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…:)
Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful SEO Firm.
Related posts:
- Pay Per Click Marketing One of the most effective marketing tools you can utilize...
- Passed the Google Adwords Certification Exam! Late on December 30th, I finally got around to taking...
- Planning Your Affiliate Marketing Website There are two myths floating around that attract newcomers to...
- Top Ten Reasons to Use SEO Here is a list of top ten reasons why your...
- Converting Visitors to Customers with Conversion Optimization (Part 2) This is part 2 of a 2 part series. To...
what do you think justin, is this the next scam? Are Karlee, Jim, and Israel the same person?
I Do Free Press Releases´s last blog ..I book my private jet on my blackberry with Mobile Concierge deLuxe application!
I Do Press Releases and Justin,
AdzZoo isn’t a scam. You can visit the corporate website as well http://www.adzzoo.com. If you think its a scam then Google these keywords and you will see some businesses that are on the first page of Google (Omaha maid service, Dunwoody hair salon, Tarpon Springs Pizza) Heck you can call me to discuss. I have nothing to hide. I’ll even give you my cell phone number. 239 292 2499
Israel Emory
This is the only comment I’ll make about Adzzoo, and then I am not going to let further comments about the program go into this as I don’t want this to get off topic.
I have not done the research on Adzzoo that I have with LAL. However, on the surface it is the exact same program. LAL is a scam not only for the customer, but for those that promote it as well. Adzzoo might actually pay with valid checks, but they are still utilizing technology that is available through Google Adwords and claiming it as their own. There are these types of companies popping up everywhere now. Why? Because they can just piggy back off Google and not have to create any product or service on their own! The cash being given to the Sales Person on these types of programs isn’t coming out of the difference of operating/production costs or service/labor costs. This money is coming straight out of the business owner’s pocket and not going to their advertising PPC budget. They can setup an Adwords account in minutes and be up and running with all of their budget being spent on PPC!
Hey guys, I have been with LAL since December. Yes, there have been challenges, but to a small business who does not want mess with ad words or PPC, we do provide a valuable service. We are not an SEO, we are not a PPC, however we do use third party data.
Quit trying to prove what LAL is an see if for what we truly offer. We have had many Brand Builders mis represent us over the months and yes we have had some cash flow issues, but I continue to earn a decent earning from LAL and will continue to do so…….
[...] http://www.idowebmarketing.com/local-ad-link-review-its-a-scam-people-heres-why/ [...]
Just a little disclosure for both Justin and the readers of this blog. Both “Terry” and “Sherri” (you can see they are the same person by their icons) are actually the self proclaimed “Internet Entrepreneur” Mick Moore. He has a vested interest in LAL as you can see here:http://www.quickstartexpert.com/local-ad-link-information-page.html
This is not speculation,I happened to be in the room with him when he was writing the comments and ranting about ‘how this Justin guy was costing him money”
This guy is into all types of shady and deceptive stuff, from selling SEO “dirty tricks” books that are 10 years out of date and offer no real value, to throwing together budget movies which he insinuates are the “Sequel to THE SECRET”.
Just like LAL this guy is all smoke and mirrors. He makes a living by claiming he makes 100x more money then he does, then ask others to pay him to “mentor” them how…..it’s laughable.
So to those whom read this blog just know that the only response trying to save face for this scam is an insider whose livelihood depends on the truth not being revealed. He hides in the shadows hoping that the facts about his house of cards should never see the light…..WELLLLLL!!
Thanks for the info we use merchant circles free program and are very happy with the results. I will check out adzzoo as well
Thanks Justin!
I knew there was something fishy going on, just hadn’t worked out quite what. Everyone seems to be talking about it and it seemed strange when most of them knew nothing about internet marketing before!
Thanks for the info!
