On Behalf of Small Business Owners: Stop Deceptive SEO Claims

I will never forget the day I bought the domain MindbrewCreative.com. It was a very proud moment for me, symbolizing the beginning of my now-reachable dream: I was starting my own small business. I even had the matching website to prove it.

But there was another milestone that occurred that day, or rather, later that evening…

I received my very first automated phone call, informing me that my SEO was sub-par, and could be boosted with just a few easy payments to a company that helps thousands of business owners just like me.

Having been in this industry for some time, I knew what was going on here. The problem is, most business owners – especially those hoping to succeed online – don’t.

They are deceived by companies who promise fast results and offer little to no explanation as to how they plan to make those results come to fruition. And it makes me very angry…

You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry!

If you are wondering how I know that these spammy calls and emails are working, I’d be glad to explain in the following breakdown:

• Every single small business owner I speak to knows the term “Search Engine Optimization” in one form or another, but has a completely skewed view of what it actually is and how one goes about it.
• About 75% of small business owners have an extremely negative view of SEO services and online marketing, as well as the people who advertise these tasks. This sentiment derives from either having paid for poor SEO services in the past, or having a colleague who was swindled in a similar way.
• Business owners creating an online presence for themselves for the first time, overall, have a very short grace period for high search ranking. They have been taught to believe that their site should be an immediate hit worldwide, and that having to wait a couple months for solid organic web traffic is completely unacceptable.

Does this sound like an environment in which legitimate online marketers and SEOs can prosper? No, it does not.

As many online marketing and web agencies already know, organic results take time to marinate. There are, of course, stories of brand new sites, services and products going instantly viral – but that is not the norm.

What is the norm? Well, many times the organic norm is a higher bounce rate at first, gradual visitor growth and engagement, and rising site rank within a few weeks, and then a few months time. After that, proper maintenance and SEO practices like active blogging can push the smallest company very high in their industry rankings.

No one has told small business owners this, and so they have come to expect instant results and record-breaking site engagement. It’s the reason they are open to this unfortunate deception – and the eventual frustration and disappointment – that comes with signing a contract with a company who uses cookie-cutter processes for a wide range of businesses.

So, on behalf of the single shop owners, the contractors, the restauranteurs, and all small business owners, I wanted to tell these scammers and liars to STOP IT.

STOP automated phone calls and emails. They interrupt our day.
STOP promising us a first page ranking, you can’t.
STOP emailing me asking, “is Mindbrew still open?” It is.
STOP using the same useless, outdated, and potentially harmful SEO tactics that can hurt the image of the businesses you pretend to serve.

And on a more personal note, STOP trying to sell a cheap-trick SEO plan to a company who openly advertises their own SEO services, it makes you look silly. For goodness sake, you even email Google…

Dear google.com,

I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories…*

*This really happened

If you think you are stuck in a rotten SEO contract, or want to know more about the way companies like Mindbrew Creative structure their client’s online marketing strategies, please feel free to contact me.