I get this phone call on Friday, from someone looking to have a site built out. He seems brand new to the SEO world so I begin to discuss the basics. To my surprise, he knows everything I am telling him. He then explains that Randfish from SEOMoz has already spoken to him and referred him to us, as well as a few other companies. But let me tell you, he was incredibly impressed with Rand. He explained that Rand spent 30 minutes on the phone with him, discussing what SEO is, how he should use SEO for his site and so on. The prospect told me that he asked Rand, "why are you being so helpful for free?" The prospect told me that he replied, "Because others help me (Rand) for free and this is my (Rand) way of giving back." It convinced this prospect that everyone from Seattle is a saint and he was truly amazed by this act of generosity.
I explained that Rand is one of the few folks out there that is like this. But in reality, there are hundreds of people out there in the SEO world who are at the same level of generosity as Rand. I am not trying to take away from Rand at all, on the contrary. I am trying to explain the SEO community within the forums and those that give knowledge on a regular basis through forums, articles, blogs and podcasts.
This is all very fitting of a blog entry written by Rand the other day, which he named Time on Forums vs. Consultation with an SEO. He references a Cre8asite Forum thread named When cre8asiteforums rhymes with generosity... Rand summarizes;
The SEO forums, including Cre8asite, are where a majority of my initial knowledge and ablity to do SEO work comes from - those 30+ hours a week spent reading blogs, forums, news articles, etc. certainly do describe my surfing habits and probably the reason so many folks are anxious to get a few consulting hours. It's just interesting to have it put into words.
Welcome to the generosity of forums and the online SEO community.
Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.
