PageRank & Alexa & Backlinks — Oh My!

Just for giggles, I enjoy hanging out at various webmaster forums including Digital Point where I can get a sense for what so many people are thinking. That place is frequently rife with rumors as members try to get into the colossal mind of Google, Alexa, and other internet measuring devices to see how they can improve their own sites by exchanging links, working the system, and more.

Well, wouldn’t you know that last night’s visit actually did reveal something of value — Google has updated their PageRank, completing the export of the new numbers to the Google toolbar.

Yes, this blog is now PR5 as is The Auto Writer and many internal pages on this site are showing at least PR3, though the home page of the URL is curiously still locked in at PR4. For those of you who insist that PageRank doesn’t matter, I say to you: bull. You know that you just stopped reading this post long enough to check on your site!

Last October when Google zapped a number of people’s PageRank over the issue of paid links, some of the loudest cries came from so-called SEO experts who had been telling us that PageRank really doesn’t matter. A handful of these same people have long poked fun at Alexa, too, but when Alexa overhauled their algorithm two weeks ago and exported their new numbers, guess what they were blogging about? The all-new Alexa.

Honestly, Page Rank, Alexa, and the number of back links pointing to your site won’t necessarily bring in the customers. I’ve visited sites where the Alexa was clearly gamed and the number of back links scraped together in the tens of thousands, but came away from the site not too impressed. I do not recall a customer saying that they found me because my site was ranked at a certain level. Instead, they typically like the way that I write and/or the subjects I write about — these are people who know nothing of Page Rank, Alexa, or even SEO.

Still, when you dress up to go to the dance it sure is nice when that pretty gal, Alexa, flashes that welcoming smile your way.

Satisfaction Guaranteed…Maybe Not

Jennifer at Catalyst Blogger had a provocative post (at least it provoked me to write this post) mentioning that she has been toying with the idea of offering some sort of guarantee for her work. I won’t explain each of the options she suggested, but I immediately shook my head in disagreement when I began to read her article.

Instead, I shared with her how I handle the writing submission/approval process, one that helps me avoid guarantees, whether expressed or implied:

• If a customer is dissatisfied with my work before my final submission, then I do what it takes to make the work acceptable to them.

• Once a job is finished, my work is done and I expect my final payment to be made. If the customer comes to me after the fact and asks that additional changes be made or if they are unhappy with the results, then they must pay for the work I do over and above the original project.

In early 2007, I had dealings with a doctor who was unhappy that his press release didn’t bring in the results he wanted. It was well written (‘natch) and submitted to a leading PR distributor, but it wasn’t the springboard to new customers he thought it would be. He didn’t ask for a guarantee for future work and I never broached the subject. We parted ways which was fine as I sensed that he wanted me to give to him something (customers) I couldn’t deliver.

I work with four excellent clients right now who know what kind of work that I provide, what I can deliver, while leaving the results to them. I cannot worry about people who are dissatisfied after the fact, but I’ll do what must be done before we both sign off on the final copy.