Urgent advice needed is this a rip off!

[artsapart]

Hi there everyone, I need some urgent help with my query as I have just given a company my card details, and I am now wondering if they can really do what they say on the tin!

I have signed up for the gold package on this site and would appreciate knowing if anyone has had difficulties with the company or if they really are able to do what they say they can do.

http://www.worldwidems.co.uk/

Obviously it is just what I need to have done with my site as who wouldn't want first page listings on google andthe whole package was presented to me in a very attractive way but I would really appreciate peoples opinions.

What has really made me feel a little sketchy about the whole thing is currently my bank has declined the payment and a good friend has rung some alarm bells with me..........many thanks in advance for any opinions.:|

 

[fisicx]

You do realise it's google ads and not organic listings?

For that sort of money I suspect as well that it is geographically restruicted, that means with in a xx mile radius of your house.

No need to pay £149/month, a couple of members here will do it for a lot less and you will be a lot more successful.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Depends of key terms and cpc.
£149 would equate to click over 12 month minus their fee.
IMO leave it be and either do ppc properly (speak to Steve Gibson) or optimise your website.
Either way count your self lucky you have just had a narrow escape.

You do realise it's google ads and not organic listings?

For that sort of money I suspect as well that it is geographically restruicted, that means with in a xx mile radius of your house.

No need to pay £149/month, a couple of members here will do it for a lot less and you will be a lot more successful.

 

[artsapart]

You do realise it's google ads and not organic listings?

For that sort of money I suspect as well that it is geographically restruicted, that means with in a xx mile radius of your house.

No need to pay £149/month, a couple of members here will do it for a lot less and you will be a lot more successful.

Thanks for the reply,

Yes I was aware that it was for google adds and not the organic listings ....is this not so good then? The video showed that I would appear within the first bands of adds that show on the page but I am now wondering if most people just ignore those in that position much the same as I do when i am searching on line. Now you mention it I think it is very rare that i ever look at the sponsored slots.

I also knew it was for google uk only but didn't know that there was likely to be a radius imposed that would relate to my home location.

I would be very interested to here more details about those members on here that could offer the same sort of thing for less £ if you would be good enough to share them with me please. The marketing of my partners work falls on my shoulders and I really feel that i am letting him down as most of the time I am stabbing in the dark with my marketing efforts as it really is not my field.

Many thanks once again for the reply

 

[fisicx]

Get in touch with Steve Gibson as Ali suggested. A lot cheaper then the oiks doing it for £149/month and a lot more successful as well.

 

[artsapart]

Depends of key terms and cpc.
£149 would equate to click over 12 month minus their fee.
IMO leave it be and either do ppc properly (speak to Steve Gibson) or optimise your website.
Either way count your self lucky you have just had a narrow escape.

Thanks Aliv8, unfortunately I have no idea what you are talking about when you say cpc, (I know I should have but I dont!) It sounds though as if you are saying that I am paying a very over inflated price for one month that would really cover a 12 month period?......the guy was advertising it to me as if they would be doing me a service in a 'loss leader kinda way mate!' so now I am even less trusting of everything else that was said, and thanks for pointing that out to me.

I have looked at ppc before, tried it once, but that was a very long time ago, so maybe I should have another look in that direction and thanks for your recommendation of who to contact with regards to this I assume he can be found on this forum, so I shall embark on a search.

Thanks again

 

[artsapart]

Get in touch with Steve Gibson as Ali suggested. A lot cheaper then the oiks doing it for £149/month and a lot more successful as well.

ok! with two recommendations in a very short period of time for the same man he must be worth a look, so thanks for sharing that info with me, I shall try and track him down and see what he has to say about it all. Thanks again

 

[artsapart]

eureka! I have just found him in the members search! that was far easier than I expected for some reason!

 

[RBS]

"Guaranteed 1st Page Listing" is typical rip off phrase Steer clear.

 

[Big Pete]

Thanks for the reply,

Yes I was aware that it was for google adds and not the organic listings ....is this not so good then? The video showed that I would appear within the first bands of adds that show on the page but I am now wondering if most people just ignore those in that position much the same as I do when i am searching on line. Now you mention it I think it is very rare that i ever look at the sponsored slots.

I also knew it was for google uk only but didn't know that there was likely to be a radius imposed that would relate to my home location.

I would be very interested to here more details about those members on here that could offer the same sort of thing for less £ if you would be good enough to share them with me please. The marketing of my partners work falls on my shoulders and I really feel that i am letting him down as most of the time I am stabbing in the dark with my marketing efforts as it really is not my field.

Many thanks once again for the reply

I dont know what the other guys reckon but !!

looking at your bottom posts taglines.. the scope of business your in ,its a relatively small market a good website thats key rich should get you number 1 FREE of Charge..

