SEO Reality Check - Lessons from building 17 websites, and almost 50 PBN sites in the last 5 years

[Xeon]

The biggest issue with SEO, especially for small businesses that are just starting up, is that it's extremely expensive. It seems to be a game for rich people with millions a month to spend, play.

The tools alone are enough to ruin your starting capital, and those quality backlinks which you need to buy are like, $200 - $600 each? And how many hundreds of those do you need to have any positive effect on your Google search ranking?

Let's say you buy 450 links, each one is $200 each = $90,000
That's not even counting other branches of SEO like content writing, keyword search tools etc.

And it's not a one-time thing. I understand SEO needs to be done every 3 - 6 months (maybe even monthly or weekly). Wow......

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jonathan Hoch]

My black hat wizardry guy who I affectionately call Saruman agrees with the OP, kinda. I invited him to the forum. Hopefully he’ll come hang out and add value. Here’s his YouTube video discussing this concept. It’s an hour long.

Tutorial - How To Write Content To Rank Organically On Page 1 Of Google In 2019.

For any newbies reading and enjoying this thread..

I spent 5k rather foolishly to learn some of this stuff. Turns out you can check out anybody’s site for FREE on Ahrefs, Moz, or Majestic. With a subscription you can see what ppl are doing right and what they’re doing wrong. Shocker. I shouldn’t have spent the 5k.

There are also Facebook groups and YouTube videos and forums for this stuff where you’ll be able to get free help. Every day they will attempt to try to sell you stuff. Don’t. Buy. Anything.

17 websites is nice. I know a guy who just learned SEO two years ago and now builds 10 sites a day, ranks them in a month, and sells them.

There’s a billion ways to skin a cat but WHY do you need to skin a cat?!?

Have you used the tools you have name dropped in this thread, to look at your wizard's website?

66 organic monthly traffic. Highest ranked keyword is on the 2nd page for how to find the word count on a word document.

I hope this isn't the same wizard that magically builds and ranks 10 websites in a row, each only taking 48 minutes, non stop, and ranks them before selling them.

Come on. Are you really falling for this bullshit?

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Have you used the tools you have name dropped in this thread, to look at your wizard's website?

66 organic monthly traffic. Highest ranked keyword is on the 2nd page for how to find the word count on a word document.

I hope this isn't the same wizard that magically builds and ranks 10 websites in a row, each only taking 48 minutes, non stop, and ranks them before selling them.

Come on. Are you really falling for this bullshit?

Maybe so.. Saruman’s funny. Also he didn’t try to sell me anything and I think he made that YouTube video like, last week? He has 33ish other sites.. but if you don’t like him no worries.

Where’s a site you’ve made so we can check that one?

A completely different guy from a completely different group does the ten in a row in a day. I hate that guy. He’s my nemesis.

 

[Roli]

Nice info, commenting to receive updates.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[illmasterj]

The biggest issue with SEO, especially for small businesses that are just starting up, is that it's extremely expensive. It seems to be a game for rich people with millions a month to spend, play.

The tools alone are enough to ruin your starting capital, and those quality backlinks which you need to buy are like, $200 - $600 each? And how many hundreds of those do you need to have any positive effect on your Google search ranking?

Let's say you buy 450 links, each one is $200 each = $90,000
That's not even counting other branches of SEO like content writing, keyword search tools etc.

And it's not a one-time thing. I understand SEO needs to be done every 3 - 6 months (maybe even monthly or weekly). Wow......

I guess the same can be said for everything. Facebook ads, email marketing, billboard ads...Say you've established that doing a letterbox drop is the right marketing strategy for your business since SEO is too expensive.

But you want to do it really well. You pay a professional copywriter. A professional designer. It's printed up on really high quality paper in lots of colors. You're dropping these over 15 local suburbs so you outsource that part to a known distribution company that guarantees they don't dump them in a bin on the side of the road.

Turns out doing it well was really expensive.

SEO, like anything can be done on the absolute cheap, or very expensive. If you don't have much startup capital and you're paying $200-600 per link, I'd wager that's a bad decision.

When you're starting out, you're meant to bootstrap. You work 12+ hours a day and build your own damn links, saving that $200 for something more important.

I built a micro-empire on Excel spreadsheets and free Google tools which cost nothing but my time. Now that my time is more valuable than the tools, I spend more on them, but it wasn't always that way.

Also, you're paying too much for links*. Research more or drop me a PM if you get stuck.

*EDIT: I'm not saying you should buy terrible $1 links or PBN crap. I'm talking quality links on real, "at least good" websites that get traffic and generate referrals.

 

[Xeon]

I guess the same can be said for everything. Facebook ads, email marketing, billboard ads...Say you've established that doing a letterbox drop is the right marketing strategy for your business since SEO is too expensive.

But you want to do it really well. You pay a professional copywriter. A professional designer. It's printed up on really high quality paper in lots of colors. You're dropping these over 15 local suburbs so you outsource that part to a known distribution company that guarantees they don't dump them in a bin on the side of the road.

Turns out doing it well was really expensive.

SEO, like anything can be done on the absolute cheap, or very expensive. If you don't have much startup capital and you're paying $200-600 per link, I'd wager that's a bad decision.

When you're starting out, you're meant to bootstrap. You work 12+ hours a day and build your own damn links, saving that $200 for something more important.

I built a micro-empire on Excel spreadsheets and free Google tools which cost nothing but my time. Now that my time is more valuable than the tools, I spend more on them, but it wasn't always that way.

Also, you're paying too much for links*. Research more or drop me a PM if you get stuck.

*EDIT: I'm not saying you should buy terrible $1 links or PBN crap. I'm talking quality links on real, "at least good" websites that get traffic and generate referrals.

