UPDATE 5/1/2010

Ken from SEOHonesty has agreed to take the site down.  Read his comments in the comment thread below…

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Hot on the heels of the TOPSEOs apology to the community, and their vow to clean up their act, yet another company has decided they can create an SEO recommendation service and profit from it while doing so in a way that is severely flawed.  This one goes by the name SEOHonesty – and you’re not going to believe how it came about…

It seems the person behind SEOHonesty, Ken Styles, is also connected with WebHelpNetwork – he’s listed at the top of their About page.  Notice those icons for social media? Makes sense they’re there, since Ken’s the guy in charge of WebHelpNetwork’s social media efforts.  Except none of the links works at the time of this article.

And the links in the footer of that site?  uh, they go to 404 Not Found error pages.  Which means the people at WebHelpNetwork need Web Help.  Oh. My. God.  I’m going to vomit…

WebHelpNetwork is the group behind SEOHonesty…
I know this because the SEOHonesty page has a testimonial on it.

Ooops.  That’s a “Test” Testimonial – you know – the kind used by developers when they’re just building a site before it’s launched.  And it’s supposed to be replaced before they go live…

And the ABOUT page at SEOHonesty – Ken and Darryl are listed there, just like they’re listed at WebHelpNetwork.  First names only, even…

Darrels Bio on WebHelpNetwork

The SEOHonesty Team

Ken Styles – International Man of Mystery

Just so we’re clear here, Ken Styles is not only the guy behind @SEOHonesty and @WebHelpNetwork, so far we have learned he’s also the guy behind @SEOWebHelp, @BoxedDesign, @deskofken, and SEOMeetupPhoenix… so apparently he’s a real SEO / Social Media guru… (insert vomiting sounds here)…

SEOHonesty – WTF?

SEOHonesty is a brand new offering – just launched today, as a matter of fact.  Their offering, as stated on the home page:

Seo and Internet Marketing Approved!

We’re a network of recommended companies in the industry. You can recommend them, and each city will have more than 1 company so it doesn’t appear we play favorites. We’re not trying to be control ethics, just help you find hard working and honest companies to help with your projects.

(Yes, they actually spell SEO as “Seo” . On their home page.  Either they’re afraid that Rhea Drysdale is going to sue them if they use “SEO”, or this is the first red flag in terms of their inability to provide quality content, let alone a real and worthwhile SEO recommendation service… )

Well hell.  A “network of recommended companies in the industry…” Really?  Well, since it’s a brand new site, the only “recommended companies” are, uh…. I can’t find any yet.  Thank God.

Not Trying To Control Ethics

WTF?  Not trying to control ethics?  What the hell does that mean?  – It means that Ken Styles happened to listen in on the WebCology radio show this week where we talked about services just like SEOHonesty, and figured that before they launch this crappy service that’s just begging for abuse, that he should throw in a reference to ethics in the SEO industry, so as to prove to visitors that they’re different than TOPSEOs.

How do I know that’s where that came from?

Because I got a copy of Ken’s promotional email and you won’t BELIEVE what it says, but you’ll have to wait a bit for that.

First, I need to point out why this is

EXACTLY like TOPSEOs in some very critical ways…

1.  If your company is “recommended” by someone, and if you then want to be listed, you have to pay a one time NON-REFUNDABLE fee of $49.  Okay, so it’s not the THOUSANDS that TOPSEOs charges.  Yet it’s a fee nonetheless. And it’s non-refundable!  Wow. Can you imagine, you get duped into thinking this is a worthy service, you pay our fee (hell – at such a low fee, who wouldn’t be willing to give it a try, right? ) and then what if you find out the service sucks? Or the service puts out deceptive information, or does bait and switch like TOPSEOs was doing?  Well too bad on you – you’re out your $49…

Again, it’s  a dirt-cheap amount in many ways, but if 500 or 5000 companies sign up…

2.  More Fees To Profit From

And just like TOPSEOs, Ken has come up with a way to make even more money

SEOHonesty Multiple Fee Structure

3.  Awards.  Yes, you read that right -  SEOHonesty will give out Awards, just like TOPSEOs does.  Okay so it’s not in the same exact manner as TOPSEOs, but it’s “awards” nonetheless.  Things you can paste all over your web site and marketing materials – you know – to show how you’re better than the competition (because we all know – if two companies appear identical in all manners, but one has won “awards”, clearly they’re for me!)

