Grow a full head of hair overnight! Lose 30 pounds in 30 days! Increase your penis/bust/etc by 3 inches with this product! Promote your business online, increase your online visibility and make money on the internet…in a few simple steps! NO technical expertise is necessary. If you can type and click, you can use Traffic Blazer!

What a crock of shit. I quoted a project to a prospect and had also quoted a basic search engine marketing package as well. I found out that I was the high bidder and the prospect was considering working with a company that quoted a SEO tool called Traffic Blazer.

This is from their website;

Most Web site traffic and online purchases come from search engines like Google®, Yahoo!® and MSN®. Get your share of Internet business with Traffic Blazer®. Promote your business online, increase your online visibility and make money on the internet…in a few simple steps! NO technical expertise is necessary. If you can type and click, you can use Traffic Blazer!

They offer a 4 step to success program.

1. Search Engine Optimization - The key to attracting search engine–generated traffic to your Web site is to meticulously optimize its content for carefully selected keywords. Traffic Blazer enables you to zero in on the most effective keywords for your site and provides you with the tools to position the site for top search engine rankings for those keywords..

2. Website Analysis - The Traffic Blazer Site Analysis assesses your Web site’s compatibility with key search engine ranking criteria, including spiderability, frame and Flash usage, and level of keyword optimization. The Site Analysis pinpoints site elements that may need to be improved, thus hinting at the site’s performance (WTF?) in an actual search engine scenario.

3. Website Submission - Traffic Blazer helps you ensure your Web site’s visibility by submitting it to the Internet’s leading search engines and directories. The Automated Submission features enables quick submission to more than 50 search engines and directories from one convenient location, while the Manual Submission feature provides you with the tools you need to submit your content to more than 300 key search engines, including engines that focus on regional content and Web logs (blogs).

4. Traffic Analysis - The Traffic Blazer reporting tools enable you to monitor the exact impact of your optimization and submission efforts and pinpoint elements that need to be revisited in order for you to create the desired traffic flow to your Web site. The Reporting tools allow you to verify that your content is indexed by key search engines, review your Web page’s back links (inbound links), check your search engine ranking for applicable keywords, and much more. Performance tracking is a central element in the search engine optimization process for your Web site.

The tool also offers link popularity checks and other tools that you can find free on the web. This is nothing more than a collection of free tools that are serve yourself and you still have to pay for it. This is not search engine marketing that anyone should have to pay for, especially if anyone is having to do it themselves.

Here is why I take exception to the 4 steps to success offered by Traffic Blazer.

1. Search Engine Optimization - Their example shows a keyword suggestion tool based on Yahoo searches over the last 30 days. The example they show is a report using the term “search engine”.

While they may be able to prove it statistically correct, what the hell is a new webmaster going to do with this information? If I use this tool, will I rank better for search engine marketing that seomoz or bruceclay? I’m not holding my breath.

2. Website Analysis - While website analysis is good to do, it can be done for free, especially if I am the one having to do it. There are literally hundreds of tools online that will help you;
Determine Keyword Density
Determine Link Popularity
Hundreds of other tools…

What I really liked about the description of the website analysis is that it basically hints at a sites performance. Is this like my wife hinting that she wants me to rub her feet? Sometimes I have to be told what she wants because I can never get the hint. I also think a new webmaster will have to be told how to fix any issues versus just telling that there are issues.

3. Website Submissions - Includes a lot of spammy free for all directories. There are basically 3 search engines (maybe 4) that you need to submit to, and 1 or 2 directories (if you can ever get a response from one of them). They will also submit your blog to several blog search engines. So, all you have to do is write great content with high frequency and they will submit it for you. But wait, if I have a blog and if I can write great content on my own, do I really even need to pay for this?

4. Reporting - This is just giving a report of whether your listed and what your link popularity is. What about referrers, the long tail, any other valuable metric someone could get for free using Google Analytics?

Search engine optimization goes much further than just these basics.

I think this presentation by godaddy is deceptive at best to newbie webmasters to make them think they will find instant traffic and money on the web using this simple 4 step process called Traffic Blazer. If you have signed up for this, I have a sure fire exercise aid that will deliver six pack abs in as little as 3 weeks if your interested. Its called block of wood and you hold it while you do thousands of crunches…

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 3:55 pm and is filed under CAD Website Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.