I received another email first thing this morning from yet another SEO marketing firm asking for my help. The guy even offered me a job!

Stay with me I am going to explain the title of this blog post momentarily, just keep reading.

THE PAST

Internet Marketing (if you want to call it that) was not even a phrase back then. Whoever had the keyword phrase on their page won the race and was listed on page one of the search engines. Of course there were other factors but you get my point.

Life was good and most businesses thought that the Internet was nothing more than another fad like the radio, telephone, and the television (as you can tell corporate America isn’t that bright and they are usually wrong as history will show you).

Millions of dollars later you could hear the wolves at the door. Every kid with a computer and a little graphics program was a web designer. As get rich quick artist and businesses started to see there was money in them there hills they were desperate to get up and running online.

But there was a problem…

They did not know how to do it, because they thought this thing would not last remember?!?

SIDE NOTE: The internet was like the gold rush during the 1800′s. Once the word was out everyone wanted in on the deal.

THE FACTS: The majority of people who got rich during the gold rush era did not get rich from finding gold, they got rich from selling supplies such as water, donkeys, tents, shovels etc.. to those who wanted to get rich but never did.

The same thing happened during the golden age of the Internet. During the big “DOT COM BOOM” the majority of people who got rich were those who were selling domain names, internet access, and web hosting.

As the media hyped up stories of people striking it rich overnight the digital version of the gold rush was on. Everyone and their mother wanted a website, and those selling the digital version of supplies got rich. The suckers (people like you and me) dreaming of fast cash had a website that was similar to a billboard in the woods – nobody knew about it, nobody ever seen it.

As reality began to set in, and people realized that the saying “build it and they would come” was a bunch of B.S. the media started reporting the “DOT COM BUST“. Industry experts where sitting on their high horses with their chest stuck out saying “I told you so“. The Internet is just a fad.

PRESENT DAY

A few savvy dudes (like you and I) figured it out. They took the old school form of marketing “Selling Information” and applied it to the digital realm and presto… It worked. You had people making millions of dollars selling information that they were creating while sitting in their underwear at home.

MY TRUTH

I was considered to be one of those people (sort of). I am not making millions of dollars. Growing up poor as hell and even homeless at one time all I wanted was to be able to see the world. Even to this day my friends joke me about buying a new car (to them I am rich) but I have no use for one. I spend about $40 a month in guess. I HATE TO DRIVE!!!

My entire reason for making money was so that I could see the world, and I have done exactly that. Thanks to the Internet I have been to more countries than a 4 Star General. I have stood on the Pyramids, I have toured the wilds of Africa, seen beautiful places such as China, Japan, Spain, Costa Rica, Amsterdam (thats another story for another time :D ) The list goes on, and on.

I have digressed… Let me get back on track here!

It use to be that web designers where the money makers. I remember charging companies thousands of dollars to build their website. Then I hit them with monthly hosting fees and a monthly maintenance contract.

Then disaster struck!!! As technology advanced everyone began to know someone (cousin, brother uncle) who was a “web design guru”. The rates that a high quality web designer could charge seemed to have dropped overnight.

So What’s Next?

Becoming an Internet Marketer was the thing to be. I cannot begin to tell you how many SEO gurus throw money at me to help pull their asses out of the fire. The company that I mentioned earlier is currently billing over $70,000 a month in marketing services and cannot tell their ass from a hole in the ground.

This is not an isolated incident. I see so-called guru’s online robbing people with their marketing scams i.e. “New Online Traffic Source Discovered” that dude was selling that crap for $67.

The Douchebags Marketing Secret Revealed

His entire traffic getting course can be summed up in a few sentences. He was guaranteeing people that they could get on the front page of Google in 24 hours or less.

Did He Really Deliver On His Promise?

The short answer – yep!

He was teaching his “students” to target keyword phrases like, “The SEO Bully’s Approach To Dominating Your Local Market“.

Damn!!! I am a fan of keyword phrases but I can guarantee that no one on earth is searching for a keyword phrase that damn long.

