Aug
21
2009
Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) By alex | No comments yet

Evaluate the Evaluators

In my last post I talked about researching online advertising companies that you might be considering doing business with. I’d like to expand just a bit on this point and point out that it’s important to evaluate the evaluators.

I intercepted a ridiculous spam email from an eLocal rep to one of my clients that had the following paragraph near the bottom:

The Top 10 Local Search Company Award is given to the best companies offering local search optimization services. This year’s winners stand out among an increasing number of high-quality companies and prove to be the leaders with outstanding contribution to the local search realm. eLocal is proud to say that we are in the top 10 of promotionmworld.com

First of all, if you’re going to link to something in a sales letter, don’t typo the link (note the “m” in the second link). Anyway, we expect that from these people. You can read more on eLocal’s lack of professionalism here.

More importantly, let’s think about who promotionworld.com is. How credible is their opinion of a site? I didn’t know but I decided to compare their review of eLocal to the Better Business Bureau to see if they were in agreement. The BBB gives eLocal a rating of D. I’ll let you decide who is more credible in this match up…

Promotion World states that it selects the top 10 for their list based on the following:

“The Top 10 Local Search Company Awards are based on the offered services, package diversity, customer support, new products and services, feedback, website popularity, and overall performance of the selected companies.”

Then I decided to test the “customer support” and “feedback” aspects by seeing what the popular opinion was for eLocal. I performed a simple search in Google for “eLocal scam” to see what would come back. It looks like there’s no shortage of disparaging comments out there from people that have either been clients of eLocal or even employees of eLocal.

By now my conclusion is starting to form, and it’s not good news for Promotion World. The moral of this story is to evaluate the evaluators. Many sites that provide rankings of companies within a category will allow those companies to buy their way into the rankings. Make sure you corroborate the information you find on a company with at least a few other sources because while there are reputable resources out there, there’s no shortage of shady sites that care only about lining their pockets and not at all about helping you stay protected.

To be clear, I have no idea if there is a pay-for-play scenario here. eLocal may not have even done anything to be ranked here…I honestly have no insight into that situation. This post is meant only to illustrate the larger problem, not necessarily to single out eLocal and/or Promotion World.

Jul
24
2009
Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) By alex | 1 comment

Easy Way to Research Companies Thru Google

There are plenty of companies out there that are willing to take your money and give you nothing in return. The hard part is being able to tell the good from the bad BEFORE you sign up. One thing you can try is to look the business up on the Better Business Bureau’s website. The challenge there is that their search feature really stinks.

Here’s an easy way to get the info you need by using Google instead:

  1. Go to Google
  2. Search for “company name site:bbb.org” (use the real company name, and no quotes)

You should get a list of results with the top one being the detail page for that company in the BBB’s site. Of course, if the company is not a BBB member, you won’t find this but that should tell you something about that company in and of itself.

Here’s an example – eLocal Listing. I’ve had countless tales told to me from customers of bad experiences with these guys, so I decided to look them up. I went to Google and typed in “elocal site:bbb.org” and found a link to this page all about elocal’s BBB info.

Not surprisingly, they get a pretty low score. Next time you want to do business with a company, do a quick search in Google with that “site:” modifier and see what you can pull up!

Jun
25
2009
Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) By alex | 4 comments

Google Will Never Call You – Wisdek

This one is probably the single most offensive call I’ve heard. While the call I’ve previously mentioned as #2 on my list has more offenses per minute, this one is just the most blatantly dishonest conversation I’ve heard.

Getting right to the point…the Wisdek sales rep is asked, point- blank, “You’re calling me from Google?” and he replies with one word, “Yes.”

Listen Here

For this offense, Wisdek ranks on the top of my list of dishonest service providers!

Jun
25
2009
Online Advertising, Search Engine Marketing (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) By alex | No comments yet

Fact: Google Works Alone – RelevantAds.com – Part 2

As promised, there is yet more to the insane call from RelevantAds.com to one of my clients. As the call proceeds the RelevantAds sales rep talks about his company’s qualifications as an authorized reseller. I’ve included the clips from the call recording with about 5 seconds of dead air inserted between each part of interest.

