What these folks did wasn’t getting off their asses nor playing hardball, what they did was lazy.

They did perhaps have some temporary monetary gain but it could not have been much and from where I sit these kinds of activities remind me of the linament & cure all salesmen…just a bunch of blow hards. Although these guys above don’t even work as hard nor provide anywhere as much perceived values

If one is going to get off one’s ass as you suggest perhaps they could create something that offers some benefit for the money received. That would be a game of hard ball that I would be happy to engage in.

You sound like a bunch of butt hurt little girls.

The web is a competitive space.

If you want to succeed, get off your ass and play hard ball.

You ask: Are they neglecting to check to see if the website already ranks already?

Considering the number of emails I get every week offering our own company SEO services so we can rank #1, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Miriam

For some smb’s in smaller cities and/or uncompetitive environments, keyword wise, it can be easy to get them to rank, and the rankings last for quite some time without added work. So that spammer could possibly retain a fair number of clients at $50 a month.

On a similar note, some of my clients fall in those low competition environments and have top rankings organically across the major engines and in local. The type of client were I won’t bother charging monthly fee’s for because there just is nothing to do on a monthly level. Some of them get regular calls from “offshore” SEO services promising to rank them in Google, Yahoo, MSN for their local keywords for only $50 per month.

They use the hardsell. I know because I was visiting a client when one called and he handed me the phone. I played dumb to listen to their offer. After I pointed out that the site already has #1 spot in all the engines for the main keywords they continued to push their sales pitch.

Are they neglecting to check to see if that website ranks already? Not pre-qualifying their phone leads? Maybe. Or are they preying on small business owners ignorance and making a highly attractive promise, one that’s far to easy for them to deliver on as the results are already there, and hoping some that they call have no idea about their website, where it ranks and why? A strong possibility too.

I just shudder to think that people must have signed up for this service, or the profit scenario you and David are discussing isn’t even part of the equation. My question is, who would sign up for such a service? How can a business offer like this manage to make money at all?

Glad Google shut them down.
Miriam

Mike