Seriously. Don't figure that it's only $29.95 a month (for the rest of your life), and you can quit anytime, so what the heck. The wrong service can mess up your Google Places listing so bad that you could pay me $100's or even $1000's to fix their errors. They may be using black hat methods that will result in you being suspended or even removed. They may be using year old approaches that Google has since SPECIFICALLY stated are no longer ok. I've had two calls this week from folks who really thought they knew what they were doing, but were putting geographic information in the categories. A definite no-no.
I tend to stay away from companies with BIG RED headlines or overblown rhetoric. If you know what you're doing, you can make a very good living helping folks with internet SEO. There is no need to blow your horn in bold or make claims you can't support later. Yes, we in business all need to advertise, and we sometimes need to create monster headlines to get attention. But I personally tend to look beyond the headline to the content of their writing. You can't do this job unless you can write well, and explain your core competency in a way that anyone can understand.
I like to see some referrals, testimonials, and such. However, as a marketer, I know that I can get three or four good reviews for almost anyone. So we offer folks over 100 of our current and former clients as a resource. We suggest they randomly call as many as they wish. If a company offers you three phone numbers, ask for five. How does the company rank on its key words? If you look up Google Places Expert, you're going to see my name at the top of the page for the entire world. If you search for Google Places Optimization, you'll find me ranked #6 for the entire world. If your service can't get ranked for their own business, it's a pretty good hint about their ability to do it for you.
What are they actually going to do to get you ranked. Check out the posts here. You'll see what they should be doing. You'll also see what they shouldn't be doing. NO BLACK HAT!
Forget about the guarantees. Nobody can guarantee anything about Google. What you should expect from your doctor and your Google Places Expert is that they will use best practices known at this time for getting the results you are after.
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1 comment:
I agree with your information. I think that is is also worth mentioning that business owners should check out any company that they are thinking of hiring for ANY internet marketing services. There are a LOT of hustlers who know just enough to get a contract signed, and then do little work, shoddy work that harms the Places listing or never gives the business owner access to their own listing. Although we are an internet marketing company, we are not seeking a shameless plug - just a thumbs up for a good article.
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