How the best SEO company in Australia killed Superman
You see … now a days a lot of the TOP SEO guys in the industry (clearly I’m not one of them) spend their days blogging and talking about the importance of “innovative” link building.
You see…. what they do is they spend thousands in infographics and they preach and post how to do “effective online marketing strategy” while learning to play with the “new rules Google impose” .
They blog in SEOmoz, they retweet what other A+ SEO guys blog and they love to adore each other, because EGO is what it’s important in their list of priorities.
But the ironic thing is that even when all these SEO firms makes millions in revenue each year, they all end up doing the same stuff (while nobody is watching)
The reality is that these TOP SEO companies always have a “Superstar”.
This superstar is who I will call the
SEO SUPERMAN
The SEO Superman is the guy you see talking in SEO conferences of dealing with the very big corporate client.
This SEO superman is usually a guy that as soon as he posts something in Twitter, all his tribe of lambs will re-tweet and congratulate him for an amazing post.
Like Cheap Vampires feed in Hollywood Blood, these SEO SUPERMANS feed in Ego.
- They feed in their own theories.
- They feed in their own extremely high profile customers.
- They feed in the amount of twitter followers or in what GOOGLE STAFF TOLD THEM int their last SEO conference in Vegas, London or Vienna. (you name it!)
But the problem is when you discover that SEO SUPERMAN is not SEO Superman.. (not even Batman!)
and you realize that your hero, is just another Clark Kent pretending to have superhero skills….
Remember Clark Kent?
Clark Kent was a nerd that nobody really liked at work…
Clark Kent was that Nerd working in the local newspaper and as any journalist our SEO Superman loves to write.
So that’s what SEO SUPERMAN does: he writes, and tons of it! and by writing he becomes an authority and people post things like
“hey SEO SUPERMAN I WANT TO BE LIKE YOU WHEN I GROW UP!”
And we all want to be like him…. because he is Superman after all.
Until we realize that…
This SEO SUPERMAN doesn’t work in the fortress of solitude… (can you believe that?)
he works in an office hiring an army of Pakistani workers and doing the same crap that everyone in this industry does.
But problem really is not really the crap SUPERMAN does, but the huge fees he charges to do that CRAP and the way he SELLS that crap.
But hey Gab! What the hell do you know?
Well, this month SEO SUPERMAN lost 3 customers to me.
A big deal for SEO SUPERMAN?
Nah. I bet SEO SUPERMAN doesn’t even care, at the end of the day his SEO company has over 500 customers.. so who cares about 3 customers?
In fact these 3 small customers/businesses are not part of the NICE LOGO COLLECTION they use in their testimonials page… (yes that page where their job is to show you how they work with “Australian top brands”)
So what’s the big deal?
The big deal is… I wanted to believe in Superman… in fact I admired this Superman character. I read ALL THIS blog posts… and even said to myself
“hey SEO SUPERMAN I WANT TO BE LIKE YOU WHEN I GROW UP”
But then I spoke to his customers. And my dream was destroyed.
You see SEO Superman is an SEO Superman on blogs, on twitter, in front of the SEO community, but not in front of the small business owner that makes a serious sacrifice to pay them.
SEO Superman has no super-hero customers, but instead REAL Human customers.
- Customers with debts, with dreams, with families, with financial pressures….
- Humans that believed the f*cking literature CORPORATE SEO companies sold them.
- Humans that NEED help and now they feel frustrated and cheated.
Yes… I got their “confidential brochure” that the SEO superman company uses.
Yes… I got their “confidential proposal” tjhat the SEO superman company sends to each “potential lead”
And DAM!!!!!
They really have nice words.
PERFECT GRAMMAR (not like me)
Their graphics are amazing.
In fact the proposal is so attractive I even felt like licking the screen….
Everything sounds surreal.
I wish I could pull proposals like that.
But the catch is:
They are MILKING the small business owner.
They are milking the single mum with 2 kids at school that tells me by the phone that she pays over $800 monthly and after 3 months, SUPERMAN company submitted her website to 20 directories and when she decided to ask “Hey! What’s going on “SEO SUPERMAN COMPANY replies with a canned email
“SEO TAKES TIME” (so please keep paying lady)
Yes. SEO takes time… but no when you are screwing people around Mr SUPERMAN.
SEO takes time but that’s not an excuse when you play with peoples dreams.
Let me repeat that with Headline Number 3
SEO takes time but that’s not an excuse when you play with peoples dreams.
Sad?
You bet.
Sad because I want to believe in freaking superheros in this industry.
I want to believe in people that spend less time blogging about “their theories” and twitting stupidities with the SEO community and instead providing MORE value to the mum/dad business owners.
So that’s why I’m writing this RANT.
