Google advertising

[cjuk]

Anyone else get loadsa phone calls off these companys trying to sell you advertising space on the first page of google? Im getting em near enough every other day,anyone signed up and found it to be beneficial? They used to be numbers you could tell what was a call centre,now there coming thru as mobile numbers and area code numbers so i end up answering cause i think its a job.

 

[Dan]

No. Tell them to stop calling and register your phone numbers with the TPS (TPS Registration).

They're probably picking your number up from your free listing somewhere, possibly yellow pages or some directory you may have signed up to.

They scour the internet for numbers to call and then once you're on their database you're a contact for a long time.

Register with TPS and tell them every time they call that you're with TPS and they shouldn't be calling you.

If they carry on, get their details, and report them to TPS. They get fined if they get even a few reports.

TouchLocal have a very hard sell. And we've had plenty of emails with stories that appear to be very underhand to do with many directory-style companies misleading potential customers. Promising the earth and once you've paid you get no extra business and can't get your money back as it's business-to-business agreement so you'd need to take them to court (always costing more than just giving up - which is often a part of their pricing structure I guess?).

Don't take it.

If you want to appear on the first page of Google you need to pay Google Adwords (http://adwords.google.com) and even then it's not guaranteed if it's a competitive term you want to rank for. Orrrr, get yourself a website and spend time optimising it to rank high in the natural google listings (so not the adverts on the right and sometimes at the top of the page).

:thumbsup:

 

[GQuigley67]

just registered with TPS

I found that once i started advertising on gumtree, I've been bombarded with cold calls, I can spot them quite easily as they are english numbers and usually as soon as i hear some english guy talking I just be blunt and tell them where to go, so maybe I have a bit of an advantag in that sense

only registered with TPS the other day, takes 28 days to set up so hopefully it stops them. Had one guy though phone me from a mobile claiming to work for orange, if he did work for orange he wouldn't be phoning from a mobile would he ? think he forgot to withheld it

 

[paulnwales]

just registered with TPS

I found that once i started advertising on gumtree, I've been bombarded with cold calls, I can spot them quite easily as they are english numbers and usually as soon as i hear some english guy talking I just be blunt and tell them where to go, so maybe I have a bit of an advantag in that sense

only registered with TPS the other day, takes 28 days to set up so hopefully it stops them. Had one guy though phone me from a mobile claiming to work for orange, if he did work for orange he wouldn't be phoning from a mobile would he ? think he forgot to withheld it

just talk welsh to them, they always hang up lol

 

[paulnwales]

02 and 3 networks are cold calling from mobile numbers as well now.

 

[cjuk]

Ok will sort that out now,thanks for that Dan i didnt know you could do that, do ya head in cause they start by making out like there enquiring about a job then bang how about advertising on google an we can ave ya webpage set up in 48 hrs. Ad one guy ring my mobile then i hung up then he was ringing the house phone twice then left a answer message. And he ad two differant mobiles so if i didnt answer one he would get me on the other line lol. Sure did lose my customer service that day,good job i was in the van and not in the customers house lol.

 

[WaterTight]

agree with the gumtree thing. sometimes it's about 5 minutes between putting on an ad and getting a cold-call.

"first off let me put your mind at ease that i'm not trying to sell you anything..."

oh goody.

 

[GQuigley67]

haha i just hang up on them or be a bit aggresive, hopefully they dont phone again will be telling them now im registered with TPS now

 

[justlead1]

Having a place at the top of Goggle is a bit like throwing the cricket ball the furthest when at school. Good for the ego but does not directly turn into cash.

 

[jplumb]

Hey I don't know whether you have anything similar in wales but in the east midlands the local councils run this "transformational ICT" courses for local businesses. they teach you how to use google ads and the like for yourself.

the best thing to do is set up a places page for your business at your home address that way you will show up on google maps.

any company that has to cold call is only after one thing. cold hard cash. once they've got that they probably won't even bother.

 

[Dan]

When you sign up to thinks. Always check the box that says "do not want to be contacted' if you miss that on even one website, it's not been worth doing on any of them. So always do that.

And watchout for the misleading version of "if you check this box you agree to be contacted".

Then when they do call, you can say A) I'm registered with TPS and B) I always make sure I check the box saying not to contact me so why are you calling me?

Hanging up works for a bit but you really need to deal with them to get off their databases.

BUT NOBODY BUT GOOGLE CAN RANK YOU HIGH IN GOOGLE - AND GOOGLE WILL NEVER EVER CALL YOU

If somebody COULD actually list you where they chose, for a fee, actually in Google's natural or paid-for listings, they'd be multi-billionaires. There are non, only Google, they're the multi-billionaires on this one and don't need to call you.