Clumsy Malamute Puppies Falling
Last Updated: September 27, 2024
Scam Watch: Pricey Google Business Profile Scams
Last Updated: September 27, 2024
Welcome to the first installment of our new series, Scam Watch, where we expose the tricks and traps that shady marketers use to swindle small businesses. Today, we’re diving into a particularly sneaky scam that’s been making the rounds: dishonest marketers claiming that your Google Business Profile (GBP) isn’t free and charging exorbitant fees to set it up. Spoiler alert: they’re lying!
The Truth About Google Business Profiles
Let’s set the record straight: Google Business Profiles are 100% free to create and belong to you, the business owner. If someone is telling you otherwise, they’re either misinformed or outright trying to scam you.
Your Google Business Profile is your digital storefront on Google. It’s one of the key ways customers find you when they search for the services you offer, and it provides essential information like your business hours, location, and reviews. But here’s the kicker—you do not need to pay anyone to claim or create your profile.
Following the Rules Is Key—And There’s a Lot of Them
While creating a GBP is free, Google imposes many rules you’ll need to follow. Ignoring these rules can result in your profile being suspended or even removed. Here are a few common pitfalls:
- Keyword Usage: Adding unnecessary keywords in your business name, description, or elsewhere in an attempt to rank higher.
- Address Type Selection: Choosing the wrong location setting. Not all businesses are eligible for GBPs, and those that are still have to ensure they pick either the location-based or service-area-based address options.
- Category Selection: Selecting categories that don’t accurately represent your business can mislead customers and negatively impact your visibility.
- Disallowed Claims: Making disallowed claims about your products or services can get you flagged by Google.
The Legitimate Service of GBP Setup
Now, just because you can create your GBP for free doesn’t mean everyone has the time or expertise to do it right. If you get it wrong and have to appeal the decision (possibly multiple times), you’ll find that this seemingly simple task is taking up hours of your time. That’s where legitimate marketing services come into play. There’s definitely an art to setting up a GBP that ranks well in search results and converts casual browsers into paying customers. This involves careful category selection, thoughtful content optimization, and the strategic application of marketing principles.
So, it’s reasonable to pay someone to handle this for you. But—and this is a big but—you shouldn’t be paying an arm and a leg for it.
What Should You Really Be Paying?
To give you some perspective, setting up and optimizing a GBP typically takes a competent marketer about an hour. This includes filling out the profile, optimizing content, ensuring everything complies with Google’s guidelines, and communicating with you, the client, throughout the process.
For this service, a fair price range is $200 to $300. For example, here at Prospect Genius, we charge $199 for this service—very reasonable considering the expertise and time involved. Paying $1,000 or more, though? That’s just someone trying to rip you off.
Bottom Line
Your Google Business Profile is a powerful tool for reaching customers, and it’s completely free to set up. While there’s value in paying a professional to optimize it for you, be wary of anyone who tries to convince you that you need to pay Google for the privilege or charges you outrageous fees to get it done. Stick to the facts, know the fair price, and keep your money in your pocket—not in the hands of a scammer.
Stay tuned for the next edition of Scam Watch, where we’ll continue to shine a light on the dark corners of the marketing world!
Cats Get Brain-Freeze
Last Updated: September 27, 2024
The Half of SEO You Don’t See, But Still Really Matters
Last Updated: September 27, 2024
Backlinks are essential for winning in search engines. While good content is crucial (on-page SEO), the less obvious but equally important part of the equation is backlinks (off-page SEO.)
What Is A “Backlink?”
A backlink is just a link to your site from another site. Search engines treat each one like a “vote” in your favor. You can think of search results as a popularity contest where the site with the most “votes” wins. That’s why you NEED backlinks. Over time, websites will naturally accumulate these, but unless you want to wait several years, you need to expedite the process by actively pursuing these links.
OK, How Do I Do That?
The quickest and easiest way to get backlinks (without being naughty and breaking any of Google’s rules) is to use directory sites. It used to be possible to manually create these, but most directory sites now get their data from the major data aggregators, rather than crowdsourcing, which means you need to use a service.
Directory Services
There are many directory services to choose from and their quality and efficacy varies. Ours happens to be called Directory Dominator. Directory Dominator puts you into ALL of the major data aggregators (not just one or two) AND into a cluster of key, important directories to get quick results. This gives you both the widest-possible coverage (volume) and targeted, high-quality backlinks as well.
How Important Is It Really?
How important is Directory Dominator? It’s literally the third step for every business our founder has started:
- Put up a website
- This allows it to start “aging” and gets into the search engines right away.
- As a bonus, this process also forces you to think about the services/products you’re going to offer, and therefore refine your business plan, which is a valuable exercise.
- Incorporate
- So you can get a bank account, register with the state, etc.
- Use something like Directory Dominator to get a pile of backlinks
- This speeds up indexing and improves rankings quickly.
With this plan, your site and it’s backlinks start working while you are running around getting all the millions of real-world tasks done.
There’s No Magic Beans
Much of SEO is just grunt work. Yes, there’s a need for an overall marketing strategy, but once that’s formulated, much of it comes down to time in front of the computer, typing information into forms. Services like Directory Dominator are a massive shortcut and well worth every penny.
If you’re ready to get started, you can even sign up for Directory Dominator online at your convenience.
SEO Myth-Busting: Multiple Map Listings Is Better Than Just One
Last Updated: September 27, 2024
Welcome back to our SEO Myth-Busting series! Today, we’re diving into a myth that’s as persistent as a tick on a hound dog in July: “If one Google Business Profile is Good, 7 Must be Better!” Many business owners believe that creating multiple Google Business Profiles (GBPs, aka Map Listings) for a single business will boost their online presence. But is this really true?
The Myth Unveiled
Here’s the scoop: Google’s policy clearly states that you can only have one listing per business location. Yes, you read that right—one location, one listing. Creating multiple GBPs for a single business is a violation of Google’s guidelines and can lead to serious consequences. These include the suspension of all your listings or even being flagged as a spammer, potentially barring you from ever creating GBPs again. Yikes!
“But My Competitor Has Tons of Listings and He’s Doing Great!”
Ah, the old “keeping up with the Joneses” argument. It’s something we hear more often than we’d like. While some businesses seem to get away with having multiple listings, the reality is that they’re, at best, flying under the radar for a while. Google handles many millions of listings, so some do slip through the cracks—until they don’t. Often, these are older listings that haven’t been touched in years and are therefore unnoticed.
The issue arises when these listings are disturbed. Maybe you or someone on the internet (through the “community edit” feature) make a change. That tends to bring attention to the Business Profile and any/all associated profiles. Once you’re deemed naughty, you’re in for a world of hurt when Google starts to dole out punishment like God Himself with a lightning bolt in each hand and a thunderstorm for backup!.
Why Following the Rules is Better
Sticking to Google’s guidelines is like using a reliable plumber—you’re ensuring everything works smoothly without unexpected leaks or bursts. Operating within the rules may not give you an immediate spike in visibility, but it builds a solid, sustainable foundation for your business.
We’ve seen many clients who tried to take shortcuts only to end up knee-deep in penalties and regret. Resolving these issues can take months, if a resolution is even possible.
Myth Busted!
In the world of SEO, shortcuts are often long cuts in disguise. We’ve seen, repeatedly, that sticking with a single, legitimate, and well-optimized GBP is far more powerful and sustainable than spamming multiple listings into Google’s ecosystem. This path may seem longer, but it’s much smoother and more predictable.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need help with your SEO strategy. We’re here to help you navigate the digital landscape and grow your business sustainably.
