You must be joking. He's doing a video, and selling it? I feel like I've just been sold a lemon.

Have you bought the series and are now lamenting your disappointment.. your comment interests me as I just bought "Mr Butts" video series, and from a quick glance thought it would be simple and informative to a beginner, which is my targeted market? Your comments would be welcome. :) Rox

Rox,

I saw the press release and was instantly offended. However, I come from a different perspective. What he's preaching is something that's so fundamental to blogging that I kind of marvel in how he pointed it out. However, I shutter at the commercializing and selling of what I feel is needless material for all but the completely uninitiated.

Further, there is reason to believe that Google results will change as the blogosphere grows, and tactics like his become commonplace. His strategies do not have legs. His s_les pitch sounds like the early (and current) search optimization hacks that promised top placements in Google through their less-than-legit- techniques.

Dana,

I understand your comment and appreciate it. As a sales and marketing professional, I often am often "offended" by offerings from well known marketing and sales Gurus, selling what I believe to be trivial solutions to sales process, account qualification, product positioning, etc. To me, they are bastardizing the profession I have chosen. However, I am reminded of a lesson learned a few years ago while in the softswitch and telephony applications business - the lesson is that the overwhelming majority of telephony users don't need or will ever use the most sophisticated applications, they just need basic service. Similarly, most people that have GSM mobile phones, capable of advanced services, just use them to make simple calls.

In the situation you called attention to, it appears people are offering services to address what you and I believe to be the most basic of blogging – posting and pinging. It’s like the guy that sells videos on how to use Microsoft Office…how could anyone buy such videos and training on something so simple to understand and master?

A perspective on this is that the more sophisticated applications and services become, the greater the opportunity to educate the less informed. A market opens to demystify services and enable the less technically savvy and aware potential users.

Your comment on the effectiveness of the techniques used in this particular video offering and its long-term use stand alone.

Food for thought…

Dana,

After reviewing the videos, I am filled with a sense of disappointment.... my intelligence is insulted by the presumption that I am so incapable or possess the inability to read the simple instructions that are posted at Google as guidance in setting up a blog...not to mention a myriad of self-help blogging websites available on the www.- and $47 is an inappropriate charge for this set of videos.

The ping instructions in particular are laughable, as even the unitiated must know of the existence of www.pingomatic.com - a totally f.ree service which does a lot more than only ping Yahoo when one has new posts to announce.

I will be asking for a donation of the $47 to the Tsunami Relief fund by way of a refund.

If time permits your referral to good legitimate resources pointing to the SEO benefits of Blogs are appreciated.

It is a privilege to share marketing views with you.. kudos on your accomplishments to date.