Newsletters – Page 2

Why You Can’t Trust This Warning From Google

Last Updated: January 3, 2019

Have you gotten a call from Google about your AdWords account? Did they tell you that your ads are displaying in other countries and costing you extra money?

You’re not alone. Google has been ramping up its AdWords sales efforts—and this means they’ve been aggressively targeting existing AdWords accounts and trying to upsell them.

To that end, they’ve been dialing the numbers on AdWords accounts and getting their foot in the door with this scare tactic: “Your account has the wrong settings and your ads are displaying in other countries…”

However, it’s just that—a scare tactic.

Keep reading to understand why you don’t need to be afraid.

It Is Google’s Own Default Setting

When you set up an AdWords campaign, Google offers several default settings that are likely to apply to a majority of campaigns. One such setting is that your ads display to people in your targeted geographic area AND to people outside your geographic area who are specifically searching for information about your location.

For example, if you’re an appliance repair business in Cleveland, your ads will display to anyone in the Cleveland area searching for appliance repair services. At the same time, if someone in Phoenix (nearly 2,000 miles away) specifically searches for “appliance repair company in Cleveland,” your ads will display to them, as well.

This Setting Does No Harm

When setting up our clients’ AdWords accounts, Prospect Genius typically decides to leave this default setting on for several practical reasons—primarily because it’s actually common for people outside of your geographic area to search for your services. Here’s what we mean:

Let’s say someone lives in San Francisco and wants to help their mother in Houston find a flooring contractor. Their elderly mother doesn’t have a computer, so they offer to do some online research on her behalf. Naturally, they start searching Google for “flooring company in Houston.” In a case like this, you’d want your Houston-area flooring company’s ads to appear in front of this individual, even though they’re located halfway across the country.

And, to reiterate, this only happens when the person outside of your targeted geographic area explicitly includes your location in their search. In other words, your Houston company’s ads wouldn’t constantly display to people in San Francisco (or Boston, or Tokyo)—your ads would only display when people specifically include “Houston” in their search terms.

You can see how this default setting is more or less nonthreatening. Someone outside your geographic area has to be actively seeking out products and/or services in your location in order to see your ads. And when people are searching Google in this pointed manner, you can assume they’re motivated buyers—so it won’t be a wasted click.

Further to the point: If this setting were truly a bad idea, then why would Google have it as the default setting in the first place?

It’s One Big Sales Tactic

Of course, Google is technically correct when they say people in other countries could be seeing your ads. However, this is a rare occurrence—and even when it does occur, it’s not necessarily a bad thing (as we explain above).

Instead, the real reason Google is calling AdWords account holders like you and “warning” you about this setting is that they want to get their foot in the door so they can upsell you on other AdWords services. Inciting fear and confusion is always an effective way to do this.

Unfortunately, by telling you that they just want to “fix” your campaign for you, Google representatives naturally gain your trust. This puts them in a prime position to make a sale.

Don’t Buy It!

So, bottom line? Don’t fall into the fear trap! This default setting is nothing to worry about, and your SEO provider didn’t make a mistake. Google just wants more of your money, plain and simple.

How to Minimize Your Damage From Google’s New Platform

Last Updated: September 14, 2018

Have you noticed a new type of sponsored result on Google’s search results pages? These ads are for Google’s new platform, Local Services, which Google designed to promote local service providers like plumbers, electricians, handymen, cleaners, locksmiths, and the like.

According to the official website, “Local Services ads help you connect with people who search on Google for the services you offer. Your ads will show up for customers in your area, so you can keep your calendar full.”

Sounds fair enough at first glance. But, wait—doesn’t this description sound familiar? That’s probably because it’s virtually identical to the purpose of any local online directory already in existence, like HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, Porch, Yelp, and so on. So, why does Google claim Local Services ads are here to “help you connect with people” when such platforms are already doing just that? We’re not buying it. Instead, we have a different theory as to what Google’s true motive is…

Money.

Keep reading to find out how the Local Services platform further advances Google’s pay-to-play model, and how this may hurt small businesses like yours. But don’t panic yet: We also offer up a handful of ways you can counteract the negative effects of Local Services and keep your business in the game.