Yup, but say, with FB ads, I can get instant feedback on whether they do well or not, and if they do well, I can get more profits faster from that, in order to grow and buy more inventory / more marketing.
With SEO, it seems to be more of an expensive, long-term tactic that is more suitable for established businesses with a steady flow of revenue.
(no, I didn't pay $600 for a backlink, that was only an example)

Anyway, back the the topic. What do you guys think of hiring people on PeoplePerHour or Upwork to write guest posts? I see some offers there where they say they can publish guest posts on popular sites like BuzzFeed, SheKnows, BoredPanda, TheFrisky, USAToday, Reuters, HuffPost.
(there's also guest posting on Forbes where they charge $1000 per post)

And also, sites like this: https://evergreenoutreach.com

 

[minivanman]

Well, I guess my questions were skipped over, I can only guess why...... Y'all go ahead and depend on what all the 'professionals' say, I'll continue to rank on the 1st page doing it my way with those businesses getting several calls each day which = lots of $$profit$$. I'm out and on to other threads, see y'all there.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Deleted50669]

Well, I guess my questions were skipped over, I can only guess why...... Y'all go ahead and depend on what all the 'professionals' say, I'll continue to rank on the 1st page doing it my way with those businesses getting several calls each day which = lots of $$profit$$. I'm out and on to other threads, see y'all there.

MVM with the mic drop!

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Well, I guess my questions were skipped over, I can only guess why...... Y'all go ahead and depend on what all the 'professionals' say, I'll continue to rank on the 1st page doing it my way with those businesses getting several calls each day which = lots of $$profit$$. I'm out and on to other threads, see y'all there.

Good job dude. You and your minivan are smokin it! I didn’t mean to dismiss you I’m just still bitter. Lol. You’re obvi doing well.

 

[Jonathan Hoch]

In smaller niches ( not the ultra low, nobody is searching for types ) where people can easily push out enough links and content to overtake the top spots.. this is not happening in a month. I'm talking real world worthy smaller niches that would be easy to take over based on what you said "You can do exactly that".

So I have to ask, would these be the smaller niches you are talking about? Or can you give me an example of what you mean? House cleaning/maid service, lawn care, interior painting, handyman, dog walking, etc. In cities such as Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Kansas, Dallas/Fort Worth, Lubbock, Texas, Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska, Houston, Austin, Waco, Texas, Jackson, Tennessee, Mobile, Alabama, Lexington, Kentucky.

On one hand you say you don’t even do SEO, on another you say it’s not possible to do SEO.

What is the question that you are trying to ask?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SEBASTlAN]

The biggest issue with SEO, especially for small businesses that are just starting up, is that it's extremely expensive. It seems to be a game for rich people with millions a month to spend, play.

The tools alone are enough to ruin your starting capital, and those quality backlinks which you need to buy are like, $200 - $600 each? And how many hundreds of those do you need to have any positive effect on your Google search ranking?

Let's say you buy 450 links, each one is $200 each = $90,000
That's not even counting other branches of SEO like content writing, keyword search tools etc.

And it's not a one-time thing. I understand SEO needs to be done every 3 - 6 months (maybe even monthly or weekly). Wow......

A lot of assumptions here man.

It may be "extremely expensive" if you're up against big brands for competitive terms, but long tail keywords or local themed keywords aren't nearly as competitive.

You don't need tools to get started, and links shouldn't cost you $200-600 each.

Link quality is another factor here, so the 450 number is subjective.

Overall SEO is a long term strategy, so throwing out numbers like this is irrelevant and more conducive to a PPC strategy.

 

[Divine_Joker]

Enjoying this Forum a lot. Last night it was just 2.00 am and I was still reading some threads here.

I have spent a lot in for blackhat stuff and paid me to be honest. I am on way to launch my small local Digital marketing agency in next some months.

Can anyone address this questions?

1) What is your advice to the newbie in specially for seo ? I am planning to launch some small niche website that provides the great insights to students on memory power, Vedic maths and much more. (Damm!!! I am really good at this. I am 26 right now).

2) I heard that ahref is for the specially to find the back-links I have purchased the plan to analyse some data that can really help me. So will I stop to use that tools ? (I really agree that Google will not ask them ) Why are people chasing them like a dog who saw the cat and want to eat ?

3) To buy the back-links at $$$ is really expensive here in my local market because people are searching for the cheap solutions always. . So any insights other than back-linking options? What about the Link pyramid structure that people are talking ?

4) Any good course You recommended to learn for SEO for beginner that gives really good insights ?

5) How many months one can expect to get the good results if done the right way with content, Site tructure and all that ?

(Note : Pardon me if this is like Noob Questions.)

Again Thank You everyone for Your Great insights on this Topics. I have noted down some points from this post and I really hope that I will join the INSIDERS subscription when money available.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

I want to be helpful, I really do, but it’s like asking a kindergartener how to swim. I have just enough energy to argue that I like the pool, I want to be in the pool, don’t make me leave the pool.. and if you’re my friend I’d say..

Get wet! Yay!

That’s all I’ve got. Sorry dude. I’m still researching this stuff.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Divine_Joker]

I want to be helpful, I really do, but it’s like asking a kindergartener how to swim. I have just enough energy to argue that I like the pool, I want to be in the pool, don’t make me leave the pool.. and if you’re my friend I’d say..

Get wet! Yay!

That’s all I’ve got. Sorry dude. I’m still researching this stuff.

No worrie s Dude Lets Swim and get wet !!! Get -> wet -> Set -> Go. I already started experimenting and I will share my insights soon.

Let's hope that I get before my clothes get dry!