Are people really that stupid?

[Ian J]

I have just received an email from [email protected] as follows:-

Hi, Hope you are doing well there. We will help them find you by putting you on the 1st page of Google. Do let me know if you are interested and I would be sharing you more details about our past work details. Email us back to get a full proposal. Kind RegardsAndyDigital Marketing Expert Note: - If this is something you are interested, please respond to this email. If this is not your interest, don't worry, we will not email you again.

Would anyone respond to such an anonymous email, especially when the grammar is so poor?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Ef yoore finking dats pooore den fink agin mate

 

[Turnkey Businesses]

i'm sure many non internet savvy biz owners probably do reply to these people and give them their money. they can just have bad english but be good at their job. but then theres an easy way to find out. ask them for their website and then put into google "get me on the 1st page of google". if their website doesn't show up on the first page that will tell you everything you need to know.

 

[Bill1954]

I get loads of these, general rule of thumb is if the email address is hotmail / gmail etc it goes in the trash. the rest of them go into the trash next. I believe that successful SEO companies don't need to cold call or do email marketing.

 

[LukeF]

i'm sure many non internet savvy biz owners probably do reply to these people and give them their money. they can just have bad english but be good at their job. but then theres an easy way to find out. ask them for their website and then put into google "get me on the 1st page of google". if their website doesn't show up on the first page that will tell you everything you need to know.

So just because they don't rank on Google's first page for that one, very specific search term they can't rank anyone else's site?

 

[Bradley Holmes]

I see at least a couple of these a week, I don´t know how anybody would reply to such a poorly worded email either.
I seem to get a lot that start "greetings for the day" I can´t for the life of me think where they found that phrase.

 

[Turnkey Businesses]

So just because they don't rank on Google's first page for that one, very specific search term they can't rank anyone else's site?

ok then, ask them for their website and their main keyword phrase and check that

 

[Bill1954]

If they use the "Guaranted page 1 of Google comment I stop looking.
Apart from sponsored ads, no one can make that guarantee.

 

[LukeF]

ok then, ask them for their website and their main keyword phrase and check that

Again, not really applicable. I actually don't rank our site on Google, we don't need to. Competing with other SEO companies is a cost I don't even want to think about and would therefore result in a stupidly high acquisition cost per lead. We go after our own clients via outbound marketing, clients we know that we can truly help.

We have examples of sites we've ranked though of course, this is imperative for bringing in any new customers. What I'm saying is that just because my site isn't on page 1, doesn't mean we can't rank the client's site.

 

[LukeF]

If they use the "Guaranted page 1 of Google comment I stop looking.
Apart from sponsored ads, no one can make that guarantee.

No one can actually guarantee page 1 rankings, no one has that relationship with Google. However, some companies are confident enough in their own abilities to offer a guarantee. Perhaps 2% of the time they don't get them there, and that's where some will either refund or continue working for free. It's best to make sure that this is in a contract though! If you deal with a cowboy SEO firm and there's no contract, they may do a runner after failing to rank your site.

 

[fisicx]

ok then, ask them for their website and their main keyword phrase and check that

Proves nothing, all it means is they can rank their own site for a particular keyword.

 

[Ian J]

Oh Gawd. It was meant to be an example of a poorly worded email from an anonymous "expert" who would like nothing more than to take some money off me. It wasn't meant to start yet another bout of digital marketing companies are no good unless they are on page one of Google.

For what it's worth I have someone redesigning my website and coming up with an optimization plan and I don't think they even have a website themselves

 

[Turnkey Businesses]

Again, not really applicable. I actually don't rank our site on Google, we don't need to. Competing with other SEO companies is a cost I don't even want to think about and would therefore result in a stupidly high acquisition cost per lead. We go after our own clients via outbound marketing, clients we know that we can truly help.

We have examples of sites we've ranked though of course, this is imperative for bringing in any new customers. What I'm saying is that just because my site isn't on page 1, doesn't mean we can't rank the client's site.