Karen
I joined LAL over 6 months ago to get my “AD” at half price. Prepaid for the year for my own business. Figured if it worked even a little I could make money selling ads and build a downline. I have not tried to sell ads or recruit downline, as I value my reputation. My ad for my business has brought me no business at all. No calls, nothing. Customer service is non-existent. No phone support at all and of 50+ email support requests only 3 were answered and those after more than 3 weeks and with canned responses about how they were working on it. I spend about $200/mo on my google adwords and it gets me about 5 calls a month and a couple of jobs (average job for me is about $700 in margin). LAL is a total rip-off. don’t believe the hype.
I joined local ad link about three weeks ago, and i can see what you all are saying.. ALL of you.. there are so many sides to a story sometimes its ridiculous. Now i have not been with the company long enough to know that its going to work, nor am i being a nay- sayer and saying its a scam. The truth is i didnt have to pay to become part of local ad link. There is a free ad package that allows you to become an ae(account exec) and start selling ads, you just cant recruit. Now i decided after reading all this(bashing of lal, and watching the hype videos) that i would test it myself.. Cuz after all this is why were here is we are trying to prove it to OURSELVES whether it works or not. I signed my first client for lal, just so happens that she is family. I am going to test LAL for the next month to two months to see what really happens. I am going to post results on how many customers her business got, and i am going to keep you all informed. I feel thats the only way to really prove to myself whether it works is to test it.. so thats what im going to do.. All i know is i am tired of working for other people. I would love to be part of a home business that works and if LAL works then im going to give it my all to make it.. im sure all of you feel the same way!
thanks.. and always keep that back wheel on the ground!
alex you shouldnt waste your time. i sold lal from feb 09 – may-09 and hustled a few hundred businesses into buying 6mnt or 1yr packages under the silver or gold plans all paid in advanced. i made over $70k and i also made a lot of people pissed off at me. none of them that ordered the 6mnt packages renewed nor will i ever recieve a residual commission from it. i made money quick and thats the end of it. do i feel bad? nope i dont i make eight times as much money doing short sales in real estate. at the time i was looking for something that would give me some passive income but seeing that the product is garbage no one is going to renew their subscription. at least i got new impreza wrx sti, a ton of after market performance mods, and some extra cash left over lol…..well back to negotiations with loss mitigation deps…damn i hate wachovia they really work hard to break my deals->
I have two bounced comission checks from them… out of 58 “Brand Builders” that were on my team NOT one is still working the business. NOTHING this comapny does works, the stats are all “created” by running the contectual ads thru their “shopping portal” which no one ever goes to, they DO NOT have any third party sites that was all lies, and I still know MANY people who have never got paid. STAY AWAY
[...] Am I Foolish For Waiting For A Non-Committal Man To Commit? | Evan Marc Katz Blog – Dating Coachplasticsfuture » Mac Backup Software HarmfulWhy I left StomperNetLocal Ad Link Review: It’s a Scam People! Here’s Why… | I Do Web Marke… [...]
This sums it up:
http://www.la.bbb.org/Business-Report/LocalAdLink-100079069
“Some complainants allege the company fails to pay commissions for signing up new businesses to the service. Other businesses complain that their website listing or ad has never appeared on the company’s site; they have not noticed any improvement in web ranking or aquired any new business…”
“Our experience with similar offers has been that earnings claims are exaggerated at best, affiliates are not paid as agreed, and in some cases the companies fail to disclose total costs involved for website development, or purchasing up-line positions. Although there are some legitimate multi-level sales companies, many similar companies engage in pyramid marketing tactics. Make sure you are aware of the differences….”
Most of you are better off promoting a service like my-local-leads or something where you so a straight sale and get residual commission. Forget local ad link there are too many bad things going on with this company. I hear more bad than I do good and other companies could use your talent they are just a major recruiting machine nothing more nothing less. There are some services out there a bit more expensive but you get a live person and you get help and attention.
I own a small business marketing cosmetics. The company I work for has an A+ rating from the BBB, but people try to destroy what I do every day with negative blogs and horrible lies. True, not all jobs or indi contractor jobs work out. Not all MLM’s work either. have you ever failed to deliver what you were hired for? Have you ever just sucked at your job?
I am an independent beauty consultant with Mary Kay, and all of this sounds like the negative crud that is all over about any alternative business plan that has a down line.