SEOHonesty Awards

4.  “All members on this community site are recommended by other companies or You! We’ll find out what we can and if approved, YOU can write a review about them! You can recommend anyone you think is a good, reputable Internet Marketeer.”

That’s a quote from the SEOHonesty site.  Which means first of all, that they can’t actually spell “Marketer”, unless they’re referring to modern day pirates, or perhaps they’re referring to the SEO industry’s version of the 3 Musketeers, I’m not sure which.

But more importantly, there’s that “We’ll find out what we can…” aspect.  What does that mean?  They’re going to try and dig up info on a company that’s nominated?  Are they going to call companies they think are clients of that nominee?  Do an FBI Background check?  Exactly what will they do?

And YOU can write a review about the company you nominate.  Even if you’re a shill – an insider at that very company, posing  as an independent 3rd party…

5.  As a nominated company, you have to provide two client contacts – so they (SEOHonesty) can verify you really are as good as you say you are.   Which sounds a lot like the whole Charles Preston game doesn’t it?

Yeah, yeah,  I know – there are many different “independent” review entities in all sorts of industries, and verifying client satisfaction is standard stuff right?  Well, just like with Charles Preston, this is NOT an independent entity – it’s people in our industry who offer their own services… So guess what – that would be a big….

FAIL!

MORE SCUM IN THE CESSPOOL

Why this brand new site appears to be even worse than scum is because of all the above, but even more than that, check out the logo.  Yeah see those devil’s horns on the SEO portion?  That immediately implies that people should first and foremost think of the SEO industry as a whole as a bunch of evil thieves, looking to drag your innocent web site into the depths of hell…

Oh – and that Angel’s halo? That obviously implies that the only salvation you, the unsuspecting site owner has if you’re ever going to be able to be found organically in the SERP’s is to trust SEOHonesty as your source for legitimate SEO companies to hire…

HOLY CRAP CAN IT GET ANY MORE FUCKED?

Please – let’s be quite clear here.  This service can be gamed so effortlessly I could have my 12 year old niece pull a fast one on Ken and his band of hooligans.  So there’s no chance IN hell that SEOHonesty could EVER be trusted to provide reliable information on which SEO companies to hire and which to avoid…

WHERE THIS GETS DOWNRIGHT SICKENING

Okay, so we’ve got this brand new site – and even though it’s in “Alpha” right now, the functionality on the site shows that it didn’t get built overnight.  Some serious thought went into this, and time was needed to program the functionality.  But guess what? Ken listened in on the WebCology show this week. And as he listened, he figured there was some serious changes he had to make to the offering before launch.  Because he wanted to prove to the SEO community that he’s not like TOPSEOs, let alone Charles Preston…

Here’s how it went down in the past couple days:

Ken and his cohorts work furiously to get SEOHonesty launched.  He happens to hear the WebCology radio show where me, Edward Lewis, Dave Harry and Jim Hedger discuss Charles Preston and TOPSEOs.  He realizes he has to spin the offering a different way, and that learning about Charles Preston – and how Charles failed to get community buy-in,  Ken comes up with an ingenious way  to do that.  To win the hearts and minds of the SEO community, before launch….

How Do I Know This?

I know this because an anonymous source sent me this email…

Hi XXXXXXXX!

