The Apprentice 2014

[Graham C]

I've not really had bad experiences with people we've actually dealt with, just those that cold call.  It's not exclusive to SEO people.  When you get a cold call you can bet your life on it being either a) someone selling SEO, b) someone selling advertising in a magazine that "all" the schools/clubs/organisations in my area will be receiving or lately c) people offering to get buyers for my business and would I like to sell.  It's always those three and in that order of popularity probably, it's just the the first two won't accept no for an answer.   There are so many SEO (or digital marketing) companies phoning up on a weekly it's unbelievable.  

If the program were about the business plan then I'd have expected at least one of the final five to have a really good business idea.  None of them were that great, and this is the final five out of thousands to have applied.  I think he should go back to offering a job because these new businesses are nothing special.  I guess £250k is nothing to Alan and if he can make money out of it then it's good.  Sure they may work but to see the winner is offering a business that basically is the same as what I get loads of phone calls each month is a underwhelming.   He seems a nice guy and if his idea of visiting his clients works out I'm sure he will do well.

I'm rambling, could waffle on but I'll stop.  The bottom line is I enjoy the program but am disappointed with the business proposals.

I did enjoy watch Dale Murray on You're Hired

Regards

G

[The Baron]

To put it another way both would have failed to secure money on Dragon's Den.

[rfgqqabc]

Also, why weren't there any SEO experts or agencies in the audience for his presentation?

Regards,

k

There was, I'm sure one of the people who asked him a question was from 4P's or something like that, Mark said he wanted to be as big as them.  LAS said he had the head of Google UK sat next to him. 

The guy from 4Ps want necessarily an SEO expert though, he was the one of the directors of the company wasn't he? He basically said that the business idea was six years out of date and was the same as plenty of others.

I wanted someone to ask an incisive question such as "how would you help a company who had received penalty from the Panda or Penguin updates?" or "I'm a garage who has £3k a month to spend on SEO, what would your initial analysis include and what would the likely steps be too ensure they get good quality, converting traffic to their site?", or even "how does he think Google will change over the next three years, and will they look to replace PageRank as the core of their algorithm?"[/b]

I did think it was funny when he said he was going to employ people to do the work for him. So basically he's going to get a few sales in himself and then he can then just project manage the whole thing. 

From a small business point of view, I quite liked his idea.  It would be nice if someone that phoned me up about SEO actually wanted to understand my business needs rather than shout loads of abuse at me and tell me I'm "fucking mental" for not wanting more business and agreeing to spend loads of money with him.  A monthly meeting rather than a rehashed Google print out would be of great interest too. As you said though, the thought of a small garage spending £3k per month is laughable, it just won't happen and there's only so much work you'll end up getting done for you if you enter at the minimum spend each month of a few hundred of your British pounds.

Sounds like you've had experience of bad SEO agencies that actually don't know what they're really doing. Again it's like poker, anyone can claim to be an expert and a "winning player".

As for the head of Google. Not sure why he was advising Suralan to go with Mark, but the other thing is that he's the ex-head of Google UK, which means he'd have zero to do with organic search, and would have been solely focused on paid search. Although the two are related, they're very different beasts.

I really thought Sir Sugar was going to go with the tights when Bianca came back in and said she'd go for the wider market and sell them cheaper.

Wrong decision for me this time, but then I'd not have given a strange man who made toe nail clippers the money either.

I have enjoyed it all though.  There's been lots of cringe moments but if you don't sit and analyse these things too early on, it's been good fun.  I'll miss Nick, I like his ramblings, he's a very funny man.  We've seen him a couple of times live at the recording of Have I Got News For You and he's brilliant fun, the show won't be the same without him.  Perhaps another lead figure in business would be good for a change.

Regards

G

In the past it was about getting someone good into suralan's organisation. But now it's all about the business plan. Yet the process doesn't follow that. Mark would probably be a good sales guy somewhere in the organisation, but add you can tell, I wouldn't invest in his business plan.

Regards,

k

Surely these questions shouldnt be shown on tv. No one apart from industry experts would have the foggiest, might as well ask some questions in French. Not really sure what went on, we were watching an interview process then some stuff about businesses started appearing. Turned into a right load of cobblers, gl making loadsamoney off 250k Sir Alan you plank and maybe pick some candidates with viable businesses next time.

