It belongs to articles written by people like Jill and all the tips and advice contributed freely in these forums.

Thank you, to all of you.

Second, if we get to the happy position of growing large enough to employ outside help, this is the first place I would turn to. Because I trust the expertise and ethics of the contributors. Also, it would be nice to give something back. I'm aware of the fact that I take a lot from all this free advice but have little to contribute.

[Rod]

I would also add that providing free content provides some reassurance to potential clients that you know what you are talking about. A lot more people have some basic understanding of what SEO is all about and will do their own background checking to see if you know your stuff. If you provide a website with information about SEO, contribute to forums, etc, I'm sure that would put you ahead of the SEO'er that prefers to keep the information to themselves.

I have found personally that a lot more web development firms are seeking outside SEO expertise nowadays. They know quite a lot about the topic, but don't have the internal resources to manage the workload. If you can demonstrate a working knowledge of the SEO essentials even through something as simple as a blog, it can make the decision to hire you to handle SEO-related jobs a much more comfortable one, I'm sure.

[St0n3y]

trust, credibility, exposure, notoriety, links. All are valid reasons, depending on the person.

But I also would not assume it's only other SEOs that read what is written.

[DanThies]

Right, Stoney.

Most of the people who are reading my newsletter are marketing professionals, not full-time SEO people.

Dan

[Nick Clark]

I will give suggestion and i will take suggestion no ego nothing..

Thanks

Nick Clark

[adybee]

HR Mods - I'd like you all to teach me everything about SEO this afternoon

[Randy]

Start reading and don't miss any post here or any of the articles referred to in any of the posts and you'll "know it all" adybee.

Boy are your eyes and brain going to hurt tomorrow!