Unpacking the Phone Package

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

The success of our customers is what keeps us moving forward. Our ultimate goal is to make your phone ring with solid leads on the other line. If we aren’t doing that, then we aren’t doing our job.
However, sometimes a client’s lead generation campaign works almost too well, and they receive more calls than their initial phone package allows. That’s when we have to adjust a client’s phone package to accommodate more minutes on the phone with prospective customers. The majority of the time, that means a slight increase in our clients’ monthly fee. In this post, we’ll explain how the phone package works and why the fee is actually a win for you.

We Don’t Profit From the Higher Price

Why do our customers even have to pay for the phone package in the first place? Shouldn’t that be covered by our flat, monthly fee?
Our monthly fee is there to cover the cost of hosting your LeadTrax™ site, maintaining your web presence, and performing updates as needed. It also does cover the baseline costs for phone minutes, which is a universal expense for every company. Even Verizon and AT&T have to pay for line charges! Our CallTrax™ feature is driven by a company that specializes in call analytics for ad campaigns, and those services cost money. When we increase your phone package, we have to pay this call tracking company for more minutes. Therefore, when we charge you for additional minutes, we’re simply passing along the charge to you. Otherwise, we would be paying out of pocket to provide an additional service for you. The price is increased just enough to cover the extra cost to us.

The Phone Package Maintains Our Incentive

Having to pay out of pocket for all of your minutes would erase our incentive to keep your campaign running effectively. If our costs rose due to phone line charges and we didn’t pass them along, then we would have a distinct incentive to provide you with fewer calls so our margins wouldn’t shrink. But we don’t want to be handcuffed by a financial incentive to do less—it’s not in your best interests and it’s not why we got into this business. Essentially, we pass along these costs so we can continue to make your campaign as successful as possible.

It’s Part of Our Integrity Pledge

Every Prospect Genius employee vows to treat clients with the utmost respect and to value our clients’ interests over our own. That’s why, when we launch your LeadTrax site and campaign, we only charge you for the minimum phone package. Since there’s a growth period for your campaign, during which your web presence is still building and calls aren’t coming in as consistently yet, it simply wouldn’t be fair to charge you for a bigger phone package. Instead of making you pay for minutes that you aren’t going to use, we wait until valuable customer calls are coming in on a regular basis before signing you up for a larger package.
Remember: Every company in this business must pay phone line charges. No matter who you deal with, those minutes must be paid for. If an SEO company never raises their phone package price or never adjusts your bill to allow for more minutes, that means they’ve been unnecessarily charging you for the biggest package from the get-go.

Phone Package Breakdown

We determine which level of the phone package is applicable for you based on the number of minutes you use per month. Every new client starts at Level 0, which includes up to 100 minutes each month. For most clients, 100 minutes is ample to cover their monthly call volume for the life of the campaign. Moving forward, however, if minutes in excess of your current level are used, you are upgraded to the next level. Charges aren’t cumulative, though, and each charge increase isn’t very significant. For example, the first increase is just $9!
At the end of the day, we keep your best interests at heart. We only upgrade phone packages when absolutely necessary, and we’ll always notify you if there’s going to be a change to your bill. If you have any questions about our phone package or need additional clarification, please don’t hesitate to contact your campaign coordinator or account manager.

Why Changing Your Company Name Isn't Easy

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

It’s frustrating to hear that your plans to change your company name aren’t as feasible as you thought. We get it. But online advertisers aren’t just being uncooperative or lazy when they tell you that a company name change isn’t as easy as just switching the header on your website.
“Why,” you ask, “in the age of high-speed everything, does it take so much time and effort to make a simple change? Isn’t the Internet supposed to make life easier?”
The hard truth is that the Internet’s blessing is also its curse. The unlimited spread of data makes it that much harder to revise an established piece of information—in this case, your company name. Essentially, all of the work that your SEO company initially did when they launched your campaign will have to be redone with your new company name. That’s why we usually advise against name changes.