Let’s jump in!

Is Local Services Just Another Money Grab?

We aren’t here to hurl accusations around. However, given Google’s track record of monetizing everything, it’s not a stretch to come to this conclusion. You see, Google wants to be the main hub for any and all online searches—basically, any internet experience whatsoever—so it’s not surprising that Google is trying to steal this coveted traffic away from other local directories.

We would never blame a company for trying to make more money. However, that’s not the full picture of what’s happening here. The Local Services platform doesn’t just benefit Google at the expense of local directories—it also hurts small, local businesses like yours in several ways.

How does it hurt you? Well, before we dive into that aspect of Local Services, you first have to understand how the platform functions.

How the Local Services Platform Works

Local Services functions like many other online business directories out there: If you decide to sign up as one of Google’s “service providers,” you’ll have your own profile where you add details about your business, including your service area, services offered, and hours of operation. You can also manage leads and communicate with potential customers via the platform.

Mainly, though, Local Services is yet another way for Google to get money from businesses. First, in order to get the status of “Google Guaranteed” (see image below), you have to go through a comprehensive background and reputation check, which can be a costly and time-consuming process. And then, of course, you have to pay every time you receive a lead through Local Services. And this brings us to the biggest issue…

Local Services Runs on Ads

Google uses the information in Local Services profiles to generate paid ads. When people search for home services, they’ll see sponsored results advertising specific local businesses at the top of the page, above the AdWords results.

Google ranks and displays Local Services ads in order based on the following criteria:

Proximity to potential customers
Number of positive customer reviews
Overall “score” (star rating) on Google
Responsiveness to messages on the platform
Whether they’re currently open or not
Number of complaints about the business

Here’s an example of a local search for “plumber”:

As you can see, Local Services ads are nothing flashy—they merely show your business name, star rating, location, phone number, and hours of operation. However, they dominate the top of the search results page, even overtaking AdWords placement. Needless to say, businesses with Local Services ads are going to get A LOT more leads via Google search. But here’s the kicker…

Favoring Big Companies Over Small Businesses

Now, between Local Services AND AdWords, nearly half the search results page is taken up by paid advertisements. This only fuels the common criticism that Google is digging its heels further and further into a pay-to-play model.

In this way, Local Services is just the latest in a long line of grievances that small business can levy against Google. This is yet another example of Google favoring big businesses and screwing over the little guy.

First of all, as we outlined above, Local Services further alienates small businesses with limited budgets by making it virtually impossible to rank unless you fork over a substantial amount of cash. Plus, you have to pay for every lead that comes in through your ad.

But it gets worse…

Tanking Your Website Traffic

Not only does Local Services’s pay-to-play model prevent you from competing with your bigger competitors, but it also directly hurts your website traffic because your site is not as visible in search results. As a result of lower traffic, your SEO authority takes a hit. Moreover, you’ll look at your low visitor numbers and assume something is wrong with your site, even though your site has nothing to do with the problem.

We’ve already seen this happen with many website owners. They notice their website traffic and incoming calls have plummeted—and immediately blame their SEO provider. In reality, these low numbers are merely an unfortunate symptom of Local Services gaining prominence and siphoning off potential local customers. However, the website owner doesn’t realize this, and they get angry and fire their SEO provider.

These feelings of anger, fear, and frustration are a completely valid response to what’s happening here. But quitting your current SEO program will only lead to catastrophe. If you stop SEO, you’ll have to start over with nothing, now facing even stronger headwinds than you did before.

Your Solution: Adapt and Act!

If you’re not angry right now, check your pulse. Google has a long history of pushing this pay-to-play model, which naturally favors big companies and stacks the deck against small businesses. This isn’t anything new, per se. It always feels like Google ignores any harm done to small businesses, as long as it keeps raking in cash.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the power to tackle this Goliath head on. What we can do, however, is find ways to work around it and minimize the damage. Thankfully, the local search landscape is changing, and Google isn’t the be-all and end-all that it used to be. There are many other platforms that, when leveraged to their maximum potential, can be extremely effective at generating leads. You just have to get creative.

