My best advice when it comes to the local directories trend? Do it yourself or give your listing chore to a local service provider.
During the past week several of my clients have been complaining about all the sales calls they’ve been getting regarding Google — up to five or six a day, they say. Sometimes, when there is a human on the other end of the line, exasperated business owners say they’re not interested and ask to be taken off the call list. That doesn’t seem to work. Instead the calls turn into robo calls, which just further irritates the business owners.
Based on research I’ve been doing today, it seems not all these calls are sales calls, and not all are generated by Google.
If your business is signed up for Google Maps or Google +Local, and somebody made a change regarding your basic business data, you might get a “courtesy” call from Google to verify the change. I put the word courtesy in quotes because the calls aren’t exactly user-friendly when they come from India by people with little grasp of English and no phone skills. Apparently, they just start asking questions about your business address, and it’s up you to inquire about their affiliation. As soon as people hear “Google Maps” or something similar, they usually hang up, which can result in your business being removed from the Google Local directory. You can sample two recordings of such telephone calls by going to my Links Page and clicking on the article titled: The Sound of Trouble Knocking – A Call from Google Places India by Mike Blumenthal. (Scroll down for a link to the recordings).
It is interesting that some of the commentators of that article thought the receptionist was rude. Not so, considering that most savvy business owners these days are instructing those who answer phones to hang up on callers asking for verification information of this sort. Why? Because unscrupulous scammers sometimes twist the ensuing conversations to send out phony invoices, claiming that a service was ordered. Then, if the invoice is not paid, such companies will repeatedly call with threats of collection action.
Legit or not, after being inundated with a torrent of such calls, staff and owners are fed up. Perhaps the companies behind the calls should get a clue. Selling people stuff by twisting their arms and pissing them off is out of style.
Sometimes a caller will insinuate they are authorized by Google to offer “free listings” and may even claim to guarantee first page placement. Beware of these third-party placement services. Any that guarantee first page placement are particularly suspect, since Google jealously guards the formula of the algorithms that result in placement.
An example of one such a company is 29Prime, which goes by several names, according to the 29Prime is a Scam blog. This business has only a C+ BBB rating yet claims to be authorized by Google to claim your listing. Ironically, Google give this company a great rating. The world’s top search engine with tremendous power to drive or kill a business, seems unable to sort the good from the bad. (See “An Imagined Conversation with Google about Reviews, 29Prime & Sock Puppets” by Mike Blumental.
The fact remains that claiming your listing on top Internet directories is crucial for generating business these days. As Phil Rozek, the expert behind Local Visibility System says: “For better or worse, being visible on (legitimate) directories is absolutely necessary for your local rankings, but it does take some finesse to keep from getting scammed. Of course, unless you close down your business and pull a Thoreau, there’s no way to avoid coming into contact with scam attempts in general.”
If you have time, you can do those listings yourself. Once you’ve gathered all your pictures and info, it will take from 1/2 hour to an hour per directory. Or, you can hire a reputable flesh and blood person in your community to provide that service for you. My best advice when it comes to hiring out local directory placement? Give your listing chore to a local service provider.
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