Should you hire a web developer or SEO specialist from an unsolicited email?
Robert Sporner Lanz • February 7, 2021
Like the old saying, "you don't get something for nothing"
Just report it as spam and move on. Black hat SEO spammers want to scare you into paying for a service they are at best poorly equipped to provide.
They usually start out saying, I looked at your site and see you are not getting the best results or some verbiage like that. They follow up with an unbelievably low price to get you hooked.
Not only are these offers not worth investigating, they actually serve to undermine the credibility of legitimate SEO providers – fueling broader skepticism about search practices in general and sowing confusion about the difference between trustworthy SEO providers and fast-buck scammers.
It is much better to stay focused on the sensible, measurable SEO goals and strategies that you’ve already put in place – or, if you feel your SEO strategy is lacking, to upgrade your efforts either on your own or by working with a legitimate provider.
One reason these scams are still operating is that SEO strategy is complex and, done right, quite time-consuming as well. Due to the power of wishful thinking, it’s not surprising that some of us may be tempted to respond to such an email. But there are no easy fixes.
If you’re still not convinced, ask yourself the following question: Do I really think that hiring someone I don’t know, who reached me through an unsolicited spam email, is a wise investment in SEO strategy?
Real SEO – part art, part science – is a painstaking process that takes time and cannot be mechanized.