Here are some strategies you should consider incorporating into your marketing plan:

Facebook Ads: Target ads to put yourself right in front of local customers on Facebook. This has proven to be a very powerful tool for many of the local business owners we work with.
Word of mouth: Ask your existing customers to spread the word about you. Have them leave reviews on Facebook, Google, and any other directories you use.
Branding & reputation management: Be more intentional in how you present your company. By carefully planning your brand (e.g. logo, slogan, uniforms, signage, etc.), you’ll generate more familiarity and recognition among your local community.
PPC: Yes, we did just spend the better part of an entire blog post complaining about Google’s pay-to-play model. However, complaining doesn’t change the fact that Google is the prevailing destination for local search. You can still avoid the pains and costs of Local Services, though, by opting for an intelligently planned AdWords campaign, instead. When your campaign is designed and monitored by a savvy marketing specialist, you’ll be able to keep click costs affordable and adhere to a modest budget.
SEO: Do the opposite of quitting your SEO campaign—invest in SEO even more! Let’s put it this way: If the local search pie has gotten smaller, you need to at least make sure your share of the pie doesn’t shrink any further.
Community apps: There are free mobile apps like Houzz and Nextdoor where you can promote yourself to local customers who need your services. These apps will help local homeowners find your business based on what kind of home improvement project they’re undertaking.

So, the bottom line: Even though Google has made the playing field even less fair, you still aren’t powerless. Use that anger you’re feeling and funnel it into other channels. As we said above, social media platforms like Facebook are super-effective alternatives. And don’t be afraid to go offline, either: There’s plenty of real-world marketing you can do in your local community through good ol’ fashioned word of mouth and networking.

Any questions? Give us a call or fill out the contact form to chat with one of our specialists!

Watch Out for This New Email Scam!

Last Updated: July 2, 2018

When you receive an email from an unknown sender, what’s the first thing you look at? Hopefully, it’s the email address itself. After all, why bother reading the contents of the email if you don’t even know who it’s from to begin with? The sender’s email address alone will tell you a lot about the email’s credibility and authenticity before you even read a word.
We wanted to bring this up because there’s a new batch of scam emails going around, and we want you to be aware of them. Keep reading for more details!

What the Scam Looks Like

As you know, email scams aren’t anything new. However, this time, they’re trying to target you with phony “SEO” tactics. In these emails, alleged “SEO” practitioners tell you that your website is “not in compliance with Google’s policies” (or language similar to this effect). Then, the sender asks you to click on a tool that will “scan” your website (but, wait a second–didn’t they already scan your site to determine you weren’t in line with Google’s policies in the first place…?)
After you click on this “scanning tool,” you’ll receive “results” saying your website requires specific improvements. This whole runaround functions as a way to get you in the door and scare you into purchasing shady “SEO” services that you truly don’t need.

How We Know It’s a Scam

Here’s a recent example of this type of scam. We had a client call us up, all concerned about an email they received from “harrySEO1@outlook.com.” This email followed the same exact path outlined above: It alerted our client that their website—which was built by Prospect Genius—wasn’t “in line with Google’s policies.” Then, when the client ran the scan, it told them they needed super-basic things like title tags and H1 headers.
These “results” immediately proved to be fake: As a matter of standard operating procedure, we *always* optimize a website with essential SEO elements like title tags, H1 headings, alt attributes, etc. So, for a “scan” to say those elements were missing is a complete lie.
Beyond that, we’re also constantly staying up to date with Google’s policy and algorithm updates so we can stay ahead of any major changes to SEO best practices. In other words, we are always in full compliance with Google’s latest guidelines.
The long and short of it: These emails are bunk because we can disprove them in a matter of seconds.