The Name-Change Process Is Neither Simple nor Quick

The name-change process is extensive, complicated, and unpredictable.
Let’s say the owner of Tony’s HVAC wants to change his business name to “Tony’s Heating and Air Conditioning.” The process doesn’t begin and end with editing their website. If Prospect Genius were their online advertiser, we would have to do the following in this exact order (and keep in mind, every Internet marketing team has its own unique way of dealing with a name change):

Revise their website from top to bottom
Edit their listings on all of the major search engines, like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing (which often requires re-verification via postcard or phone)
Log in to client accounts on all of the popular business directories (such as Yelp, Angie’s List, and Citysearch) and update the company’s info
Log on to all of their social media accounts and edit their name
Write and publish a press release announcing their name change
Wait for Google and other search engines to register the changes

Meanwhile, the owner of Tony’s HVAC would still have to update state licenses, signage, flyers, and so on. It’s an arduous process, to say the least.

Machines and Humans Think Differently

Online advertisers do all of that work because machines and humans see things very differently. Twenty years ago, if a new flyer read, “Tony’s Heating and Air Conditioning,” while their old phone book listing still said, “Tony’s HVAC,” locals would assume that these referred to the same company, especially if the same phone number were attached. Sadly, machines aren’t equipped with human intuition. On search engines, the two names would register as two very distinct entities and ruin all of the SEO work completed so far. That’s why all accounts must match and all changes must occur simultaneously.
In fact, Google has strict rules about mismatching information, down to spacing, capitalization, and punctuation, so you’ll need to be sure that your name is identical everywhere it appears. That takes a lot of time and an even greater amount of scrutiny, which is why it’s best left to a savvy expert.
That’s also why you’ll need to disclose whether you’re working with more than one SEO company or online advertiser at the same time. Since every instance of your name must be identical across the board, it’s imperative that all of your advertisers are on the same page.

Talk to Your SEO Company First

As you can see, changing your business name isn’t a decision you should make lightly. If you’re considering it, we advise you to discuss it with your web marketing professional first. They’ll be able to go over your advertising campaign’s performance, why you want to change your name, how extensive their name-change process will be, and how much it will cost. Changing your name may temporarily encumber your site’s performance while Google deciphers the changes, so they’ll generally help you decide whether the potential pros outweigh the cons.

For SEO Companies, Two’s a Crowd

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

At Prospect Genius, we’ve seen countless businesses destroy their Internet presence by working with more than one SEO company at the same time. To hardworking small business owners, doubling their efforts just makes sense, especially with the logical assumption that extra manpower and resources will generate even better results. Unfortunately, online advertising is unlike most other business ventures. With more than one SEO company on the job, you could actually be harming your prospects, not helping. Here’s why.

Two Heads Aren’t Better Than One

Think about it this way: You wouldn’t hire two real estate agents to sell your house. You wouldn’t hire two appliance repairmen to fix your broken refrigerator. You wouldn’t hire two moving companies to move boxes and furniture out of your house. The real estate agents would have different marketing strategies in mind, the repairmen would have two different techniques for performing the same job, and the moving companies would literally get in each other’s way. Plus, in each of these scenarios, you would be paying twice as much for a job that could easily be done by just one company.
The same logic applies to hiring two separate SEO companies to advertise your business.
When you have more than one SEO company working on your online advertising campaign, conflicts are inevitable. Why? Because every company has a unique approach to SEO and a rigidly structured process that must be followed in order to support that approach as effectively as possible. An SEO specialist must have unrestricted access to all of your business listings in local directories, social media sites, and local search engines. Having more than one company editing your accounts could lead to inaccurate information, conflicting messaging, and even duplicate content. This is true even if one company does SEO and the other handles social media because, with Google’s latest algorithms, social content is now merging into SEO territory.

A Lot of Risk for No Reward

Conflicting activity is particularly detrimental for listings on Google+ and Google+ Local. As it attempts to prevent spam, fraud, and other black-hat tactics, Google is very watchful of its users’ activity. If your business listing is being edited from multiple IP addresses and is revised too frequently, it will be flagged or, worse, suspended. A penalized or suspended listing is extremely difficult to recover from, and the recovery process usually takes about six to nine months. During that time, your web presence will be virtually nonexistent, and these days, you simply can’t afford for that to happen.
So don’t take your chances—simply stick with one SEO company at a time.

