Hello, my name is Gabriel, like the angel, but not quite the same.
I’ve been studying SEO trends for over 10 years now. I started learning back when I was a Quality Engineering Intern for EarthLink, Inc. Which basically means I stuck the ‘ISP Service” marketing CD into a Mac and PC and checked the database integration for typos. Translation. I was bored out of my adventurous mind. So, I studied any and everything written about Google search engine algorithms I could find.
Oh, and just for the record. The most common typo error I found was for the word “Earthlink”. It has a capital ‘L’. EarthLink.
But, let’s jump forward now, shall we? I run a small SEO consulting firm, (name omitted until I earn my SEOmoz stripes) out of Denver, Colorado. I have good clients and use the white hat techniques of yore with aplomb and grace, upgrading them with the current times. However, the one area I am lost in … is finding quality ghost writers or SEO copywriters.
Steps to Finding a Quality Ghost Writer
I did what most people on the Internet do to find anything…I typed it into Google and saw what the fishing nets brought in. What did I find? ‘Sponsored’ links and sweet ‘organic’ links to the top ranked SEO copywriter sites of the nation. Well, herein lies my Moby Dick I can’t catch. Just because someone fine tuned their website with search engine friendly code and they rank high doesn’t mean their SERVICE ranks high.
One particular, dare I call it an agency, had an excellent layout with reasonable pricing packages. I thought I had struck search engine gold. The business I’m in provided me with a winner. After I placed my order for 2 sample “denver divorce lawyer” articles, I was going to hit the Ferris wheel and then the tilt-a-whirl with a corn dog in hand! (I would have to eat the dog before the tilt-a-whirl, of course.)
I sent my clearly written email through the form provided and waited with anticipation. Nine days later (past my client deadline to create 2 new webpages) I receive a simple yet, unapologetic email:
Email Response
Gabriel,
I just dug your email out my spambox. Did you still need content?
Joe Owner
– www.weblink –
no phone number
My Email Response
Joe Owner,
Wow! That was some digging. Yes, It’s been a little longer, but we’re still wanting to order those 2 samples to test out the quality of the service.
You can call me now if needed.
(my complete info was included: phone number & email)
Customer Service Who?
I had replied and understood the plight of the spam email folder monster, Sarlacc (photo courtesy of wikipedia.org). It eats anything and everything at random. Important communications vanish without a trace…
Lying near the Great Pit of Carkoon, it would digest lost emails for a thousand years. I felt I was generous in my response. Understanding and willing to let bygones be bygones. Yet I wondered? With such a lack of empathy for a client requesting service, would the next installment be any better? It was not.
It has now been 17+ days and no further response was given. No article link showed up in my inbox, which would be unrealistic since I was never given a link to pay or make an SEO article order on. This was an “organic” SERP vendor, mind you.
My Hero
So, I did end up finding another vendor through the pay-per-click links. The site had boxes that linked to a Paypal account with the exact amount I would be paying for each article and the number of articles I was requesting.
The pay-per-click vendor sent me a link to my 2 fresh, new SEO articles 5 days later. Thanks, Han. The quality of the writing was decent, with a nice keyword density ratio. Most importantly, my client didn’t think I was a slackoff.
In Conclusion
In the end, I’m still researching good ghost writers for legal SEO copy and other copy, for that matter. I have 200+ webpages to fill with quality, readable, SEO-friendly content. My goal was, is and has been to find a handful of writers to spread the wealth to. I’d like to help stimulate the economy.
I am still in search of my Luke Skywalker writer to come in and save the day with his/her lightsaber pen or touchpad keyboard. Perhaps the emergency message in R2-D2 got lost in the email spam folder, Sarlacc.
Either way, it shows that ‘organic’ links don’t always produce the best results. Pay-per-click advertisers are actually reaching out to service your needs. Perhaps I was too judgmental. Maybe someone doesn’t have to be “organic” to be a quality service or product.
