In the building industry standard practice is to collect 50% of the cost of the job up front and the other half when the job is completed to the customer’s satisfaction. That’s basically the contractor saying if the customer wants to be a (insert favorite pejorative term) and not pay for the work done the contractor is only out half his money and conversely the customer is saying if the contractor does a terrible job the customer is only out half his money. Since both are assuming a risk in such a venture paying half up front divides the risk evenly. That only seems fair and reasonable. At least in that industry.
LinkNow! Media Does Not Provide Any Guarantee
I just got off the phone with someone from LinkNow! Media who was trying to sell me this website for $600 plus about $800 per year for my painting business:
The salesman showed me an electrician’s website that was ranked Google number one for Tallahassee Electrician and said my new website would be “placed” on at least page 1 so I asked him if he could guarantee anything. He vehemently denied anyone in the SEO business does such a thing, not knowing I am in the SEO industry and am one of the few that does. He gave me the usual line I hear from SEO companies when I ask for a guarantee saying things like he doesn’t have a crystal ball and can’t predict the future and nobody knows for sure what Google is going to do tomorrow, blah blah blah. I grilled him with pointed questions whenever I could get a word in edgewise (hard to do with a lot of salesmen) and got the longest periods of silence, over 1 second long, when I asked, “So if you can’t perform to at least a minimum performance standard such as getting my site to Google page 1 for so many keywords you don’t mind taking all of my money?”
LinkNow! Media Doesn’t Mind Keeping All Of Your Money If They Can’t Get You Ranked
At least in the building industry we don’t ask for all of your money up front but only half. LinkNow Media, as with most SEO companies, will tell you it takes months to get ranked and in the meantime will be collecting an initial fee and monthly fees and if they don’t get you ranked will not return any of it. Some will even lock you into a monthly contract for the first year.
Some day SEO will be a “respected” industry like the insurance industry that can work off of statistics but I doubt that’s going to happen until SEO companies learn to make use of the statistics they have and figure out what they can guarantee based on averages and normal curves. It wouldn’t be that hard for a company like LinkNow! Media, which boasts of 5000 customers, to figure out how often they would have to refund fees if they provided a page 1 guarantee, or do as I do and not collect half the fees until a guarantee is met.
Posted in Guaranteed SEO
O.O.B. October 20, 2009 – 2:51 pm Let me tell you a story of how Google local put me in debt. First we have to go back 2 years ago, Google gave my Local Business listing the #1 place for my seivrce and location. Today, I wished they never had and here’s why:Finlly, people that were searching for my seivrces were finding me- and rightfully so! After all, I’m not only the best on my location, but one of the best in my industry, credited with multiple awards and years of expertise. At the time, I was so happy with Google that I would have kissed their shoes. They gave me the means to connect with clients where my limited resources could not.My home business grew to more than I could handle by myself. I needed to hire help, but to do so, I needed to get an office. I hired an attorney to draft up a business plan and we shopped it to the banks. Our pitch was simple We need this much to expand- we’re making twice as much so it won’t be hard to pay back. The loan was approved. I paid thousands for all the right licensing, hired 2 employees and moved into a warehouse. As sales increased and I expanded my inventory. Here’s where it turns bad:We moved into a warehouse lot with similar businesses. We all shared the same street address but different suites. One day, callers started complaining about products that we didn’t even carry and seivrces that we didn’t perform. Turns out, one of our competitors had managed to rack up multiple negative reviews on his Google local listing and it had somehow MERGED with our listing.Now, dealing with damage control isn’t so tough. We explained to callers that they had the wrong number and gave them the correct one. The icing on the cake- when our business came to a screeching halt- was when we found that our phone number was nowhere to be seen. No one called for our business. To put it lightly, our phone lines had become the enemy. For nearly 2 months, we struggled with finding new customers. We passed out flyers but that proved to be ineffective. We heavily relied on Craigslist advertising. In fact, that was our ONLY source of revenue.Google was no help. They would not even entertain the idea of listening to us. What baffled me the most was how a company that employs 20,000 people (that’s right, twenty-thousand) didn’t have a single person to answer the phone. Here’s Google’s phone number, call them and ask them about anything and see what happens: (650) 253-0000. They will shut you down like a light.Like a broken record, Google’s android receptionists repeatedly chanted the anthem of: We do not offer tech support for free seivrces’. We do not offer tech support for free seivrces’. We do Ok, as a professional I can understand that a business would not give free support for a free seivrce, but I was willing to PAY. Alas, there was no one at Google that would take my money. Then I remembered that I had paid Google thousands of dollars in Adwords, a $21 Billion dollar company and they couldn’t help me.Finally, I ended up deleting my Google Local listing. I created a new one and waited a week for my conformation code. After verifying the code I searched daily for my listing to appear. About a week later I found it It was on page 4. I’m sure you can figure out what happened in the proceeding weeks. We liquidated.There’s an old proverb: Don’t put your eggs into one basket Whether that’s true or not, I know that basket is not Google. Thanks for debt,Out Of Business
I’ve had similar issues with Google. I run two businesses from my home address and the Google Local information for one of them would end up on the other one. I had to cancel the one that was more than a local business and keep the one that was strictly a local business. Google has made some noise about fixing this issue but I haven’t seen it yet.
Kirby Hopper recently posted…SEO Pricing – How It’s Done and Why It Doesn’t Make Sense
It seems the French Canadian company LinkNow can’t handle a little bit of criticism so had a fake attorney draft up a “cease and desist demand” letter. More about that on this article: http://seo.kirbyworks.net/reputation-management-linknow-media-way-shameful-bullying/ I had a lot of fun poking fun at both the French and Canadians.
Kirby Hopper recently posted…Ways to Guarantee SEO
If anyone tries to guarantee anything, run far away from them. SEO algorithms have changed and many SEO secrets don’t work anymore.
Do you do seo work?
Thanks, Murray
What did they promise?
Kirby Hopper recently posted…Why Rand is Wrong When He Says “Reputable SEO Firms Don’t Promise Guaranteed Search Engine Rankings”
Yes SEO has changed considerably. Good SEO never was about knowing the “tricks,” it’s always been about having the best website, building authority, and being relevant.
Kirby Hopper recently posted…Google Plus a New Way to Promote a Business? Sorry, Wrong Approach
Yes I do SEO work. How can I help you?
Kirby Hopper recently posted…Social Signals to Boost SEO? Don’t Waste Your Time.