I have a new site launching May 1 (or 3) and wanted to share this:

There has been lots of talk about how companies are calling “paid” SEO and SEM companies the “Best SEO company”, and ranking them. I was on webmaster radio today hearing everyone mention other top SEO companies and the way they were handling the processes, and the ethics involved (in their opinions). Everyone had a different view on it. We changed our site a little to clarify that we’re not going in certain directions. I received many thoughts from SEO members about their feelings on participation and how they wanted to sit back and make sure we were accepted by the community first. Even though they had a great interest to join or recommend a friend.

I have some good things going for me (I think) lol -
1. Seohonesty.com was started by SeoWebHelp which some in the industry know and trust the brand and possibly me.
2. I have been chatting with some top SEO names to ensure we don’t come across the same way that those other companies did. Just to get their thoughts so we can make our focus more towards the “recommendations” process and not the “pay us and you will be known as the best ever” process.

We are different. We’re not trying to control ethics, we just have a catchy domain name. Check out how everything is worded on the site when you get a chance.

Recommending some of your SEO SEM or Social Media friends just gets them a recommendation which has nothing to do with their involvement in the site. (I say this because of the “SEO members feelings on participation until we are accepted by the community”.)

Your recommendation of another professional suggests he or she is a good person on your opinion – like when you make a connection on Linkedin. Your clients can even go on and suggest him or your company. If he later becomes a member, they can leave testimonials too!

We never say anyone is the TOP or BEST of anything. We are just a community of recommended SEO and SEM people that offer quality service.

With all that – the reason I’m emailing is to ask in your help with getting my site launched. If you mind spreading the love or sharing anything with others, or even recommending some friends of yours on the site – bit.ly/seosuggest

I really need this to be a community event.

You can cite if you need to. I would love to do an email interview too if you want something fun to post on your blog.

Thanks for any help you can give!
- Ken Styles

Oh. No. You. Didn’t.!

When I read that letter from my source, I had to hold back from spewing last nights dinner all over my monitor. I mean, here we just raked TOPSEOs all across the hot coals, forcing them to issue an Apology Press Release.  And that on the heels of shutting Charles Preston down permanently….

And then we discussed it on the air!

Yet Ken is apparently so arrogant, or so clueless (the complete lack of quality content, poor grammar, mis-spellings and dysfunctional links across his multiple sites tells me its’ the latter rather than the former, but hey, that’s just a guess…) that he thinks he can still launch his new site, and change the spin so it doesn’t smell like the rat that it is…

I have been chatting with some top SEO names

Yeah? Who?  I am dying to find out!

There may, in fact, be some people in our community (I’m betting it’s really AFFILIATE NETWORK people, or maybe SEO people who see how easily this can be gamed, or both.. .

But I’ll tell you this Ken, you have NO CLUE as to how utterly wrong you were in assuming you could get the right mix of industry people to buy into your horseshit.

I may be wrong on this one.  But I doubt it. The conversation will unfold in the coming days and we’ll find out though…

Because I can guarantee you, I know of a few industry people who are already furious at your arrogance, and a few who are just laughing at your ineptitude…

AN OPEN INVITATION TO KEN

SO – Ken – I would really love to speak with you on this one.  Let you give your own take on it…

And let the insanity begin!

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UPDATE – Ken sent me an email just now…

You are missing the point with the site sir. We are in no way trying to be the ethics police. This site is purely to help people in the SEO, Social Media and Internet Marketing industries get found online and recommended by their clients.

Please read through the site before writing harsh words about it. If you personally see anything that resembles we are trying to be the ethics police for SEO, please inform us through the email here and I will be more than happy to remove it.

And my reply:

No

I’m not saying you’re trying to be the “Ethics Police”.  Apparently YOU missed the point of the whole Charles Preston and TOPSEOs effort.  You can’t properly ensure your directory is pure, or accurate. It’s too easily scammed.  And there’s nothing stopping YOU from polluting it with companies that YOU choose to, for your own hidden financial gain.  Forget it.  It won’t fly.