Post: #1

I make it a habit to browse a variety of seo forums to see what other people are doing--mostly, so I avoid their specific tactics, and stay ahead of the curve.

This thread (3 parts) is something virtually anyone--in any country--can do with a minimal amount of skill, and make decent cash. Location independent, and can easily fund months of travel.

If you send 22 letters and don't make any money, don't come back here and bash this thread; this works, I've tested it in this and a similar niche. If you don't succeed right away keep trying and most importantly test everything.

View the thread here.

ORM (Online Reputation Management) is a tad more difficult since Google moved from Places for Business to Google+ listings for businesses, but it's still very easy to manage, manipulate safely, and profit.

Enjoy.

Post: #2

Great idea and execution. Impressive.

Post: #3

Good stuff. A lot of money to be made with local SEO and such. I hate taking on clients though.

Post: #4

I tried this exact blueprint almost a year ago and gave up on it. My experience was that acquiring clients was not as easy as this blueprint suggested. Of course, I'm sure that if you send out a few hundred, someone will eventually bite. It's all a numbers game afterall.

Post: #5

Brilliant. That's a +1 from me.

Post: #6

I need to spend more time on blackhatworld and less time on okc. Lots of good shit on there im sure

Post: #7

How "old" is this type of business? Can you expect to be relatively first to market or is it like a web hosting reseller business? Very cool to recognize a service like this.

Post: #8

(09-11-2012 09:28 PM)Fisto Wrote:  How "old" is this type of business? Can you expect to be relatively first to market or is it like a web hosting reseller business? Very cool to recognize a service like this.

I'd say SEO in general has really taken off in the latter half of the 00's... A lot of people have tried their hand at it since then (you could even argue it's become saturated in some places) but it's still relatively new.

If your goal is to do work for clients, this business is no different than any other. If you've got a large network and if you're a really good salesman, you'll do well.

As for the technical aspect of it, there's a ton of theory out there on the subject, but my personal take on it is that any business that relies heavily on Google to succeed is a business built on quicksand.

Of course, if (and probably when) your client's rankings drop off the map, who gives a fuck about some angry phone calls if you've already collected their money, right?

Post: #9

I was reading that thread the other day. I've been meaning to give reputation management a go at some point and that was a good read that inspired me a bit more. Too busy atm to give it my full attention though. Let me know if you try it Alpha Mind and what the results are.

Did you start using that VitaRank SEO service btw? If you check out their sales thread on BHW you'll see they've started getting a lot of bad reviews and peoples rankings are dropping.

Post: #10

Wow. Great idea.

Post: #11

(09-11-2012 10:30 PM)IainMuirs Wrote:  I was reading that thread the other day. I've been meaning to give reputation management a go at some point and that was a good read that inspired me a bit more. Too busy atm to give it my full attention though. Let me know if you try it Alpha Mind and what the results are.

Did you start using that VitaRank SEO service btw? If you check out their sales thread on BHW you'll see they've started getting a lot of bad reviews and peoples rankings are dropping.

I'm in the process of testing VitaRank for two clients, order dates spaced by 1 week.

1 client is a regular.

The other, feeds us leads and is a high-level US national client and pays for it when they need it.

Shitty reporting, nonetheless. I'll report the exact ranking changes (sans exact keywords), when the process is done.

Quick Edit:

Wanted to throw in that I cannot recommend based on lack of reporting quality alone....Will report based on 2 clients, hopefully shortly.

Post: #12

(09-11-2012 10:23 PM)captaingeneric Wrote:  

(09-11-2012 09:28 PM)Fisto Wrote:  How "old" is this type of business? Can you expect to be relatively first to market or is it like a web hosting reseller business? Very cool to recognize a service like this.

I'd say SEO in general has really taken off in the latter half of the 00's... A lot of people have tried their hand at it since then (you could even argue it's become saturated in some places) but it's still relatively new.

If your goal is to do work for clients, this business is no different than any other. If you've got a large network and if you're a really good salesman, you'll do well.

As for the technical aspect of it, there's a ton of theory out there on the subject, but my personal take on it is that any business that relies heavily on Google to succeed is a business built on quicksand.

Of course, if (and probably when) your client's rankings drop off the map, who gives a fuck about some angry phone calls if you've already collected their money, right?

Don't give advice on something you're basing on theories.

You've contributed nothing and only wasted space on here.

1. This business is about online reputation management, which is entirely different from SEO. Do some research.

a) If you want an education on the algorithmic implications, based on my experiences with clients, send me a PM, because right now, you're just being a non-contributing, hater.

2. You sound like a guy who got taken by some fly-by-night SEO firm. That sucks. I have clients this month, because I made them money last month.

If you have nothing to say, I'm sure there's a sandpit to sink your head into, or at least, the newbie forum.

Post: #13

I am turning two flash-thoughts into a guest post for an SEO blog.

If you want to know how to target the richest neighborhoods in any given area, PM me, but I can post here yet, because I need the idea to flow link juice from elsewhere. Nothing personal, just business.

Anyone wanting the info can PM me, since it won't get indexed.