Obviously you know more about SEO than i ever will as thats your business, but speaking strictly from a customers point of view i would expect an SEO company who offers to put my biz on the first page of google for my keywords to be themselves on the first page of google for their own keywords. that would be a no brainer for me.

i know what your saying that the SEO industry is extremely competitive but as i say, from a customers point of view i would expect if that is a service they are offering i would expect that they are able to do it for their own business, and if they can't i would presume they can't do it for mine. as a result i would use one of the companies that are listed on the first page of google for the search terms that relates to that service.

 

[Nicola Laycy]

I definitely wouldn't respond to anyone sending me an unsolicited email and especially one that is so poorly written. Also if they are a legitimate business then surely they would not be using a free email address such as Hotmail.com or google.com etc..

 

[Turnkey Businesses]

Proves nothing, all it means is they can rank their own site for a particular keyword.

which is the service they are offering, so shows they can do the job no?

 

[GraemeL]

an optimization plan and I don't think they even have a website themselves

They must be American to use words with a z!

 

[LukeF]

Oh Gawd. It was meant to be an example of a poorly worded email from an anonymous "expert" who would like nothing more than to take some money off me. It wasn't meant to start yet another bout of digital marketing companies are no good unless they are on page one of Google.

For what it's worth I have someone redesigning my website and coming up with an optimization plan and I don't think they even have a website themselves

I try to sometimes empathise with these people, English clearly isn't their first language but my Indian/Mandarin/Spanish/etc is non-existant so perhaps we shouldn't judge.

I do actually agree though, poor grammar and punctuation grinds my gears!

 

[LukeF]

Obviously you know more about SEO than i ever will as thats your business, but speaking strictly from a customers point of view i would expect an SEO company who offers to put my biz on the first page of google for my keywords to be themselves on the first page of google for their own keywords. that would be a no brainer for me.

i know what your saying that the SEO industry is extremely competitive but as i say, from a customers point of view i would expect if that is a service they are offering i would expect that they are able to do it for their own business, and if they can't i would presume they can't do it for mine. as a result i would use one of the companies that are listed on the first page of google for the search terms that relates to that service.

A valid point, some clients may feel like this. Just prepare to pay a premium for going with one of these companies, probably an extra few hundred a month.

Like I said before, it's not that all of us "can't", it's purely because we "won't".

 

[GraemeL]

i would expect an SEO company who offers to put my biz on the first page of google for my keywords to be themselves on the first page of google for their own keywords. that would be a no brainer for me..

I do know what you mean, but have to disagree.

• A tennis coach can claim to bring a player to no 1 in world without being able to do it themselves.
• A painter and decorator can do a great job without having a pretty office
• José Mourinho can claim be the number 1 football coach in the world without ..... ah no, have to draw the line somewhere.

What matters is evidence of achievements for customers.

G

 

[Turnkey Businesses]

A valid point, some clients may feel like this. Just prepare to pay a premium for going with one of these companies, probably an extra few hundred a month.

Like I said before, it's not that all of us "can't", it's purely because we "won't.

yeah no doubt they will be charging a small fortune for it, just trying to put the point of a customer over (which i am).

 

[Deleted member 59730]

Type my name into Google and I am number one. Two, three, four etc too. No SEO involved.

 

[enjoylife]

My experience is don't waste time with them.

 

[BigTree]

I'm no expert in SEO, not my field in any way, but even I can get any website to No.1 in google for a random long phrase or their unique brand name!!

There used to be a game where you'd try and find a google search term that resulted in just a single result. Probably impossible now. That's not too dissimilar to what they are proposing for your hard earned cash.

I noticed in the MarketPlace of this site the new gimmick is getting you to place for all 10 spots on the first page.

Ignore the vague SEO people and ignore any spam that doesn't start with a proper greeting to your actual name. They can't even bother to add your website name from your email half the time.

