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}
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Hey Guru
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!)
#1. Start a blog, always tell the truth and always talk about things
that you know really do help people less experienced than youself
#2. Go to google and do a search for SEO _blogs, set up a rss reader and
start commenting on the most popular, well read blogs on the planet.
ALWAYS suck up to the owner of the blog and ALWAYS try to offer better, more
useful comments , (that doesn't overshadow the blog owner), than all
the other posters.
#3. Do the same search for seo+ forum and start contributing, (not
spamming), the biggest forums and social sites. ALWAYS add value to the
forum and NEVER put your personal agenda above that.
#4. ALWAYS try your best to be helpful and NEVER bullsh** anyone. It's the
internet and whatever you say haunts you forever. become known for
honesty and not for trying to steal clients by trying to "look" honest.
Be honest
#5. Follow the DO philosophy
do the best job you can do
be proud of what you do
do what you say you will do
and charge accordingly
You do those things and it will build your SEO business quicker
and for a LOT less money than PPC
Well I figure I've probably bent your ear enough tonight.
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Now you may be thinking "but that would take too long Guru". Well, the truth is it doesn't really. The more you contribute the faster it comes. That is the law of the
Internet Golden Rule
THE MORE YOU GIVE THE MORE YOU GET
There is nothing wrong with PPC and as far as how long putting my advice into action would take to actually start getting paying clients, well, there are a LOT of variables but there are variables with PPC as well. One thing with PPC that is NOT a variable is that it WILL be an expense. So I'm not telling you what to do as much as I'm telling you how I did it.
good luck
Peace Y'all
G
now go get your good clothes on and get ready for sunday school. AND YOU BETTER NOT GET 'EM DIRTY EITHER!