There's a few things to note about this Q&A section:
- There's only a handful of mozzers available so we limit each premium member to either three public discussions or one private discussion every 30 days. We made private discussions use more question credits simply because we cannot add them to our knowledge base so their value is not passed on to others.
- This service is brand new so our knowledge base is currently empty. In the future, however, we encourage our members to search the knowledge base before asking a question to see if that topic has already been covered.
- We'll provide you with tips and resources - but don't expect us to do any hand-holding. We're here to educate you, not do actual hands-on SEO work for your website.
- It's okay to ask a variety of questions in a single thread, but don't try and take advantage of the system by asking a variety of unrelated questions.
- We are expecting a huge influx of questions when we first launch, so if it takes us a few days to answer your question please be patient.
Also, I'm releasing a new free SEO tool to all SEOmoz members next week. It's something I use daily and felt it would make a killer addition to our arsenal of tools. I'm also working on fixing the Keyword Difficulty tool today to get some things fixed that need attention (oh how I love playing the regular expression scrape game).
I agree that a direct Q&A area is worthwhile paying for (SEO is only a passing interest in relation to more general "O" that I do, so perhaps not for me!) I see it as quite a departure from the business model of premium members for SEOMoz up till now. Previously, articles were written and tools were developed once-off for continued use by premium members. These are fixed costs that scale well from 10 members to 1,000 (aside from a semi-variable expense of server capacity for some of the tools and general bandwidth and hosting expense of a busier site).
Ok, the parties Rand referred to in this post and I've read about on the blog are probably more of a variable expense. And this is apart from sounding like an absolute blast, and worthwhile interactions with peers and influencers and such things!
Now, the Q&A model isn't a scalable model as I see it. Each additional unique question requires additional thought, drafting and admin. Suddenly 10 members or 1,000 members make a huge difference. No matter what the standard (ok, slightly old-fashioned) economic models say, labour isn't a fully flexible expense (it is not possible to hire and fire people instantly) in general, and most certainly not when it comes to "knowledge workers" (Rand, Jane, Rebecca, Matt - just the names that came to mind apologies to those I left out!).
For other clients, we would generally sit down and do four things (SEOMoz may well have done exactly this, but I'm just sharing the experiences I've had of a different type of optimisation and business analysis that readers may still be interested in)
Other businesses have come unstuck from changes in business models that affect the extent of operational leverage and scalability in similar ways. However, from the SEOMoz Q&A structure - maximum questions per member per month, differentiation based on the ability to use the questions and answers for public info - it seem like the SEOMoz guys have given this some thought. Of course, I hope it works out for the very best.
All good points, David, and things we've definitely considered. We realize the law of diminishing returns will definitely come into play here at some point and we're keeping our options open in order to be flexible and make this service as beneficial as possible for our members and our business model.
Thanks for the heads-up though, always appreciate people lookin' out for us.
Cheers!
Awesome! This new feature and the fact Matthew Inman was very responsive and helpful to my request is the reason I signed up for a Premium Membership. You guys rock.
I might just have to cancel all my online gaming subscriptions and sign up.
So long WOW.
Damn you SEOmoz!
You're making it awefully hard NOT to be a premium member! I'm going to sign up ASAP.
They made it really hard for me NOT to be a premium member, I just WON a free month! Whoohoo! Thanks sooo much Mozzers!
I am going to try out the QandA all month long, so much so they may even consider taking away my free membership. lol. Kidding guys, I won't bug you TOO MUCH.
BTW, Matt thanks for taking that pic with my girl at SMX, it made her day man! It was great meeting you all down there.
Haha, no problem. Sorry I initially declined, I figured you were pulling my chain :)
Will you be making an appearance at AEA Seattle?
Nope, maybe next year. I'd love to see some of those guys speak.
Yep... and if the company doesn't cough up, I guess I'll be joining anyway. I love that you guys keep adding stuff for the benefit of your subscribers. It's a genuine service that you really care about and that you work hard to excel at - and you do. Thanks SEOmoz.
This is another creative element from the Moz team.
A great concept and one I look forward watching develop. Keep up the great work.
I feel like whenever I leave a comment I am playing devil's advocate- sorry!
I am already a premium member and I read over some Q&A, but am curious how this is much different than a free message board community.
