Srsly are SEOs Really That Easy To Manipulate?

by Jeremy Schoemaker on April 23, 2008 · 48 comments

I see some of the newer SEO’s on the block falling for the same old Calacanis mind tricks that have been going on for years. Jason who has a BA in psychology is pretty fricking amazing in his manipulation of the SEO and affiliate industry driving tons of traffic and links to his newest startup Mahalo.

Do you dipsticks really think Danny will not let him speak at a conference because he is “controversial” oOoOoOoOo. His controversial talks have driving more press then any other speaker ever at SES/SMX.

Welcome SSS newest member of the jasonnation to promote him to the frontpage of another social network.

Please read a post I wrote 1.4 years ago called Calacanis Plays SEO’s Like a Fiddle

Also Jason has agreed to come on my radioshow and SEO Rockstars several times yet…. never seems to make it =P

About the author...

– who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

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{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Brian Mark April 23, 2008 at 3:30 pm

So true. Controversy = coverage, which is what any conference wants.

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2 Mike1115 April 23, 2008 at 3:34 pm

Nice one Shoe. I’m always amazed how people take one thing he says and make it the dominated subject of his talks. All he really says is high quality content sites will win out in the end. No one like to hear that though, it’s sexier to just misquote and bash.

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3 Patrick Altoft April 23, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Half the stuff he says is true anyway so why do people get pissed with him.

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4 Google Tutor April 23, 2008 at 3:36 pm

very true shoe, he knows full well what he’s doing. many seos take themselves a little too seriously as well which plays right into it

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5 Michael D April 23, 2008 at 3:39 pm

Being here at SMX it’s been interesting to watch. I thought he had some good things to say regarding creating good content. He was at dinner with 20+ other “SEOs” and there was no apparent animosity among the group. Things appear different when looking at the posts from the evening.

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6 streko April 23, 2008 at 3:44 pm

so i guess because you made this post you also have fallen for the “Calacanis mind tricks” or even worse – did you fall for SlightlyShadySeo’s mind trick and just pass his story more attention???

damn shoe, anyway you look at this your a bit of a pawn…

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7 Joe April 23, 2008 at 3:50 pm

Lol. Jason Calacanis Sphunn it.

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8 Thiago Prado April 23, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Apparently people doesn’t like this Jason Calacanis. He trying to be someone he’s not and making everybody fool. He wants to change the way internet market works criticizing others trying to put his product on the top.

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9 Kevin Heisler April 23, 2008 at 4:05 pm

So you think conferences book Jason solely for controversy? Maybe you should read Danny’s response.

btw – Jason’s not driving more “press” or blog posts than any other speaker at SES. Not even close. Can’t speak for other conferences.

Like you fighters sight. Great stuff.

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10 SlightlyShadySEO April 23, 2008 at 4:23 pm

I’m not trying to reach out to Jason with this. I’m trying to at least get people to think about the idea of just not paying for stuff where they he’s being paid to speak.
While I had to give him buzz to introduce this possibility, it may still get people to find other, more qualified/specialized people to speak. There’s PLENTY of people that would still create controversy. Just more qualified people.
Do I think it will work? Maybe not. But it’s worth a try.

And Shoemoney, let’s be real here. Do you think I have a problem with controversy or expect Danny to? No! That’s not the point at all. And if you got that from the article, then something was severely lost in communication.

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11 Jonathan Volk April 23, 2008 at 4:58 pm

Hahahaha. Love it.

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12 timbytes April 23, 2008 at 6:09 pm

an interesting way to get great publicity.

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13 Verbal April 23, 2008 at 8:37 pm

A great way to get publicity!

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14 Popular Wealth April 23, 2008 at 8:55 pm

Sure, call me a noob for posting on that thread even though I was basicaly saying shhh to the other noobs. Sure… hmmm, nope, thats all, nothing else to rag on you about this time. You’re right.

You know, he’s getting a rep for being a god of SEO but he still has code to clean up. I’m not buying it yet. All the bitchin made me waste time and look, damnit.

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15 Samir April 23, 2008 at 9:05 pm

It’s so true, I can’t agree with you more… just look at all the backlinks and press Mahalo is getting from this fiasco. This is Calacanis manipulation gold

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16 Terry Tay April 23, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Perhaps we should drum up our own controversy to get everyone talking. What do you say Brian? Brian vs Terry – UFC 84…LOL :-D

Will it work?

~Terry

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17 Jeeb April 23, 2008 at 9:57 pm

Is Shoe a pawn or a player? He also drew more traffic/comments to his blog. You’re the pawn! (and so am I).

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18 Jeeb April 23, 2008 at 10:00 pm

Mahalo is getting useful press from this, really? SEO’s aren’t the ones who end up using Mahalo. They prefer not to use a piece of garbage as a search engine.

