Is someone trying to scare you into giving them your money?

We’ve had a number of clients recently contact us about solicitations they received. The client is being told that their competition is stealing their customers. They usually name a top competitor when they make this false claim. Needless to say, this gets people upset. These solicitors also “guarantee” a top spot on Google. And they try to pressure you to act now or you’ll lost out on the opportunity.

Please do NOT fall for these deceptive and unethical tricks.

Let’s go over how businesses effectively get top positioning on the internet and acquire new customers in a cost-effective way. There are two kinds of search results listings: the organic and the pay-per-click (PPC or Adwords).

The organic results are free. They appear on the page when you do a keyword search below the paid ads. The way a business website gets ranked high in the organic search results is dependent on how well the website is optimized (SEO). A well optimized website will rank high. But there are no guarantees for rankings. This is because the search engines don’t tell anyone what the ranking formula is. A sure way to spot a phony is when someone guarantees you a particular ranking (in addition to claiming your competition is stealing your customers, and you need to act fast or you’ll lose out).

Because there are sites coming and going off the internet every second, and because the search engines periodically change the ranking formulas, no ranking is permanent. It’s normal for an optimized site to move around slightly on the search results pages. Companies that are skilled in website optimization (like Target Marketing) know what needs to be done on a site to get and maintain a good ranking.

The second kind of search results are the ppc ads that appear at the top and side of the search results pages. Regardless of how many times the search engines change their ranking formula, those pay-per-click ads will stay in the same spot on top as long as you pay the cost per click. This is the only guarantee that can honestly be given in regards to rankings.

There are also two types of potential customers on the internet; the people who only click on the organic results, and the people who only click on the ppc ads. Capturing both types of potential customers maximizes your results (i.e., high ROI). If you don’t have ppc ads in addition to your properly optimized website, you are essentially losing half the people who are searching for your business. And without ppc ads, you cannot ensure that your site will remain high in the rankings if the search engines change their ranking formula, or if your competitors improve their websites to get better rankings.