Oh, by the way, LAL’s BBB rating is a B-, make sure when you check the BBB, you look up the rating of the corporation and not of an independent representative!
@Kelly – what is a down line? Are you saying that the problem with LAL is that there are a few independent marketing folks that are using LAL to fleece their clients – giving LAL a bad name. There are plenty of comments on this post that suggest the problem is with LAL itself. But maybe it’s both.
I Do Free Press Releases´s last blog ..Pressmart Delivers Newspapers on Kindle and Sony eReader
I have an idea of MLM and most companies do not last long. It is easy and fast money for those who do it first. As to LAL…it is complicated. What is important is to be very careful.
It’s very simple to see the LAL and AdzZoo are MLM scams. I saw the AdzZoo presentation, and poked holes in the concept throughout the presentation. Like, why does the link on Google go to a landing page with AdzZoo branding all over it, and not the small business’ webpage? Like, how do you correlate clicks to sales? Like, how can you accurately figure any ROI from spending money on AdzZoo’s services when you can’t track clicks-to-sales? Like, why do I, as a professional sales person, have to pay you $300 to sell your product or to recruit a sales force? Here’s the rub. You’re not selling ads or SEO for AdzZoo. You are conning people in to coughing up $300, some of which you get, some of which those above you get, the rest goes to the owners of AdzZoo. If they can convince 10,000 people to sign up as their sales force, that’s $3,000,000 in income to be re-distributed among the owners and sales directors. Don’t be one who contributes money to a company for the right to sell their product. If you truly are a good and top sales professional, a company will offer you a signing bonus to work for them.
Wow it sounds likr some unscrupulous business hype from the adzoo and LAL company.
Typical 1 percent valuable and 99 percent useless
I feel compelled to interject here.
I believe you have misunderstood the positioning of AdzZoo and their sales reps. They aren’t claiming to do anything different than help manage, analyze and maintain your Google Ad Campaigns. Yes, any small business owner can do it themselves – but usually don’t have the time.
They can also hire me, a web consultant, to monitor their ad campaigns for them. And I used to do just that – now I can get them more effective marketing for their money, by letting AdzZoo manage their local marketing campaign, and spending my time on other marketing efforts.
The adzzoo.com domain name is included on the link – because it goes to an optimized landing page – not directly to the clients site – which is more effective in converting to sales when you are a retail or local business. It also helps with the relevancy of the link.
There are other reasons that AdzZoo is a good, reputable business model. (I have meet the founders and employees and have been to the corporate headquarters near Atlanta. They are real people and they are sincerely working hard to help their customers succeed.)
You may be a skeptic, or a been “burned” before, or have some other motive for ripping on a company without the facts, but it is very frustrating and seems irresponsible to me, who is simply trying to provide the best service for my clients.
Thanks for spending more time researching this topic, and retracting if you feel compelled.
See: http://www.adzzoo.com for more information.
Or call me personally and we can chat about it. 404-643-1280
- Kristin
KristinColier.com
I am very careful to join any programs, first I would Google it and read reviews and see proofs first. Thanks
Tinh´s last blog ..Christmas Contest: 5 One Theme V2.0 Giveaways with License for Life
In response to the “AdzZoo is a scam” poster – do your homework first BEFORE you give bias irresponsible comments on a company and its services you know nothing about. This does serious damage to a companies reputation, totally unfairly. In fact it is almost libelous.
Every “Like, why.. this” and “Like, why… that” you eloquently question is wrong.
Kristin Colier does a good job of putting you right, and I will add that most people do not know how to effectively prepare an AdWords campaign. Do it wrong and it will cost you much more than any commissions you might lose clicks to. In addition, AdzZoo has a very effective push campaign that gets a clients landing page links visible in many other areas than just Google. Much more bang for your buck.
AdzZoo landing pages are professionally optimized, a service that would cost a company many $thousands a month if they paid a company to optimize their site.
The AdzZoo landing page is the perfect portal to a companies web site. In most cases they don’t even need a website, the AdzZoo landing page is more than sufficient to do the job.
