Private Question Shutdown
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Hi Cesar,
Public questions do require a PRO account to ask or answer; anyone (even without any type of account) can read the questions and answers. People using a free SEOmoz PRO trial can also ask and answer questions.
Keri
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Thanks Gordon, I (and SEOmoz) appreciate your support. This was certainly not the easiest Q&A post I've ever written.
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I think this is a great shame as it is a brilliant service that was being provided, You could just adjust the ratio to keep it, i do not believe any members would complain.
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Hi Askshopper,
We did brainstorm about several things we could do. We believe this is the best way to be empathetic to all of our community members. Private Q&A takes time away from being able to provide quality answers and oversight in Public Q&A, where a larger number of people could benefit from the answers.
There are actually very few users who ask a question each and ever single month. Even if we dropped the ratio to one question every two or three months, it would not significantly impact the number of questions asked in Private Q&A.
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I must say that it was awesome as a guy working with only a handful of people to be able to ask something in private that was out of our wheelhouse.
The part of your post that resonates with me is that you're not a consulting business. That's completely understandable.
I think I may have asked 3 or 4 questions in my time here. I always meant to sit down and write a question each month, but life always intervened.
Great service, and as Gordon said, certainly not a deal breaker.
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George,
Thanks for being so understanding!
We wanted to be sure that people in your situation did have plenty of time to ask any questions they've been meaning to ask and have put aside. If you haven't asked a question yet in January, you have the opportunity to ask three more questions (January, February, and March) before private Q&A winds down.
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Are you going to add any value to replace the private q&a for paying members?
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I am speechless. I bought PRO membership for the sake of pro seminars and private questions. First three months, there were no seminars at all. So I thought "ok I will be patient I am sure they will have more in the future."
And then all seminars became FREE.
And now private questions. Down the drain.
I don't rate the pro tools highly. They are not magical and there are alternatives to it. And who knows? Maybe it's the next to make free too.
Private Questions, being answered by SEOMOZ staff. That's something you could not find anywhere else. Now it's gone too.
So why I did I really sign up for? No idea.
It's incredible (and too bold) how a company is turning everything free without even considering the rights of its paying customers.
Frankly, I am one disappointed customer now.
just my two cents.
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Hi Stephen,
There will be faster responses in public Q&A from associates, for value that is specifically related to Q&A. We've also added many features for paying members in recent months, including FollowerWonk and GetListed.
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Public is still public. Private didn't only mean special care. It also meant that you could share sensitive information without disclosing it to the whole world.
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I am very disappointed with this as well.
The value of private was not the answer itself (which is basically what you are offering with public). The value was the asking of a private, sometimes strategic, question and the development of an answer that could lead to an advantage over a competitor.
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Hi Gamer - Based on your feedback, I'd say PRO membership probably isn't right for you and I'd urge you to cancel your membership. Hopefully in the future, we'll earn back your business, but if you're not happy with the software (the PRO web app, OSE, Followerwonk, Mozbar, KW Difficulty, our research tools, etc) then SEOmoz PRO really isn't a good fit overall.
Thanks very much for the feedback.
p.s. Just for those who may be curious - we've got about 19,000 paying PRO members today, of which <4% have ever used private Q+A, yet it was a huge detractor from the time our staff and contractors could help with public Q+A and other projects, hence the decision to remove.
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Hi Rand. First of all, I subscribed annually. So, I still have about 6 months to see if I will cancel my membership.
I am not saying pro tools are completely useless but I don't know why it's not understandable that I am reacting to losing two features (private QA and pro webinars) I valued the most.
Let's take a look at Pro Membership Plan features you currently have. Out of the 5 main features, private is one of them. So it's something you considered to have great value too. (at least back then)
Sure the response time was sloe with private questions but I was still happy with it. The staff who answered the questions offered so much insight and detail, that you would never ever see in a public QA.
Instead of saying "take your business somewhere else" you could say "ok so you trusted us and paid annually, we will offer you private QA until the end of your billing cycle".
That would be more fair and to be honest that's something I would have expected from SEOMOZ.
I also don't think it's best practice to take decisions based on statistics only, especially when it's about customer satisfaction. Maybe the 96% did not use private QA but what is the percentage of annually paying customers? That's a sign of trust in your name and company. To be honest, it was your name that I trusted in and chose to pay annually right after the trial. Maybe that 4% is so critical and influential, your long term losses would be more to neglect.
