It is very unlikely that anyone is ever going to call you from Google. Google doesn’t just call you and offer to market your business. But… it is very likely that you’ll be called by one of these scumbag sales guys that will knowingly lie to you and tell you that they’re from Google.
It’s almost sickening to watch all of the sales spam that comes our clients way by way of phone calls and emails.
Sometimes, the emails are even worse than the call center sales guys. Non-personal blanket emails that go out to 100,000 business owners on a purchased “list” that are calculated to scare the crap out of you. The email will look something like this and probably has it’s origins in India somewhere:
“We just ran a scan on your website and you’re not ranking very well on Google and we can make you rich just by paying us $79 dollars a month.” – Signed [email protected]
Notice the gmail account! It’s not even a legit business. C`mon!
Meanwhile our clients read these sorts of emails and think to themselves…”I’m paying way more than $79 dollars right now…and I don’t rank for every keyword imaginable like the ‘seoguru’ promised to do for only $79/month.”
We have to explain to clients almost on a monthly basis that the “company” contacting them is most likely some underground fly-by-night corrupt sales force that is just trying to “sell contracts” to business owners that don’t fully understand what is involved in SEO or other internet related strategies.
Even more intriguing is their target demographic. Look at their ads. Look at their messaging. They are targeting business owners in their 50’s whom they assume know nothing about the internet. They hire a few slick Millennials to convince old folks that they need their Google services and promise them that their world is going to end if they don’t “SIGN UP TODAY.”
The scary thing is that many internet marketing companies are not actually internet marketing companies at all. They’re more of a sales company that says they’re doing internet marketing. Their form of internet marketing is to sell you on their “revolutionary” and “groundbreaking ninja skills” that will magically generate “unlimited leads” for your business. After they’ve told you that they’re going to rank you #1 for every keyword imaginable…they’ll throw the icing on the cake and passively let you know that they’re “a Google company” in order to gain your trust.
Promises. Promises.
Next comes the setup fees. Oh…the setup fees. $1000, $5000, $10,000 bucks just for them to flip a switch and publish the same template over and over and over again.
Then comes the contract. They’ll want to place you under contract so that they can ensure that they get at least a years worth of your money. If you’re smart enough…you’ve wiggled your way out of the contract and they’ve agreed to go month to month. But none of this really matters because they plan on losing you around month 3 anyways. They will hard sell at any expense in order to grab that sales commission and then…well…your site and “SEO” is on it’s way overseas where they can make huge margins on your deal and underperform on their promises.
So…the next time someone cold calls you and tells you they’re “from Google,” odd’s are, not only are they not from Google…they probably aren’t even a Google partner or Google certified in any way. Ask them to see their website. Then try and click on their Google Partner logo and see where it takes you. If it doesn’t take you to the Google Partner page with their Google partner profile, then you know you’ve run into a scam.
They’re just some company that tries to take shortcuts in doing real marketing by buying recycled lists with your name on it and calling you until you tell them to go away. Don’t let them claim you as their next victim.