You Have to Commit

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to settling on just one SEO team is the fact that online advertising is not yet a matured market. There’s no standardized SEO method, which means you can’t be certain that you’re going to get an effective Internet marketing campaign. Compare this to a matured market, like appliances. When you go to the store to buy a vacuum cleaner, for example, you can be reasonably confident that the item you end up purchasing will work on a very basic level. But because the online advertising market is still in its infancy, you can’t assume that you’re going to receive quality SEO services from any given company. Instead, you have to hire a company and wait and see if you eventually get your desired results.
This leads many small business owners to experiment with multiple SEO companies. If the first campaign isn’t working, why not add a second one? The “all hands on deck” approach is certainly understandable for business owners and service providers who are accustomed to completing large-scale jobs on a tight deadline—but in the world of Internet marketing, the fewer hands, the better. You have to decide which marketer will provide you with the best results and stay exclusively with them. However, since it’s not a matured market, you can’t just go with the lowest price and expect sufficient results. You actually have to do your research by talking to multiple companies about their services and seeing which one fits your marketing goals best. Honesty and a proven track record should be at the top of your list of traits to look for.

Honesty Is the Best Policy

While adding a second SEO company is a bad idea, it’s not the worst thing you could do. The worst thing you could do is to add a second company to your campaign without disclosing it to either party. We’ve seen this happen numerous times, and it always ends poorly for everyone involved, particularly the business owner. When SEO companies aren’t aware that another team is on the job, they’ll spend extra time and effort combating each other’s work without even knowing it. As we previously explained, each Internet marketer has their own unique plan, and they won’t be able to execute it if another marketer’s plan is inadvertently sabotaging it. That means your waiting period for leads and rankings will last even longer. Plus, if you hide one company from the other company, then they’ll both make mistakes with Google that could have otherwise been avoided. These missteps on Google’s territory will inevitably lead to serious depreciation of your web presence, which will take the better part of a year for you to restore.
Ultimately, with two SEO companies on your payroll, you’re spending twice as much for a greater headache.
So, if you’ve been working with a different Internet marketer for a while and you’re satisfied with their results, then please—please—don’t hire us, too. At the very least, don’t lie to us. On this point, we speak for all honest SEO teams.

6 Common SEO Practices That Will Get You in Trouble

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Day in and day out, we encounter small business owners who are completely misinformed about Google’s policies. In particular, there seems to be a lot of false information about the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of certain online advertising practices. We hate to see trusting business owners get in trouble with Google by making honest, albeit misinformed, mistakes. That’s we’re dedicating this post to highlighting popular online advertising behaviors that are sure to provoke Google’s retribution. Below, we’ve compiled a list of the most illegitimate SEO practices that are somehow still being used.

1. Using a fake address.

Google has street-view images of virtually every U.S. address in existence, so they’ll know immediately whether it’s really your business’s location. Moreover, you must be able to receive mail at the address you give, as Google will send you a postcard to verify your location. If there’s any question about your address, Google might even have someone drive by to check it out in person!

2. Creating multiple listings for the same company.

Some business owners try to market their company in every surrounding city to optimize their search traffic. Don’t ever do this. More than likely, Google will quickly recognize what you’re doing as spam, and your listings will be suspended. You may even be slapped with a longer-lasting penalty that will haunt you into the future.

3. Using shady back-links.

Sure, links from elsewhere to your own website are highly valuable as far as search engine optimization goes. But if those links aren’t authentic, or from relevant sites, then they won’t do anything to increase your website’s value. Plus, if Google catches you (which they likely will), your site will be suspended from search results. (J.C. Penney was caught with thousands of shady back-links in 2011. Click here to read the New York Times article with the full scoop.)

4. “Keyword stuffing.”

Have you ever seen a website jam-packed with what seems like every relevant keyword and nearby location imaginable? This is what’s known as keyword stuffing, and Google views it as spam. It’s obvious and easy for Google to spot, so don’t do it.

5. Using the same address for multiple, related companies.

Trying to double your traffic by creating two different company listings, both at the same address, will backfire. If you’re the owner of Bob’s Appliance at 123 Main Street, then you can’t also create a listing for Tom’s Appliance at 123 Main Street. This is grounds for suspension of both listings.

6. Publishing deceptive customer reviews.

That means you should never write reviews of your own company, nor should you pay others to write them. Google tracks the IP addresses of all incoming posts, and they’ll notice if there’s anything unnatural about the “who,” “where,” and “when” of customer reviews. If your reviews are questionable, your listing will probably be suspended.

