Guaranteed #1 on Adwords for a Fixed Monthly Fee? Yeah right.
People sometimes ask me about companies that guarantee a number one spot on Adwords for a fixed monthly fee.
These guys usually cold call, and one of them called one of my clients.
Here’s his question about it and my answer…
Hi George,
Hope you are well.
Wonder if you could help me with the following…
I’ve been contacted by a company called www.xxxxxxxxxxxx.co.uk They are offering – always on page one on Google Adwords and unlimited clicks for £99 per month. Have you heard of this? Do you know if it’s genuine? What do you think of it?
Thanks
Kevin
Here’s my response:
Hi Kevin,
Yeah, there’s loads and loads of companies like these about. They usually cold call small businesses, offer a deal like this and refer them to a website similar to the one you mentioned. A few of my clients come to me after dealing with guys like these.
It’s genuine-ish (as in – ‘not illegal’). I knew a guy who sold for these kinds of firms, and here’s roughly how it works:
- You sign a 6-12 month contract commiting to a monthly fee.
- They set up a new Adwords account that you cannot access, where they set up your ads and keywords etc.
- You only see reports or at best, access your data through their (limited) interface.
- “Unlimited” clicks is quite misleading. For £99 per month, they’ll only accept low traffic keywords that won’t cost anywhere near £99/month to run on Adwords. Probably more like £20-£50, and they keep the difference.
- If a keyword was getting more clicks than they predicted, (and they were set to lose money or break even) there are a few tricks that can be employed. Such as running some “creative” ad scheduling or reducing geographic targeting to a tiny area. This will give the appearance of “page 1, unlimited clicks” but will keep their margins healthy.
My opinion of this kind of service is quite low. It plays on the business owners lack of knowledge on the subject – detaching them from the use, control and intellectual property of their Adwords campaigns.
Just my opinion though from what I’ve heard.
Oh, one more thing… If you want to mess with them, get them to agree to “unlimited clicks” for £99/month, then tell them your keywords are “debt management”, “secured loans”, “IVA”, “personal injury” and “injury lawyers”. They’re all going for £10-£20 a click these days.
If you can genuinely get unlimited clicks on the above keywords for £99 a month, send them my way and I’ll be retired in the Bahamas by Christmas
Cheers,
George Lane
Posted via email from George Lane’s Findings and Ramblings
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I was a sales rep for one such company – [name removed by George] and what you have written above is only the tip of the iceberg. I left because I got sick of being told to lie to the customers and say anything to them to get them to pay.
[company name removed by George], based in Altrincham in the UK, are a company who offer such a 1st page Google ad (and lots of new business)I got conned. Cancelled within a month, yet they still took money from my account, and the amount of money stolen from my account increased month on month. But thankfully I got two payments charged back. Now they are claiming to send a debt collector (with an added 200% interest charge) to collect the money I charged back. I never saw my name on the first page of google. I called and emailed [company name removed by George] but got fobbed off over and over, even telling that they were moving office so couldn’t deal with me. It was very frustrating. But I informed them that I was cancelling the payment and passed on all the info to my Credit Card company. Now they threaten me with debt collection? After ripping me off? Yet they can never answer any of the questions I raise. I’d like to know who authorised them to take three times the amount we agreed on, because it most certainly was not me and I have an email where there was an agreement to a certain figure per key phraseper month. Be wary. I’ve learned my lesson, yet can’t believe I got suckered. [name removed] are scum.
Hi Phil and Anonymous,
Thanks for your comments. I knew there was a rough end of the PPC management industry, but I’m shocked by what I’ve read here.
I’d suggest your first port-of-call to be your local Trading Standards office. I’ve spoken to my local office a few times and they’ve always been helpful, knowledgeable and fair.
I’m sorry I can’t publish the names the the companies’ on this site – I simply don’t have the time or resources to defend any legal actions that may arise from their publication.
That said, I’m still on your side – and if you want to post any more comments, I’d love to publish them. Just avoid naming names.
If you do want an open forum – and someone with the time, expertise and resources to expose these sharp practices – http://www.SaltyDroid.info may be able to help you. (Although the site deals with US companies most of the time.)
All the best,
-George