 

[NewGardenStyle]

I get plenty of these, alongside messages from kindhearted Nigerians who want to give me $10m if I'd just give them my bank details. The former get trashed instantly, the latter get read for my own amusement. Thy do have a certain way with words

 

[LukeF]

I'm no expert in SEO, not my field in any way, but even I can get any website to No.1 in google for a random long phrase or their unique brand name!!

There used to be a game where you'd try and find a google search term that resulted in just a single result. Probably impossible now. That's not too dissimilar to what they are proposing for your hard earned cash.

I noticed in the MarketPlace of this site the new gimmick is getting you to place for all 10 spots on the first page.

Ignore the vague SEO people and ignore any spam that doesn't start with a proper greeting to your actual name. They can't even bother to add your website name from your email half the time.

Many people can rank on the first page for long tail keywords, in fact, sometimes you don't need any work at all for the unique brand name. If the brand name is truly unique, there's no competition! Obviously a genuine SEO firm would suggest high-volume keywords with actual buyer intent, which ultimately means proper work needs doing to achieve page 1 rankings. Our aim is to get sales for our clients, not just rankings.

Also, I hope you're not referring to my new service on the marketplace in a negative way. This "gimmick" brings in hundreds of valid leads per month. It's worth well over £2,000 per month to many lead generators and national companies.

 

[BigTree]

That was my point.

If you mean the system of adding 500 pages to your website every day then yes I was.

 

[DH Marketing]

It does astonish me how many emails I get like this from people who don't even have their own website, never mind one that ranks well. It's a bit like offering IT services when you don't own a computer.

 

[LukeF]

That was my point.

If you mean the system of adding 500 pages to your website every day then yes I was.

It's 500 new pages every month, not every day. Please don't talk about our service in a negative way. We've worked hard on this system and it works wonders, whether or not you think otherwise.

Also, please don't derail this thread in order to bash someone else's product.

 

[exciteseo]

I have just received an email from [email protected] as follows:-

Hi, Hope you are doing well there. We will help them find you by putting you on the 1st page of Google. Do let me know if you are interested and I would be sharing you more details about our past work details. Email us back to get a full proposal. Kind RegardsAndyDigital Marketing Expert Note: - If this is something you are interested, please respond to this email. If this is not your interest, don't worry, we will not email you again.

Would anyone respond to such an anonymous email, especially when the grammar is so poor?

That's usual scamming, message was possibly written by Hindu. Everybody should understand, that no SEO specialist can promise you to make TOP1 for the site. Good SEOs only promise to do all their best to help your site to rank better.

 

[Steve Alphabet]

I have a theory about these types of emails, that they're deliberately written badly with lots of ridiculous promises in order to snare only the most gullible.

After all, that's how the Nigerian scam emails work. They don't want to deal with anyone who might even remotely suspicious of them, so write them in a certain way. Then they know that any person replying is likely to believe anything they say from then on.

"See how your traffic is up 1000%? That's down to our SEO. Yes I know the hits are all from Thailand/Outer Mongolia. That's probably just because their server company is based there. They only appear to spend 1 second on your page? No sir that's not a bot, it must be because your website is now running superfast after we optimised it. By the way that'll be an extra 25% to pay this month."

 

[Jeff Nev]

There used to be a game where you'd try and find a google search term that resulted in just a single result. Probably impossible now. That's not too dissimilar to what they are proposing for your hard earned cash.

I noticed in the MarketPlace of this site the new gimmick is getting you to place for all 10 spots on the first page.

Ignore the vague SEO people and ignore any spam that doesn't start with a proper greeting to your actual name. They can't even bother to add your website name from your email half the time.

I remember this. It was called a Googlewhack at the time, and it involved manipulating the search engine with long-tail search terms. I guess you'd use the same principle to guarantee page 1 rankings for someone, but it's hardly going to be useful from the perspective of a business owner.