As for your comment “conning people to cough up $300″, that is a disgraceful comment. You do NOT have to pay $300 to become part of AdzZoo, you may simply join as a sales rep for just $14.99 a month.
I am a seasoned web developer since the early 90’s. Prior to AdzZoo, I have prepared hundreds of AdWords campaigns for clients, and SEO, and I can tell you without doubt that the AdzZoo service is more effective than anything an individual developer can achieve, if not for one simple reason. The AdzZoo servers process huge traffic which an individual cannot. This traffic has significant effect on the AdzZoo clients landing pages hosted on these servers giving them the best possible chance of high placed organic listings and ad network exposure.
In the past I have tried many so-called home businesses but never made a single dime, but with AdzZoo it’s a different story as you are presenting a product to a client that they actually NEED. It’s not a consumable, it’s an investment.
I joined AdzZoo only 4 weeks ago, I approached 7 existing web clients and 4 have signed up, the other 3 would like to but haven’t the available funds. A conversion rate like that is unheard of in any marketing genre. I owned a large direct marketing agency for 10 years dealing with blue-chip companies and anything over a 1.5% conversion was a resounding success.
One of my AdzZoo clients now holds 4 of the top 6 positions on Google for a generic search for their service. Top ppc, top map listing, 3rd position organic and it has even pulled their Craigslist ad to position 5. Simply amazing.
This is a REAL business that you can confidently sell the REAL product alone and receive worthwhile remuneration. The business opportunity behind it is simply a bonus that you can take or leave.
AdzZoo is NOT a scam, far far from it. It’s the best business model I have seen in my entire 40 years as a multi award-winning graphic designer and CEO of many major ad agencies. (If you think I am BS’ing you, contact me and i will send you my resume)
I am not on the board of AdzZoo and have nothing to gain from this post, it just angers me when people give bad press about a subject they know nothing about.
Peter Thorpe
I’m confused; I was offered a sales position with this company and was told I would need to pay them $14.95 a month for the privilege of working for myself. They will pay for nothing, stamps, ink, paper, gas, etc. The recruiter explained the money goes to the office for their paperwork. My instincts say run don’t walk away from this. However I’ve been unemployed now for 6 months and the phone is not ringing. I don’t seem to be needed anymore. If you have ever been unemployed you know the feeling, hope; maybe this will stop the foreclosure and I can put my family back together. I’ve always worked hard and made money for the man and let him take all the risks. To me it was the perfect symbiotic relationship. However these are different times; maybe it’s time you start working hard for you and you take the risks. I can’t afford to choose wrong. Shouldn’t they be paying me or at the very least help with the bills that a home office generates?
Lisa, any time you have to pay to have a job, you are likely to never see your money back. Yes, your instincts are correct to run don’t walk away.
I am not sure whether you are referring to LocalAdLink or Adzzoo. Either way, if you do manage to sell any ads for them, your clients will receive little or no traffic for their money.
According to Compete.com, in October 2009 LocalAdLink had 58,000 visits and Adzzoo had 40,987 visits. Those are very low numbers for national directories that list thousands of businesses.
As for Peter Thorpe, I want to know who your client is and the generic keywords when you claim, “One of my AdzZoo clients now holds 4 of the top 6 positions on Google for a generic search for their service.”
If Adzzoo is the real deal, it can show everyone how all its clients have high Google search positions as Thorpe’s Web site claims “We GUARANTEE first page Google sponsored links.”
OK Larry Stopa, first lets get this straight. AdzZoo is NOT a job, it is a BUSINESS. Would you expect to get a McDonald’s or Subway franchise for free? Of course not. Massive funds have been invested in AdzZoo to create a back-office that reps have full use of which would otherwise cost them hundreds of times their AdzZoo fees.
It is only fair that AdzZoo should recoup this cost.
As far as your comment “Clients will receive little or no traffic for their money.” Since when have you become an expert with insider information on AdzZoo’s customer’s statistics?
It’s this kind of bigoted, unfounded slander that causes misconceptions, falsehoods, delusions, distortions, myths and downright lies that get passed along from one person to the next.
