credit: Innovative Outsource
My website contact form returned a pitch from an SEO company informing me my company, (1) Soulati Media featured on https://soulati.com was “not ranking top in Google organic search for many competitive keyword phrases.”
(2) Your website profile is not available in most Social Media Websites (sic).
(3) Your site has 8 Google back links, (sic) this can be improved further.
Blah, blah, blah…glad to provide you with a detailed analysis in the form of a WEBSITE AUDIT REPORT for FREE.
PS1: blah, blah, blah
PS2: I found your site from online advertising but did not click.
**************
Sound suspicious? I agree, but I wasn’t fully certain so I consulted with none other than the kingpin of SEO, big data and analytics – Sean McGinnis of 312Digital.
I was particularly confused about “8 Google back links,” having never heard of that before. The second suspect was PS2 in which the woman (who gave me a Gmail contact and not a company email address) said she found me “from online advertising but did not click.” (I have never done PPC campaigns.)
Sean McGinnis Weighs In
Sean suggests, “This person is doing either shoddy work or being untruthful.”
As per the Google backlinks, Sean doesn’t know anyone who calls them “Google backlinks.” He says, “It sounds like a ploy to just invoke the mighty G word in hopes they will sound more authoritative.
“Inbound links have been and continue to be a critical component of ranking well for search phrases in both Google and Bing. GOOD links are more difficult to get than ever because the Penguin update devalued the types of links that were “easy” to acquire.
“This person also obviously lied about the NUMBER of links https://Soulati.com has to the site. A quick review in Open Site Explorer (a link analysis tool) shows you have hundreds and hundreds of inbound links. Granted some of those links include the no-follow tag and therefore pass no link value, but many are good, solid links.
And, finally, King Sean added, “Speaking of ‘invoking Google’ – this one is a favorite of mine:
“Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.” ~Google’s very own page that defines SEO.
312Digital Launches in Chicago
What a great segue into Sean’s announcement yesterday that 312 Digital has re-launched as a training company that provides in-person digital marketing courses to business owners, marketers and consultants.
The first course, Introduction to Digital Marketing is December 3-4 either near O’Hare airport one day or in the Loop on day two. Other markets are on board to get training course offerings by way of content marketing; SEO; PPC; email marketing; social media; analytics; storytelling; and video.
Thanks, Sean, for the help here, and congratulations on the new venture, too!
Dear Madame, I have some “Google backlinks” to sell you. I keep them warehoused on some very fertile swampland in Florida where I also keep shares in a secret corporation that owns the Brooklyn Bridge. Interested in investing? You won’t want to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity! 🙂
@Adam | Customer Experience Hah! You’re early and beat me to the punch! You know what they say…The early gator gets the leg! In swamplands of FL, of course! LOL
@Adam | Customer Experience That.is.the.best.
We see these quite often. The other unsolicited request that many bloggers receive is an offer to purchase links from your site to some third party web site in exchange for money. This violates Google guidelines, but is still done quite frequently. Just know that if Google discovers that you are selling links from your site to another site you unquestionably will be penalized.
Each blogger needs to make the decision about whether to accept an offer like this for themselves. My counsel is too avoid it at all costs, but that’s just me.
And thanks for inviting me to comment for this post Jayme. It’s always fun to share with your awesome community here. 🙂
@Sean McGinnis I’m so thrilled I have a way to keep up with you via Triberr now. Your expertise always so needed over here!
@Sean McGinnis Whew! I am so glad to learn that because as a coincidence I just turned down an offer like this today. It sounded like crap so I gracefully said no. So, thank you, Mr. McGinnis and Ms. Soulati @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing for posting it. Cheers!
@rdopping @Sean McGinnis See? Not everyone is smart like Sean and @thejoshuawilner or Dino Dogan
Well, I get the exact message through my contact form almost every month. The same wording 🙂 They are pretty consistent about contacting me with the same message.
@AnnettaPowell Hah. No kidding! Do these guys have an army or what? Thanks for coming by, Annetta!
Congrats @Sean McGinnis on the re-launch. Wish you much success.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing I just have a good chuckle when I receive these pitches in my inbox and then they get sent straight to spam.
@susansilver @Sean McGinnis They always give me pause, though. I wonder if I should; what am I not doing? Me…the not big data girl. Sigh.
@susansilver @Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Thanks Susan! Appreciate the wishes!
I received an email that was identical. They carpet bomb blogs with that and hope someone will respond.
@thejoshuawilner How the heck? Do they hire armies of at-home peeps? I am amazed.
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Harvest email addresses and then send out mass emails. Doesn’t take much time and I bet people respond. Not everyone is familiar with the terms they try to use.
When they said I didn’t have any social profiles I laughed. I have links to my Twitter, G+ profiles on my page. They are reaching.
@thejoshuawilner But, this one came in via contact form, so I don’t think you can spam the forms? More manual, right?
I’ve definitely gotten these emails before and so have my clients. They always go straight to the trash can. What I find funny is that if these “firms” are finding us, then we must not be all that hidden on Google after all! 😉
And congrats to @Sean McGinnis on the launch of your new gig! So excited for you!!!
@lauraclick Thank you Laura!
@lauraclick @Sean McGinnis He’s got it goin’ on, fo sho! When you get so darn many of those things, you stop and wonder, though…well, at least I do.
ya…my BS detector was blearing the entire time I was reading the pitch.
@dino_dogan What? You’re comin’ over without a Triberr pull??!! That’s a #RockHot, Friend! Thanks for that! LOL
I’ve had a few of these via my contact form as well Jayme.
Usually their English is so bad I just laugh and delete!
When I wrote about my negative feelings on people who buy Twitter followers, the very next day someone contacted me from a firm selling Twitter followers. They suggested they would like to advertise on my blog as they felt it would be a good fit. Hmm, they obviously took a lot of notice of what I was writing about!
@timbo1973 That’s funny…someone has to be paying attention somehow!
Hi Jayme, I can’t stand these emails. They drive me a bit crazy. First, I don’t think you should try to sell anything by insulting your prospect. Second, they’re lying. Thanks for spreading the word about these hooligans!
@wonderoftech Love that you’re here…thanks, Friend!
Nice post………….
I am very happy to read this. This is the kind of info that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that’s at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.
I am very much interested in the topic. I want more about this. Would you mind to post me more on this.I am really impressed with your blog post.Useful information shared.I am very happy to read this article.thanks for giving us nice info.
I really appreciate posts, which might be of very useful for beginners in blogging as I am. Wonderful piece of information Admiring the time and effort you put into your blog and detailed information you offer! I will bookmark your blog and have my children check up here often.
Thanks for sharing this information. I really like your way of expressing the opinions. I like your blog because your posts are very informative me.
Nice information, many thanks to the author. It is incomprehensible to me now, but in general, the usefulness and significance is overwhelming.