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19 Melvin April 23, 2008 at 10:04 pm

I dont know… i dont think theyre easy to mnipulate

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20 Website Reviews April 23, 2008 at 10:06 pm

At the end of the day, even if you have dirty code if you are getting good SERPs you are good at SEO. Seems pretty simple to me!

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21 Dave April 23, 2008 at 10:26 pm

Interesting that a so-called SEO expert would agree with someone who bashes the very industry he works in.

And what has he said that’s true exactly?

All I ever hear from Calacanis is ill-informed comments about things he has no right discussing.

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22 Meethere April 23, 2008 at 11:02 pm

lol. thats true.
I think he is a dp member and talks much on blackhat too. :D

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23 Web Marketeer April 24, 2008 at 1:21 am

Mahalo is being spoken about and commented upon….nuff said!

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24 Melvin April 24, 2008 at 4:10 am

whew blackhat.. something i have not even tried … i do whitehat ;-)

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25 Subzero April 24, 2008 at 4:40 am

Did he as you to promote his bait? Why write about this? You are also falling for his trick, haha!!!

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26 auctionpixelpage.com April 24, 2008 at 6:00 am

Goes to show like what was said in recent and very good post on this blog. “There is no such thing as bad press.” Any press is good press, particularly when and where you position it. Good stuff.

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27 Dr. Bardou April 24, 2008 at 7:11 am

Still, they really easy to be manipulated. I agree.

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28 Chetan April 24, 2008 at 8:10 am

Just a good way of getting good publicity through controversy?
Lol Jason is just making his name by tricky ways..

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29 Web Marketeer April 24, 2008 at 9:08 am

Can’t agree with you more….first encountered this saying in the car audio industry when I first became self-employed. One of our competitors was a real rogue, yet very successful although he received loads of bad press on occasion. His exact words were “any advertising is good advertising”. It’s true though, the name sticks but the bad memories fade. That’s human nature for you.

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30 SanchezBoy April 24, 2008 at 10:25 am

Thanks for a post, for me it has appeared useful. I wait not for posts not worse.

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31 POOPeGifts_com April 24, 2008 at 11:21 am

The key here “newer SEO’s on the block”. People that have been on the block for a while, understand what he’s doing and just ignore him. they also tell him to scram as soon as he starts to try and market to you in person.

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32 corey April 24, 2008 at 11:50 am

lol exactly my thoughts.

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33 Paul April 24, 2008 at 12:20 pm

It is like a bunch of high school girls here. I guess you do not have to go to California to get to Hollywood. But what I say doesn’t really matter because I am way out of my element.

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34 Nick April 24, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Backhat SEO has strategy decay. Whitehat/good content is more sustainable. And social media is another way to drive traffic. Mahalo is a good example of this strategy. The bearer of this bad news to the SEO community is Jason, let’s kill the messenger! Hilarious.

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35 Debo Hobo April 24, 2008 at 3:33 pm

The more drama the larger the audience!

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36 Hypnosis Dude April 24, 2008 at 4:59 pm

Now that is hilarious! I love the way that Calacanis is watching and responding to the comments too.

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37 Jeeb April 24, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Ofcourse he’s watching. He has time to watch all the discussions about him and even make comments, but then suddenly he’s too busy to do interviews with people like Shoe and others. Too busy, or afraid because he knows he would get slaughtered in an actual debate?

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38 Chetan April 24, 2008 at 9:26 pm

And far larger the exposure :)

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39 Hypnosis Dude April 25, 2008 at 6:11 pm

It’s a shame that he doesn’t do interviews. Who knows for sure why he doesn’t apart from the man himself though

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40 Jeeb April 25, 2008 at 7:13 pm

I think the reason he doesn’t do them with SEOs or affiliate marketers very often is fairly obvious. He knows in an actual debate, he would be killed and made to look like a fool. He seems to limit his interviews to ones with stuffed animals: http://www.calacanis.com/2008/04/19/greatest-mahalo-interview-ever/

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41 Asia'h Epperson April 30, 2008 at 4:33 pm

I’m not one who sits around and listen/reads what Jason is currently doing. I stopped reading/listening to his stuff years ago. To me, he’s a lot like John Chow, all hat and no cattle.

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42 Goran Website May 1, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Me I’m a newbie to all of this, but i would assume that controversial can only be created by people with Authority, And its the authority that the industry gives him that makes him so controversial. I would say well done if anything, clever marketing.

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43 Nate Hill May 3, 2008 at 5:43 pm

Not neccessarily because word will spread quick if there is a newbie on the scene talking about controversial matters or methods and in some cases may even work better.

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44 Prosperity Writer May 5, 2008 at 2:35 am

bad publicity is good publicity

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