Whilst also blogging together on Collective Thoughts (ok so I have been slacking a little) we also have a chat group on Skype that has been running for 2 years.

Dave knows his stuff (like really knows his stuff), and if your primary interest is SEO, I can’t think of a better place to hang out and share secrets.

I absolutely refused to promote this as an affiliate as it is something we have chatted about in the Collective Thoughts group for so long, plus in various launch consultations I encouraged Dave not to open the affiliate program immediately anyway… make it more of an “internal launch”.

Dave also rustled up a limited discount for a few lucky readers

Note: Dave wanted to ensure this is affordable for anyone who wants to join – a bit like a virtual “PubCon” with an emphasis on sharing knowledge that wouldn’t be wise to share in public, especially with search engine representitives snooping around.
A bastion of “sage” knowledge rather than a warchest of tools – (though there are some nice tools available as bonuses)

Find out more about the SEO Dojo and just read the testimonials

Here is a blatant affiliate link - http://andybeard.eu/Recommends/SEO-Training.html

I listen to the “undercurrent” in SEO circles, and Stompernet is often criticized, though typically just by inferrence.

This post is to address some of the things I see repeatedly online, especially among SEO bloggers, and hopefully it will offer some additional benefit to bloggers in other niches.

1. Bad Information

SEO information has a “sell-by” date – whilst there are many exceptions where content could be looked on as perrenial, what often happens is that a blogger will create a fresh post with new information, leaving the old information still indexed and bringing in visitors.

The problem is there is a network effect, especially if content is heavily promoted and referenced, on sites which take less care with updating their content.

There are a number of solutions

• Update old posts, possibly referencing new posts
• Update older posts, and then recycle them, something Michel Fortin does very well with his copywriting posts
• Create a new post or page, and then use redirects to transfer link equity or optimizing HTML  links

One glaring example is how many SEO, Marketing & Design blogs have recommended using Robots.txt for handling duplicate content. That article is now 18 months old, was widely read, yet the web is innundated with blog posts still suggesting using Robots.txt on category and other archive pages.

This is often on “authority content” that gets hundreds of thousands of views.

It could be looked on as criminal negligence especially if you are still actively promoting that content.

There are serious resource problems in updating content, but far better to refresh old content than have to constantly churn out fresh articles.

The biggest resource problem is updating video, especially if it is widely syndicated – recreating a series of screen capture videos every time WordPress has a major update is one of the reasons why I have never attempted to offer any basic tutorials — it becomes dated too quickly.

Last I heard Stompernet have a staff of 30 people working on creating content for their members and keeping it up-to-date – it is hard to compete.

I am going to be going back through my archives, pruning, redirecting & rewriting – I really hope other SEO blogs and even the major SEO forums do the same. There is too much junk out there.

2. Unique Information & Secrets

Whilst it is possible that some information is totally unique on the web, such as if you carry out extensive testing yourself, the vast majority of information on the web isn’t unique, and quite often there are 100 different answers to the same problems, from 20 different, even authority sources.

Look back at that and do the math.

I have seen 5 different answers to the same problem from the same expert author – which one is correct?

Sometimes it is possible to do a site search and work out which solution is the most current recommended solution, but quite often someone will take action on out-dated content.

Whose fault is that?

Oh but what do you care, the disclaimer on your website will cover your ass.

3. Refined Marketing Process

Have you noticed that Stompernet and other successful marketers typically launch their new or refreshed content in cycles?

• They get their sales funnel in place
• They refine their landing pages
• Add value to their free content ensuring it reinforces their marketing
• They have a marketing sprint and then close the doors (scarecity)
• They get a new wave of inductees that is easier to teach systematically

With this method they can ensure a cohesive marketing message, and that the material they provide is accurate at the time they release it. Incremental upgrades are still possible on content that is paid for, but it is vastly more complicated.

Offering Premium SEO Content or Tools?

SEO bloggers offering premium content unfortunately think the SEO benefit of the links they might gain from their premium content and possibly the traffic, but don’t think about their affiliates.