Audio Clips

The First Clip: “This is just basically explaining who we are and what we do…”

He talks about how the title of Google Adwords Authorized Reseller is the “highest authorization level that Google provides for Adwords management. ”

I see two problems here.

  1. He’s been talking mostly about the Maps results. Having an authorization level for paid ads means nothing when it comes to the SEO side of things, but he’s of course trying to piggy-back his qualifications.
  2. The only things required to get that reseller title is the following:
    1. Employ a direct sales force that sells to local businesses.
    2. Have existing relationships with at least five hundred customers.
    3. Demonstrate experience servicing and supporting local businesses.
    4. Share Google’s desire to provide a high quality user and advertiser experience.

    Source

The Second Clip: “Scroll down to the bottom. One of our actual customers…”

This clip talks about how “someone actually stole his business profile” which is to say that someone was able to hijack his maps listing. This IS a real problem and does happen from time to time, but then he says:

“When I told you about the filtering company part of us, that’s what we do. Someone actually stole his business profile. Stole the name and everything but they changed their number. So it was no telling what the customers were getting when they called that number… Now what we do is we work as a filtering company for Google to scrub out all that misinformation…”

Again, another giant load of B.S. As I’ve stated, Google works alone. In the unlikely event that someone is able to hijack your listing, just go claim it as yours, validate it by postcard and enter the code they send you. You don’t need a two-bit company to do this for you. If they’ve managed to change the address, then just create a new listing with the right info. Either way, problem solved and it only took 10 minutes and $0.

The Third Clip: “Any time a customer goes online and they type in any one of your key phrases…”

“Any time a customer goes online and they type in any one of your key phrases that your business provides, you will come up. Not one time, but three times on the front page.”

Wow, that’s a bold statement. We’ll talk about that and the 4th clip together…

The Fourth Clip: “We have a one-time setup fee…”

“We have a one-time setup fee of $59. And basically what that is is an administrative fee. It gets you posted into the sponsored links section in the next 3 to 5 business days. Now, we have our monthly billing fee which is the lowest on the market which is only $199 per month we don’t lock you into any contracts, we have no cancellation fees. Reason being is we are so confident in our product, it works, and we have to deliver on what we say. M’kay? And, uh, basically what the $199 does is maintain your position in all three categories on the front page. So as long as you make your payments, you will be listed there on the front page, standing firm, in all three categories, top 5. “

“…so even if your competitors were to go buy keywords, because they would have to use our service to get an unlimited amount…”

OK, one at a time:

  1. Lowest on the market? I know for a fact that eLocal (who is terrible…) and Prospect Genius offer lower rates than that.
  2. “They would have to use our service”… Really? They can’t just go to adwords.google.com and sign up for an account themselves? Wierd because I know for a fact that it can be done that way. What about signing up with the 10K other vendors that would be happy to manage an Adwords campaign for you?
  3. He says that as long as you make the payments, you’ll be in the top 5 results in the 10-pack (maps results), paid ads, and organic results. WOW!

Let’s dwell on #3 a bit. It takes significant time and resources to stay top 5 in the organic results for nearly all categories. Unless they are talking about a direct name search, this will take $199/month just to do this. Let’s just say that for some reason they can do it for $1/month, leaving $198/month for the paid ads. Using the Adwords keyword tool I can tell you that Google estimates the most relevant keywords for Locksmiths to average about $6.35 per click. That means you could buy just 31 clicks before running out.  Forget the tool, how long does common sense tell you you’ll be able to afford to be on that front page? Certainly not all month so how the heck can you guarantee that a company will come up in the top 5 all the time? Do you think there’s something in the fine print? I sure do!

In summary, this is one of the most appauling conversations I’ve heard and I’m irate aobut it because it’s the epitomy of what ruins the online advertising industry’s reputation. This RelevantAds company will fail this customer, cause him to become jaded toward all online marketing, and make my life harder because of it.