 

[LukeF]

I remember this. It was called a Googlewhack at the time, and it involved manipulating the search engine with long-tail search terms. I guess you'd use the same principle to guarantee page 1 rankings for someone, but it's hardly going to be useful from the perspective of a business owner.

Ohh funny that, since that's precisely what we don't do. Perhaps you should keep your assumptions to yourself. There is no manipulation.

Is 6000 page 1 rankings that all get maybe 1-3 visitors a month not useful to a business owner? My clients would disagree.

 

[Jeff Nev]

Ohh funny that, since that's precisely what we don't do. Perhaps you should keep your assumptions to yourself. There is no manipulation.

Is 6000 page 1 rankings that all get maybe 1-3 visitors a month not useful to a business owner? My clients would disagree.

You seem to have jumped the gun a bit in your response. I was not talking about SEO itself, but rather the act of Googlewhacking, which remember is a game where you only try to get one search result by combining two obscure keywords. That is what I am saying is of little use to a business owner, because who would search for those terms?

Also, are we not all here to share our assumptions and opinions? If you're that offended, maybe you should leave the internet.

 

[LukeF]

You seem to have jumped the gun a bit in your response. I was not talking about SEO itself, but rather the act of Googlewhacking, which remember is a game where you only try to get one search result by combining two obscure keywords. That is what I am saying is of little use to a business owner, because who would search for those terms?

Also, are we not all here to share our assumptions and opinions? If you're that offended, maybe you should leave the internet.

Well the idea of targeting long tail keywords is to make sure they aren't too obscure because:
a) They won't be the right visitors, and
b) They won't buy

You can share your opinions perhaps, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't share your assumptions on my service, especially since it's negative. Targeting two random keywords that have no buyer intent is of course not going to be beneficial to a business owner, but you're assuming that that's what our service is doing. I can assure you, it's not.

 

[Jeff Nev]

I wasn't talking about your service in the first place, I was talking about Googlewhacking. But since we are now talking about your service, I went to your website to learn more about your satisfied clients and couldn't find any evidence of such due to 'client confidentiality'.

Would mind talking a bit more about these clients here?

 

[LukeF]

I wasn't talking about your service in the first place, I was talking about Googlewhacking. But since we are now talking about your service, I went to your website to learn more about your satisfied clients and couldn't find any evidence of such due to 'client confidentially'.

Would mind talking a bit more about these clients here?

It states that we can't give client names in public, hence why they're not on the website nor would I ever consider putting them on here. It also states that if you email us we will send them over. Stop trying to pick holes my friend.

 

[Jeff Nev]

OK. I'll just leave you with this: guaranteeing first page results is not ethical, and any sane person wouldn't touch your company with a ten foot barge pole.

 

[LukeF]

OK. I'll just leave you with this: guaranteeing first page results is not ethical, and any sane person wouldn't touch your company with a ten foot barge pole.

I'm so glad you shared your infinite wisdom. It's a shame that your statement is just not true. No one can guarantee first page results, but many clients want assurances that if they don't get what they truly need (first page results) that their money is safe. We also make sure we only take on projects that we can deliver results on. We're not going to promise the first page for a highly competitive keyword.

It's worth it on our end to offer a guarantee as we know our work will deliver what we promise. If we can't then we deliver our guarantee. It's the money-back guarantees that people should be wary of.

Again, stop trying to pick fault where there isn't any.

 

[Jeff Nev]

No one can guarantee first page results

From your Google search result: Blue Box SEO | Page 1 on Google - Guaranteed

Seems like a pretty big fault to me.

 

[LukeF]

From your Google search result: Blue Box SEO | Page 1 on Google - Guaranteed

Seems like a pretty big fault to me.

That's laughable, you've taken that completely out of context. Nothing in life is guaranteed (apart from death), but we offer this to our clients to show how confident we are in our work.

Please desist, you're making yourself look silly.