Are you going to provide deep linking capability for your affiliates to your next major piece of SEO or Marketing linkbait, with a refined sales funnel and launch process?

Offering an SEO Service?

All the recycling process still applies, and you can think about how you can periodically suck your sales prospects further down the sales funnel, possibly with coordinated webinars and free “live” site evaluations.

What is important to remember is “Results in advance” – if people benefit from your knowledge in a material way, they are more likely to open their wallets.

4. Kicking Your SEO Optimized Behind

I am not going to get into a debate whether the best information within Stomping The Search Engines 2 or Stompernet’s Elite membership is any better than what can be achieved by joining one, or several other membership sites, possibly once you sift through outdated information.

As I recently mentioned about prior knowledge and disclosure, I don’t join SEO training sites, though I am probably overly cautious. It is quite possible I might even disagree with some of their content – that would be a fun discussion.

That being said I have learnt a huge amount from the material Stompernet have provided over the years for free in various forms, and much of the published work of their faculty from 4 years ago could still be looked on at cutting edge.

Being able to recommend STSE2 allows me to avoid writing about basic SEO concepts, because it is the best introductory SEO course I have seen, and I have it siting on the desk infront of me, a review sample sent 6 months ago.

Stomper Net 2.0 has just launched, boasting a lot of new faculty members including 2 of my favourite experts, Sherman Hu and Leslie Rohde.

Supreme Joint Venture

I have noticed something significant with the relaunch and whilst the following is speculation, I can’t see a reason that that isn’t at least close to how the joint venture works.

The most important observations are

1. The relaunch was not emailed continuously to previous signups
2. The relaunch was not emailed by previous launch partners and faculty members
3. The launch is being heavily promoted just by the new faculty members

How this JV Works

The experts selected seem to have been chosen for a number of compelling reasons

1. They are acknowledged experts in their field
2. Lots of SEO talent to take some of the workload from Brad and Andy
3. The new faculty members in the main do not have their own existing high ticket items or services

Lets take Sherman for instance

Say he has 1000 members of WordPress Tutorials currently active and makes on average $90 per member per year. That is $90K per year. Not bad income, but I don’t think he has that many members yet.

With Stompernet 2.0 the money pot is much more significant

1000 new members x $900 per month x 12 months = $10,800,000

Now that money is likely to be shared between the new faculty members as an ongoing fee for the training and support they provide, various other support costs and outsourcing, affiliate fees again to the new faculty members, and a fair sized chunk to Brad and Andy.

There are also costs associated with holding 4 seminars per year, but I think that is easily covered. The element of risk is totally removed, and I am sure good deals can be struck with a supporting hotel for such a conference with 2000 guests.

Realistically speaking, each new faculty member can expect to clear $300,000 per year, much more if they were able to sign up a significant amount of new members themselves.
I am sure at least one of the new faculty members will clear $1M from his involvement.

Old Faculty Members

I don’t think they gain anything from the new memberships. Whilst there will be additional members, the work is being shared between more experts. They didn’t get to promote the doors being re-opened, at least not yet, but expect them to have a bite of the cake if the expected number of slots are not filled this cycle.

Comparing income

It is hard to find reliable figures for service companies online, or at least it was until Rand Fishkin revealed the SEOMoz earnings for 2005 and 2006.

Total income $600,000 with 9 full time employees
Rand only cleared $26K for himself in 2006

Rand is building a business and a brand, so those figures are bound to increase for 2007, but it is easy to see that Stomper Net is a very attractive proposition for anyone involved.

Can’t Afford Stomper Net 2.0?

Don’t worry, you are not alone. I can’t actually justify the expense this time round either.

Here are some alternatives

1. Get Michael Campbells ebooks for free, including Revenge of the Mininet
2. Bonus – Leslie Rohde’s Dynamic Linking comes as a free bonus to the above

3. Join WordPress Tutorials – Sherman’s WordPress Training is superb and I haven’t seen any notification that he will be closing shop. He still answers questions on his WordPress support forum daily and there is a good chance that some of the material prepared for Stomper Net will be reworked for his own site.

I would honestly love to be on the faculty for Stomper Net 3.0