Why do most Local Directories turn around and lie and try to steal your clients?

[RobertFisher]

OK, it'ssssssss RANT TIME!

I am quite accustom to clients sending me emails they have received stating how their site is not optimized and the spammer can get the site ranked number one on Google. They all have @Gmail.com so I am assuming that is a very large SEO firm. Occasionally I send them an email from an anonymous account asking about their site and phone number and they have neither due to exigent circumstances (I assume prison left them broke). But, I am ready to declare war on some local directories!

I have now had several clients call me regarding inquiries they received within minutes or days of local.com or merchant circle or SuperPages etc. having us post a listing for the client. Ten minutes ago, I get a call from a pleasant young fellow who introduced himself as being from Web.com. As he began to talk (or read) he stopped all of a sudden and said, "Oh, I see you do most of what we do....." I stated hold on a minute, now who are you with?" It finally came out that my local specialist had listed our company or changed our company with them a few days ago and they were calling to tell me how unoptimized we were." NOTE: I am always pleasant to the caller as they are just doing a job. I said, understand that what I am going to say is not about you, but about your company.

I sign up multiple clients with you which helps your business and you run around behind my back and tell them I did not do a good job and you can help them. They just need to leave me.

He responded, "Sir, we never recommend anyone leave a company." I said, I am sure you don't. In the end he stated that it probably was not a best practice to mess with people who bring your site business.

So, here is the question: Why do we put up with this crap?!?!?! When are we going to say: If you have a directory, be a directory and not a cover for a web sales firm?

Why don't we start a couple of directories that are exclusive to those who can answer basic SEO questions and have an email address with the same domain as their marketing web site. Why do we keep letting these clowns do this? Imagine, having built my wife a site, she comes in at the end of the day and says: "I got this call from these people who said the site was not optimized correctly and we are not ranking in Google?" That was Local.com, I believe.

My favorite was the rep who called and the more I questioned the SEO and ranking knowledge they were professing, she said: "I think I should let you speak to our Google expert." I said, Great. Three minutes later she returned to tell me he had gone to lunch and would call me back." I am still waiting.

Hope I hear from a few of you, sorry for the long rant. I do feel better now though

[MiriamEllis]

Great, Robert! I'm glad my comment was useful in this way and I hope putting it in writing will at least give you the peace of mind that you are offering written guidance to the clients on this. Your care for their welfare is evident and I applaud that!

[RobertFisher]

Miriam, 
We do a lot in terms of communicating with our clients in writing (probably my nursing background coupled with being bitten by not doing it). You really said something I like here:

_This is what I do. At the time that I am setting up my clients' listings, I tell the client, in writing, that they are likely to be contacted by these companies offering additional paid services. I tell them that they are not obliged to purchase any of these services and that we do not recommend these services. I also tell them that they are welcome to forward any marketing offers to me. I am explicit about this at the time we are doing the work and if the client forgets, I simply keep repeating the same message over and over to them. It's just part of the job, I guess. Some clients eventually get it, others don't. _

I am going to put something in writing today regarding this.  We tell our clients everything about the processes we use for them and what we expect of them and they should expect of us. This is good on telling them what to expect from others.

Good Job.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Robert, I hear you on this: "The difference here is that people in business are good at the business they are in. They do not have time to go out and learn SEO/SEM. They trust the person who seems to know and they hope they have not misplaced the trust." This is so true. I have been working with SMBs for about a decade now, and unfortunately, too many of them have come to me with a sad story of being rooked. The SMB is the busiest man or woman alive, and too often, they simply don't know what to look for to discern whether they are talking to someone who will help them or scam them. This has always been a facet of SEO and it has very much become part of Local. Hate to see this happen. Regarding all of the marketing being aimed at your clients by directories - I know just what you mean. This is what I do. At the time that I am setting up my clients' listings, I tell the client, in writing, that they are likely to be contacted by these companies offering additional paid services. I tell them that they are not obliged to purchase any of these services and that we do not recommend these services. I also tell them that they are welcome to forward any marketing offers to me. I am explicit about this at the time we are doing the work and if the client forgets, I simply keep repeating the same message over and over to them. It's just part of the job, I guess. Some clients eventually get it, others don't. One of our oldest clients still sends me emails from the most ridiculous sources offering to do the most ridiculous things for them. It's obnoxious, yes, but I'm glad the client is at least well-trained not to make a move without consulting me first. That's the kind of trust it takes time to build and of which one can be proud. I enjoyed reading your rant. Hang in there. You are not alone! Miriam

[RobertFisher]

Yep, the good news for me is once i say it, its on to the next mountain to climb. So, climbing away. Thanks Doug,

[RobertFisher]

I agree with your last sentence. My question would be: Is it then incumbent on those of us who are knowledgeable to teach as much as we can to business owners, etc. so that they at least have a better opportunity to make the right decision? 
Don't know if you saw the issues over the last couple of days with Bruce Clay and the PaidLocalInclusion.com, but because good SEO's scratched their heads and started posting info and questions, that site went down in less than 24 hours.
Hey, its like with kids, you have to realize they are going to skin their knees and get scammed from time to time, but if you give them enough info you may way mitigate some of the injuries.
Best to you,

[josh-riley]

Shrug - if someone falls for bad advice, they fall for it. Call it a scam or a bad business decision but the outcome can be similar. You don't have to know everything about everything but if you don't know enough then you risk the outcome.

