Why You Do NOT Need the SEOpressor ‘To Do List’ Parmesan Cheese Plugin…
SEOpressor and the Scribe plugins? Forget about it! Here’s the thing, there are people with a certain mindset that like a To Do list – and yes, I’m one of them!
But why would I pay somebody to write my To Do list for me? Writing the list is half the fun!
First let’s be clear! As far as I’m concerned Daniel Tan’s SEOpressor plugin for WordPress is very similar to the Scribe WordPress SEO plugin by Brian Clarke of CopyBlogger – a heavy hitter in the Pro Blogger community.
The difference is purely in the details and the payment options as far as I can see and that Scribe integrates with popular SEO plugins like All-In-One-SEO for WordPress ( which unlike these 2 is both free and ‘must have!).
As I recall Scribe is a monthly payment between $17 and $97 per month depending on number of sites and posts ( I signed up and let it lapse once I realized it wasn’t for me) and SEOpressor is a one site or multi-site option one time payment.
SEOpressor is a heck of a lot cheaper at $37 for one site – I think the unlimited site license is an extra $47 (I didn’t get it!)
I like to ‘tick’ boxes as much as the next person when I’ve done something and enjoy seeing any ‘To Do’ list get smaller as a result and that’s where these two (separate) plugins can seem appealing to an anally retentive person such as I. ( BTW I’ve never really understood that ‘anally retentive’ phrase – it should mean constipated if taken literally shouldn’t it?)
Essentially what these plugins do is analyze your posts ( retrospectively too once either one is installed) and then, depending on what ‘search term’ you are suggesting the post is optimized for gives you a percentage mark on how well you’ve done so far and suggestions how to improve.
This can become addictive – can I get a 60% to an 80% approval rate up to an 85%? Is 100% achievable?
And THIS is when the SEOpressor and Scribe plugins becomes a bit silly, if you let them!
Bloggers like me will spend valuable time trying to boost their ‘score’ on individual posts rather than just adding new content!
Now the argument is that this is worth doing because, after all, they are only telling you what Google wants to see in a post to rank your new post higher and, OK, that kind of makes sense right?
The ‘recommendations’ each suggest in your dashboard are probably different enough to avoid lawsuits but to me it’s like packets of pre-grated Parmesan versus pre-grated Gran Pardino – both tasty italian cheeses that add flavor when liberally sprinkled over a bowl of pasta, but not much difference taste-wise when bought pre-grated…
Personally I prefer to grate my own fresh parmesan and avoid the packaged stuff!
In other words I prefer to optimize my posts via good on site SEO myself and not rely on generic, one size fits all, SEO advice aimed at the mass market.
I’ve already had 2 emails heavily promoting the SEOpressor plugin arrive in my Inbox today telling me that it’s a ‘must have‘, ‘mandatory‘ bit of kit! It’s already very popular on Clickbank it seems with a ‘gravity’ of 190 ( which means it’s selling well).
Here’s a little video of my SEOpressor walk-thru ( yes folks I actually DO try these things out for you!). Enlarge video for full screen lusciousness via the icon in the player toolbar.
In my view you need to be able to write a blog post and automatically know, second nature as it were, what you need to do to make it Search Engine friendly – IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!
SEOpressor versus Scribe WordPress plugins…
PS: In spite of my heavy duty SEO of my using that H1 tag above I do realize that this post is unlikely to rank high in Google, let’s say for the search term “seopressor versus scribe wordpress plugin” and I’m not aiming for that but it will be interesting to come back to in a couple of months to see.
PPS: Do you find it refreshing to read a review suggesting that you do NOT buy something?
Addendum June/2011
OOH,OOH! WAIT! I take that back!
Jason and Will have just brought out a very funky plugin that does the same as SEOPressor ( morein my opinion in that you can set your own parameters for the SEO you wish to obtain! Rather than accepting somebody else’s ‘rules’). It’s about a quarter of the price of SEOPressor! Thank you VERY much!
Find out more about Jason’s cheap plugin that’s better than the expensive ones HERE!
