Are Business Owners Getting What They Pay For With Search Engine Optimization?

September 5, 2008; 04:24 AM

/24-7PressRelease/ - New York, NY, September 05, 2008 - With hundreds of new internet marketing companies popping up small businesses are being bombarded by calls to have their business placed on the first page of Google. With so much hype about the internet and how businesses are making thousands of dollars by positioning themselves on the first page, companies are spending 100's to 1000's to scramble to be "the" company listed on the "first page of Google." There is absolutely nothing wrong with the desire to be first, the problem is that some of these new internet marketing companies are taking advantage of business owner's lack of understanding of how marketing works and the role that internet marketing plays in growing their businesses.

Here is an example of what is happening every day: Internet marketing company calls
business owner and offers him the opportunity to have his company's name come up on the first page of Google when searched for. Internet marketing company also compares his prices to others, stating he charges significantly less to get the business owners company name listed on the first page. Internet marketing company does not explain that the challenge to having only your business name come up on the first page of google when searched for is that the business owner would need to integrate his marketing programs (i.e: direct mail, radio, TV, print,internet etc.) to promote his business name and build his brand. Then new customers can use the business name when searching becasue they saw it in some other form of adverstising. The problem is that business owners are not marketing their business name and new customers for the most part do not enter your business name in the search engines when looking for a service (unless they know you) but will normally enter the service that they are looking for. So the business owners get what they pay for. When they type their company name in google it comes up on the first page but when business owners type in their service, which is what most new customers do when searching for a particular service provider, they cannot find themselves at all. Their expectations of being listed first on Google and the actual results that they hoped for falls way short.

Did the internet marketer lie, mislead, or defraud? I think the law would say 'no.' They did what they said. If you search for the company's name, you can find it on the first page. Did the marketer take advantage of business owner's, who knew little about the search habits of new customers and how search habits impact your choice of key words and placement? I say 1000 times yes!

Internet marketing is a very powerful tool to grow your business but don't be fooled, there is a right way and then there is wrong way to be seen. Make sure that in addition to being found when a new customer put in your business name that you can be found on the search engines when new customers searches for the service you offer as well.

About UrsalesGuru

Kip Charles is the author of http://ww.Ursalesguru.com and is a business development specialist focusing on utilizing multimedia and proprietary tracking software to increase revenues for his clients.