Archive for April, 2009

26
Apr
by Justin McGillNo Comments »

My Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-04-26

20
Apr
by Justin McGill129 Comments »

Local Ad Link Review: It’s a Scam People! Here’s Why…

I am sure my stance on this Local Ad Link (LAL) “opportunity” is going to raise some havoc with some of my followers that might be true believers in this program. However, this is a subject I have been wanting to touch on for awhile. Bear with me, as I plan on going through each positive spin of Local Ad Link and completely debunking everything they have to offer. I have been approached, as well have a couple of my clients, on not only using Local Ad Link, but selling it. Being the skeptical, analytical person that I am, I decided to do some deep research on how this program works.

I will admit, I would love to build my referral program to be as big as the sales force team that has hit the streets for Local Ad Link. However, at the end of the day, I would rather have my integrity in tact. (Shameless plug: If you’re interested in selling something legitimate with long term commissions, contact me:) )

Right out of the gate here, let’s get some facts straight. The BBB has LocalAdLink with a “D” rating. Please visit the BBB for more information on why they have this rated where they do.
EDIT – THIS GRADE WILL OFTEN FLUCTUATE BETWEEN A “D” AND AN “F”.

Secondly, for all of you Bob McNulty (CEO of Local Ad Link) fans out there, lets look at his history: Read This Article

He’s an entrepreneur, who has been involved in some big things. People tend to stop there and listen to only what they want to hear. The facts are facts, and he isn’t as great as it may seem. Especially considering he was asked to resign his position, and worked an agreement to actually get more money as a contractor than what he was making as an employee. This should give you some insight into the “person”. If not, then continue on being a bad judge of character:) I have also heard that there are 15 brand builders that get in on special phone calls with the man himself. When that phone call is done, don’t think for a minute that there isn’t another round of special branders that get a phone call. He knows how to create buzz and build a fan base, I will give him that.

Okay, now that we’ve kind of gotten those overviews out of the way. I want to delve into their “robust” system and how the operation works.

Most LAL salespeople will discuss the geo-targeting system that truly targets a local area. They will also go on and on about the 2 million + websites that partner with Local Ad Link. For anyone that has any idea of how Google Adwords and Pay Per Click functions, you will see that this isn’t a Local Ad Link system at all. Instead, they just piggy back Google’s Adwords technology and claim it as their own. Adwords can be defined based on geo targeting. Also, the 2 million partners that Local Ad Link has, are not THEIR partners. They are Google’s partners and any website that displays Adsense. If I go and create a little sales page website, add some Adsense, I am now a partner of Local Ad Link! Mr. McNulty has claimed an agreement is in place with Google. Nowhere can any details of such an agreement be found. LAL is taking Google’s technology and practically branding it as their own. I certainly foresee a major issue from Google’s standpoint in the near future.

Another benefit that is often described is the ability to add your company to their directory. There are literally thousands of directories out there. You’ll actually gain more search engine ranking benefit from having a listing in DMOZ. It’s also been argued that you can get more favorable results in Yahoo’s search rankings with a listing in their directory ($250/year), though I am skeptical of that. That’s a story for another time. You can also add coupons to a listing on Google Maps. When it comes to adding videos and what not, that’s great…but why wouldn’t you put that video on your website, or even on YouTube? A video on youtube will be found much easier than if it’s in the LAL directory.

To me, the worst part about this system, is that the customers are paying for LAL’s traffic. Yes, when the pay per click campaign is set up, they are not linked to the customer website. Instead, they are linked to their directory listing on LAL. So now you require two clicks to get to your website. This leads to another problem; Google’s Quality Score (QS). This is assigned based on how well your PPC ad matches to the content of your website. Since the ad text is compared to the directory listing, this doesn’t leave much room for ad variance or optimization.

The technology behind LAL is simply an ad rotating mechanism. This rotates customer ads so they aren’t being displayed at the same time if there are competitors. This is why they won’t guarantee how often your ad is displayed. They’re system simply makes sure that two ads for the same keyword aren’t displayed at the same time. Hardly “robust”.

If LAL came out and said they were essentially a PPC management company, then I really would not have a problem with the way they do business. You can attribute the MLM commissions to a campaign management fee. The way it’s hidden, and the way that sales people are armed with all sorts of different information, is what bothers me. You can ask 5 different LAL sales people how the process works, and you’ll get 5 different answers. In the end, LAL just takes advantage of business owners that do not know PPC. Why should a business spend $200 towards LAL, and only receive approximately $50 worth of clicks (clicks to LAL’s directory no less) when they can pay $200 towards Google Adwords and get $200 worth to their own website? That’s really what it boils down to. In my opinion, those that support Local Ad Link simply just don’t understand how the process works.

There’s my rant, I’ll step off the soapbox now…:)

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gravatar Local Ad Link Review: Its a Scam People! Heres Why... Scam Review pay per click LocalAdLink Local Ad Link Adwords Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.
19
Apr
by Justin McGill2 Comments »

My Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-04-19

  • Have been networking locally and building some great referral business partners. #
12
Apr
by Justin McGillNo Comments »

My Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-04-12

  • At Paradise Bakery with Andrew Heller discussing the 808 Energy Drink. First energy drink with spirits. http://www.feelthe808.com #
05
Apr
by Justin McGill1 Comment »

My Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-04-05