[DougRoberts]

Hi Robert, hope the blood-pressure is under control! Totally understand your frustrations though. It's these kind of tactics that give the respectable/ethical businesses a bad name. I don't know how many times I've had to explain that SEO != SPAM!

What can we do about it? Well, the only thing we can do is educate out clients before it happens, so that they know and expect to get these types of advances once their sites are published in such directories.

Even if there was a directory for use by "ethical seos" it would still be publicly accessible and available to the less reputable end of the industry to scrape and abuse!

[RobertFisher]

That is the beauty Rob, they cannot convert our clients. Good point.

[RobertFisher]

Thanks Andrea

I understand that with the Nigerian scams, etc. The difference here is that people in business are good at the business they are in. They do not have time to go out and learn SEO/SEM. They trust the person who seems to know and they hope they have not misplaced the trust. 
My issue is two fold: One, that these directory people do not know what they are talking about re SEO (yes, IMO) and they are trying to sell it by bringing in Johnny phone rep to bang the phone.

The second issue is that if you have an agency that does what we do and insures that the local listings are there for the client, etc. and we make sure the client is on you directory, make sure you don't call the client.

Frankly, all of us on Moz say that these directories are important and we have a whole list of them with their ranking value. http://www.seomoz.org/directories/local

I have even referred others to this list. I do not think it is the fault of the business if they  are not highly funded and are trying to do the best they can and SEO takes longer than other things sometimes to produce a result. They then go ohhh, this person says they can rank me first in Google.

I have never lost a client to any of these clowns and that is not the issue. I just think the client deserves better and so do we as an agency.

[anjonr]

O Man I enjoyed this rant! I have encountered this problem many times and it really sucks. If a client is particularly curious I offer my services to three way call the rascals!! They never have much to add and have left me waiting for many "Experts", "Google Insiders", and the like

[dogflog]

Wait a minute. That Prince isn't sending me any money?

...

These directories need to find a way to monetize, there are too damn many of them!

[RobMay]

I personally love hearing from clients on things like this. They trust you enough to contact you and say "hey, we got this email, but it isn't making sense... looking over our ranking reports and based on our sites perforamance we are doing well in Google (or any other engine).... )

If your clients have been working with you for some time, you have built up that trust with them based on work, results, repore etc.. I wouldn't worry too much about these trolling directories..

If your clients do in fact believe what they read through random spam emails, then it's probably better to let them go.. it'll be less of a headache in the end

Nice rant tho! Makes total sense to get annoyed.

[RobMay]

Too funny, but also totally true!

[RobMay]

Nice!

[josh-riley]

We "put up with it" because it's part of every facet of any business. There's always trolls. I mean, at this point if anyone believes that a Nigerian prince is going to send them millions as a thank you for fronting him money via a wire transfer, serves you right for getting hosted. That email scam has been around for years and people still fall for it since a sucker is born every minute

[Andy.Drinkwater]

I quite enjoy some of these calls because I can run rings round them when they call. Before now I have asked them to hold on and I leave the phone next to me and have a game of Angry Birds or go and make a brew - bit of light entertainment

[Netlogiq]

Hi,

I don't know much about the local directories you are using but I can tell you that something similar happened to me - on .ro -Romania, and I know how irritating it is, and how funny the whole situation ends up when you contact the company and laugh in their faces - for example one particular company offered a client of ours to develop their website - of course they had a website which was actually number 1 on in a very competitive industry - Ohh, I replied to the email they sent - where they offered to both build the company a website and optimize it, and I asked them how come they didn't find the website if they are so good? :)) The company was well known -  placed on the first position - so that means, and must mean that the agencies that are trying to steal our clients don't even check to whom they are sending the "templated mail" - this could also mean they are simply buying the contact information from the directory itself - and that the directory sells the e-mail addresses which they promised to keep private.

From my point of view if the directory has no source of income: meaning adds or asking for money in exchange for a listing, they must have some income from somewhere else - just think of all the possibilities...

I think starting exclusive directories to those that " can answer basic SEO questions and have an email address with the same domain as their marketing web site." is an awesome idea - and I would love to help out!