I admit, I do have a penchant for programs such as Cowboy Builders, Fake Britain and my personal favourite, Don’t get Done, get Dom. It is eye opening as to the lengths people will go to obtain money by doing the minimum of work or alternatively, engaging in work that they know little or nothing about.
Upsetting
I’ve shed a tear watching episodes where families have saved up for years to have an extra bedroom built for an ailing relative only for the builder to get a large up front payment of thousands of pounds, deliver three bags of sand to site and then disappear for good.
I’ve cringed watching dentists purchasing top of the range dental equipment only to find the equipment is fake and can potentially harm both the user and the patient. A classic case of not getting what you’re paying for.
I’ve gasped with incredulity as people receive monstrous mobile phone bills for mobile phones they haven’t got or ever had. A classic case of paying for what you haven’t got/had.
It is very upsetting for people who have been on the end of such bad experiences and also for us, the viewers who can hardly believe that the people we trust with our money can rip us off. Obviously these programs make us aware of these fakers and hopefully we can be more savvy when we are looking for services and products ourselves.
Are You Being Ripped off?
The good thing that’s come out of these programs is that we, the public, will not tolerate being misled, ripped off and misinformed.
Or will we? There are literally thousands of people and businesses getting ripped off to the tune of thousands and even tens of thousands of pounds every month and seemingly are quite happy to be in that situation. It also appears that they are unwilling to accept advice from professionals advising them that they may just as well put all their cash in a pile and throw a match on it.
Shock horror! What industry can I be talking about? Corporate banking? The Investment Industry? Local Government? Nope. Your way…..way out. Lets talk about the industry that every businessman thinks they know all about. Online Marketing or more accurately, SEO.
Not That Old Chestnut
Yep, SEO. Strange how we allow ourselves to be ripped off by people and organisations that promise to get our business on page one, position one of Google, guaranteed. Strange how we defend the very organisations that have got us our Google Penalty because they have told us “It isn’t our fault”. Strange how we will pay them even more money to try and get the penalty revoked that they caused in the first place.
Perhaps more frightening to organisations such as ours, DP Online Marketing, is the fact that these “experts” show no sign of doing it right. My esteemed colleague Brett recently attended The Search Marketing Expo (SMX) at Chelsea Football Ground and was surrounded by a herd of online marketing bods discussing the merits of buying backlinks. I mean come on, experts? I don’t think so.
Buy Backlinks and Fail
We come across this often, agencies that bought backlinks for their customers were smug when rankings increased along with their earning potential. The smile dropped when Google told the world that backlinks should be natural and not bought thereby giving whoever is searching a more pleasurable and relevant experience. The smile then got wiped totally when Google started to apply penalties and clients began to dwindle.
The thing is, buying links was always the easiest way to get a business ranked for product or services in the past with very little effort by the SEO agency. So, it was easy money. In fact, it was VERY easy money. But times have changed, there is more skill, effort and hard work required to both increase ranking position and achieve it within Google’s Guidelines. Unfortunately the old school of SEO agencies haven’t changed and within the next few years will be as visible as a dinosaur. The downside is though, that their customers businesses will disappear with them. In a nutshell, move with the times or disappear.
Don’t Get Hoodwinked
What I’m saying here is don’t get hoodwinked by online marketing agencies; much the same as don’t engage a cowboy builder or buy inferior copies of just about anything. You can and will lose thousands of pounds.
Bugger! Just realised I’m at the dentists tomorrow, hope he’s in a good mood.
