The Bullshit Detector Blog
I’m Martin Jones, owner of Red Design and writer of this series.
With over 25 years of industry experience, I’m here to demystify digital marketing.
If you see this, you’re on The Bulls**t Detector blog
I’ll be writing about the half-truths, scams and nonsense spoken around digital marketing.
Here are the first topics I’ll be covering… with more to follow:
#1 – Free website audits
This one is already live…
So click on the image to read it. In this post, I run through the common issues with Free SEO website audits. We’ve all received them by email and probably had our curiosity stirred at least a little bit. But these audits are almost always automated, and that throws up a number of issues. This is such a big subject, SO I’ll be breaking it down into a number of topics. The first piece covers the five main issues you need to look out for:
- They can be deliberately misleading
- They may not be up-to-date
- They are usually inaccurate
- They are not bespoke to your website
- They don’t provide actionable insights.
#2 – Beware the guru
Be alarmed if you hear any variation of “I’ll make an appointment for you with Chad, our SEO Guru!”
…or “Hi, I’m (insert hipster name), the company’s Digital Marketing Guru, blah, blah, blah.”
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really mean anything. It is an attempt to convince you that the person is some kind of higher being with access to information the rest of us don’t have, or skills you only see in the Marvel or Star Wars universes. Bulls**t!
They’re not Gurus, Jedis or Ninjas. They’re professionals with a definable set of skills and normal job titles if it’s the HR department on the phone…. the same as the rest of us. The upcoming post will tell you how you can deal with them and how to spot the bull shi**ers.
#3 – Guaranteed results
The most common spam SEO email I get is the one that guarantees me page 1 on Google. But what does that actually mean? In this blog, we’ll look at theSE promises and what they might actually mean.
Taking the “page 1 of Google” promise as an example… this might be achievable, but consider the following:
- What search term will you be on page 1 of Google for?
- In what position on page 1?
- For how long?
- How many people search for it?
- Will it convert to sales or enquiries?
Also, search engine positions aren’t static. They change all the time because algorithms and the efforts of your competitors aren’t static.
And that’s just the search term stuff. Read more when the blog goes live.
#4 – It’s too complicated
If your digital marketing provider or SEO agency tells you “…it’s too complicated to explain”, then they’re probably not doing their job.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: Don’t pay for services you don’t understand.
You probably wouldn’t pay for products or services in other parts of your business or in your private life if you didn’t understand what you were paying for. But folks seem to have a blind spot for clarity when it comes to digital marketing and SEO. Demant clarity.
If you’re not sure what questions to ask… this blog is for you.
