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Ooh! Controversial! Before I begin let me clarify what I mean exactly. As in any industry, there are genuinely good people who are great at what they do and then there are ‘cowboys’. This is a blog about the ‘cowboys’.
There are of course very good companies who do a great job when it comes to SEO. SEO is not a myth. It is real and it has real value for your business. There are certain ways to do it though – ethical and effective and up to date ways.
Usually I get approached in person or someone rings me claiming they are an SEO expert. I let them talk and offer what they have to offer. They usually give me promises of getting me to the top of page 1 of Google. There is a lot more waffle but that’s basically what they are offering.
When they have finished, I usually ask them if they are at the top of page 1 of Google for anything. (Nowadays, your company might not be on page 1, but you may rank high for certain keywords/phrases related to your industry. You can rank high for blog posts and videos around a particular topic for example.) I’m usually met with a lot of sheepish replies, stuttering, unrelated waffle and – back to the sales pitch. Even after the conversation I search Google for them and most of the time I can’t even find them!
What hypocrisy!
Why would you offer something that you are not practicing yourself? Would you go to get financial investment advice from someone who is really bad at managing money? No! Of course you wouldn’t, because they are not practicing what they preach.
If a so-called SEO ‘expert’ can’t get themselves to the top of page 1 of Google for anything then I have to logically question the validity of your title. At the time of writing I am currently at the top of page 1 for various key phrases relating to my industry however I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself an ‘expert’. It seems that a lot of self-proclaimed ’experts’ are more interested in their title as opposed to providing good value for their customers. I don’t go for the self-proclaimed experts in any field. If someone calls themselves and expert and seems to get really turned on by that word (no, really – I’ve got stories), then I approach with caution.
Beware the ‘experts’…
Hi, I’m Haroon Rashid and I’m the author of this blog and the founder of Finisher Creative. If you are a small business or a charity/non-profit I would be more than happy to talk to you about your online marketing and social media needs. If you’re in the Yorkshire area (UK) I’ll even take you out for a coffee! You can email me on info@finishercreative.com, check me out on Facebook, follow me @FinisherCre8ive or Google+ I look forward to hearing from you!
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It might also be worth mentioning that the true measure of success in internet marketing is of course usually the return on investment, and even good listings in the search engine rankings are not guaranteed to turn in to real business results. For this reason I’d usually recommend that an SEO campaign is handled as part of an overall internet marketing strategy.
Posted by Roger Poultney | January 10, 2012, 13:48Hi Roger,
Thanks for commenting! Absolutely agree. There seems to be a ‘Golden Promise’ of increased sales if you are the top of rankings. There’s absolutely no sense in thinking that SEO is the be all and end all of online marketing.
Posted by Finisher Creative | January 10, 2012, 13:51