We received an interesting call this morning?inquiring?about the?validity?of a telesales offer from a UK based company to put a small Kiwi business ?on the first page of Google?.
This kind of call always gets my attention for a couple of reasons:
- Why would a UK company be phoning New Zealand businesses?
- Anyone?promising?to get you on the first page of Google immediately raises my suspicions due to 15 years first hand experience helping get small businesses online.
The company is called Advance Media Marketing and are based out of an office in Stockport, Manchester in the UK. A quick Google for the name turns up this scam report by a NZ company from just last month as the top result.
Their offer includes ?no click cost/no contract? which makes me wonder how much of the ?299 NZD?5x most popular key phrase? actually gets spent on Google adverts for the small business owner.
Web marketing and getting more business from the internet
It?s ?certainly true that being on the first page of Google is a very good place to be for your small business as you are many times more likely to receive genuine visitors clicking through than if your website is down on page 7 of the results for ?widgets?.
With Kiwis spending ever more money online in the hunt for bargains, a website, good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and money spent on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) via Pay Per Click advertising (PPC) can get you low cost?targeted?results when compared with more traditional marketing spend.
You just have to look at the efforts Yellow Pages has made in New Zealand to shift to being a digital company and partnering with Google as an SME Partner?to understand how the local business advertising landscape is changing as people move to looking for companies and services online.
So what would NetSafe recommend if you get called by the company from?44 (0) 161 300 2261?
Dealing with any company outside of the country always bring increased risks for you as a shopper with reduced consumer safeguards ? if you decide to go ahead with any overseas purchase always use a credit card and this brings you the ability to query or chargeback a transaction within 60 days by calling your bank should the product or service disappoint.
You can of course hire a local NZ Google AdWords Partner to do similar work for you and likely meet them face to face. It may be preferable to deal with another Kiwi small business and keep your dollars circulating in the local web design,?development?and marketing economy.
SEO and SEM have always been wrongly portrayed as a dark art with jargon and mystifying terminology used ? Google now goes to great pains to explain how anyone can create their own AdWords advert, it is after all their main revenue earner as a web advertising (not search) business:
If you don?t have a business website and want to get online there are many good places to get advice:
Always do your own research and make your mind up about any telephone sales offer before parting with your money. You can find more advice about consumer rights and scams at?www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz.
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