Over the past few years, we’ve noticed a rather peculiar trend in the rank tracking space. A lot of new rank trackers are coming in and offering ambitious lifetime deals (LTDs). But we also observed something else. Most of these services quietly drop these deals after a short while, while others die a slow death altogether.
So this got us thinking, are lifetime deals truly feasible for a Google Rank Tracker tool? We don’t believe so and we’ll tell you why.
So this got us thinking, are lifetime deals truly feasible for a Google Rank Tracker tool? We don’t believe so and we’ll tell you why.
Unpredictable running costs
As with most SaaS businesses, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes when you’re running a successful rank tracker. Now the unfortunate part is most of the costs involved are not constant, which makes everything quite unpredictable.
Bandwidth
How much bandwidth you need for the tracker is dependent on the number of users at any one time. The higher the number of customers, the more money the service provider has to invest in expanding the bandwidth.
How much bandwidth you need for the tracker is dependent on the number of users at any one time. The higher the number of customers, the more money the service provider has to invest in expanding the bandwidth.
Servers
Another significant expense involved is the cost of servers. Unless the tool only tracks keyword rankings in a small locality like a city or one country, the company must run multiple (and often powerful) servers spread across all the locations in which it operates.
Another significant expense involved is the cost of servers. Unless the tool only tracks keyword rankings in a small locality like a city or one country, the company must run multiple (and often powerful) servers spread across all the locations in which it operates.
Development
Development costs can also ramp up quickly especially during the early days when the provider needs to refine existing features and add more. And remember, development doesn’t stop as long as customer needs and search engine algorithms keep changing!
Development costs can also ramp up quickly especially during the early days when the provider needs to refine existing features and add more. And remember, development doesn’t stop as long as customer needs and search engine algorithms keep changing!
Technical support
The issue of cost arises again here. Quality support is expensive, both in terms of time and money spent hiring and training an expert team. Now imagine promising to offer your customers unlimited support whenever they bump into issues with your rank tracker?
Chances are you’ll run out of patience or lack the incentive to respond quickly to them after months or years of doing it. After all, they already gave up the ability to vote with their wallet after making that lump sum payment, right?
The issue of cost arises again here. Quality support is expensive, both in terms of time and money spent hiring and training an expert team. Now imagine promising to offer your customers unlimited support whenever they bump into issues with your rank tracker?
Chances are you’ll run out of patience or lack the incentive to respond quickly to them after months or years of doing it. After all, they already gave up the ability to vote with their wallet after making that lump sum payment, right?
Legal implications
The one thing every business tries to guard religiously is customer trust. Most reputable companies (read SEOlium) won’t trade it with anything, or risk getting embroiled in legal tussles for failing to honor agreements like lifetime deals.
This is what most businesses don’t tell you
When running a rank tracker, you rely on multiple services and infrastructure providers. This makes it impossible to master full control over what happens to them in the future.
For example, should one of the support services go under or raise their prices considerably, maintaining existing lifetime deals could become impractical. This is why it makes little to no sense for services with a reputation to guard to offer such unsustainable business models.
When running a rank tracker, you rely on multiple services and infrastructure providers. This makes it impossible to master full control over what happens to them in the future.
For example, should one of the support services go under or raise their prices considerably, maintaining existing lifetime deals could become impractical. This is why it makes little to no sense for services with a reputation to guard to offer such unsustainable business models.
So, what do decent providers offer instead?
We all can probably come into a consensus that one-time cost deals for keyword rank trackers is a no-no! In fact, any provider that promises them is either naive and oblivious of what awaits them ahead. In some cases, they could be dodgy outfits looking to flee with your money or don’t plan to offer any form of support or updates in the future.
Most credible providers use more realistic strategies, such as giving free credits to attract and allow new users to test their service. Others provide free trial periods, usually ranging from three days to one month. Once you’ve depleted this offer, you can then choose whether to go ahead with the paid plans or not.
Most credible providers use more realistic strategies, such as giving free credits to attract and allow new users to test their service. Others provide free trial periods, usually ranging from three days to one month. Once you’ve depleted this offer, you can then choose whether to go ahead with the paid plans or not.
Our final take?
Please steer clear from any rank tracker service provider that claims to offer lifetime licenses or even free deals!
Please steer clear from any rank tracker service provider that claims to offer lifetime licenses or even free deals!
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