tooting our own horns

It’s not that we’re “tooting our own horns” but sometimes, you need to know that your SEO expert is someone you can trust.

I’m not generally someone who “toots my own horn” as the old saying goes. From what I know of Yasir, he’s not really that kind of a person either. However, regardless of this basic fact of life of the two of us, there comes a time when we do need to talk about certain things which we would both be a bit embarrassed about.
In essence, what I’m talking about is why you would want to choose Quantum SEO Labs over another company for your SEO needs. And if you don’t choose us, you should at the barest minimum look for a company which has similar features to those I mention here so that you know that you are getting the very best service you can get:

Does Your SEO Expert Actually “Talk” to You or Just “Talk” at You?

talking at you

You need an SEO expert who will listen to you and not just ignore you.

One of the things I’m always amazed about in the SEO industry is that so many people consider it to be the sort of thing where you need to do as much work in as little time as possible. There are demands for all kinds of automated systems and many SEO companies will not even provide you with a phone number. E-mails will end up being responded to with automated responses.
The thing is, as I’ve said in numerous other places in this blog, SEO is really an art form. It’s not just a matter of running SENuke X and then sitting back and watching as the truckload of money backs down your driveway because so many people are visiting your website. SEO requires an intuitive feel in order to do the job correctly and make your system actually work.
Yasir and I co-wrote a book on the subject of SEO because we both felt that we had quite a bit that we could share with our customers about just how to do the job correctly. However, one of the things that makes us fairly unique and something that I honestly believe that you should look for is that we don’t just insist on being nameless and faceless.
Yasir likes to talk to customers and spend time getting to know their business before he gets into actually helping them to build an SEO package which works for their particular needs. Now I’m not saying that we’re the only company that does this. However, I am pretty familiar with most SEO companies and there are precious few that actually do this for their clients.
In other words, most SEO companies don’t really have the time or the interest to listen to you about your individual needs. They don’t really “talk” to you. If you’re lucky, they merely “talk” at you.
It reminds me of that old Charles Schwab commercial where customers complained about basically being shoved over to voice mail instead of actually talking to their brokers. Too often, SEO people simply won’t discuss your needs and won’t answer your questions.

SEO Should Never Be a Cookie Cutter Affair

Another thing that frankly annoys the heck out of me is that so many SEO “experts” (and again, I use that term sardonically because the fact is that most of these people are anything but the “experts” they claim to be) will simply throw up a standardized link package and tell you to take it or leave it. They charge very little for these packages because they are automated and they frankly don’t do a whole lot.
However, if you are trying to actually make money off of your website, it’s important to find an SEO expert who really understands that different websites require different approaches to get the job done. It depends on your industry, how difficult your keywords are to target and even on exactly how much money you have available to spend for your SEO needs.
If you are going to hire an SEO specialist then, you want someone who will work with you and who not insist on a one size fits all approach.
So for example, let’s say that you have a fairly modest budget available to get your SEO work done. There are two ways to approach this. One way is to simply go for the cookie cutter approach and then to hell that it does something for you and that it doesn’t end up causing you more harm than good.
However, another way is to think about how to use your budget more creatively. So for example, instead of targeting the very difficult to hit keywords which you originally thought about targeting, you might instead try targeting less competitive keywords which could also bring in some decent business.
You could even consider it a stepping stone – you start with the less competitive keywords and work your way up the ladder as you get more business. This is the kind of thing that you want – an SEO company that will customize its services to your needs and not the other way around.
Now as I pointed out above, I’m not saying we’re completely unique in this regard. There are many other SEO companies which do something similar. However, whether you work with us or with another company, it is very important that you do try to find someone who actually will take the time to work with you and to customize their approach to your particular needs.