This is hindering good hard working people from being their own boss and making a respectable living. This is what happens when you have people like you who don’t have a clue about the product or company. They are libelling and tell a bunch of other people who also don’t have a clue about it.
This has severe unfounded side effects that does serious damage to reputable companies such as AdzZoo.
In truth, if it cost tens of thousands of dollars to become reps for alike companies, people would take them more seriously and would put in the required effort to make them a success.
As a result, 95% of people who get involved fail firstly because they do not take it seriously because it costs so little, and secondly because they have absolutely no foundation in effective sales techniques or good business practices. It is these simple facts that cause such a high attrition rate, not the fault of the company. This helps give the industry an unjustified bad name.
For your information AdzZoo is one of only 157 companies in the US that holds a Google AdWords Qualified Company award. Does that spell scam? Do you think the multi-billion dollar empire that is Google would award a scam company. Admittedly the company you represent holds the same award, so is your company a scam? As for your quotation of Compete.com visitors, this does nothing to support your prowess as an internet guru as you purport to be. AdzZoo.com is the company’s information site, it has no bearing on the traffic generated for the of thousands of AdzZoo customers whose landing pages generate their own statistics, totally independent of AdzZoo.com. In general the AdzZoo domain generates tens of millions of visits.
Obviously from looking at your site as a rep for ePower Marketing, you are trying your best to dissuade people from joining AdzZoo as they are a direct competitor with a far greater road to success than you are happy to admit. Oh and if you want to quote statistics, your epowermark.com company achieved 844 visits with a 72.54% drop in visitors in the last month alone.
As for me and my quotations about my clients’ success, let everyone and anyone contact me direct and I will prove it, face-to-face. I am not going to publish the info here, as I do not want to cause wasted click-thrus for my clients just to propitiate you.
As for page one Google, I can supply anyone that wants to know links to thousands of AdzZoo customers that all appear on page one of Google… plus hundreds of other ad networks, social networks and more. A far greater coverage than ever can be achieved from just regular SEO.
As I said in my previous post, I have 35 years experience in marketing, and 20 years with the internet. There is NO WAY I would get involved in a scam company. I have had unprecedented success with AdzZoo and can mentor anyone with serious intent to achieve the same.
My advice to you is to get your facts right before you give spurious advice to people about something you nothing about.
Ok, I keep seeing all kinds of comment about the good, the bad, they ugle and if a business should cost and that jobs should not cost. When you are talking about a business, all businesses cost even a lemonade stand, a JOB is just over broke, companies pay you what they think your worth.. Think about that. Now there are many companies out there that there are scams. But the reality is that we can all find fault with something.. not all things work all of the time, but most things work most of the time. Just ask yourself this, when I had my heart broken, did I give up on love, because love doesn’t work? probably not because when you were 16 that probably happened to you and now that you are older you are more than likely in a relationship. And trust me you can not believe everything you read on the internet, the BBB is a membership based company, businesses must pay to be in there, if you don’t pay you don’t get their services and there are many fortune 500 companies that have complaint after complaint doesn’t mean they don’t work, ie Walmart being the largest with the most complaints.. buy they make millions upon millions.
If I want to be vindictive and add some nonsense about Justin or anyone on a comment board just like this there is nothing anyone can do about it.. So consider the source of bad press, is it a disgruntled person or are they a competitor, why do they feel that way. Bad news travels a lot faster than good news. I have no vested interest in either company, I am not in either industry, so I can be impartial, keeping all things equal each person must do their own research. Many people on this comment page have eluded to making money in home based business, some are good and some are not.And good for them if they are. Ask yourself do you like what they offer and do you see yourself buying or using it yourself and has it helped you? if the answer is yes who gives a rip about others points of views. Are they your best friend that all he does is sit on the couch and has no job, no money, nor any ambition or is it a successful Entrepeneur, or someone in that organization that has credibilty and is making money.
