I’ll preface by saying I think it’s very cool that rand posted the company’s financial statements… you don’t see companies doing that very often and the information is extremely interesting to other business people in the SEO industry—so thanks rand for making such a revealing post. And this should be interpreted as my perception of potential, not criticism. I also recognize that my opinions on what SEOMoz should do are “easier said than done,” so my post might be a little unfair in some regards.

Now I am not an SEOMozzer, if that moniker event exists. I’ve only recently subscribed to their RSS feed. My knowledge of the company is, therefore, fairly limited—but I am familiar with their reputation, presence at industry events, and some of their outstanding rankings (e.g. first page for “SEO” in Google).

You can read rand’s post here.

On to the real pinnacle of my discussion: “Total Earnings (2006) - $600,000”

$600,000? Wow, I’m stunned… there are plenty of affiliates I know personally making much more than that as individuals. And I’m under the impression that the $600,000 estimate is before expenses are deducted.

Most people might be more shocked by rand’s “personal earnings” of $38,000, “including bonuses.” But this doesn’t really surprise me–owner’s don’t necessarily have to pay themselves to make money—the business is essentially their asset.

In the earnings break down, the component I think is remarkably low and that SEOMoz should seek to improve in 2007 is “In-house Projects”—currently responsible for only $36,000 of earnings.

This is all opinion, but I believe that with the skills of the SEOMoz staff and the company’s industry connections, it wouldn’t be overly ambitious to say this number could be increased by 4000% or more fairly easily (up to nearly 1.5 million USD).

When you have an organization with industry leading skills in SEO and web development, you have the tools you need to create extremely lucrative “properties” of your own. There are countless terms, far less competitive than “SEO,” that could make this sum from affiliate links alone. This guy, Matt Inman, for example, is, in my mind—and based on what I’ve heard from him on SEOMoz, a potential goldmine. I would have him developing in-house sites whenever possible and then have the SEOs in the company promoting the properties he developed. Good web developers make good sites. Good sites, with good SEO, make ridiculous amounts of money. There are so many niches out there lacking the tools and resources users are searching for. If you can build the tools or resources and you know how to SEO them to get them going, they will grow on their own as webmasters, bloggers, etc., find and link to them.

I like and respect SEOMoz, so I hope next year I’ll be reading a new report from rand with a much bigger number on the “in-house projects” line. Good luck guys! You have the right tools and you’re in the right place.