Rand sat down on Monday with Beyond Ink's man around The Sound, Dana Melick, to discuss several issues surrounding branding, client relations and SEO business models.
Dana's a good friend of The Moz so these two chatted for quite a while. I've edited it down to a manageable six minute clip for your viewing pleasure.
PS-This was an impromptu interview so please excuse the minimal production aesthetic (i.e. none).
By: Scott Willoughby
SEOmoz Vidcast - Rand Interviews Dana Melick of Beyond Ink
Business Practices
The author's views are entirely his or her own (excluding the unlikely event of hypnosis) and may not always reflect the views of Moz.
Shockingly, nobody's commented on it, but we are aware of (and completely puzzled by) the fact that if you look at this post in your feed reader, instead of Rand & Dana, you'll get the video of Weird Al's "White & Nerdy."
This may or may not be iFilm's idea of a joke, but it's pretty damn funny either way as these SEOs are both white AND nerdy.
Come to think of it, I bet Jim Boykin had something to do with this.
Stealthy ninjas at work
I was just thinking that :-) Was watching it in netvibes reader and thought that this time SEOMoz went a bit to far :-) Really funny.
Great interview - keep this king of stuff comming!
Scott I want to congratulate you on putting together the video. I think this is the first video I've ever encountered online that didn't pause somewhere while my computer waited for more to download. I'm not sure what you did, but the video streamed well. I'd be happy to learn more about how you accomplished that.
Thanks. I'm glad to hear it's working well. I think iFilm is a pretty solid video host all around, but I rendered the video slightly lower quality (512Kbps Quicktime) than I normally would since I doubt anybody's going to watch it full-screen.
I noticed it was iFilm instead of everyone's usual YouTube or Google video. I usually start a video and then pause and let it download while doing something else. I happened to let this one go and it played right through. The pla/pause/wait thing keeps me from watching a lot of video online.
The quality still seemed fine even reduced. I think that's a good call on people not watching full screen.
It's great to see video on here. Forced to read so much these days; sitting back with a cuppa was a real treat. I like the free flow of conversation in these videos. It would be great to get a few of you together next time for multiple points of view, or questions.
Great interview, but I'm going to have to pass on watching the new J-Lo music video. Thanks anyway ;)
Way to properly use i.e., Willoughby!
You like that? That was a wink to you.
It's good to hear this sort of conversation. I think a lot of people would be more likely to go the middle tear route. Great job on the video work Scott! Keep these sort of things coming!
You two offer some interesting insights.
I was wondering when you would put out another vidcast. It's great.
That was a great interview and really covered some great points.
What was especially encouraging is the point that the biggest companies that not only can afford to build in-house teams but have built them, still recognize the importance and value of working with an external team.
I imagine this comes in two value propositions, the first being the added value of working with any specialist and the more plugged in knowledge and experience they bring to the table, but also the added value of the viewpoints of an outside perspective. There is a point where we all are to close to our own work and that's where an outsider can help keep everything grounded.
The only complaint... I would have actually loved to see 2 to 3 times more of this. Hope SEOmoz continues to provide more interviews like this!
Another encouraging point was that the middle tier of companies is finally getting educated about the true value of SEO in relation to its cost. We need more of that. How can we speed it up?
Excellent point.
Unfortunately, just like SEO, I don't think there is a magic pill that makes it happen overnight.
I think some of this will just be a matter of time. Certainly as more "big names" embrace this there will be a trickle down... if it's good for them, then it must be okay philosophy.
What I think can help is continual education. Making ourselves available to explain and help educate on the subject. And when we do work with clients, continuing to educate them on the what and why, rather than just delivering the end product. Then they can help spread the word to their peers, which also helps lend additional credibility since the people they talk with will be less likely to feel they are being "sold "to.
I think it also helps to bridge the gap. We have to remember that we represent a small minority of the population. Websites and search marketing are still very new and foreign, at least at a technical level, to most people.
I think one way to help bridge that gap is to help people connect their website and SEO to things they are already familiar with, know and understand. Especially if you can demonstrate benefits and advantages over what they already know.
I just added a piece to my site today that will hopefully do just that by focusing on just one aspect of SEO by targeting traditional advertising. We all know that SEO and websites are about much more than just advertising, but picking off a particular area like this will hopefully helps give people a point of reference and understanding.
This was encouraging to me as well since I'm much more likely to deal with middle tier than top tier companies. Hopefully this education will continue and fall to more small businesses.
I agree with Identity that this isn't something that will happen overnight and it's important to keep educating people of the benefits of seo and helping them to understand what seo can do for their businesses.
I know it's one of the reasons why I blog and why I spend time offering advice at small business forums. There are still many locked into the magic pill train of thought and hopeully if we all repeat the message enough that there are no magic pills the message will sink in.
It's all about education and helping people realize the real value of fighting for a top 5 spot in a major search engine.
Just put it into perspective.
I like to ask potential clients if they've ever done a radio spot. 3500 to 6500 for a 30 day run on their favourite radio station and what do they have to show for it? A bit of brand awareness and a handful of sales, which is great... but then they have to do it all over again the next month.
Then I just explain that for an equivalent monthly price, I can help their website get in front of X number of people who are specifically looking for their products, and when our work is through, their site won't necessarily drop for the SERP right away!
Perspective is important!
And on a Completely Different Tangent... I just changed my password on my profile and noticed that I had selected to receive the SEOMoz newsletter... My newsletter must be getting caught by spam filters 'cause I don't recall seeing one yet :)
That's a good analogy to use while explaining it to a client, I'll have to try it.
And yes, I have not seen SEOmoz newsletter either. Mozzers, are you still working on it, or is it our great email filters?
Great! I enjoyed Dana and Rand's style, informal and relaxed. I too was able to watch it straight through without it breaking. Thanks, Scott. I'm looking forward to more interviews.
Can we send in requests for whom we'd like to see interviewed? I'd like to see some of the regular contributors interviewed! How about G-Man to start with? I think the black hat he wears is cool, and he'd probably be pretty funny.
Rand / Rebecca ; Tinkerbellchime / G-Man - Go to MySpace lol