I highly recommend everyone have their own home based business, and yes do your due dilegence, not through trash talking but see who the people at the top are and what they have done. And do they do what they say. Their are better sources out there than the BBB and gossip rags like scam.com.. So have at it.. I love what I do and I enjoy the product and I have used it and will continue to use it.. Because I like to take vacations and pay less. Nothing more and nothing less.
GOD Bless
Peter Thorpe wrote:
>As far as your comment “Clients will receive little or no traffic for their money.” Since when have you become an expert with insider information on AdzZoo’s customer’s statistics?
> It’s this kind of bigoted, unfounded slander that causes misconceptions, falsehoods, delusions, distortions, myths and downright lies that get passed along from one person to the next.
My! You are being defensive!
> As for your quotation of Compete.com visitors, this does nothing to support your prowess as an internet guru as you purport to be. AdzZoo.com is the company’s information site, it has no bearing on the traffic generated for the of thousands of AdzZoo customers whose landing pages generate their own statistics, totally independent of AdzZoo.com.
Then what is the domain that your customers’ landing pages reside on?
> In general the AdzZoo domain generates tens of millions of visits.
That’s what LocalAdLink claimed as well. Compete.com says Adzzoo has a tiny fraction of those numbers .
> Obviously from looking at your site as a rep for ePower Marketing, you are trying your best to dissuade people from joining AdzZoo as they are a direct competitor with a far greater road to success than you are happy to admit.
We are not competitors. Not in the slightest. We have no overlapping markets or clientele.
As an experienced search engine marketing expert, I try to warn people when companies make search marketing claims that do not hold up to scrutiny. This thread contains my posts warning people about LocalAdLink. I was warning people of Internet marketing scams before I even heard of LocalAdLink.
Now Adzzoo is making many of the same claims as LocalAdLink. Your claims generated my interest in Adzzoo.
Lisa, being unemployed, left her vulnerable to hyped up false promises. This is similar to other stories on E-Power Marketing’s Blog. See LocalAdLink Scam is Collapsing. I felt a professional need to warn her.
> As for page one Google, I can supply anyone that wants to know links to thousands of AdzZoo customers that all appear on page one of Google… plus hundreds of other ad networks, social networks and more.
I want to know. Please supply them. Email me at larry@epowermark.com
> As I said in my previous post, I have 35 years experience in marketing, and 20 years with the internet.
Wow! You were on the Internet in 1989! That was really early. I did not know the Internet existed back then. What was it like?
SEO and Google management does not fit an MLM compensation model. This is true because MLM companies need to pay out usually the majority of the product or service price in order to pay the multi levels of commissions. That being said, legitimate SEM consultants typically get a 15%-20% management fee for managing Google Adwords for example. Also, there is cost transparency in the legitimate SEM management world. Not so with Adzzoo. Costs are hidden because the model was broken before if ever launched – crippled by the application of the MLM sales model that requires huge profit margins to operate.
Do these inescapable facts, Adzzoo, Local Ad Link, or any other MLM model that tries to do PPC management or Google marketing will fail to yield results that are even remotely comparable to hiring a legitimate SEM professional.
Stan K´s last blog ..Comment by
Well said Sally.
Stan talks about commissions. How does any rep work without commissions? If a company had to employ staff instead of reps the same money would go to staff and nobody would even question it. Do any of you have insurance?
Lets quote from About.com:
“So, depending on the type of insurance you choose, the commissions can vary. Although every company is different, on average life insurance agents make about a 30-50% commission on term life insurance and around 90-95% commission on whole life products.”
Why should other industries be any different?
Realize with AdzZoo there is a lot more to their services than just creating and AdWords campaign. I have created many AdWords campaigns for clients, and sure, they accept a commission, but you know very well there are many other charges that go along with it.
AdzZoo costs are not hidden, anyone can find them on the internet.
