byrne - I think you might have misread the piece; we were profitable when we took investment the first time and are profitable again now. The "dip" was during a period when we burned the investment capital to grow faster.

And yeah - our rates are $1,000 per hour, which helps moderate demand, but we rarely outsource anything (and even when we do, it's to other very high priced vendors). Strategic SEO (vs. the tactical keyword research, link building, site editing, etc.) requires lots of deep knowledge.