My company, W3 Group, provides services in an area that is, unfortunately, festering with swarms of sharks.  That area is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. These “sharks” I’m referring to aren’t literally fishes with sharp teeth, but they are man-eating (or at least budget-eating) predators.
Hungry Shark
What am I talking about? Well, if you’re a small business owner, particularly one seeking help with marketing, you’ve no doubt gotten their phone calls, spammy emails, or even met with these vicious creatures in person.

It’s simply the modern version of the snake-oil salesman, who in now sells you the dream of flooding your doors with more customers than you can shake a stick at.

What causes this? Well, done correctly, SEO can be a very powerful component of your customer acquisition strategy.  It can get you great results.  But there are a number of factors that attract these sharks and the bottom-feeders that accompany them.

SEO Factors that Attract the Sharks

1)    SEO is relatively new. It barely existed 10 years ago, let alone 15 or 20.

2)    SEO is complex and technical, and not always easily understood. This makes it ripe for some slick sales shark to swoop in, and baffle you with the technical jargon while your eyes are glazed over with the money to be made with the results he’s promising.

3)    SEO is not cheap. Pricing can range across the board, from hundreds of dollars to 5 figures or more per month.  Done right, it truly is a valuable investment that should provide a positive return many times over.

4)    SEO takes time to get results – usually. While there are ethical ways to get results quickly, in general it does take several months, often 3-6 months or even more, depending on competition, to start seeing real, measurable results.

When you put all these factors together, it’s no wonder the sharks are attracted.

How they’ll usually operate is they’ll share a slick presentation, quote a bunch of statistics and sell you the dream that by the time you’re 3-6 months into their contract, you’ll be seeing some amazing results and will have all the customers you can desire.

Now that’s not the bad part – good companies often have slick presentations, too, and statistics do help back up the talk.  And setting goals of achieving great results is certainly normal for good companies, too.

The problem is that during this time, the shark’s companies do absolutely no work, not even lifting a finger to help your business, while they collect checks or charge your credit card each month until you finally realize you’re not seeing the results you expected and decide to cancel your contract.

But you’re still out of pocket all that money.

SEO Snake Oil Sales Shark Feeding FrenzyMeanwhile they’ve moved on to other innocent victims, repeating the feeding frenzy.

So how can you stay safe and not have your marketing and SEO budget eaten alive by these predators?

Since I can’t stop all these ripoff artists from calling you, emailing you, or trying to seduce you with their smooth sales pitches, what can I do?  Well, I can help educate you on what they’re doing and what to look out for.

So subscribe in the box at the upper right of this page and I’ll send you a free report on How Not to Get Ripped Off by an SEO Firm.

Whether you do business with me or not, I don’t want you to throw your money away and I certainly don’t want any of those scammers to take your money.  Hire a good marketing firm.  One that plays by the rules (ethically and morally) and does the right things the right way.   One that helps you get more business.   After all, that’s what it’s all about.

My company, W3 Group, provides services in an area that is, unfortunately, festering with swarms of sharks.That area is SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.These “sharks” I’m referring to aren’t literally fishes with sharp teeth, but they are man-eating (or at least budget-eating) predators.

What am I talking about? Well, if you’re a small business owner, particularly one seeking help with marketing, you’ve no doubt gotten their phone calls, spammy emails, or even met with these vicious creatures in person.

It’s simply the modern version of the snake-oil salesman, who in now sells you the dream of flooding your doors with more customers than you can shake a stick at.

What causes this? Well, done correctly, SEO can be a very powerful component of your customer acquisition strategy.It can get you great results.But there are a number of factors that attract these sharks and the bottom-feeders that accompany them.

1) SEO is relatively new.It barely existed 10 years ago, let alone 15 or 20.

2) It’s complex and technical, and not always easily understood. This makes it ripe for some slick sales shark to swoop in, and baffle you with the technical jargon while your eyes are glazed over with the money to be made with the results he’s promising.

3) It’s not cheap.Pricing can range across the board, from hundreds of dollars to 5 figures or more per month.Done right, it truly is a valuable investment that should provide a positive return many times over.

4) It takes time to get results – usually.While there are ethical ways to get results quickly, in general it does take several months, often 3-6 months or even more, depending on competition, to start seeing real, measurable results.

When you put all these factors together, it’s no wonder the sharks are attracted.

How they’ll usually operate is they’ll share a slick presentation, quote a bunch of statistics and sell you the dream that by the time you’re 3-6 months into their contract, you’ll be seeing some amazing results and will have all the customers you can desire.

Now that’s not the bad part – good companies often have slick presentations, too, and statistics do help back up the talk.And setting goals of achieving great results is certainly normal for the good companies, too.

The problem is that during this time, the shark’s companies do no work, not even lifting a finger to help your business, while they collect checks or charge your credit card each month until you finally realize you’re not seeing the results you expected and decide to cancel your contract.

But you’re still out of pocket all that money.

Meanwhile they’ve moved on to other innocent victims, repeating the feeding frenzy.

So how can you stay safe and not have your marketing budget eaten alive by these predators?

Since I can’t stop all these ripoff artists from calling you, emailing you, or trying to seduce you with their smooth sales pitches, what can I do?Well, I can help educate you on what they’re doing and what to look out for.

So subscribe in the box at the upper right of this page and I’ll send you a free report on How Not to Get Ripped Off by an SEO Firm.

Whether you do business with me or not, I don’t want you to throw your money away and I certainly don’t want any of those scammers to take your money.Hire a good marketing firm.One that plays by the rules (ethically and morally) and does the right things the right way.One that helps you get more business.After all, that’s what it’s all about.