About 3 weeks ago I was on the phone with a prospective SEM and SEO client. They’re currently working with another agency for both their SEO and their pay-per-click marketing, and they were very frustrated by what they were receiving in return. I asked the usual questions: “what is your monthly investment”, “how long have you been doing this”, “what kind of results are you seeing”, etc? What I was told shocked me.
This prospective client has been working with an agency partner for the last 12 months, and in that time they have paid them tens of thousands of dollars to market their services. Aside from the obvious problem relating to the lack of results, this company told me that they had never seen a single monthly report, and had never even been told which keyword phrases were being used on their behalf. In short, they were paying thousands of dollars each month and were completely blind as to how their investment was being allocated.
I wish I could say that experiences like these are isolated, but the truth is that we hear this all the time. There are a lot of shady companies advertising their services on the internet, and if your marketing partners are not sharing reporting data with you, then they’re clearly hiding something. At the very least your company should be receiving reports each month telling you what keyword phrases are being used, and where they are ranking on Google. Anything short of that, and you’re being taken advantage of.
It can be difficult to ascertain which companies are white-hat and which are not, but a clue can often be found in how long a company has been in business. If the company hasn’t been around long, it doesn’t mean that they’re shady, but you don’t have the benefit of longevity to rely upon. DanMatt Media has been around for a full 21 years, and you don’t stay in business 21 years and counting if you’re not taking care of your customers. If you’re looking for great online marketing services, and a company you can trust, give us a call or send us a website inquiry. We’re here to help!