Be More Skeptical of Emails

But do you want to know what the real kicker is? Our client could have avoided all this trouble if they had simply paid attention to the sender’s email address in the first place. HarrySEO1@outlook.com? Really? It’s not even from a real business domain! It’s clearly just from someone’s personal email account. This should have been a red flag right from the jump.
Of course, it’s never your fault if you get deceived like this client did. Many scammers make a living by tricking unsuspecting individuals into buying things they don’t need. At the end of the day, most people are trusting and take others at their word. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s admirable!
However, with the internet being what it is, you do need to look at everything and everyone online with a little more scrutiny. The internet makes it all too easy for anyone to pretend to be someone they’re not. Protect yourself first and foremost.

We Can Help You Verify These Emails

If you do receive an email that seems like it’s from a legitimate source (i.e. it’s from a real business domain and is well written) and you’re interested in looking into it further, we won’t stop you. In fact, feel free to click the “scan” tool, run the test, and ring us up with the results! Then, we can go over the results with you, item by item, and show you whether they’re accurate or not.
Whatever you decide to do, make sure you’re treating these emails with a healthy dose of skepticism and not just taking their statements at face value!

READ MORE: “Were You Offered a Free Website Audit? It’s Probably a Scam”

This Is the Most Convenient Way to Track Your Marketing Progress

Last Updated: May 11, 2018

Picture this: It’s Sunday afternoon, and you’re taking some time to mentally prepare for the workweek ahead. This gets you thinking about your online marketing campaign. How many jobs are you booking as a result of your campaign? Are you getting a good return on your investment?
Unfortunately, since it’s the weekend, the online marketing company you work with probably isn’t open—which means you won’t be able to call your campaign coordinator and ask about your campaign’s performance until some time tomorrow. However, you’re busy with appointments all week, so it’ll be difficult for you to find the time to call them.
How frustrating! All you want is to check up on your campaign and see how it’s performing. Just some statistics about calls, emails, and website traffic would suffice.
Well, did you know you can find all this information—and more—in the Prospect Genius Client Portal?

PG’s Client Portal Tells You Everything You Need to Know

Accessible through our website, the Client Portal provides you with several reports about your campaign so you can keep tabs on your performance trends. You can check out weekly and monthly statistics about incoming leads, and then compare those with your revenue from booked jobs to see how your ROI is looking. Plus, checking your reports often will help you detect dips in performance and enable us to get ahead of any issues that might crop up.
So, if you want to save yourself the hassle of playing “phone tag,” you have the freedom to check on your campaign whenever you like. All you have to do is log in to the Client Portal!

Below, we’ve outlined some of the most popular and helpful features, based on what our clients ask us about the most. They are: the call log, email log, website visitor summary, and PPC manager.

Call Log:

Here is where you can see all the incoming calls you’ve received via your campaign’s LeadTrax number. On your call log, you can:

View caller ID details so you don’t have to rely on a receptionist’s messages and so you can return calls at your own convenience.
View the exact date and time of each call.
Listen to the entirety of each call, no matter if the caller only left a voicemail or if they had a full conversation with a member of your team.
Download calls so you can revisit them any time you want. This is especially handy for training employees on customer service or examining disputes with customers.
“Rate” each call—in other words, categorize each call for your own records. There are many possible categories you can choose, including “Existing Customer,” “Opportunity,” “Scheduled Appointment,” “Booked Job,” and so on. This way, when you look back at your call log, you can instantly see the value of each call.

Email Log:

All of the emails in this log come straight from the contact form on your CoreSite. On your email log, you can:

View sender ID details so you can follow up with a phone call or email.
View the exact date and time of each email.
Read all of your messages on the same page. No extra clicking required!
“Rate” each message just as you would on your call log (see above).

Website Visitors:

When it comes to your monthly website visitors, you should pay less attention to the numbers themselves and more attention to the overall trend. Are your numbers remaining steady? Good. Are they gradually increasing? Even better. And if you notice a sudden drop in traffic, you can get in touch with your campaign coordinator right away and get to the bottom of it.
There are two reports you can look at to view your website traffic data:

Traffic Summary—See how your number of total website visitors is trending over time.
Monthly Unique Visitors—You may find this report even more useful, as it doesn’t contain any repeat visitors.

Please keep in mind: When looking at any monthly reports, you’ll be looking at incomplete data for the current month. For example, say you’re viewing your reports on May 11. Any data you see for May 2018 will be incomplete, as the month is only a third of the way through. So, bear this in mind and don’t be deceived by an unusually low number if it’s still early in the current month!