Because it seems the shitty SEO Industry feeds from humble business owners, from hard working people, from tiny customers, from non technical people that NEED HELP and want to believe in SEO SUPERMAN.
People that are SICK of paying and not getting the phone answered after they pay.
People that don’t understand why after 3 months of paying $800 they can’t get from a single report or an answer via email. -
and No… I’m not talking about a cheap link builder in India…
I’m talking about the BEST FREAKING SEO COMPANY IN AUSTRALIA…. (oh yes, you know who you are!)
YES , that people you see paying GOOGLE ADWORDS and tell you that they WORK WITH THE BEST COMPANIES IN THE COUNTRY.
That big companies deep inside, don’t give a dam… and behave just like a Bank, an Insurance company a cheap car dealer or any other profit shark.
It’s sad… sad that they invest more time promoting their services, instead of letting THEIR customers promote THEM by giving an amazing service.
So for me: SEO SUPERMAN is dead.
Don’t worry Mr SEO Superman….
I don’t have your big corporate customers, (they are save in your hands) but the small ones…. oh boy!!!!
they are fleeing … not because the grass is greener in this part of town, but because they clearly understand your SALES TEAM is just that :
A SALES TEAM.
In my case: I will continue trying to be a human dealing with human customers.
No, you will not see me in next SEO conference, or blogging as a guest in any SEO Ego community… and I doubt I will invest one penny in a fancy infographic to impress the stupid SEO community.
Instead, I will try to go back to basics… and keep my ego in control, trying to remember that I deal not with “websites” and “keywords” but with HUMANS that deserve some basic respect and results.
(PS: I hope this doesn’t affect our relationship and we can still be friends Mr Clark Kent)
About the author
I'm an SEO professional living in the South Coast of NSW - Australia. SEO is what I do... I'm not a web guy, or a webmaster, or a designer... I just do SEO ;) Love it. Enjoy it and I still have fun doing it.
Great post again Gab
Your rants really do have a lot of relevance – it really is amazing how so many of the deals these SEO Supermen pitch make you feel like you can’t resist! – I don’t go as far as ‘licking the screen’ (lol, I hope you don’t really do that
)but I appreciate how it can manipulate regular business owners looking for help with their online presence.
And you’re right of course, these company giants lose touch with their human side and personal interaction that customers value. Obviously you focus on those invaluable factors that are so often overlooked.
Though I’ve gotta ask – With such reasonable and fair pricing, how do you manage to pull such a great profit? Is it just sheer number of clients? Or do take on a few big corporate clients and charge them appropriately?
Cheers!
- Big Mike Downunder
[Reply]
My profits are different than a SEO SUPERMAN company Big Mike.. mainly because I don’t have “copywriters” , I don’t have a secretary and I don’t have to “visit customers in the CBD” ….
Obviously is Harvey Norman was my customer and tey paid me 20K per month… then may be I will get a secretary. (From Sweden!)
[Reply]
Swedish Secretary? Sounds good, gab
[Reply]
But obviously, and according to your awesome mixergy interview (i watched it all!) you’re doing a solid 6 figures a year – i know you’re a humble guy but that’s still really impressive.
So how do you charge so reasonably, and still rake it in?
[Reply]
Gabriel Machuret Reply:
March 1st, 2012 at 2:43 am
I charge 5 times less, because regardless of the day, I still have to wake up and do SEO… so getting new clients is just putting them in the SEO cycle. Also many of my customers pay the same as customers that have more competitive keywords and some SEO processes become cheaper mainly because they rank faster and the job gets done faster. Also the big secret is that I put my heart and soul in my customers, so my my basic packages is just the first step in a long relationship with my customers. Many of them don’t go ahead with more SEO, but some of them want to do bigger and more “intensive packages” .
[Reply]
Ahh, thanks for clarifying Gab – I appreciate it
Now get back to all that SEO! 
[Reply]
Hi Gabriel,
I am a newbie in blogging and when I put my ad to find writers had many bids from such SEO companies that promised the best SEO articles, first rankings and of course charged accordingly to their promises. I let them write one of the articles I wanted for my post, and it was a piece of crap! I trust smaller companies or individuals to work for me and I am satisfied enough.
Thank you for this post Gabriel, you say the things as they are with a hilarious way. Keep on fighting them!
[Reply]
Your posts always make me laugh! You find the most ridiculous businesses and people Gab.
Seriously, they just fail so spectacularly (particularly this company).
[Reply]
This is one of the best SEO related articles I have read in the while.
I have seen how many large SEO companies work and they are as clueless about Google algorithm as any other player in SEO game but they just have greater resources to laundry their spamming approaches.
[Reply]
Gabriel Machuret Reply:
March 8th, 2012 at 5:49 am
Exactly Steven… money give them a higher level to clean their own tacticts, they OWN the links instead of link building…
[Reply]