Originally Posted by Pearse

I think people that don't know how to run their own sites are more in danger of being taken like you said when you mentioned the "SEO" firms. That lack of knowledge makes up part of my income since it allows me to audit those "SEO firms' proposals for small site or business owners.

The client in question however built his first site on his own back in '99 and I've actually learned quite a bit from him. I used him as an example because of his crazy Alexa obsession since he is quite capable of doing his own analytics but still gets "happy" or "sad" based on the Alexa stats. Honestly I think it comes down to him seeing his competitors Alexa ranking and it becoming an ego thing. He's just like that. I am not paid based on the Alexa toolbar but it can add to a good month if it goes his way.

So can we make the assumption that you have the alexa toolbar installed? :thumbup:

Originally Posted by junjun

O'boy, we wouldn't have many websites out there then, would we? Actually, it sounds like Pearse is running the website for him, and I'm sure plenty of us here run websites for clients.

I'm a huge advocate for the importance of hiring a skilled webmaster and/or internet marketing manager. My opinion is of course biased, since thats what I do for a living. There is nothing wrong with not knowing how to do something that's important to your business, as long as you can admit that you don't know how to do it. I get calls all day from these "firms" who "work directly with yahoo and google" and I shudder to think how many SBO's they con daily.

Originally Posted by handsome rob

I get calls all day from these "firms" who "work directly with yahoo and google" and I shudder to think how many SBO's they con daily.

I'snt that the truth. I always listen to the sales pitches and am always amazed at what I hear. I like to ask technical questions and hear them say "They don't allow us to know every aspect so we can't leave and become competition." I've had to repair horror stories like this in the past and in the worst cases it comes down to recommending a new domain.

But if you want me to send you the secret Google Juice Formula I will since I reverse engineered it yesterday with my team of PhD's