Unsolicited Sales Pitches re: Website and Marketing –
Welcome to the Web!
Congratulations – you’re a new website owner!
Or, possibly you recently updated an older website.
From now on, you will receive 3-4 (or more) sales pitch emails and/or phone calls per week. Many small business owners and new website owners are very confused by these sales pitches. They assume the salesperson ‘must know what they’re talking about.’
Don’t Buy Unsolicited Services from Unknown Companies [eek!]
Some business owners actually buy from services from an unsolicited sales pitch. Don’t do it!
In 2016, you would not buy magazine subscriptions from a door to door salesperson in your neighborhood. And neither should you contract for any service pitched in an unsolicited email, phone call or email from your contact form.
Your best defense: Learn what the industry standards are – and how your site compares to industry standards. For example, Google rewards sites that load within 3 seconds or less with higher search engine ranking.
Web Browser Display Note
Technical Note: Each individual’s web browser on their computer will display websites slightly differently. For example, some users set their browsers to large text size. Also, some users may have a slow internet connection or other factors. These factors are on the user-side and mostly, cannot be controlled. Although, having a site that loads in 3 seconds or less will definitely help out any users with a slow internet connection.
Sales Pitches to New Website Owners
Some sales pitches will be straightforward, as in “Hello! Would you like to spend less time working on your website? We are ABC Web Design based in Mumbai, India and we can….”. Other sales pitches, will not be not so straightforward, as in ‘Hello, I was on your site and noticed […fill in the blank].”
What Google Says About Unsolicited Sales Pitches
Following, some recommendations from Google regarding SEO work solicitations. These same cautions also apply to unasked-for solicitations for website work, content marketing, web hosting – and anything to do with your website and your business marketing.
From Google:
- Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.
Amazingly, we get these spam emails too:
“Dear google.com,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…”
Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for “burn fat at night” diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.
- No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.
Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or by submitting a Sitemap and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever. [Note: Both of these recommended activities are completed for DFW Business Websites owners. As well as the optional activities of creating and verifying a Google Local Business Page and Bing Places page]
- Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do.
Ask for explanations if something is unclear. If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or “throwaway” domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google’s index. Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it’s best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to “help” you. If an SEO has FTP access to your server and website, they should be willing to explain all the changes they are making to your site.
Need Affordable and Effective Local SEM or SEO Services,
Based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area?
Call DFW Business Websites at 469-844-4126 or email your project requirements.
We will take you from ‘Lost’ to Found! in Google Search.