Oh an I should mention this now. I am not looking for refunds either. Time is more valuable today. Not that I am truly in love with SEOMOZ tools, I still use them and I would hesitate to start over at somewhere else after setting up a campaign here (and have spent 6 months analyzing weekly results).
thanks anyway
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HI Keri,
I thought what happened to you guys for this, but after reading the whole above, now i can understand the point of getting it shutdown. Yes it makes sense that it's really not an easy to interact or answer the each pro member's private question, and of course this can be better answered with the built your long community members and including your staff members publicly or have chances to earn great mozpoints.
Regards,
Teginder Ravi -
Keri,
I have only asked a few questions over the past year but they were excellent responses. I appreciate the high quality answers from professionals at SEOmoz. I will miss this service and valued it greatly but I am sure you will add additional top notch features in the future.
Thanks
Boo
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1st off I think this is kind of bittersweet. I definitely understand from the questions I've asked myself that they must take time to actually answer and all the answers of them spectacular.
I will dearly miss this part of SEOmoz and want to propose 2 possible solutions. This is just my $.02 feedback
Now is a business growing to 20,000 members 1st off I to excellent job everybody at SEOmoz
secondly obviously there are is the 4% of us who still would like to have access to private questions.
So I suggest these 4 things
A) either open it up to the next stage up to hundred dollar month plan only
B) or pay per question ( however to not change the limit)
I feel I know the answer to why both A and B would be a real challenge SEOmoz does not accept anybody off the street and just give them the teacher spoke and say hey your Qualified I believe it is very hard for SEOmoz to have the staff of the caliber that they have.
C) Distilled is still a outstanding consulting firm. And I know they answer tons of private questions all associates do. Would it be a possibility or am I just asking the same thing as I did before of putting the burden on the company that does technically still specialize in consulting distilled pay them X amount and make a profit or $200 plan up and distilled answers only.
D)You can make it so we can ask private questions once every 2 to 3 months? it would lighten the load may be a combination of everything suggested with some other people's suggestions. Everyone hears bright else think of some ideas to save something and if it can't work well at least we tried.
Now I'm saying this just because I would love to still keep this feature however I think distilled is in the same boat as far as needing beyond outstanding employees and frankly there is a shortage of people that can give the type of advice we've been getting. That said distilled is a consulting firm block off hours from them figure out the price based on the time it's taken to answer last year's results and give us a choice to purchase them or not.
I'm just trying to think of a plan but I will understand either way I have learned so much and am so grateful for all the wonderful people and advice private and public at SEOmoz I have NO intention of ever canceling my subscription over something like this because I know for a fact these guys are swamped with questions.
I can also understand Rand wanting his staff to be able to run the company the fact that less than 4% of us actually use private questions is a number I would've never guessed I would've said 50%. Regardless what happens to SEOmoz if it did become 30% and 45% than 75% the company could not be run as it is run today would all get less out of SEOmoz
"Just for those who may be curious - we've got about 19,000 paying PRO members today, of which <4% have ever used private Q+A, yet it was a huge detractor from the time our staff and contractors could help with public Q+A and other projects, hence the decision to remove."
I want to say something it's really important not to come down on the staff of SEOmoz there partners and affiliates and everyone who's been doing whoring to everyone a fantastic job of answering questions think about how hard it is to give advice that literally knocks your socks off I have been passed to 3 different people for one question because they want to give me the person that specialized in what I was asking about that is 1st class service so being Moz instead of wherever other company they're actually being transparent telling us why and they're actually listening to us speak so if it's a reasonable idea I would say don't get mad get creative movie can all find a happy medium. Where people don't pay would still get one question a year something like that.
If anyone can think of better ideas than I can would jump certain this community can for once let's help SEOmoz with a tough question their facing where they have essentially made but I'm certain if we could find something that they actually liked him not to say where it is because I don't know what they'd say yes to but something that they would say yes to then well we would have to get a yes because it would be something they liked and said yes to.
I don't mean to ask people to come up with crazy ideas or threats I don't think even the people that believe this is a deal breaker can turn your back on the people that have given you valuable advice for quite a bit of time spending on who you are obviously.
I've seen a lot more Associates, staff and guru's in public Q&A however it seems they get swamped even their which brings me back to fighting against my own point that we are a bunch of star F'ers the guy with the most knowledge to somebody like myself who actually enjoys doing this is someone to look up to and aspire to be like. You think that's weird kids collect baseball cards all the time as to adults why because of their ability to do something extraordinary that they find amazing and helpful ( maybe not baseball cards unless you're selling them)
if I can ask Rand & the entire staff along with affiliates and partners please at least look over some of the suggestions I've made and if any of them even have a flicker of hope maybe we can work something out where that spark of ingenuity is lit and the solution is possible.