I realize you all are well known in the SEO world, yet many other well known people run message boards, and give away advice like this for free.
You might say it's hard to know what's good advice and what's not at a message board, but if you hang out at a message board enough, you can pick out who gives good advice, and is respected.
Anyway, I do think you all do a great job and everything at this site, I wouldn't have been a premium member if not!
A lot of the times you are either getting short answers or incorrect info.
These will be fleshed out major answers from whay I can gather.
...and have more credibility because the SEOMoz brand and personal brands of the staff are on the line. Longer answers with higher trust than on a more open message board save time through reduced need for confirmation and corroboration from other sources. This has a value. Note I said "reduced need" rather than "no need". One opinion is always just one opinion.
The other angle is that sometimes paying for something actually increases its value. I expect that the questions posed will be thought through slightly more carefully than those which have no associated "cost". Better questions, more carefully worded and targeted will improve the value of the answers. So maybe you have to pay for it in order to appreciate the value!
Great point David.
The value I see in this new feature is precisely whatyou have said and diferentiates this feature from an open forum or free board.
This is SEOmoz answering your wuestions, not someone hiding behind a nickname.
I also agree with Nadim, who highlighted the real need to give real answers, lest they lose trust.
An excellent question. There are a lot of similarities here to a free message board or a community like Cre8asiteforums or Digitalpoint. The main differences are:
That said, the free message boards are still incredibly valuable and we're not looking to compete. We don't provide the same types of discussion or varied opinions and frankly, we don't plan to do "in-depth, lengthy" answers. We're seeking to give you a short, sweet, high quality answer to a specific question.
Obviously, you've had a chance to look at some of the questions and answers, so you can determine personally whether the responses are up to your own standards or what you've seen at the forums.
Hopefully, you'll be impressed :) We have been working hard at it.
Thanks Rand, I appreciate the reply.
I haven't looked over many questions yet, but it seems like this is going to be another success for SEOmoz!
One Question on Q&A Seomoz Feature...
What if we dont use up our 3 questions ? Can it be or will be carried forward in the next month ? Say if i asked 1 question this month then the next month will i have 3+2=5 Q&A ?
:)
No, unfortunately questions do not carry over.
We're going to be adding a feature very soon where premium members can purchase more credits if they need to up the # of questions they are allowed to ask each month.
Any chance the amount of questions one is allowed to ask will increase? :]
I am not the premium member.But I checked you guy's answer.It really helped me.
Good work. Thanks guys - I think this is a great idea - though it's going to be hard work for you isn't it??
I saw a sneak preview that this was coming when options appeared in the member details page...
I think this is going to be a very valuable addition to encourage more premium members... I myself am very tempted (tho I am trying to get the company to pay! lol) I only wish I could partake of the parties too! :P
Interesting feature. I'm going to become a premium member soon I guess.
Time will show, how worth this feature is. You know it´s a lot of work and trust you gain with this feature. You can easily loose trust if you answer fast or uncompletly, so take care. No, this is not a paid tipp. :D
Loving the Q/A system added a few q's myself :D
I always thought membership here would be a great thing. But I've learned to be selective, with dozens of online memberships that have fallen by the wayside. But the longer I'm a member of SEOMoz, the more valuable premium membership looks to me. I love this place!
Nice move. A rarely seen feature in the seo world. thumbs up
Awesome! Questions to come. Great idea.
Matt, that's a fantastic feature. Looking forward to it!
Cool stuff! Can't wait to see what questions people come up with.
The best part of a conference, in my opinion, is the Q&A (well, besides for the free booze of course).
I think Rand will have to drastically increase his staff shortly :-)
I am not sure if that is your plan, but I think leaving the public discussions topics for everyone to see, while limiting the answers to premium members, should drive a lot of sign-ups.
Hamlet, good call - that's how it currently works. Everyone can view the questions but only premium members can see the answers. We're hoping this will draw in memberships from people searching at the engines for answers to their questions.
Smart move! I bet your conversion rate will increase drastically.
Have you considered longer version of your posts for premium members, similar to Search Engine Watch?
I think this would provide an immediate need to sign up.
Longer posts would require less effort than your e-books, and you should be able to release them sooner.