Jun
25
2009
Online Advertising By jenniferjclarke | 1 comment

Directory Scams Are Alive and Well on the Internet and in Print

As mentioned on www.crimes-of-persuasion.com and www.scamwatch.gov.au, the popular fake directory scam is still ensnaring many small businesses. Whether they’re offering an online directory or a print directory, be sure you ask plenty of questions-don’t fall victim to this pernicious scam!

If a company contacts you offering to list your company in a hot new directory-one that you’ve never heard of-it’s time to run in the other direction. This common scam has seamlessly transferred from the days of print directories into the digital age, and small businesses are still at risk of taking the bait. Whether it’s an online directory or a print listing in a trade publication, make sure that you’re actually going to get what you pay for!

Scammers frequently cold call businesses offering to list your company in their trade directory, one they have no intention of distributing widely or even compiling. Once you’ve agreed to pay for inclusion, you’re stuck. You get absolutely zero ROI because print directories are never generated and online listings never created. It’s like flushing money down the drain.

One trick these directory frauds use to hook small businesses is to approach your company as though you’ve already agreed to the directory listing. Either by submitting a false invoice-scammers LOVE these-or by calling regarding payment for the “already placed” ad, these fraudsters trick you into believing that you legitimately owe them money. Some even resort to harassing phone calls or COD letters to convince you to pay their fraudulent bills, relying on intimidation and the fear factor to wring money out of your business. But if you didn’t sign up for their directory, you have NO obligation to pay. Report them to your consumer fraud agency and the BBB, and stick with legitimate advertising agencies.

Avoid being swindled by fake directories by only working with reputable online or print directory companies-if you’ve never heard of them, don’t trust them. And if you’re contacted regarding payment for a directory listing, confirm that your company did sign up for the listing AND that the listing was placed per your agreement (verify distribution, online status, etc.) before settling the bill.

Jun
24
2009
Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) By alex | No comments yet

Fact: Google Works Alone – RelevantAds.com – Part 1

This call was from a rep at RelevantAds to one of my clients. This call ranks #2 in my all-time greatest lies told by an online advertising company. I’ll post about #1 later… but for now, here’s a multi-part post about RelvantAds, the #2 spot on my all-time worst list.

This guy called my client and said: Listen to the actual audio clip

“We’re not an advertising company. We’re a filtering company for Google. Now what a filtering company is we filter out all the information that is pushing legitimate businesses to the back pages. Actually we need your business profile to do our job for Google. Now, in the process of scrubbing out the search engines, with your business profile, we are able to, um, push the unnecessary business to the back and we optimize and upgrade your profile and showcase it in the front.  Now, what we’re offering you is placement in three sections of the front page of the 4 major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL.  Now, that’s not even including all the smaller, affiliate search engines and directories that are [piled?] by those 4 majors.”

There are so many SHOCKING lies in that that I have to pull it apart line by line:

1. “We’re not an advertising company. We’re a filtering company for Google. Now what a filtering company is we filter out all the information that is pushing legitimate businesses to the back pages.”

This is an unbelievable falsification. As I’ve talked about in previous posts, Google does not need some two-bit company to help them filter, scrub, clean, or otherwise manipulate their results. If they did, what value would they be? If they had companies like this doing it, how relevant would the information they display to the searcher be? It’s ludicrous to think that this could possibly be true.

2. “Actually we need your business profile to do our job for Google. Now, in the process of scrubbing out the search engines, with your business profile, we are able to, um, push the unnecessary business to the back and we optimize and upgrade your profile and showcase it in the front. ”

Again, they do not do any job for Google and Google certainly doesn’t need them “scrubbing” their data for them, nuff said. He goes on to say that they push the other “unnecessary” businesses to the back. Who would ever appoint RelevantAds to decide which businesses were necessary and which were not?

3. “Now, what we’re offering you is placement in three sections of the front page of the 4 major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL.  Now, that’s not even including all the smaller, affiliate search engines and directories that are [piled?] by those 4 majors.”

