Zero-G Creative

Pyramid,what pyramid? Another hazard in hiring SEM services…

May 28 2010

There’s a line from The Freshman (great movie with Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick), where Broderick’s idealistic college student had just accused Brando of being a scam artist. Brando replied, imitating his own character in The Godfather, “This is an ugly word, this ‘scam.’ This is business. If you want to be in business, this is what you do.”

It’s a funny line and — unfortunately — not terribly far off from reality in a lot of cases. And it goes without saying that there are many business practices that can be considered unethical, even predatory without being illegal. But if you read this blog every now and then you probably already know my feelings on that.

Yesterday, I wrote about the dangers of hiring SEO/SEM people you’ve never heard of. Today I wanted to follow up by discussing a particular pitfall in hiring someone you might know… And yes, you know these folks. You know them because you’ve bought cosmetics, legal services, kitchen accessories, plane tickets and maybe even your home gas service from them. Thats right, they’re Multi-Level Marketers (MLM’s) and believe it or not there are several MLM groups selling Search Engine Marketing services. I won’t mention them by name but one of the more prominent ones almost rhymes with “BadMove.” I wouldn’t ever hire one of these firms and I’ll explain why in a second.

First of all, if you don’t know how MLM’s work, do some research on Mary Kay,which is often held up as the gold standard for these types of businesses. I don’t want this post to be interpreted as an indictment of MLM’s in general; my only concern is how this model has been applied to SEM services.

Selling cosmetics or home goods is one thing, but in selling ongoing business services, there is a fundamental problem with MLM’s in that the person selling the service has little business interest in what’s good for his or her clients long term — the system doesn’t reward salespeople for that. The salesperson has a much greater interest in meeting their quota as quickly as possible and moving on to more profitable activities like recruiting people to work underneath them in the MLM. I always take umbrage when the person selling me a service has little to gain from my success in using his or her product.

And because just about ANYONE with a pulse and willingness to sell a complex service they don’t understand can represent these companies, buying from an MLM also means that you won’t have any direct contact with anyone who is truly an expert. Note also that some of these services do not actually drive traffic to YOUR site with their ads, they drive traffic to a custom page that they create on THEIR site. Not a fan of that either because visitors are still another click away before they get to experience your brand directly.

No, it’s not a scam… It’s business. But it’s a business that will undoubtedly waste your time and money. Only buy search services from real experts that come highly recommended and bring real references. Otherwise I guarantee that you will be sorely disappointed in the results.

Published by Erik Wolf under Advertising,Online Marketing,Search Engine Marketing,Small Business,Strategy,Web/Interactive