Search Engine Optimization is about making choices and taking actions that increase a sites visibility to search engines. I use several different types of SEO Software and WordPress Plugins to help me in my quest to dominate my chosen niches.
I just love using WordPress, it truly rocks as content management system and it’s open source to boot. It’s great that there are so many themes that you can choose to use and if you have sites in a lot of different niches, you can explore the many options available.
I also use Thesis Theme for WordPress which offers a great dashboard tailored to make On-Page SEO a breeze. I do however realize that it’s not all I have to do to optimize my sites.
On-Page Optimization only goes so far and there are many other factors you should be considering to increase search engine ranking. Your SEO tasks don’t end on your site and is only a part of the SEO puzzle.
A little while ago I got an email from one of the founders of Thesis Theme alerting me to a new WordPress Plugin – Scribe SEO. Because I think Thesis is the Best WordPress Theme I naturally wanted to check out Scribe SEO.
As it turns out, Scribe SEO is not a free plugin even though it’s free to evaluate. As I have mentioned many times before, I like to own SEO Software and not pay monthly fees for SEO Services, so for me, paying monthly for a wordpress plugin is out-of-the-question.
It also got me thinking about why anyone would want to pay a monthly fee on a plugin for wordpress, especially when there are free plugins available to help do the job of on-page SEO not to mention many different SEO Tools that are currently on the market. And in regard to Thesis, it made zero sense to me as the backend is sitting there ready to use.
Just so there is no doubt, I didn’t even sign-up to do the trial because I am never going to pay for this type of overpriced SEO Tool. Even though I didn’t try it out, I do have a few points to make on the pricing.
Scribe SEO – Is It Worth The Cash?
So lets do a little comparison between Scribe SEO and Website Auditor. Just to be totally transparent here, I am an affiliate of Website Auditor and I use it as well. The reason I am comparing it is – each of these tools are supposed to be used for On-Page Optimization. If you want to know more about Website Auditor you can use it free for as long as you want.
The Cost to own Website Auditor and Scribe SEO is shown in the graphics below:
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Website Auditor
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Scribe SEO
The only additional costs with Website Auditor is the Live Plan which updates your software to adjust for changing search engine algorithms. When you buy the software, you get a 6 month subscription free. Here’s the cost to extend the Live Plan Subscription:
I am not going to get into the different features or in the case of Scribe SEO Lack of Features here because the price alone is a show stopper for me but I will say this: Evaluations – They must be joking!
With Website Auditor there is an upfront cost depending on the version. There is also a fee for the Live Plan which can be less than the cost of 2 coffees a month, again, depending on the subscription length. You can use the tool as many times as you want on as many pages you desire. And believe me, It’s Real SEO Software and not a wordpress plugin.
With Scribe SEO you’ll be paying a monthly fee which, as you can see, could be quite costly if you have many blogs and the features are limited when compared to a real SEO Tool.
If you are interested in getting another opinion on what Scribe SEO is all about, here is what Lis has to say about Scribe SEO and here is what Patrick Daly has to say in his Scribe SEO Review.
The bottom line of all this is Scribe SEO is overpriced in my opinion. I have no doubt in my mind that it will help remind you to pay more attention to On-Page Optimization but is a reminder really worth that kind of money?
I would hope that as more people decide to sign-up for this plug-in/SEO Service, the price will come down.
I think any price point above what it would cost for an unlimited shared hosting like Host Gator and many more, is unreasonable for this plug-in – no more than $7 per month.
The escalating price for evaluations is, in my humble opinion, the major reason not to use Scribe SEO. There was an offer for people who signed up early to get the Advanced Package for the price of the Starter Package locked in. I don’t know if it’s still the case but $27.00 per month is still too expensive.
I won’t even get into the kind of high-quality SEO Software and Services you can get for $97.00 per month or just shy of $1200.00 that it would cost for a year.
I believe there is a much more Effective SEO Software Solution available to you.
Stay Tuned
Jim