You Can’t Outsmart Google

Unfortunately, many business owners hear rumors that they can find ways around Google’s guidelines, but the fact remains that Google will always be at least one step ahead. They have superior technology and an incredible amount of manpower, so it’s simply impossible to pull the wool over their eyes—at least, not for long. Your best bet is to study the rules and do your best SEO work without breaking them.
If you need clarification about any of the above points, don’t hesitate to contact a Prospect Genius representative today! We’re here to help.

Leverage Your Customer Feedback

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Customer Reviews Are Invaluable

When a customer gives you a glowing review of the work and service you provided, you’ll want to spread the word as much as possible. In doing so, you’ll let prospective customers know that one of their peers has already vouched for the quality of your company. This kind of exposure is invaluable to any business.

Reviews Lead to Better Rankings, Too

Now, more than ever, is a good time to start utilizing social media outlets and business directories for customer reviews. Since the major search engines’ algorithms are starting to weigh social content more and more heavily, they’ve actually begun crowd-sourcing data from customer reviews in their regular search results. For instance, if one of the query’s keywords appears in a customer review from a business’s Google+ Local listing, then that listing is likely to rank higher on the results page.

Think Before You DIY

Not surprisingly, there are quite a few online platforms that make it easy to advertise businesses and showcase reviews. Some of them include:

Facebook
Google+ Local
Yahoo! Local
HomeAdvisor (formerly ServiceMagic)
Yelp
Bing Places

At this point, you might be thinking that you could do all of this work yourself. After all, how hard could it be to gather your customer reviews and dump them into an account? Well, it’s a lot more complicated than it looks.

First of all, it’s important to remember that you should never use one of these platforms exclusively. It’s not a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket, anyway, but it’s also true that these platforms each have their downsides. For example:

Yelp uses very inconsistent review-filtering software to weed out “questionable” customer reviews. This often backfires on businesses with only a handful of reviews.
HomeAdvisor pools customer reviews from every business and highlights them on their site without attribution. This means your review could show up on another business’s listing, which would give all the credit for your stellar services directly to a competitor.
Google+ is notorious for “accidentally” deleting reviews from business accounts, and they frequently flip-flop on their review policies. You could be penalized for actively collecting reviews despite the fact that this practice was actually encouraged by Google+ not long ago.
Facebook often has apps and other features that work one day and malfunction the next. With Facebook, your account and reviews simply aren’t stable.

Plus, if you store all of your reviews on only one directory or social media outlet, then you could lose them for good if something ever goes wrong with your listing. Relying on several platforms instead of just one is an effective way to avoid these pitfalls.

Some ideas:

Store your reviews in a variety of places.
Start off with Facebook, as its partnership with Bing means that customer reviews and “Likes” will push your listing closer to the top of Bing’s results.
For the same reason, encourage customers to “Like” your Facebook page.
Once you have about 10 reviews on Facebook, move on to Google+ Local and store the next 10 there.
Then, use Bing Places, Yelp, Yahoo! Local, and so on.

Add a Feedback Feature Into the Mix

Asking customers to take a chunk out of their day to write a review of your business isn’t easy. They lead busy lives, and any free time is precious. If you’re going to request reviews from satisfied customers, the least you can do is make it as easy as possible for them.
That’s where an on-page feedback feature comes in. Let’s use ours as an example. When a customer goes to one of our clients’ LeadTrax™ sites and leaves a review, they won’t have to create an account or go through any of the rigmarole that usually comes with using an online business directory. They can simply rate their experience with our client, write a brief description of the services provided, and hit “Submit.” Done. And if that customer was so happy with our client’s services that they’d like to spread the word even further, we provide convenient links to our client’s Facebook and Google+ accounts, where their customer can copy and paste their review.
Here’s how our feedback feature looks:

Our favorite part of the feedback feature is that it only prompts customers to share their review on other sites when they give a positive rating:

If they claim a negative experience, they will just see a page that thanks them for their feedback:

Positive reviews will appear automatically on our clients’ sites as soon as they’re submitted, while negative reviews remain hidden. And with only satisfied customers being encouraged to share their reviews on other sites, our clients don’t have to worry quite as much about unhappy customers going to every corner of the Internet and sullying their good name.
If our feedback feature is something you’re interested in learning more about, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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