I REALLY don't like to talk negatively about people, but I absolutely hate when a few individuals give an industry a bad name.  I was talking with a company today who hired someone to do some internet marketing consulting, focused primarily on search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing.  Months have gone by, the client has spent thousands of dollars and is getting no report of marketing results and simply being told that 'you're getting some clicks, but you need to create more content.  Oh, and by the way, you can pay me to do that for you too.'

After spending about 30 minutes reviewing the website and listening to the client, it was very clear to me that they had been taken for a ride.  Now, I do strongly believe that they need a solid search engine optimization strategy, potentially some PPC internet marketing, and definitely a lot more website content.  However, I finished the call with the client suggesting that if we were chosen, we'd advise against continuing the PPC campaign at all until the content was completed.

Now, in the current SEO's defense, perhaps the client asked for exactly what was being delivered.  Perhaps they didn't really understand search engine marketing and didn't ask the right questions.  Perhaps they agreed to everything as it was presented.  However, isn't it the responsibility of the expert to help a client make the right decisions?

In addition, I found that the search engine optimization strategy consistent of 'stuffing' the website and HTML code with keywords - otherwise known as 'black hat' SEO techniques.  Marketers that do it right know that you simply cannot optimize a website page for more than a couple of keywords, yet there were at least 15 completely unrelated phrases stuffed into the meta tags.  Why?  These techniques haven't worked in years.

Bottom line for companies searching for a marketing firm to perform search engine optimization:  Do your homework and compare approaches.  Ask for references and ask to see search engine results of current clients.  Unfortunately, there are still some out there who are willing to take your money and run.