Scams

As we all know, there are quite a few unscrupulous companies out there!

Over the course of time, all of you have asked me about emails you have received implying that immediate action is needed to protect your domain name, improve your SEO ranking, expiring domain name, etc. etc.

There are huge companies that spend all day trying to come up with schemes to get people to provide information – sometimes for very unethical purposes! Some of these companies will actually take over your website and then lock you out until you pay them huge fees for them to “manage” your site!

Another famous one is getting you increased SEO rankings so you are on page one of Google search results. No one has influence over Google, trust me!! Again, these companies will insist on login info to “help you”. They then take over the website, change whatever they want and suddenly, your site has to be managed by them for excessive fees.

Your website rankings are all determined by various circumstances. Examples: 1. how much of a niche is your website. The more unique, the easier to be on page one. 2. A particular page of your site may rank very well, because of its particular subject line, the rest only so-so. 3. Age of domain name – 5 years is the minimum for “better” ranking – finally trusted, etc. 4. Structure of your actual website - This is probably the best part of dealing with me. I know what it takes to score a high mark within the Search Engine Algorithms. Granted, it changes all the time, but the basics are still there. It’s just like taking a college entrance exam in school – the higher your score, the better your chances of being admitted – to page one!!

When you receive these solicitations, always look at their email address. 99% of the time it will be a person’s name @ gmail.

That’s a reason why I always encourage you to have an email address with your domain name – Bernie@MerchantBottomLine.com - not, fredsmith101@gmail.com It is just a more professional email and helps achieve that one more point within your Google Search Engine scoring!

If someone is soliciting you without a “real” email address; and can’t be bothered to have a real one, just how serious would they be about YOUR business?

Read their actual email – many times it doesn’t flow well or has bad grammatical mistakes?

Another common scam is when they say they will submit your website to all the search engines. That gets done automatically, every time a webpage is updated – even if I change only one word!

Lastly, is the domain registration scam email – you are told it is expiring, ownership needs to be updated, etc., etc.

Again, this is all done thru the service package and software I use. Registration info is public, so companies try to scam you into believing they are the ones to deal with.

Basically, if the email isn’t from me, odds are it is some form of a scam/solicitation for something you are already getting thru me – despite what they are implying!!

Many of these will have a “link” – please do NOT hit those… that’s how they install malicious software!!

As always, don’t be afraid to email me and ask. That’s all part of our service – providing the best possible service at the best possible price!

Thanks for taking the time to read all this!!

If you know someone that could use some website help, please ask them to "Contact Us" on my website.

I hope it helps you have a better understanding of just how important a Website is for your business today; and even more so, tomorrow!

Thanks!

Bernie