[pleno1]

he's probably happy if all the businesses he invests in break even. he said on the apprentice: youre hired all 3 businesses he's invested in since he changed the format of the show are profitable.

meanwhile he's on prime time tv, has 4m followers on twitter and can slowly advertise his other products whilst being able to sell big selling books etc.

we will all still keep watching the show and perhaps moaning a little bit, he's been doing it for 10 years now and needs it to continue being good tv, so getting people who are sensible etc wont be good tv and the show would end up dying, but having a lot of "characters" would mean he'd have to employ them in managerial roles in his own bigger companies which would obviously not be great.

i really loved the junior apprentice and would love to see another season too.

[Ash1591]

I was going to apply for the next Junior Apprentice back when it went on gutted there wasn't another!!

I'm pleased with the winner though, he had to be chosen over Bianca surely.

[kinboshi]

Still no sign of 'Climb Online' in the Google SERPs - oh, that's because there's still no site at climb-online.com.  Instead, lots of other companies are getting the traffic from people looking for this 'business'. 

Surely as an 'SEO Expert' he'd know that you lever the peaks in publicity and attention and ensure you attract the links, the social media traffic, etc.  Instead, there's nothing in place.  Not even a decent holding page.

[Graham C]

Maybe he's called it something else.  I can't believe for one second that they hadn't thought about a business name since they came up with their ideas.   

[kinboshi]

Maybe he's called it something else.  I can't believe for one second that they hadn't thought about a business name since they came up with their ideas.   

If he knew about SEO (which I still maintain he doesn't), he'd have had a site up and running and ready for the reveal of his business.  It would at least give people something to link to (a massive part of SEO), and he could capture leads, email addresses, etc.

In fact that's not even SEO, it's just basic online marketing.

He might decide to go for a different name, and that wouldn't be the worst plan.  But it still means he's missed out on the wave of publicity, the social media interest, and the opportunity to 'ride the wave'.  Have a search for his name, have a look at his twitter profile (if you can find it easily), his facebook page, his website... a good online marketeer would ensure that he's all over those search results - no matter what the URL of his site is.

However, he's a good salesman - not an SEO/online marketing expert, and that is more than evident. Suralan is going to need to get some experts involved to make this venture work, if he decides it's worth the investment.  I wouldn't be surprised if he just decided to buy out an existing company that's doing it already.

[kinboshi]

His Linkedin profile doesn't sound as impressive as his CV for some reason...

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-wright/5a/892/165

[Graham C]

I was reading that he only created his Twitter account in December this year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/the-apprentice/11307906/Is-the-Apprentice-winner-doomed-to-fail.html  The first Twitter comment, from the Queen no less (I know) made me laugh

[kinboshi]

Yes, I don't think he actually understands how SEO/online marketing works in 2014 (and beyond).  Reach Local focus on selling PPC services, and these are a lot more measurable, instant and also require less 'magic' to work - although you still want someone who knows what they're doing to manage your PPC activities to make sure you're spending your money wisely and they can make a massive difference.

The SEO he seemed to be suggesting he'd sell is from ten years ago, and even then there were loads of charlatans selling snake oil amongst those who actually knew what they were doing and could give you a ROI on your SEO spend.

Nothing against Mark Knight, just very surprised that Suralan and his trusted advisors couldn't see what he and his business plan was offering.  I wonder if they actually got any advice (other than from the ex-head of Google UK, who might not know a thing about SEO) before making their decision.  Doesn't look like they did.

[david3103]

You seem a little bitter about this Kin, did your application for The Apprentice fail?

[kinboshi]

You seem a little bitter about this Kin, did your application for The Apprentice fail?

I was Rochin.

[Evilpengwinz]

Just came across this on YouTube - Cassetteboy vs The Apprentice 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAwymcSlmoA

[Graham C]

Went to London today and sat on the seat in front of us was a guy who was going for an audition for the next Apprentice!  I don't know much about him other than his name is Richard Woods, he's apparently like a "Swiss Army Knife" and if you ask him for 10 ideas, he'd give at least 11.  Oh, in answer to what makes him angry he said bad manners.  He probably wouldn't appreciate me sneaking a look at his application over his shoulder at a guess.

Regards

G