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My name's Clive McGonigal, well known typing error and serial blogger!
I also build and market sites for my clients over at 
I believe you ranked #1 for the term which is how I found this article – so congrats. Good ole’ fashioned SEO works:)
I have used scribe and saw a promotion for SEOPressor but like you realized that it was just one more thing to do. I pretty much had the SEO right before I bought the plugin – so I think its usefulness is limited for any half decent writer, blogger, etc.
Hi Lisa,
I see that Darren Rowse of ProBlogger is now selling a small e-book, complete with check lists, to help us analyze our posts prior to publishing. I might have a look as he covers ‘readability’ and user friendliness rather than just being a To Do List to keep the Search Engines happy which, as you say, you can get down ‘pat’ pretty easily when you post often and track results.
See ‘Hot Update’ I’ve just added to the post. I do understand that some people do find this kind of plugin useful so I’m not having a go at the functionality of SEOPressor or The Scribed offering – purely the price.! My mate Jason ‘the laugh‘ Fladlein and his partner Will have come up with a plugin that addresses my only concern, price!
Yes, I do find it refreshing to find someone more about providing good information, not just lining their pocket.
Thank you!
This is super refreshing, since im a new blogger, seems like to have SEO advice, the right amount of traffic, all i need to do is buy this plugin and that plugin and this theme and that service and these backlinks and that report.
Hi Adry, yes it’s true – there are too many ‘magic bullet’ type ‘solutions’ out there. There comes a time when you simply have to say, “Enough!” and just do the work i.e. add good content.
But I also am attracted to the latest ‘shiny object‘ I confess :-)
Clive
So far, my content is self building by the users, i may try and implement a separate blog, then i have no idea what niche to focus on with this type of site, and so far, i have the all in one seo plugin, doesn’t seem to do the job, or my h1 h2 tags are messed up.
any advice ?
or what should i buy ? haha :)
Hi again Adry,
I had a look at your site and see what you are doing.
Are you manually adding in the meta ‘description’ via the All-In-One-SEO plugin yourself? I ask because I see that for the entry: ‘What does my name mean in Hebrew?‘ – the meta-title is great ( i.e. same as the question) but the meta-description ( I viewed the source code on the page): many website show you the meaning of your name in chinese, but not hewbrew names. how can i find my names meaning ? needs work, typo + why mention chinese?
Re Blog issue. If if were my site I’d just pick a question and discuss it in, a blog post, in greater detail. Maybe a ‘My Question Of The Week’ type thing?
whenever i receive a question and answer, I edit the post manually, copy paste the question (post title) into the the meta title, and if I already have an answer, i copy paste it into the meta description.
Im really considering your idea for a blog theme.
I do not know how to thank you for your input.
What I’d suggest is to create a ‘description’ text template ( must be around 150-160 characters, including spaces, for best SEO) so have a ‘basic’ description like the few I mention below and save them to a text doc. for future use, then paste in your Title/Question text ( because it will depend on how long the original question is – for example:
What Does It Mean? – Your questions answered [44 characters]
What Does It Mean? – Your questions answered on our site [56 characters]
What Does It Mean? – Your questions answered on our clever web site [67 characters]
What Does It Mean? – Your questions answered on our clever web site, answering day to day questions DAILY with your help! [106 characters]
So in the example I mentioned previously I’d go for option #4 as in……
What does my name mean in Hebrew? | What Does It Mean? – Your questions answered on our clever web site, answering day to day questions DAILY with your help! [157 characters]
Your keyword phrase would now be in your Title/Description and Content and this tip should speed things up for you. Naturally it would depend on the length of the question as to which text phrase you would use in the Description. Does this make sense?
Use LetterCount.com to check your text/character length.
Hi, so I took a few hours to modify almost everyone post keywords description and stuff, hopefully It will make a difference. Now trying to implement a REAL blog section.
Thank you for your advice.
Yes, #1 for seopressor vs scribe. I believe the clincher was your use of reverse psychology with the google, telling them you didn’t want their ranking. Well played, sir.