Anyone else hate WaFo "guru" style people?

[Philip J. Fry]

This ticks me off so much. I've been in SEO since 2009 and have made it my full time job since 2012. Every time I see an "SEO guru" impersonator who've "made" $InsertSixFiguresHere in $InsertDaysWeekOrMonthsHere, it always gets me mad. Anyone else like this?

 

[Shimmy]

Best to ignore them. Personally, I'm more annoyed at the amount of threads created that could be solved with a simple search (talking about WaFo).

You have no idea how many times I've used http://lmgtfy.com/

 

[qwianghomingh]

Self-declared gurus and experts are clowns. Nowadays, the propaganda that everyone is
an expert at something. I cannot take people seriously if they call themselves experts or gurus.
Anytime you read a blogpost that calls someone an expert or guru, that's the point you should
stop reading.

An expert to me is a professional, someone gifted at something or someone having years of practical experience of actually doing something.

Professional bloggers? That's a joke, too.

Oh, really? Expert at consuming perhaps.

This is similar to that every child is special. If that is case, then at what point in your life do you become not so special? And if every child is special, that what makes them different from the non-special children, who also happen to be special by "definition"?

 

[stackcash]

I'm pretty sure everyone hates those people.

There was a video a while back about Frank Kern and his Syndicate....and how they basically used forums like WaFo to scam the hell out of people.

Salty Droid did a write up on it too:

http://saltydroid.info/the-internet-marketing-syndicate/

 

[jakesnke]

This ticks me off so much. I've been in SEO since 2009 and have made it my full time job since 2012.

I am absolutely the same way, I have zero tolerance for these people at this point. I am also constantly getting barraged on LinkedIn with invites by the type...Founder and SEO EXPERT at TOP RANKING SYNDICATE. When you look at their profile, they have zero professional experience, and maybe a recommendation or two from fellow gurus.

Also you may see these on LinkedIn pretty often. I think of them as the advanced douche bags.

 

[HiGHPeR]

I don't think any of 'us' like the guru bullshit.

 

[flaw3d]

Yes on most levels I do hate them. However one has to step back in order to really see what they are doing on a marketing level. They are able to sell bullshit wrapped in clever sales copy for thousands of dollars yet claiming a limited supply. Also they do this with no SEO and strictly email marketing,refferals and such.

 

[jakesnke]

Good point. They do tend to have solid marketing. They seem to be very new to the scene and focusing efforts on image and building a false rep to better capitalize on business owners who can't tell sort where the value is. Why not spend the effort on actually being able to make an impact?

If your serving local clients, these are the type that give the industry a bad name and that reflects on you whether you like it or not.