Recommend an SEO person

Good Luck on this one Scootek, it is a mind field.
I am going through the same process myself and they vary so much.
and when I say SEO I mean link building and the techy stuff not on-line marketing.

I have been trolling forums and reading comments about the work that the said SEO bod has done in the real world.

so far they have fell into 3 camps.
1: People who know very little and don't charge very much
2: people who think they know a lot and try to charge a lot.
3: The allusive unicorn that I am yet to find someone that actually knows what they are talking about and don't charge the earth.

Camp2 are the most frustrating for me, there attitude is give us some wonga and we promise cross our hearts hope to die, scouts honour to show you some results.
my stock response is what level of results and instead of my handing over my child's inheritance why don't we do a payment by results the more results you get for me the more money you make, this is the point where they get pissy and the conversation ends.


MagnifyB may be able to crack open her little black book and suggest some people.

...I know you are right. I have been here. I thought I would throw it out there...see what bites.

The way I look at it, they must know more than me, otherwise there is no point. Secondly, I also know that I have done pretty well in very competitive marketplace. I also believe that I can get myself to page 1, I am not far off. So I have in one sense done half the job. I just need someone to come along with a track record and prove to me that they can do it.

I see you also offer seo as a service. How well have you done for your customers on the SEO side of things? What's been your best keyword achievement to-date?

No I don't offer SEO services. That's one of about 100 domains I own...including a keyword rich one on telemarketing, doesn't mean I will offer you telemarketing services.

But the website it links to offers seo and there's a testimonial, the chap refers to you by name

Internet Marketing Expert UK, Search Engine Optimisation SEO Expert UK simple!

So does my telemarketing website. I am just building those sites to sell. My telemarketing site Telemarketing B2B, also refers to me by name, but when people call to buy telemarketing services does not mean I will offer those services. You may not agree, but I just needed to put content on there. Both domains are keyword rich, and I bought them on impulse. On the website design and seo one, I have had descent offers, but I am holding on. It's as simple as that.

I have enough on my plate to do anything else. So, I let all those sites just be until I decide what I will do with them.

Thanks Kip. I have seen Niki around the forums. I also know few other guys on the forums who seem to have a good reputation. The million dollaar question is have you used her services?

Oh, so the testimonial isn't real you mean? No it doesn't matter if you aren't actually going to sell it as a service if someone foud the site and rang you if that's the only place they are likely to see it. So it's just example content on a live site really.

Anyway, one thought you may want to consider why you rarely see anyone positively recommending their SEO person is because if they reveal who they are (which they would have to name themselves as the cleint otherwise the testimonial means zero) then a competitor may come along and use that same SEO who obviously performed well for Mr A so if Mr B pays a tad more, he should therefore overtake him assuming it's a good keyword the SEO performed well for. I wouldn't be announcing any of my secrets anytime soon. If I used an SEO I wouldn't say who it was because he was great. No way!