Once the student optimized the page for this ridiculous keyword phrase they submitted the RSS Feed to several RSS Feed directories. As you may know these directories are constantly being indexed by the search engines, which means that your page will be indexed.

Since no one is searching for your keyword phrase and you have no competition you are listed at the top of the search engines.

After a few days you would get an automated response that asked you how everything was going. At this time his students were hitting the top of the search results pretty much at will. They were more than willing to give him awesome testimonials which drove this guy to super stardom.

The Victims

Right now as you are reading this super awesome blog post, I have a guy that owns a pretty successful company that wants to put me on retainer at $2,000 a month to do consulting. His hold up is he has been ripped off by three other SEO guru’s in the past and is afraid to sign on the dotted line.

In the old days I would have offered to do 60 days free just to prove I knew my shit. That always seals the deal. As it stands now $2,000 will not make a difference one way or the other for me. For me its all about lifestyle, and I enjoy the flexibility and freedom that I currently have. No amount in the world is worth your happiness (I didn’t understand that when my grandmother use to say it to me).

The SEO Black Eye

I see a trend coming around the curve and its coming like a bat out of hell. I am starting to hear more and more stories about companies paying big bucks for SEO and other Internet Marketing services and the ends never justify the means. The Internet Marketing business is rapidly getting a bad name i.e. “The SEO Black Eye“.

SEO is like the American Idol auditions – everyone with a little marketing knowledge thinks they can do it. Just because you may have done well with one or two pages does not mean that you are a marketing guru.

I even see many colleges getting in on the act. They charge thousands of dollars for their course and pay guys like me to come and speak to the students.

They are several years behind on the methods that they are teaching.

The Oxymoronic Statement

Anyone can do SEO (HUH?) there is nothing that I do that anyone else cannot do. All of the answers to how to market online can be found online. In fact one $5,000 investment in a course that I purchased a few months back has already paid for its self two fold. This year alone I have invested well over $50,000 in my education (that’s including flights hotels etc…) I own every current “top marketers home study course” and I have read each of them at least a dozen times (I taught myself to speed read I hit 750 to 900 words a minute).

Here’s The Big Secret That All Successful Markets Do

The things that I teach are primarily the things that I have learned from other marketers – both past and present. I am just sharing the information with you from my perspective in my words. Much of the information you read on this site is rock solid information that I have paid thousands of dollars for and that I apply daily. You are getting it free :D

The Secret To Successful SEO

Successful Marketing Rule of Thumb:

  • Solid market research. Just because you think something is a good idea doesn’t mean that it will make money.
  • Keyword research – this is the foundation that everything is built upon. If you do this part correctly YOU WILL MAKE MONEY!!!
  • Kick ass content – take this site for example – as I write this blog post this site is ranked #185,502 in Alexa. That is not great, but when you understand I have done absolutely nothing to market this site. I have never set out to build a single backlink and I have done nothing to optimize any of the pages.This site is fumed by good content. Every now and then I offer my services at a huge discount (like I did in the last blog post I offered a report at $97 but it was limited to the first 100 people. I knocked out $9,700 in less than an hour and started turning down the rest of the others.)

    NOTE: $4,000 of that money went to pay people that I actually trained who will compile the reports, I did not have to lift a finger. I just want to be factual with you – so I guess at the end of the day I only made $5,700).

  • Build your list
  • Focus on high quality backlinks.
  • Constantly study your craft – Study great marketers and writers from the past. There is a lot more to marketing than a great idea. If you are not familiar with terms like emotional triggers, copy (and not the copy and paste command on your keyboard) or sales funnel you are not ready to rake in the big bucks. We all had to crawl before we walked.

The Bottom-Line

If you are trying to get into the SEO business please… Please know what you are doing before you start charging people money. I have a reputation for being one of the most “available” expert marketers in the industry. If you have a question drop me a line. I love what I do and I do not mind sharing the information. After all…

Information is the only thing on earth that we can give it all away and still have it all with us.