Comments on: The Ethics of Creating & Using Personae

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:00:19 +0000

*not one size fits all

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:59:50 +0000

Great post. I’ve found the number one personae ‘The Client’ most effective, but as you say, you need to be so well versed in your client’s business/brand voice and your client already has to be extremely receptive to your ideas and involved with issues that arise as you work. It’s definitely one size fits all.

By: Mat Morrison

Mat Morrison — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:29:30 +0000

Tom Coates wrote memorably (well, it was a long time ago, and I still remember it) about his experience with a brand mascot using an inappropriate opportunity to build links. While I don't think that it invalidates the approach, it's nevertheless worth reading as a cautionary tale.

By: Sabre

Sabre — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:26:33 +0000

I would disagree that link building isn’t part of a search marketers job. Whether you do it directly or indirectly, it should be happening as a result of marketing your client.

I would also disagree that clients aren’t interested in their sites appearing at the top of the SERPs. We’ve spoken to many companies who want that very thing. Perhaps your client base and experience is different, but I would venture to guess that most SEOs have had many clients ask about rankings.

By: Abe Bellini

Abe Bellini — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:50:27 +0000

There is no way to avoid link building if you want to improve your rankings. Submitting to a thousand crappy directories will only raise red flags, and you never want to do this, especially for a client account.

Stick to creating good, linkable content, and continue reaching out media sources.

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:24:15 +0000

Worth noting: Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu wrote a rather lengthy comment re: this article and Jill’s article over on Google+. Good conversation.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/108802069053908824216/posts/dHVT5ykrCBW#108802069053908824216/posts/dHVT5ykrCBW

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:23:34 +0000

I think there’s a lot of truth to that statement, Nick. We’re not in the habit of making up family trees just because it makes US feel comfortable and it’s more baggage you have to remember when you go to reuse the persona, but I don’t think it’s unethical to do so. You were hired to get results. You’re getting them.

By: @WebMAOhist

@WebMAOhist — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:08:51 +0000

“Link building. As a search marketer, there’s no way around it.”
Honestly speaking after reading so misleading and blatantly incorrect 1st phrase I did bot continue reading anything further.

Clients are not interested in their sites appearing in top of search results that nobody probably even click.

They are are interested in promoting their service or product , i.e. brand name.

When I was promoting such a service my aim was to launch of writing of others about brand. on their own 3d-party or 4th party resource.
Would their post be with links or not was completely unimportant – it is a matter of half-a-second to find a site bya keyword (brand name).

And after launching a viral wave I was fired but the wave continues spreading by itself.

SEO, link-building is time- and money- consuming senseless oxymoron by closed always-changing Google’s rules by which the latter infected business all over the world.

By: Nick LeRoy

Nick LeRoy — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:30:57 +0000

Last time I checked delivering results paid the bills and put food on the table. Its amazing how many people quickly attacked me after telling a white lie in my post (which Jill wrote her post in response to) .

Ethics does play a role in marketing but anyone who tells you they are 100% ethical, “White hat”, or whatever else you want to call it is full of crap. Too many “SEOs” are just afraid to come out and say it.

By: Kaila S | Vertical Measures

Kaila S | Vertical Measures — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:40:03 +0000

Great post Sabre. Always like reading what you gals write over there at Outspoken Media.

I’ve been of the mindset that personae work, and can’t agree more with what Nick said – you have to use what works. At the end of the day clients are paying you for results, and you have to work with what you have. Many clients do indeed play a passive role in their SEO campaigns so one must take the bull by the horns to get RESULTS. While ethics do come into play here, it’s hard to argue when you have awesome-tastic results.