Thank you all for listening to my long request and I appreciate everyone's time. But to the community let's think of ideas guys: don't waste time complaining they're not going to reverse it over that I don't believe.
To SEOmoz my next 3 questions are going to be kind of complex but relevant one doing. Let's hope we can all work together to make it so we can all get her 4th question.
Thanks again for listening
sincerely
Thomas Zickell
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Hey All
I have been a pro member for a while and spent a fair bit of time in the public Q&A and have also asked a few private questions. Now, whilst the answers I got to my private questions were solid enough, I have had much more value from the public Q&A and the quality of the answers at times can be truly inspiring.
I would argue that public Q&A provides a better experience on every level
- Answers from a wide range of experts
- Speed of response
- Multiple opinions
- open discussion from a range of experts which pushes them towards an improved and collaborative answer
You can basically get a round table with a bunch of active, experienced SEO consultants who are in the trenches, day in, day out dealing with the kind of problems that you are having. The price you would pay to get a sit down with the same consultants that you can have providing guidance and an open discussion of how to best deal with your problem or what strategy to employ, well, the value is clear for all to see.
If the SEOMoz staff also become more active in these discussions then that provides even more weight to the 'expert' factor and hopefully, provides a useful resource for other folks with the same problem.
For me, to get an answer from one expert, no matter the caliber does not compare to getting an open discussion from several experts who are all working towards the best possible solution to your problem. Likewise, I have learned a lot from my time in Q&A and having a platform to debate issues with a range of my peers in the industry is highly valuable.
The only real issue here as I see it is the loss of the ability to share sensitive information but really, you can get around that with solid examples and if the problem is so complex that is not suitable then really, PRO Q&A was not really going to be the best option and private consulting would be a better fit. If that is the case, and you have asked your question in public Q&A and likely spoken with several consultants who now understand your problem so finding someone to help you should also be further simplified.
Additionally, I think you will find that this business attracts a lot of troubleshooting minds, and a lot of good charity so if you are really struggling, and have a truly sensitive issue, folks will probably help you in private and certainly to the same level you would have gotten from a Pro Q&A session.
For all of those that are upset, I would urge you to spend some time in public Q&A and see if the quality of the answers and range of the folks helping out there will not make you change your mind and realise that was always the better option anyway.
Cheers
Marcus
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what you just said is true if you did bring up a competitor's name or if you brought up some new ideas that you think is going to revolutionize search engine optimization.
"The value was the asking of a private, sometimes strategic, question and the development of an answer that could lead to an advantage over a competitor."
However in no way shape or form is this the real case for only private questions this could easily be the exact same thing with a public question there are no NDA's being signed prior to a public or private question meaning if the person answering your question thinks their answer is relevant to somebody else's problem they will most likely give them the answer that worked rather be private or public they want to do the right thing.
I'm not attacking your stance on not wanting to lose private it is a special thing however we can't ask everyone associated with this company to spend their extra time answering our questions without compensating them more than we compensate them now.
Respectfully,
Thomas
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First of all, I think SEOmoz team took decision after long time planning, and although it is a hard decision in long term it will pay back to the community. Now we will have even more people answering in the public Q/A section and helping to deliver faster responses there.
For those who said that they will miss private Q/A, I think there will be mozzers (and friends from the SEOmoz community) out there who you will be able to private message from time to time to discuss about the latest strategy ideas (and once again, I don't think anyone will refuse to discuss it with you).
Last and not least: as part of the community our job is to support them in order to get supported by them, so let us behave like that!
Istvan
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Hi Marcus,
I agree with what you're saying about essentially the table of your peers it would cost probably $1000 a question to realistically get the people you do here in public Q&A to surround and answer your questions.
I think public and private are 2 very different things people plan for private and use it for things that cannot somehow had the wrong answer because there is this might hinge on whatever it is they're asking. I do agree you can ask things that you would not want to ask in public maybe they can set up a PM system You get X amount of private messages related to your public Q&A the downside is the public does not get to learn from it and that's a lot of what poet Q&A is.
I think the ability to have each was a great synergy and I can't wait for somebody to ask in a private question "how do we get private questions back on seomoz" hopefully no one will waste their time doing it. But when you look at the tools, community, staff, combination of advice and software is seen nowhere else on such a scale so regardless of what happens I will still be happy with seomoz I definitely don't think that them giving things away to people takes away from us that pay obviously if we were getting nothing more it would not be very fair however that is so far from the case I believe you are right when you say if someone's in a true jam the staff will help out I hope they will however been assumed that not anything more.
Thumbs up good response man
sincerely,
Tom
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