My friend and ASC member Bill Wardell, owner of Online Security Authority is playing in the top 10 in Google right now with a tier 1 phrase that has almost 1 billion competitors. FTR now owns many phrases in the top 10 that have between 200,000,000 and 900,000,000 competitors.
Time and again I see so-called SEO gurus bragging about their results for seemingly high value keywords and it makes me want to gag. Keyword phrases with like 3 million competitors or less. And with phrases that are so long they make Homer’s Illiad look like a short read.
I exaggerate a bit, but you get the point. Sometimes it is nice to get recognized for hard work and accomplishment in an area where self-proclaimed SEO experts seem to dominate tactical discussion with incredibly misleading information. And not on purpose many times. Most “SEOs” aren’t being malicious in their misdirection. Most of them honestly don’t know what they are talking about.
The short story is this: There are people online who are expert enough to have conferences that teach newbies how to market online. And then there are people who are expert enough to teach the gurus how to market online.
Here are some clues to our success:
When I say to do something here at FTR, know that everything I recommend, I do myself. Seems logical, but you’d be surprised how many “gurus” tell you one thing and then promote their sites on the good ol’ boy network of joint ventures.
They know you don’t have their connections, so they have to make up stories about how they get their traffic and they sell these fairy tales to you knowing you’ll be back later for their next “Harry Potter” because the first, second, and third products didn’t work for you.
Here’s a secret: You don’t want to do their level of traffic. You can do many times better than them! You’d be surprised how little traffic they get and hardly any of it comes from search engines or links from people other than their affiliates.
Attack of the Dino-Gurus!
The gurus today will be dinosaurs tomorrow. All but a tiny handful of gurus from 2000 are extinct. There have been 2 generations of A list gurus since then and the latest is starting to fade fast as they cash out, stop learning, and stop being relevant.
Nothing at all wrong with any of that. I will be sipping out of a coconut listening to Jimmy Buffet on my private island, never to return as well.
But the lesson is to watch who is actually working in their field of proclaimed expertise. Who is obviously right there with you on the front line of online marketing science? Who is specifically not giving sermons from the mountain top?
The ones to watch out for are the ones already sitting on the beach pretending to still be relevant. The ones who are phoning it in. Guys who are outsourcing their own expertise and living off their rockstar image that was created back when they were actually writing hits.
Instead, watch for people who are in the moment, working in the business right here and now and follow what they are doing. This should greatly simplify your daily life. I must have made at least 10 email subscriptions obsolete for you in just this post.
If you have too much email everyday, here’s a life-saving subscription test: No results? Then no subscription. And no more money either. Get rid of the dead weight.
Make your experts prove themselves. If they aren’t doing what they are telling you to do, they are lying to you plain and simple. If they say they are SEO experts, check out their rankings. You’d be surprised how many “experts” are no where to be found in the engines. Or how little traffic the traffic experts actually get.
Don’t get caught up in hero worship and follow bad advice. That includes yours truly. If you aren’t getting results from the tips I publish here and you are sincerely applying what I teach, axe me. Unsubscribe. Find a source of intel that gets the job done for you where I’ve failed you!
I am confident I won’t lose many people. I use my own tactics and they are obviously working for me and they work for hundreds of others who have written about their success with my tactics.
No sales pitch here. No tricks or gimmicks. Just friendly advice I obviously hope will glue you to this channel even more in the future.
(BTW – the people who have benefited the most from my tactics are members of Authority Site Center. Just the facts.)