VBSEO value proposition ?

Hi Staff,


I had a look at the demo of vbseo and I like your product overall.


But I still need convincing.

I am wondering is there any chance of VBSEO reducing the price point given the following 6 points


( note: my forum is brand new and i've not really started to promote it yet )

1) Vbulletin is coming up with CRU’s in early Q2-2009 in its default product itself.

( I'm aware that it may not give us options like vbseo but then the order of keywords in urls doesn't matter really. It's still a CRU )

2)One can easily generate XML, txt sitemap for FREE using Gsitecrawler

3)There’s a “link consensus” mod available for FREE on Vbulletin.org

4)There’s a "link rel nofollow" mod available for FREE on Vbulletin Org

5)One can easily insert Google analytics code by going to Footer template

6)There’s no question of 301ing original content for new forums

If I take out above 6 features , may be I’m left with pingbacks, trackback, refbacks.

I own two PR6 sites and one PR4 site in different niches with 75,000+ backlinks and I’ve NEVER used any pingbacks, trackbacks, refbacks for link building purpose.

Considering the above 6 points kindly justify your USP / value proposition for a new forum?

Thanks
-AD

Hello ,

We are happy that vBulletin will have rewriteen urls with vBulletin 4 but we have no intension to reduce price of our product. vBSEO will help you get better positions on SE's which will increase your traffic and the increase within the traffic will help you make more money.

2)One can easily generate XML, txt sitemap for FREE using Gsitecrawler

The XML sitemap generator is already a free addon by vBSEO.
(vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator)

3)There’s a “link consensus” mod available for FREE on Vbulletin.org

Can you point me to that mod ? A search for 'link consensus' at vB-org didn't bring up anything relevant.

Originally Posted by Shadab

The XML sitemap generator is already a free addon by vBSEO.
(vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator)

Can you point me to that mod ? A search for 'link consensus' at vB-org didn't bring up anything relevant.

1) I'm aware of sitemap generator addon by vbseo - it still remains an "add-on" with the product costing 150$ ; whereas I was saying that it can be made for free from sites like Gsitecrawler without any purchase.

2) The link consensus mod i was refering to is located at:
SEOvB - Link Canonicalization for vBulletin Stop Duplicate Content NOW! - vBulletin.org Forum

As a SEO, I DO appreciate that vbseo has some cool features, but times are certainly changing and that's what has left me wondering about the pricepoint / value proposition of this product.

1) I'm aware of sitemap generator addon by vbseo - it still remains an "add-on" with the product costing 150$ ; whereas I was saying that it can be made for free from sites like Gsitecrawler without any purchase.

Follow the link to vbulletin.org provided in my previous post. The mod is available for free to everyone who has a vBulletin license.

Hi AD,

We do not plan to reduce vBSEO's price, although we launch surprise promotions about once per year to reward our loyal customers. FYI - There are also no price increases planned at current time. vBSEO pays for itself very quickly. In fact, you'll find many reviews that will convince you we are not charging enough.

vBSEO stands firmly as the definitive SEO enhancement for vBulletin forums, and the ONLY professional solution available for long tail optimization. We are aware that various hack attempts have been created over the past several years. Since they are all created by hobby programmers looking for an interesting challenge, but with minimal time available, they have not achieved true link consensus. Talented as they may be, there is certainly no way to produce the leading SEO plugin without absolutely living and breathing it 24/7. We do.

We certainly do not recommend that you trust a success factor as important as SEO for your forum to anything other than vBSEO, which was created over 4 years ago, having a full time team making a career out of constantly raising the bar, with a relentless focus on quality, and an amazing support review. While you'll find free hacks coming and going over time, you'll always find vBSEO directing search traffic to the doorsteps of thousands of the most optimized forums on the Web.

1. The vBulletin 4 Series will be including a basic URL rewrite structure and some other SEO features. We believe this is a great step forward. It will help vB users recognize the need for better SEO. However, the structure will certainly not be as comprehensive as what vBSEO provides. vBSEO 3.5 GOLD will be fully vBulletin 4 Series compatible and will include new features that continue to push the limits of what is possible for SEO optimization. vBSEO is still very much a successful forum's first choice.

2. I would certainly never recommend using anything other than vBSEO's sitemap generator for your forum. I suppose you could create extra work for yourself using a less efficient generator not optimized for vBulletin, but it's not worth the effort. vBSEO's sitemap is freely available to all users at vbulletin.org.

3. vBSEO is the only plugin available that achieves full and true link consensus.

4. There are various hacks available at vbulletin.org doing different things. Installing a series of hacks onto your forum in an attempt to rival the all encompassing vBSEO solution would not be a wise choice. Imagine managing the installation/upgrade of 50 different plugins in a patchwork job, from developers who are not dedicated to their support and not dedicated to releasing compatibility updates with new versions. This is not a good scenario for any admin when a superior software product exists.

5. You are correct. It is quite easy for the average technical user to edit a template and insert the Google Analytics code. We provide this feature for convenience.

6. I'm glad to hear that you have achieved a successful link building compaign. In combination with vBSEO, I'm sure you would do remarkably well.

vBSEO... A proven success record, powering the most optimized forums on the Web. The #1 SEO plugin and the only professional solution. A full package of SEO enhancements, one install, one upgrade. A full time team working on its development and support. Relentless focus on quality. Yearly new releases adding powerful new features. True link consensus and long tail optimization built in.

AD,

Canonical hints for Google is not the same as true link consensus. vBSEO eliminates duplicate pages. Canonicals just try to direct Google through the mess. By the way, for redundancy we include canonical hints in our new vBSEO 3.3.

Regarding price, there is a major falsity in the logic of considering a collection of free plugins as "less expensive"! vBSEO is the far more inexpensive option. Allow me to explain:

As soon as you start placing a value on your time and cash losses due to sub-optimal or bad SEO, it becomes glaringly obvious. The ones who benefit most from the free hacks are the developers, because it certainly provides them with a valuable learning experience. However, having sub-optimal SEO for forum admins, the majority of which earn money with ads is VERY expensive in deed. It's like walking past a $100 bill and not picking it up. That just cost you $100.

When you hear a story like Briansol's, who credits vBSEO with ballooning his revenue enough for him to afford to buy a new BMW, you can really start to see how really inexpensive vBSEO is, and how incredibly expensive it would have been to Brian if he had not chosen vBSEO.

Consider the value of a PPC ad you buy for say a bargain of 5 cents. By the time vBSEO has sent 3,000 extra hits to your forum, whether that happens in one day or one month, it has paid for itself.

Originally Posted by abilitydesigns

As a SEO, I DO appreciate that vbseo has some cool features, but times are certainly changing and that's what has left me wondering about the pricepoint / value proposition of this product.

As a SEO you should already be aware, that there isn't any another product on the market, be it free or paid for, that does the job quite like vbSEO, that you would need for a vB enabled forum.

If you cannot get the money back that you pay for vBSEO on your forum, with all the traffic that it will eventually produce, if I was you, give up!

Originally Posted by gedsta

If you cannot get the money back that you pay for vBSEO on your forum, with all the traffic that it will eventually produce, if I was you, give up!

or, transfer the license over to a niche that people want

Why did you spend $150 / ea. on a vBulletin license when there are a multitude of free PHP based boards out on the market?

Thank you staff & everyone for the replies and I fully agree with Joe about the support issue.

I'll wait to see what Jelsoft comes up with CRU's in the VB4. ( til early Q2 of 2009 )

If they deliver below expectations, I'd certainly come back to VBSEO

-AD

Sounds great. We'll look forward to getting you vBSEO-enabled in a few months. In the meantime, please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with.