PPC Manager:

If you have PPC or Facebook Ads, you can view all the pertinent data right here in the Client Portal, too. For example, you can see your:

Monthly budget
Ad group(s) status
Daily and monthly spend data (per ad group)
Average ad position (per ad group)

These numbers will keep you current with your paid advertising campaigns. Business owners typically like to see where their ad dollars are going and how effective their ads are in general. These reports will give you that peace of mind and help you see whether you’re getting a good return on your paid ads.

Log in to the Client Portal Today!

The Client Portal is available to you at all times of the day and night. Simply go to the Prospect Genius website and click “Log In” at the top of the page.
If you’re a current client, you should already have a username set up. However, if you’re having any trouble logging in, please don’t hesitate to give us a call for help.
Check out your campaign details in the Client Portal today and let us know what you think!

Why Googling Yourself Won’t Tell You What You Need to Know

Last Updated: July 31, 2019

Finding out how you rank on Google should be pretty simple, right? It feels like a quick search for your business name is all you’d need to do. Unfortunately, Google makes this way more complicated than it has to be.
Although it’s perfectly logical for you to assume you can check your ranking just by googling yourself, that’s not the reality.

Keep reading to find out how googling your own company name doesn’t actually give you a clear picture of your site’s performance. We’ll also give you some tips on what you should look at, instead. So read on!

Google Personalizes Your Search Results

Why? Well, it all boils down to Google’s search algorithm.

You’ve probably heard about this elusive “algorithm” many times before—maybe even right here on this blog. The algorithm is a tool Google uses to provide each individual user with a personalized experience. In other words, it’s designed to provide you with the search results it believes you want to see. Often, this means you and your friends, relatives, and coworkers could all get different results for the same search terms.

How does Google customize your search experience? It does so by factoring in things like:

Your browser’s search history
Your search terms
Your browser’s IP address (i.e. your physical location)
Whether you’re logged into your Google account (thus sharing even more personal data)

So, right off the bat, you can see how a quick Google search won’t give you a clear, objective picture of what your ranking looks like.

But that’s not the only bad thing about googling yourself…

Clicks Skew Results

The practice of frequently googling your company name can actually become harmful to your business over time.

This is because Google also keeps track of what you click. (The purpose of this is so Google can learn your habits and deliver results it thinks you want to see.) So, if you continually search for your company name and don’t click on the results, Google will assume you don’t like those results, and it will eventually stop showing them to you.

The reverse is true, also: If you search for your company name and always click on your website in the results, you’re bound to see it appear in a higher position every time.

In other words, whether you click or don’t click, you’re driving your company’s placement up or down in your own individualized search results. This gives you a skewed perception of how your site is actually performing for other people.

Does Ranking Even Matter, Anyway?

It may seem like you’re stuck in a losing battle, but here’s the good news: Your website’s ranking doesn’t even matter!

[record scratch]

You read that correctly. Although it may seem reasonable to expect your ranking to be a solid indicator of how well your website is doing, there are many other data points that can tell you this with greater accuracy.

After all, your placement in search results is only relevant to a very narrow, specific set of conditions, as we outlined above. So, instead, you should be focusing on other metrics like:

Your overall website traffic
Website traffic trends (i.e. whether your visitor numbers are going up or down)
Sales funnels (i.e. the series of steps leading a potential customer to your site and then to take further action, like filling out a contact form or calling you directly)
Conversion rates (i.e. how many sales you’re making as compared to how many people are visiting your site)

Check out Google Analytics for all this info. It’s a free tool, so don’t hesitate!

Focus on Your Site Visitors

In simpler terms, you should be focusing on your website visitors, instead: Look at how they’re getting to your site and where they’re coming from. (After all, they could be coming from word of mouth, social media, local business directories, etc.)

Then, look at whether you’re doing a good job of turning those visitors into paying customers. These are the factors that actually have an impact on your bottom line.

Ranking is more or less irrelevant.

Prospect Genius