Posted in: Opinions

I’ve had a lot of run-ins with YP (formally YellowPages.com) a product of AT&T Interactive (ATTi) and was somewhat excited to see that Sean Hakes a nationally known SEO Consultant promote a YellowPages.com Review.

Here’s his official review.
You can read the entire post here: http://blog.seanhakes.com/2010/08/07/the-yellowpages-com-scam/.

Small Business Owners know me for my honest reviews. Ready or not – here’s my official review of YellowPages.com.

YellowPages.com who is also known as YP or AT&T Interactive is better known as an online yellow pages business directory – for business owners it’s a service that’s filled with open ended advertising promises that will quickly drain your advertising budget or even your completely sabotage your business from very little ineffective results.

As a Digital Advertising & Media buyer I will no longer recommend YellowPages.com to any of our advertisers or any small businesses – period. Their crafty sales tactics combined with a long term contract are the exact tools that YellowPages.com rely on to lock into your cash while delivering less than desirable results – you can take that to the bank.

Lucky for our advertisers, our media buying services come with a full in-house legal counsel representation that is designed to act as a buffer from less than ethical businesses practices like that of YellowPages.com.

Here’s where it gets personal:

One of our clients were snickered into a stealthy contract that was based on exceptional results expectations that were almost too good to be true; and they were.

I got involved by sending Deann Mayeda, the Press and Media Contact for AT&T Interactive briefly telling her about my client’s dissatisfaction.

Deann quickly dismissed my claim and passed it down to a Colorado or Denver based YellowPages.com sales lead/manager. It seemed like she was eager not to address the problem while dropping the complaint to a lower level manager.

I’ll be kind to the lower level manager and not point him out but the base of the story is we came into an agreement to let this particular advertiser out of their contract based on misleading information, in other words a unethical sales tactics based on lies.

Since our default we’ve had two additional clients pop up who have had a terrible experience with YellowPages.com. All have said that Yellow Pages promised the world and delivered little to nothing – many of which bought into a bucket of clicks that typically turn into nothing more than useless traffic.

We’ve since opened this specific topic into a legal matter. If you feel YellowPages.com has misled you, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave your story in the comments section and email me at sean @ sean-h.com.

No matter what kind of business you’re in, you need to make sure that your content ranks well in the search engines in order to be seen by the most number of people. But not just ranked – it needs to be ranked for a keyword that people are going to search on a regular basis!

Search engine optimization can be tricky business. The following tips have been mentioned so that you get a bearing on Phoenix SEO and learn how to use it in your business, starting today

SEO Tip #1 – The content on the page is way more important than the keywords

When I first got into SEO, I placed a lot of value in keywords. I tried to rank for everything under the sun in one blog post or on one article. That’s wrong

With keywords, you need to make sure that you’re focusing on one or two long tail keyword phrases that people are going to be searching Google for. That way when someone runs a query (a search) the chances of your stuff showing up on the first page go up

Search engine optimization tip #2 – Keyword research is imperative

Lots of Denver SEO, and Phoenix SEO firms go through and keyword stuff content. In essence, it’s tricking the search engines. You don’t want to be shady like that do you? After all, we have websites to appeal to human visitors and get our products and services more widely known. You don’t want them feeling like you tricked them when they show up to your page, do you?

When you do keyword research right, you will have plenty of keywords that you can target in the body of your site. Sometimes, you do have to practice some inginuity, but make sure that what you’re righting is readable to both humans and search engines. That way you’re guaranteed success right out of the gate!

Bottom line, your keywords have to be related and in the context of your site itself. I always make it a practice to target one specific keyword phrase on every blog post or article.

SEO Tip #3 – SEO is about more than just your keywords

Onsite SEO is pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it. It’s all about where keyword phrases are put on the webpage and how many of them are. We’re talking about things like keyword density here.

I’m sure you’ve heard about things like linkbuilding and inbound links. That’s the other element of SEO. It’s called Offsite SEO – of SEO that’s conducted off your website. It actually plays out to be more important than what your doing on page!

Understandably, this guide had to be brief. It has taken me almost 3 years to learn what I do about SEO, and how to do it. Believe me when I say that keyword research is the way to go for SEO. If you pick the right keywords, and optimize your site for them, it’s a sure win for your business.

This guy is on the run – Sean Hakes, Inc a Colorado based SEO Company announced they have picked up Tucson SEO.com as an additional of intent to expand into the Tucson, AZ market.

For the full details visit blog.seanhakes.com.

Alright – I’m not sure if I should be excited or if I should be concerned but the all time-great pioneer of SEO (Sean Hakes Denver) is now officially expanding to the Phoenix SEO market. Don’t believe me? Check out his official Phoenix SEO Expansion announcement here.

Sean Hakes, founder of Denver SEO Company – iClick Creative recently announced he has opened shop in the Phoenix SEO market. Sean Hakes, Inc is one of the most promintent leading SEO Firms in the nation and is anticpated to give Phoenix a new – refreshed look and attack for SEO services.

I was just informed that iClick Creative a Denver Marketing & Advertising Agency has announced the re-release of Think Thinker, LLC a wholly owned Denver SEO subsidiary of iClick Creative.

Think Thinker.com History:

Coming soon…

I get a kick out of Colorado. For those who don’t know Colorado passed a medical marijuana law that allows Coloradoans to smoke up, get high off power brownies while forgetting about their woes! This is why Medical Marijuana Attorney Denver is making a killing – seriously an entirely new market that would solve Colorado’s budget woes – only if the politicians would let it.

More to come on this highly popular subject.

Nowadays in this tough economy, online business owners end up finding themselves frustrated when trying to compete with large corporations for the fair share of the market. Most independent business owners simply don’t have the same financial resources or know-how to market their companies alongside the titans of industry. Allow me to share five smart marketing tips to help keep your enterprise in the running:

1. SERVE YOUR FRIENDS Many independent business owners sometimes overlook their strongest marketing tools – their current customers. Online business owners hold a distinct advantage over larger companies because they are able to interact with each client at a much deeper level. If you are able to develop strong relationships with your current customers, they will want to return to you for years to come (and bring droves more customers with them).

2. GET ONLINE Don’t overlook the importance of the internet in today’s market. Recent research shows that over 92% of adults regularly research products online before buying them in stores*. Professional web development can help even the score with the top guys by giving a clean, professional appearance to your company. Be careful not to shortchange yourself on your own website. It may be better to have no website at all rather than a poorly developed website. A professionally developed site can necessitate a small investment up front; however the return on investment will be well worth it in the long run.

3. OPTIMIZE AND CONQUER Working with a great looking website is an important step, but it’s not much use to you if no one ever sees it. A strong Search Engine Optimization (Phoenix SEO Expert) can quickly put your website in front of hundreds or thousands of qualified buyers every month. Investing in a talented Phoenix SEO Company often leads to astronomical returns for a relatively low monthly expense

4. BRAND THYSELF Just because you are a independent business doesn’t mean you can’t resemble the top guys. Personalizing company uniforms, pens, coffee mugs, Frisbees, or other items with your company logo can be surprisingly affordable and can help develop a strong brand image for potential customers. Not only will your company appear more stable, but occasionally giving away quality branded items (like a mug with your companies’ logo) is often a way to subtly advertise to that particular family on a on a daily basis basis.

5. BECOME A SOCIAL BUTTERFLY Small business owners can’t afford to get shy. Every single time you come in connection with someone (familiar or new), make an effort to let them know about your companies. Certainly don’t be abrasive, but a surprising amount of leads can be developed by simply bringing up your passion in casual conversations. Everyone wants to have an “inside man” – all you need to do is make sure they know what you can offer them.