Sticking to White Hat Techniques

white hat seo
As I’ve noted in the past, there are both black hat and white hat seo techniques. There is even an entire forum called Black Hat SEO World which is exclusively dedicated to finding the various sneaky tricks that you can use to get ahead in the world of online rankings and in the SERPs.
In some cases, these kinds of black hat techniques are actually criminal enterprises which can land you in jail. For example, some black hat SEO people will actually create viruses which they use to infect computers all over the world and then use those as “bots” which can then be used to spam the Internet with links in the background.
This practice is not only unsavory. It’s actually a crime and you can go to jail for doing it. Another really disgusting tactic I saw to steal someone’s domain name. I won’t go into the details of exactly how they get away with doing it (it’s a very sneaky process), but again, this is patently illegal.
However, even when black hat SEO doesn’t cross the line into being illegal, it is usually immoral and it often ends up backfiring on you.
One of the classic examples of black hat SEO is the white one white text technique for example. In order to boost the number of times that your keyword appears on your page, a black hat SEO person will basically use the keyword in dummy text which appears in white on your page on a white background. Then, you have the regular material that you actually want humans to see in black.
There is just one problem with this technique and with so many other black hat SEO techniques – Google and the other search engines have cottoned onto them and they have implemented measures to actually weed out the sites that use such methods.
Now I’m not saying that black hat SEO never works. And frankly what I described above is sneaky but not illegal (the white on white idea – not the other two which actually are crimes). You can’t go to jail for using such a technique. However, when Google’s system catches you doing it (and trust me, they will), your site will be de-indexed and you will ultimately lose out.
So, the third thing that I think makes us “not just another SEO company” is that we absolutely refuse to play this game with the black hat SEO techniques. What’s the point? We’re not in this business for the “pump and dump” style of making money (that’s something from the stock market which actually is 100% illegal by the way). We’re in this business to build relationships with our customers for the long term.
Now I obviously can’t force you as one of our readers not to try out any black hat SEO techniques. However, I would suggest that whichever SEO company you end up using, you think twice and three times before you choose one which recommends that you use such techniques to get ahead. And if they suggest anything criminal, run like hell in the opposite direction. Sitting in jail is just not worth it.

Algorithm Proof SEO

This is kind of a misnomer. There is no such thing as an absolutely algorithm proof SEO technique. What this means is basically a way of doing SEO which will survive whatever changes that Google decides to throw around into their system and which will ultimately see your rankings drop like a stone. Nobody can guarantee this 100%.
However, one thing that I think we do differently than most is that we really work hard to make sure that our SEO techniques appear to look as natural as they can possibly look.
Ultimately after all, Google’s intention is merely to ensure that they get the best possible results to their searchers so that people will keep using the Google search engine. The algorithm changes almost invariably affect the people who are busy trying the latest “technique” that the found somewhere which will work for a time but which will ultimately backfire once Google figures out what that technique is.
Natural looking link building, which involves creating links on high quality websites which are actually in context and which actually are created on a wide variety of different kinds of sites are largely bullet proof when it comes to algorithm changes.
Again, nothing can be guaranteed because one never knows what Google is going to do. However, we do have a track record where our customers tend to survive algorithm changes a lot better than customers of many other SEO firms.
Not only that, our techniques have actually been shown to be able to bring back websites which have been hit badly by recent changes in the Google algorithm. For example, many sites got the dreaded over-optimization notice from Google because they had built too many links too quickly and their rankings tanked.
Our system is designed to look as natural as it possibly can and as such, it will bring back websites to their former glory, even after they have been tanked in the rankings by the latest algorithm changes.
Speaking of that, another thing that I think makes us a pretty good SEO company is that we…

Pay Attention to Changes in the Industry

In medical school, they tell you when you arrive that about half of what you’re about to learn is completely and utterly wrong. The problem is, we don’t yet know which half is completely and utterly wrong. SEO is kind of like being in medical school, though without the life and death decisions that doctors have to make on a daily basis.
The world of SEO is changing all the time and those who insist on just learning the basics and then never bothering to do research and keep up with the latest changes and the latest techniques are doomed to failure. They’re like the doctor who never bothers to learn what the latest procedures are and who still thinks that what he learned in medical school 30 years ago all still applies.
If you want to get your SEO work done correctly then, you really need to find someone who actually takes the time to keep up with the changes in the industry and who will know what now works and what doesn’t work.
Of course, as I noted above, our techniques are fairly bullet proof because we try to make things look as natural as they possibly can look. However, even with us, we do make changes as we learn about new techniques and about what does work and what doesn’t work in the world of SEO.
So, whether you work with us or with another company, be sure to look for SEO experts who are not just “another” SEO company but who actually do know what they’re doing and who will actually work with you to ensure that you get the job done correctly.