Just Who’s Thinking About SEO?

It’s all over twitter – more and more businesses are looking to SEO, social media and other forms of online “advertising” to get the word out about their services and products.  And I’ve done my share of proposals for these businesses as well.  Some hired me, some didn’t.  But it’s always fun to reflect back and see who contacted me throughout the past year.  Below is a small but interesting list of companies I did SEO proposals for in 2009.

Washer Games

I’m not completely sure if washers is a local Saint Louis or midwest game, or if it is known nationally.  I never got that far into the research to find out.  This company made some of the coolest washer games, complete with custom colors and special metal for just the right look and feel.  They were thinking of selling online, and had a nice advantage on their competition, but I never heard back from them.  Maybe they realized my mullet wasn’t long enough.

Land by the Foot

Had one guy who owned a development-type company that bought huge tracts of land and then chopped them up for builders.  He wasn’t in on the home building, just divvying up the land and making bucketloads of money.  He wanted to rank well for related terms so he could get the land off the books quicker.

Specialized Lumber

A client who first contacted me about 4 years back decided to come to one of my free classes last Fall gave me a call this year.  He was seeing the downturn in sales and wanted a life preserver.  He is already ranking well for decks and other construction-related queries in the Saint Louis area. We are now working on dominating the Midwest.

Time Shares

This one was more of a reputation management gig.  They hadn’t even launched a website yet, but were already worried about their employees quitting and putting out negative reviews about their biz.  Kinda makes ya wonder, doesn’t it?

STDs

Yeah, those.  A few very aggressive (or at least aggressive-talking) guys wanted to smash their competition.  They were so excited about taking over the top results simply as an act of revenge that I was a bit scared myself.  Nonetheless I submitted a modest proposal to overtake their apparent drug-taking and cheating competitors, but never heard another peep.  Probably for the best.

Window & Door Decorations

This one would have been fun.  A few local STL guys had a great idea for some holiday decorations that went in your window and lit up all cute-like at night.  During the day they let light through so it didn’t impede in that sense.  They apparently had several thousand (or more) of these ready to go, and no budget left to market them.

Artist

I tend to be a good ole Republican boy, not much in to the whole artsy-fartsy thing (as my stepfather would say).  But hey I try to be a bit open minded and help out.  Anyway, this artist guy apparently took pictures at an extremely magnified view and then framed and sold them.  With each print was a poem related to that particular photo.  At least that’s what I think he was trying to tell me.  I didn’t exactly understand it all, and maybe that’s why it never came to fruition.

Roofing

I’ve actually had several roofing companies contact me this year.  I’ve got a good friend who is pretty high up in a local roofing company, so I kinda had the inside scoop on some of these guys.  Nonetheless, several proposals out, none came back with a check.  That’s ok though, I’m launching a related site in the winter that’ll make them wish they had.

Pest Control

Another industry that I took a few calls from.  Since it’s an extremely local business, I can imagine that the first pest control to rank will do quite well.  I just don’t know who that’ll be… yet!

…and my favorite…

Funerals

My favorite of the year.  While the meeting didn’t last long, it was still insightful.  This particular funeral home also owned a florist, casket co and other ‘related’ industry shootoffs.  They wanted to be the one-stop shop for all your funeral needs.  Unfortunately the lady I met with was simply reporting what I told her to her boss.  Never heard back from them; dead end.

BY the way, it’d be dumb of me to write all of this and not offer my services to you.  If you’ve got a really cool or crazy business like one of these, or even if your business is boring and dull, I’d love to talk to you about increasing your market reach online.  Contact me and let’s kick some ass.

For the SEOs out there, what’s the craziest proposal you did this year?

Related posts:

1. SEO Isn’t an Expense, It’s an Investment