We have been contacted by a LAL reps to provide business to business appointment setting and lead generation services. After reading this I am very happy we did not engage.
all that weeping and gnashing of teeth………………….
does either adzzoo or epowermark provide — in black and white – a description of the results they WILL achieve and back it up with a written 100% money-back guarantee???
that picture should certainly be worth all the christmas cheer spilling over above
As a small business owner I would not recommend anyone to get sucked into an adzzoo campaign. I did pay for one month and what I got was absolute poor service. The only time you can actually talk to someone is hwen they are trying to sell you on signing up. The saleman was full of empty promises. My credit card got billed two days before it was supposed to. Then I waited for a contact from the service department. Never happened so I called the sales lady and requested to cancel. Ofcourse I got the run around, was told her manager would call back. After about two hours from this call I got an email saying my ad was up and running. It’s amazing what happens when you want to cancel. Anyway I took a look at my ad and their were mistakes all over the place. They even put that we worked on septic tanks when that was the one thing I told the sales lady we did not do. I attempted to get another refund of course through email because the IT and bosses don’ t have phones I guess. They replied saying they couldn’t because they already spent money on the ad placement. Hmmm that sounds like a pay per click. I even wrote back again and told them I would write on every site or review place I could find. I have already told every business owner i know not to use addzoo. I’ll get my $350 bucks back in helping others not get suckered by these guys. If you are someone thinking of signing up to work with these guys, I imaging the initial product is appealing enough to sell but there won’t be much residual income from renewals that I’m sure they are promising all new comers.
Greg M wrote:
> all that weeping and gnashing of teeth………………….
> does either adzzoo or epowermark provide — in black and white – a description of the results they WILL achieve and back it up with a written 100% money-back guarantee???
Greg sure sounds angry.
E-Power Marketing does not offer a “written 100% money-back guarantee.” What would you want guaranteed? First page Google ad positions?
In search engine marketing, a “written 100% money-back guarantee” is more often than not a tool to scam the uninitiated.
LocalAdLink did offer a “written 100% money-back guarantee.” However it was written so that dissatisfied customers never received their money back. LocalAdLink advertisers would have first page ad positions once in a while, but not consistently as the PPC budget would run out and the ads would stop.
Adzzoo offers a “Guaranteed First Page Placement or your Money Back.” That is not as meaningful as that sounds. How often will that “First Page Placement” appear? Adzzoo guarantees that the “average placement for relevant Google searches will be on the first page of Google search results” with the caveat that “Links will not appear on every search. Placement will be determined by Google monthly reports.” Google monthly reports show the average ad position whenever the ad appears. Google reports do not consider how many relevant searches where the ad did not appear in computing average ad positions. Adzzoo does not guarantee how often the ad will appear.
Reference:
http://adzzoosolutions.wordpress.com/adzzoo%E2%80%99s-guarantee/
Effective search engine marketing requires efficient and effective use of budget and resources to maximize return on investment. You select keywords, measure response, then adjust keywords and bids to maximize return based on program measurement. If the budget is too low to support top ad positions, you can generate more traffic by bidding lower. A “Guaranteed First Page Placement or your Money Back” would not cover truly effective search engine marketing for small budget Google AdWords programs.
E-Power Marketing has happy clients because we provide measurable results of traffic and sales generated. Our clients have full access to reports and know the results. We don’t resort to gimmicks.
How come Kevin can’t get his refund from Adzzoo?
Thanks for a great article.. I just advised a client to not use adzzoo for these very reasons. I already developed their website which has been 1st page google for months now. They were interested in PPC placement but no nothing about the process, and were about to sign an adzzoo contract, until I discussed the disadvantages with them today.
Seriously, if anyone is considering this it is far better to spend the money on a simple website that is SEO out the box, and then setup a simple google adwords campaign with a small daily budget. As long as your keywords, and advert are specific to your business, and the daily limit is set you shouldn’t over spend. Then you can refine your SEM marketing from there.
Adzzoo seems to be highly promoted on the web due to their high payout commissions structure. This is VERY misleading for not web savvy individuals, and businesses.
I dislike crap like this.
Good luck with your marketing efforts.. J.
Justin JDOG Marks´s last blog ..Facebook Deleted Me – WTF!
Well, I don’t really think this will work. I have heard a lot of negative things about LAL that’s why I’m afraid to try it.