I was looking for some SEO work to be done and contacted a reputable company about one of their offers. After asking some questions, this is what I got offered. Just by looking at the steps they mention below, I really had to laugh. 4 articles per month? Basic submission to Ezinearticles and a handful of other free article directories? $600 per month?
With the basic option, we now hand submit four separate articles to ten different article sites. These sites are the basic sites, like you mentioned Ezine and such, with no specific focus. However, at each site we are careful to submit the articles into appropriate categories.
The advanced option requires more time with the ultimate goal being to have the four articles submitted to high-end industry specific article sites. If we are not able to get the articles accepted to industry specific sites (we spent up to 4 hours in this effort) we move ahead and submit them to the ten article sites used in the basic option. Once the articles are accepted and published, they are socialized on Digg, Mixx and Propeller, as well as bookmarked using several user accounts.
The basic option for article marketing is a flat rate of $600, and the advanced option is a flat rate of $950. These rates are per month, and we do still require a 3 month commitment.
Hm, let me think. Even if I overpay a content writer and pay $30 per article I would spend $120 per month. If I then either submit it myself or hire someone to submit the articles for me, this would be maybe 1 hour of time – value maybe $60/hr (I am generous here). Let’s round it up to $200.00 for the writing and submission of four articles. 3 month minimum commitment. Crazy, eh?! And this is not from some guy offering service at Digitalpoint.com or – this is supposed to be a reputable company here in the US (mentioned in many blogs, seen at conferences, etc.). Wow …
I do not mind paying for good SEO work and I am actually really looking for some (honest/white hat) SEO work to be done and I have up to $3,000 budgeted for this, but the offer above … I would consider that a ripoff.
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You’re right… the same here in Germany!
Just less work, no service or support… but big money.