Post: #14

(09-11-2012 08:31 PM)captaingeneric Wrote:  I tried this exact blueprint almost a year ago and gave up on it. My experience was that acquiring clients was not as easy as this blueprint suggested. Of course, I'm sure that if you send out a few hundred, someone will eventually bite. It's all a numbers game afterall.

Also,

Can you extrapolate on why you gave up?

What did you test?

What did you use to identify clients in need of ORM?

Did you have a systematized process, if any?

What can others do better, more efficiently, learn more from your purported experience?

Post: #15

Wow. This is a great idea. I'm going to try it and see how it works in practice. Always looking for new revenue streams.

Thanks.

Post: #16

Thanks for sharing this Alpha Mind.

Post: #17

Thank you, great post.

The next level: Get a few friends to trash some local businesses a month or so before you hit them with the letter.

The next next level: Protection rackets. "Lovely 4.5 star rating you've got there. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to it..."

(Joking level - 80%)

Post: #18

What about on a personal level? Telling people to Google their name, don't like what you see, contact me, I can help.
There was a thread a few months ago where we helped a guy push back a negative Google result.
Probably not as much money as fixing a business' reputation though.

Post: #19

(09-12-2012 01:36 AM)Alpha Mind Wrote:  I am turning two flash-thoughts into a guest post for an SEO blog.

If you want to know how to target the richest neighborhoods in any given area, PM me, but I can post here yet, because I need the idea to flow link juice from elsewhere. Nothing personal, just business.

Anyone wanting the info can PM me, since it won't get indexed.

I PM'ed you a few days ago btw.

(09-13-2012 03:54 PM)tjuan Wrote:  What about on a personal level? Telling people to Google their name, don't like what you see, contact me, I can help.
There was a thread a few months ago where we helped a guy push back a negative Google result.
Probably not as much money as fixing a business' reputation though.

Could work for people who have a reputation to upkeep but your average person probably won't pay for it. Be difficult to find customers I think. You could always create the bad content then offer to remove it.

Post: #20

To the OP: Can you please explain to me what to do in a very precise, clear way? My mind is too sluggish and distracted

Post: #21

I think the OP has given you enough, read the thread he linked to and it's all explained. It's a simple case of managing local businesses online reputation.

Post: #22

Two things...

1. I'm going to air the cunty message captaingeneric sent me via PM, because, well, it's just fucking cunty. Posted below.

Since there seems to be enough interest surrounding this, I'll try to refine this method a bit for people to test.

This general process works, regardless of what anyone says. To simplify, and increase your odds of closing higher-paying clients, you can pull data from Trulia to identify the richest neighborhoods via the average home values.

Search google for "(city/market) home prices and heat map." Instantly, you've segmented your local markets by what the average consumer has to spend, based on a simple assumption about the price of their home. Businesses in these areas cater to these people, and their income bracket.

Use that data to your advantage.

As mentioned above, the cunty message is below.

Basically says, fuck sharing anything useful on RVF that helps others get paid, I'm only here for myself.

I'm voting for the ban hammer, but hey, wtf do I know....I'm just a noob, right?

captaingeneric Wrote:
Since my post on ORM in your thread was just deleted, here are a few points for you to consider:

1) Unless you're at super-aff level earnings, the odds that you make more money than I do online are exactly zero. And given that I have every good SEO/ORM/Traffic-generation-guide ever recorded/written saved on my HDD, you talking down to me on matters like these is laughable.

2) It's cute that you're trying to earn brownie points with the RVF by sharing old threads from a shitty noob forum like BHW, but here's a reality check for you: guys who make real money online DO NOT SHARE their methods. Period. If a method has been spammed all over a shitty noob forum like BHW, the odds that it'll work for the average noob are slim to none.

3) I quit this method because I found much better ways of making money online. Perhaps if I were starving to death, I'd still be sending letters.

Honestly though, I'm glad you started that thread. You're actually doing me a favor by luring the lemmings over the cliff. Competition like you reminds me that I can afford to relax once in a while.

Adios.

EDIT:

It's worth addressing the idea that people who make money don't share their methods...

Am I going to reveal my exact niche/products? No way. I sling SEO and physical products, enough said.

The people who live by this assumption live in a world of scarcity. You can share legit methods with whoever you want, because only 2-3% of people are actually going to put your process into action, and an even smaller number of that group are going to be motivated enough to keep pressing long enough to make money.

It's not about the number of guides you have on your hard drive, or the number of reports you've read; it's about what you've pulled from that information and utilized to actually make money.

I believe Bruce Lee said something along the lines of, "adapt what is useful (for you), and disregard the rest."

Same concept applies to game, money, and life in general.

Post: #23

(09-17-2012 05:03 AM)Alpha Mind Wrote:  Two things...

1. I'm going to air the cunty message captaingeneric sent me via PM, because, well, it's just fucking cunty. Posted below.

Lame... The guy pm'ed you instead of bringing drama into the thread. You decided to bring the drama into the thread anyway.

Post: #24

Sharing a method like this isn't a problem anyway, you're going to be targeting local businesses. We all live in different places, there are thousands of local businesses in every city and town, couple that with the fact that 99% of people who read the post will never take actions...it's not going to get saturated.