A Telemarketer called me and implied he was from Google. He said that my business was a top-rated business by Google. I asked how Google rates businesses, and he said by customer reviews, length of time in business, and web presence. I told him that I couldn't be a top rated company because I've only been open for 3 months and didn't have any customers yet! That stumped him a bit, but he continued to say that Google does this automatically and the good companies have a symbol next to their web listing. As we talked, I looked it up and there was no symbol. He explained that it was probably on another Google search site because they have many search engines. He went on for 20 minutes trying to tell me how what he could do was much better than being listed in the yellow pages because nobody uses the yellow pages anymore. I told him that I WAS advertising on Yellow Pages.com and then he admitted that he occassionally uses them too. He directed me to his web site to check out the various services his company offers and this is when I found out he was from Local Splash. I asked him where I could find prices on the web site and he said they didn't list the prices because everyone is different. I told him I didn't trust people who didn't post prices, but what WERE his prices? He told me that because I was a top-rated company, he could guarantee me first page placement on Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., in a 30 mile radius for $199 a month and a $99 set up fee! I'm paying less than that for an AD on YP.com for over a 100 mile radius! I told him I'd think about it and get back to him tomorrow. Then he talked to me like I was stupid for not grabbing this opportunity right now because he couldn't guantee that a first page spot would still be open tomorrow.
Absolutely everything this guy said was a lie! You can't pay to get listed on the front page of Google or any other search engine. If I was really a top-rated company with Google, I'd already be on the first page! SEO is very complex and no one can promise you results.
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