First, I thought they were not an advertising company? Isn’t selling placement the cornerstone of Yellow Page and other directory advertising? Sounds like advertising to me. Didn’t he say that they were a filtering company for Google? Why then is he saying that he’s going to place this guy’s profile on these other search engines?

Stay tuned for the next installment. There’s actually more…if you can belive it.

Jun
24
2009
Online Advertising By alex | 4 comments

Promising Top Search Engine Rankings – Vertical Listings Optimization

I get a ton of spam, and for the most part I just ignore it. I happened to notice this one because of the sheer absurdity of the fact that this guy was sending a pitch for SEO services to an SEO firm.

Beyond that, I just hate the whole approach of promising #1 placement. It’s a tactic overused by the bottom-feeders in the industry. In fact, I regularly tell people that if a company promises to get your site to the top of Google/Yahoo/MSN, or promises you’ll be #1 in SERPs to just turn and run.

Typically companies like this Vertical Listings Optimization will use a very specific search term in order to “prove” their results. They’ll use your company name or some long, obscure long-tail term that has no real value.

If you’re considering going with someone who’s promised you top search engine rankings, make sure you ask what terms they’ll measure that with and make sure your payment is tied to their success. You should also ask about their tactics because if they’re using black-hat techniques, you might end up at the top for a week or two, but when you get your domain banned, you’ll be in a whole new world of pain.

Here’s the spam I got from Vertical Listings Optimization:

From: Jason Fitzpatrick <jason@verticalisitngs.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Subject: your website

I can put your site at the top of a search engines listings. This is no joke and I can show proven results from all our past clients. If this is something you might be interested in, send me a reply with the web addresses you want to promote and the best way to contact you with some options.

Thanks in advance,

Jason Fitzpatrick
Vertical Listings Optimization
3636 Gateway Center
San Diego, CA 92101

Jun
22
2009
Online Advertising By alex | No comments yet

Domain Registration Scams – Web Listings Inc

This one really steams my biscuits, and it does it on two levels. Firstly on the tactics, and then the content…

The Tactics:

I received an envelope in the mail with a notice that seemed to be some sort of invoice. As you can see in the images below, the intent here is to fool the reader into thinking that this IS, in fact, an invoice that needs to be paid. These jokers are not the only ones I’ve seen doing this, nor are they the most talented at it so be on the lookout.

Page 1 of document

Page 1 of document

Page 2 of document

Page 2 of document

Upon further inspection, it turns out that this is not actually an invoice, but rather a solicitation for their “website listing service.” Of all the dishonest tactics, this has to be near the top. Intentionally trying to fool someone into paying what they think is a bill…

The Content:

“Website listing service”…Really?! If the whole strategy hadn’t gotten me riled up, this certainly put me over the edge. They are yet another shady company trying to prey on the uninformed. Let’s be abundantly clear here…there’s absolutely NO reason why you should ever have to “submit” your website to a search engine.

Think about it for a second. If the search engines relied on people submitting their content to them, what good would they be? They would have 99% garbage from pinheads like these Web Listings Inc. people and 1% valid content from the rest of us.

The search engines rely solely on their spiders (aka “bots,” “crawlers”) to follow link after link out on the Web in order to find content. Google and Yahoo do provide a place where you can request that they crawl your site, but the professionals all agree that these services are of zero value.

Whatever you do, just avoid these Web Listings Inc. people. They’re bad news.

Jun
22
2009
Uncategorized By alex | No comments yet

Welcome

At long last, there is a resource to help small businesses avoid wasting thousands of dollars for online advertsing services that do not work. The goal of AdvertisingAngels.com is to allow professionals in the online advertising and marketing industry to be a resource for those looking for service providers.

As we grow, you’ll be able to find more and more information about an increasingly broad array of companies and service providers. As the Angels post their experiences, tips, warnings, and information you’ll benefit from the expertise of the entire network.

We hope that you will find this site to be a valuable resource to you in your quest for the ideal online advertising service provider.