This is a brilliant strategy, IMO, and will definitely increase the memberships for the moz.
But just to play devil's advocate: If I had never heard of SEOmoz and a specific "how do I" query lead me to their knowledge base only to discover I had to pay to get the answer, I'd be very discouraged as a new user. This has happened to me on Experts-Exchange a couple of times.
Notice the carefully placed hyphen in Experts-Exchange.
LOL - yes, I made sure that a hyphen was present. My searches for ExpertSexChange aren't nearly as effective.
Funny that is how I got into search... I was looking for an expert to help with the sex change and found them instead.
The site was interesting enough and I actually could answer some questions... so got stuck on the site and forgot about the sex change...
the rest is history.... and there are a lot of conference bartenders who are happy I did!!!
I think it's a great idea as well. I'm not sure if the seeing the questions after finding a page in a search engine would get me to sign up. I've found a few sites like that in search engines and after a few clicks it's generally just gotten me to stop clicking through from the search results.
However when you add the blog into the equation and I can see the value of the free content then it would get me more interested in what the paid content is like and make me more likely to subscribe.
This is great news thank you!
Things are really changing with google lately so it will certainly help to have a place to chat and get insight from those with more connections than me.
Now, will we be able to ask our questions with Safari or will you continue to freeze us out like on your comments?
If you'll notice when you add a comment there's a link at the bottom that says "can't add comments, try disabling the javascript wysiwig editor." Disable this and you should be fine.
good move. I can see some value in your membership now.
Whereas before...?
ok... since you asked. I'm not here to slam your membership, but here is my opinion... because you asked for the feedback. I didn't see the value in a $39 per month membership... what you basically got was an article a month. (I know there are tools… but there are alternate ways to get the same data)
The link building article was well written and I enjoyed reading it… but nothing really ground breaking there.
The keyword research article was a major disappointment. I was hoping for methods and techniques that Seomoz uses for keyword research… and it was is just a review of the keyword research tools/services.
I can’t comment on the "Search Friendliness" article because I didn’t order it.
Now for the new Q&A section... I see some big time value here. Not just because I can ask a question… but the ability to participate in the discussion and view the questions that others have. The topics will be driven by the users.
Look at SMX... all the best info was during the Q&A sessions.
I'm planning to fork out my own cash for a premium membership.
Kurt - fair enough, thanks for the critiques. We'll certainly work to make things even better (sorry you weren't a fan of the KW research piece).
However... you forgot the tips section - did you like those? I think there's some pretty decent (if short) stuff in there. And the party at SMX was fun - free drinks, bowling, pool, shuffleboard. We're still working to bring as much as possible to the table here.
I believe that you are... I just signed up for a premium membership.
I didn't have access to the tips section before today... looks like some good info there.
Rand, I think SEOMoz is definitely worth the money. This place is a fountain of great information for anyone who wants to learn. Some of us who have been around for a bit aren't perhaps learning that much, but it gives us confidence that the information we have is accurate and up-to-date. I view it as a security net for people in the business. BTW, I am totally thrilled with my free month's membership. I now have kid-in-a-candy-store syndrome! Keep the great ideas coming.
Thanks for your insight on the articles and your comments has sure have given me a topic for Contributing to YOUmoz.
A great feature to add a feather in the crown. Waiting anziously to be an prmium member.
Nice comments Kurt, and the thumbs up you got tell us that you were not alone in your thoughts. I think that with Q&A the value of the premium membership is very clear now, but I had some thoughts similiar to yours as well.
I think that frank discussion is a good thing that can only benifit a community, so thanks for having the balls to say something out of the norm.
If there is anything you see that could be improved, SEOmoz seems responsive to constructive critism, one of the many reasons they rock.
I have to say I shared similar thoughts about the articles. I think they're all good, but they didn't strike me as premium. For example with the keywords article I wanted to see something more like Kurt wanted. I was hoping for some insight into the process SEOmoz uses for developing keywords for a site.
I felt the same way with the other articles. They're all good articles, but I don't think I would pay for the information in them.
I really like the seo tips. They've been my favorite part of the premium membership. Rand I'd call the tips concise, not short. There's some very good and useful info in them.
I think the Q&A will be a great addition to the premium membership.