Honestly, that SEO firm should be taken to court for fraud. The advice is malicious and anyone who knows anything knows it will do material damage to the performance of the website costing the company revenue, branding and opportunity. Just because someone claims to be an expert doesn't make them one and it certainly doesn't make them good at what they do. I would check their references and look for horror stories based on the advice they are providing they must have a lot of unhappy customers out there and unhappy people like to complain on the internet.
I believe that the simple answer you are looking for is scalability. For many businesses, especially online business, to be successful they need to be able to reach beyond their local communities for customers.
All of the companies you mentioned that generate their revenue from advertising and many others have reached a critical mass in their audience size. This allows them to be a viable channel for a wide variety of vertical markets and or an extremely targeted option in a limited set of vertical markets. This is the reason advertising can dwarf manufacturing. Advertising can touch multiple verticals and have multiple customers spending dollars to compete for the same customer.
The real challenge for those companies that generate their revenue from advertising is the ability to identify audience interest and intent. Advertising companies that do well in generating revenue from advertisers are generally able to identify their audience’s interest and intent when it comes to products and services thus providing their advertisers with the best possible marketing opportunities.
I would recommend philosophy. The college of "logic" is in the philosophy department and every great CS professor I ever had studied philosophy. Beyond that it is a great way to sharpen your critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Established in 2007 and based in Phoenix, Arizona, Silverback Marketing is a boutique online marketing firm focused on online customer acquisition through search marketing and other related disciplines. The ideal candidate would be local, however, because this position can be executed remotely we are open to considering candidates outside of the greater Phoenix area.
We are currently seeking an experienced Search Engine Optimization Specialist with at least 2 years of experience at an agency or as an in-house SEO working for an established company. This is a hands on position that requires the candidate to be involved in every step of the optimization process for multiple clients.
Qualifications:
2+ years of experience in SEO with an agency or as an in-house SEO Specialist
A full understanding of all core SEO skills (keyword research, technical audits, etc.) and associated tool sets
Extremely organized and deadline drive
Comfortable playing execution roles, as well as driving strategy
Ability to develop, explain, and execute complex SEO strategies
Comfortable managing client relationships over the phone and in person
Strong grasp of Google Analytics and other web analytics platforms (i.e. Omniture)
Ability to analyze reports and communicate findings
Ability to measure the effectiveness of strategy rankings, traffic, conversion) on client goals
Advanced understanding of Excel
Solid understanding of technical SEO (JavaScript, CSS, etc.)
Full awareness of industry trends and comfortable blogging about your opinions on them
Strong written and editorial skills
Inbound link analysis and acquisition experience a plus
Paid search marketing knowledge and experience a plus
What Silverback Provides:
Work from your home office 90% of the time or more
A flexible work schedule
The ability to improve your skill set working with in-house experts and attending trade events
Competitive salary
Quarterly financial bonuses based on the overall
performance of the company
Health Insurance
Generous sick pay and vacation time
We are also seeking a Paid Search Marketing Specialist as well.
Please send a resume and cover letter to roderick@silverbackmarketing.com
Silverback Marketing
SEO Specialist - Fulltime - Remote is a possibility
Established in 2007 and based in Phoenix, Arizona, Silverback Marketing is a boutique online marketing firm focused on online customer acquisition through search marketing and other related disciplines. The ideal candidate would be local, however, because this position can be executed remotely we are open to considering candidates outside of the greater Phoenix area.
We are currently seeking an experienced Search Engine Optimization Specialist with at least 2 years of experience at an agency or as an in-house SEO working for an established company. This is a hands on position that requires the candidate to be involved in every step of the optimization process for multiple clients.
For all of the details of the position please contact me at roderick@silverbackmarketing.com
I am working on http://www.shallwecoupon.com - I launched it last month and am continuing to work on the finish of the site (I still have about 600 logos to update) before I go back and start adding incrimental functionality.
It took 30 days to build and implement, I am pretty please with the results so far. Thoughts?
I think it is unlikely, however they might be willing to help connect you with someone that is technical and that they like, but whose idea is potentially not nearly as appealing as yours is.
Most accelerators have made it clear that they prefer to avoid single co-founders and even more so single co-founders that don't code aren’t likely to be using their time at the accelerator efficiently since they won't actually be building the product on the fly.
Not to say spending time each day reviewing the previous nights outsourced work isn't a bad thing, but I somehow doubt it will be appealing. In short I think you are best off searching for a technical co-founder if you really want to make YC or one of the other accelerators out there.
I think you are taking the wrong approach. You don’t want to manipulate the people you are working for you. Instead you want to educate them. I think the easiest and most direct route you could take is to prepare mockups using the font they want at the size it would be on a mobile device and the font you suggest.
Then encourage them to get feedback from family and friends. Chances are if your assessment is correct then your client will get the feedback not only from you but from others whom opinions they respect. In the end this is about all you can do.
Having clients means often having to do your best within the parameters that they set for you. They are the ones paying and you are the one working after all.
The other thing that is very concerning in your post is that you think this one issue is so bad that you don’t want to be associated with it. The truth is that this is going to happen over and over again in your career and you are going to need to learn to make the best of it.
Nothing says you can’t be associated with a project and also discuss, on your resume or web site, how if you were allowed to make the decisions you would have done things differently. I think if you take this approach you can gain credibility with future customers so that it might make it easier for your opinion to count more.
Distancing yourself from too many projects in the long run will make you appear inexperienced and eventually may damage your reputation much more than being associated with a project you are not completely happy with.
Thank you for your reply. It helped me grasp my feelings personally and gave me some great ideas. I'd like to give a quick response to some of your points.
To your point on manipulation: I agree and I'm using the word "manipulate" a little cynically here. What I used it to mean is a frictionless way to convince my client.
Regarding educating: I agree again, but I suppose a good portion of my question boils down to how to put myself in a position to educate, given that my client feels design isn't something I ought to have much of an opinion about. I fear that trying to educate without first having overcome that will lose me a lot of political capital.
On finding alternatives and gathering feedback: Great suggestion. I'll definitely do that, thanks.
On working within the client-defined parameters: I try to stay aware of that. As I pointed out in my post, I'm going along with their decision and changing the font without making a fuss. I still would like to find the limits of those parameters.
On disassociating myself: I regret that's the way it came across because it isn't how I feel. I never considered walking away - I'll definitely finish the project. My comment with regards to putting it on my resume was more related to my skepticism about how much professional benefit I might receive from the project once I'm done with it if things aren't done right.
Thanks again for your reply. It helped in more ways than one.
I think you may have missed what solost meant regarding disassociating yourself form the product. I took it to mean:
This isn't mine therefore I don't care that much about it.
Rather than:
I'm going to cut loose and walk away from this.
Disassociating yourself from your work (My understanding mentioned above) can be viewed as immature and unprofessional and that's what solost was saying, I believe. We've all done work that we're not happy with but there's a big difference between acknowledging the parts that we don't like and trying to disassociate ourselves from the work entirely.
I have a professional copywriter on staff, I can also make recommendations on free lancers that I have used. Drop me an email if you want my help, it is in my profile.
