Websourced Changes Names, and Maybe? Direction?

Are they already irrelevant?

This is a silly question. ;-)

That's a 5 year old comparison. The easy way out; a way to say something without getting too much flack. His "old-style SEO" hasn't been mainstream SEO for many years.

There's the pitch. Sounds remarkably like some of the Ad Agency people - the ones who call themselves Ad Holes (!?) - when they pitch my services to a client. Why? Because as an SEO I advise and guide them on the use of their existing tools (press releases, viral/link bait, marketing materials including brochures, post-cards, websites, etc) which should be optimized, towards search inclusion and SERP rank goals. And so does every SEO I know.

Yawn. Wrong line. This is Results Oriented Optimization (with metrics). The line for "easy money/projects and soft-accountability" is over there.

Ummm... sounds hostile, no? Resentful? I wonder what motivated this. Seems out of place. Personally, the only people I have seen spending energy trying to explain sandbox (or anything tech for that matter) to marketing VPs are newbies and the wannabe marketing VPs working for them. The vibrations I am sensing are frustration (?)

Ahhhhh... seems clearer now. Maybe there is a client expectation problem. I suppose that can happen if you take "serious money" from a client who doesn't understand SEO. Taking serious money to provide something (top ranks) that TheAlmightyGoogle may taketh away sans a moment's notice, sans explanation. Sucks to be in that seat. I guess.

I just grabbed a few parts of Mr. Grehan's article because it motivated me to reply. I am sure, given his picture, he's not pimply-faced. I doubt he is a technical SEO. I always leave room for the spin factor, but taken at face value this is more a pitch for influencing big money away from SEO than a commentary on the SEO industry.

The sales trained among you will recognize that as some part of the sales process. Referenced testimonial, follow the others, etc. I am ignorant of the academics of sales (obviously). But a solid company pitch follows:

Press release in a Blog. Not a new concept... part of SEO for oh, about 4 years now. And I note marketers have taken up the practice in the past year or so.

Wow. Dangerous to insert a new idea here (one that begs for digression.... digression along a contrary vein relative to the prior text discoloring technical SEO and setting up a closing pitch for an advertising agency, no? I best leave the sales copy writing critique to the likes of Mr. Massa). Anyway, here's the closing statement meant to linger in the client's mind:

By "end user" he must mean the web user (not the client). In that case, does he mean the one that uses SEARCH for just about everything these days? I guess(?)

Call me slow, but now I am understanding that they are quitting SEO and changing to full-service marketing, and looking for a bigger piece of the Advertising pie. Is that right?. Discredit technical SEO along the way, downplay pure-plays like sandbox extraction, and suggest that the smart money agrees with fervor. I haven't read much good about WebSourced on the SEO boards in the past, so is this important?

He certainly recharacterized that SEW thread creatively.

Once again, none of us seems to get it.

Not bad - they buy Mike's company, but now Mike's company has its name on the door. :D

He had to go mention me...

I just don't have the patience to try to explain the aging delay to him again...

Call me slow, but now I am understanding that they are quitting SEO and changing to full-service marketing, and looking for a bigger piece of the Advertising pie. Is that right?. Discredit technical SEO along the way, downplay pure-plays like sandbox extraction, and suggest that the smart money agrees with fervor.

Others are less than impressed with that article's spin as well. Randfish posted a rant on it:

Mike, I know you work with a lot of big firms who launch new websites that NEVER get boxed, but the rest of us have other goals, other aspirations and other clients and your appraisal of our situation is, frankly, insulting

I responded to that emotionally when I should have remained cool. Bad post on my part and a poor showing of professionalism. Can't even take my own advice.

Apologies owed to Mike on that gaffe.

...but there's still an aging delay.

I didn't read your original rant, Rand, but what's up there now is right on the mark.

The most infuriating thing with Mike's article is that many of us do indeed discuss marketing, and we make sure our clients are doing that, and PR, and creating a buzz, and everything else that is necessary to get your site noticed today.

But that doesn't mean there's no aging delay. One doesn't preclude the other. Any SEO or SEM who has a client that will be launching a brand new site/domain -- no matter how large or how small -- who does NOT tell them about the sandbox (whether they are a pimply faced kid SEO, a mom at home SEO, or a corporate suit SEO) would be remiss in their duties to their client. Period.

I wish Mike the best of luck in his new endeavor.

Does Mike have a new endeavor?

Message delivered, eh? Too funny.