SERM, SEO & SEM

Most companies which specialize in SEO will tell you to pay them a certain amount of money up front, such as a retainer and then they will work on improving your website rankings. But those same SEO companies usually have one stipulation "don’t expect anything for 3 to 6 months". While other companies which specialize in SEM will tell you that buying ad space on the search engines is the best way to get your products or services out there. You may get business right away but the short term costs will do nothing to provide long term solutions for your search engine reputation management.

What does talking about SEO and SEM have to do with your reputation on the search engines?
Allot, but not everything. You see, while you can buy ad space and work on optimizing your website, all of that will mean very little when you see an independent website show up in the search results talking bad (or worse flat out lying) about you or your company. Neither you’re SEO nor your SEM company is going to be much help when that happens, and that’s what makes your iRep Agent so much different. We work for you all month long, everyday were out searching the Internet making sure that your name and reputation is being both protected and enhanced!

Beware...The Upsale "Donut + Coffee $1.99"
The upsale, it’s so common today that even the guy at 7/11 asked me if I wanted a donut with my coffee, then pointed to a sign on the counter that read donut and coffee $1.99. For those who only buy your coffee at Starbucks; 7/11 coffee is usually less than $1.00 (unless you buy the mega cup), and that would put the price of a donut at around 99 cents. I don’t know what Dunkin Donuts is charging for a donut nowadays but it can’t be more than $1.00. In other words, my 7/11 friend wasn’t giving me a deal, the cost of coffee and a donut IS $1.99, just because they package them together and make a sign for the counter doesn’t mean they are giving a discount. The point here is that the upsale is just a big game (con if you will) trying to get you to buy things you don’t need or want because you "think" you might be saving a little money. As my friend at 7/11 pointed out, someone in marketing told us to put that sign on the counter and I’m supposed to point to it everytime I sell a cup of coffee.

Too many SEO companies are jumping into the Internet reputation business because it seems like a quick way to gain some new clients, and since it’s such a new industry most business owners simply don’t know what they really need to protect their online reputation. So the sales people at the SEO companies are now being taught to throw out the new buzzwords like "reputation management" and "corporate reputation management" in order to sound more like a reputation manger than an SEO salesman. What the typical SEO salesperson (turned corporate reputation management expert) will try and sell you is a "fully upgradable" package, sprinkled with really important sounding words like "inoculation" and "exploration" to fool you into thinking they are doing something more than just basic SEO.

Don't Be Fooled!
Don’t be fooled by SEO guy turned online reputation management expert, there is allot more to it than simply increasing page rank and search engine placement. When you fill out the contact form or call an iRep Agent we will go more into detail about why and how we are different from the rest, different because we truly care about each and every iRep client, and different because we will never try and sell you an upgrade.