The Semify SEO reseller program prides itself on complete transparency and accountability. While this can open a can-of-worms at times, we think it's the better solution. There is just too much secrecy in the SEO reseller world. We don't think this makes sense. SEO has become a fixture in the online marketing world. So why should it be any less professional than any other business process? We talk about this with our SEO resellers (see the latest Webinar) all the time.
So this all sounds pretty good to someone shopping for an honest and respectable SEO reseller partner. But how do we know this is really THAT much better than what I can buy in the forums? Is there really that much of a difference? Are the offerings in forums like Digitalpoint really just an SEO scam?
And why are the SEO services in the forums so much cheaper?
We try to keep ourselves honest too. We sincerely want the best SEO reseller program on the Internet. We know that the only way to do this is to continually push ourselves and listen intently to feedback of our current SEO resellers. One way we push ourselves is by "doing." One of my favorite tactics is to try out services from the cheap SEO services. You learn volumes from actually trying, any good business person knows this. After running through 10 or 20 of these SEO scam offerings, I feel I can then have some authority when I speak about our SEO reseller program.
A recent experience buying cheap SEO scam services in the Digital Point Forums
I engaged an off-shore SEO reseller to do some work. No, not for Semify as I don't trust any of them with our main brand. But I wanted to see what they could do. This particular individual made a great sales pitch. As with ANYTHING I buy in the Digial Point Forum, never pay up-front. Despite serious objections from the seller (my first warning sign), I only agreed to pay $20 up-front.
Review all work carefully when completed
Here was my first response when I saw some things in their article submissions that I didn't like. Specifically, he was building links to his marketing site in my article submissions. The second issue (even larger) was that he was using stolen content for the link-building.
His response was honest. It was basically, we use your fees to help promote our own site. But "don't worry about the duplicate content."
I let him know that this was a dishonest SEO tactic and not part of the original deal. Furthermore, he was breaking Internet copy right laws. Certainly not what I signed up for.
The last response is my favorite. While he agreed to remove his links (which is pretty much impossible for many of the posts), he felt justified in stealing someone's content because, you know, it's hard to staff a writing position.
You've read it many, many, many, many, many times. You get what you pay for. I'm not trying to drum up some big scare tactic. No, this activity will not tank your website. I don't buy into that Matt Cutts voodoo-SEO propaganda. But it will certainly NOT help your website.
In this case I would have been out $200 with no SEO progress
And that's just for a single month's activities. We all know that SEO takes months, sometimes years. The main point here is that you need to be working with a long-term partner who you can trust. Semify is not perfect, but we are always honest and put you in the driver's seat so you have full visibility to what's going on. This enables you to make the call (even if that means not using Semify). You will never be in the position I was with this guy from the Digital Point Forum where he concealed his dishonest SEO scam activities and actively used my budget to promote his own website (while breaking copy right law).