I just came from a meeting with a potential SEO client, thanks to Arnold Gamboa who, for some reason, believes so much in what I can do. (Haha, you do, right?). Anyway, I’m not about to disclose details, but I just have to blog the things that were going on in my head while the client meeting was in full swing.

The client’s requirement was simple: They want to have a nice website that will get a lot of traffic from search engines. The Web Design and Development is being taken care of already by Arnold’s group. But since SEO’s not their core competency (as they would claim), they had to ask someone else to do it for them. What’s tricky was, these clients didn’t really anticipate that Search Engine Optimization services would cost them.

So there I was again, feeling as if I was teaching a kid tie his shoelaces — while SEO’s somehow second nature to me, it’s tricky introducing the concept to people who barely have any idea of what it is about. It’s difficult, as I had to stop every time I’d say (very simple) jargons like “on-page”, “off-page”, “organic ranking”, “keyword research”, etc, and try my best to explain them. And we had to sit down for 2 long hours just to listen to their demands. So. Toxic. :P

Over all, however, it was still a very good learning experience. It is, after all, in situations like this when you become fully aware of the actual concerns and questions of the clients, and you learn to address their needs as they come. It is, after all, what SEO Specialists are for.

I think this is the second time I got an email like this. Last year, a friend got curious and replied to a similar email. When the respondent started asking for a Bank Account number, she stopped responding. Her suspicions were confirmed.

Read on. The topic read as: WAITING FOR YOUR URGENT RESPONSE. (Typical!)

Dear Friend,

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we have never met before, but need not to worry as I am using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for your foreign assistance in a business. I am contacting you independently of my investigation and no one is informed of this communication.

I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $8.3million immediately to your private account. The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for nine good years now without anybody coming for the claim of it.

I want to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the account owner) who died a long with his supposed NEXT OF KIN since August 1997. The Banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than 10 years, because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund.

Upon receipt of your reply, indicating your interest in this transaction, I will send you full details on how the business will be executed.

Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not interested.

Regards,

Dr. KA** *******
African development Bank.
Burkina Faso, West Africa

Dear Friend my ass.

Have I done something I’d regret someday?

Last week, I finally did it. After more than a month of contemplating, I finally had my Acer laptop downgraded from Vista to XP, so I can use it with HSDPA. (Yes, this kind of things needs serious contemplation.)

A good friend of mine helped me with the downgrade (should it really be considered as a “downgrade”?) but he had quite a hard time finding the right drivers and stuff. He was successful nevertheless. See? I’m not really a geek. If I was, I wouldn’t need another geek’s help when it comes to stuff like this.

Anyway, so far,Ice is working fine but once in a while, I feel like the system’s slowing down or something. Sometimes I have to reboot to make it run faster. (Or am I just paranoid?)

What are the downsides of downgrading a Vista-enabled laptop to XP? Will I lose my warranty? (Gaah I didn’t bother reading the contracts and all haha.)