Do not need to spend any money just time ..

surely ?

what you other guys reckon or have i missed the plot ? it happened once before in 1988 so i may have lost it again for the day :|

 

[SEO Lady]

Once you have learned the basics of SEO and PPC you will look back at yourself in a few months time with a knowking smile and a confident outlook lol.


You are going to learn well because you clearly have a high interest, and came to the right place to start!

 

[Big Pete]

Forgot to add give us your web address let me check it out .. and report back to you ..

If my hunch is right you dont need to spend a penny ,

 

[Ali-v-8]

Pay per click (PPC) is the format of advertising. Cpc = Cost per click is the rate you pay.
For example you agree to £1 cpc there for 10 visitors = £10. (rough example there is more to it)
So when you consider you are paying a fixed price at that cpc rate you would have got only 149ish visitors then bye bye until your next monthly.
Not A good idea.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

From their FAQ page:

Q: Is my business guaranteed to be on the first page of Google UK 24/7?

A: It's not possible for any company, including Google, to guarantee your website will appear on the first page 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. What we can guarantee is that your key phrases will appear on the first page of Google every day for one calendar month. Our support team is constantly monitoring your position. If for any reason your advert does not appear, please contact us immediately and we will endeavour to regain your position as soon as possible.

Doesn't say for how long every day.

Maybe it's 2am - 3am?

Steve

 

[artsapart]

I dont know what the other guys reckon but !!

looking at your bottom posts taglines.. the scope of business your in ,its a relatively small market a good website thats key rich should get you number 1 FREE of Charge..

Do not need to spend any money just time ..

surely ?

what you other guys reckon or have i missed the plot ? it happened once before in 1988 so i may have lost it again for the day :|

Thanks for the reply and what you say is very encouraging Big Pete, I, like most people, very much enjoy the use of the words free of charge, and like you have pointed out it normally only means a bit of extra time, to be able to utilize free tools.

However this being said my problem is that time is very limited for me as I am a mum of two small children as well, and any parent here will probably know exactly where I am coming from when I say that time is something I have very little of! We also have a small holding of 5 acres, which needs constant attention so any time I normally get to do anything for myself, which in this case is learning about seo and ppc and all the other stuff needed to promote our art business, is done in a very tired and under par state which never makes learning easy ....(well not for me anyway, but maybe thats the blond hair!) which is so frustrating for me when you feel like your missing the boat and loosing sales because your not marketing yourself properly in the first place! which was why this seemed like such a good solution to me in the first place ....all my problems solved at once!!! or so I thought but thats obviously the angle that they are marketing on

If by any chance you should know someone with plenty of time on there hands thats not a parent/farmer/promoter of artist etc etc that wants a project such as mine to work on for a small fee, then please please direct me to them. Thanks so much for the reply

 

[artsapart]

Once you have learned the basics of SEO and PPC you will look back at yourself in a few months time with a knowking smile and a confident outlook lol.


You are going to learn well because you clearly have a high interest, and came to the right place to start!

Thanks for your words of encouragement Nina, I would love to find myself in that position in a few months time........not so sure about the learning well though! just when I think I have wrapped my head around stuff something else comes along to confuse the hell out of me with new jargon and lingo! Then I get bombarded with promotional emails from all these different companies professing to be the ones who can do it all and I end up on my ass totally confused and right back at square one again, not knowing which direction to take!

its nice to know though that there is the slightest of chances that I one day might get the hang of all this marketing stuff and its great that there are forums like this around that are so helpful and informative.

Thanks very much again for your reply and encouragement.

 

[artsapart]

Forgot to add give us your web address let me check it out .. and report back to you ..

If my hunch is right you dont need to spend a penny ,

Ill try and post my link up but i am not sure if it will work, so just in case it dosent show if you did a .co.uk search for a company called ArtsApart then you should see the site. Thanks for asking to have a look and also for the offer of feedback.

Artsapart.co.uk

 

[artsapart]

Pay per click (PPC) is the format of advertising. Cpc = Cost per click is the rate you pay.
For example you agree to £1 cpc there for 10 visitors = £10. (rough example there is more to it)
So when you consider you are paying a fixed price at that cpc rate you would have got only 149ish visitors then bye bye until your next monthly.
Not A good idea.

I have to say that I really dont like the idea of paying every time someone clicks on my site just for the hell of it, i know what I am like when I search on line, I might go into a site five or six times before I actually make up my mind about something and buy from them so what about all the other sites that have not had my sale but have had me click through them? ....thats the bit about ppc that I really dont like and cant quite get my head around.....now if i had to pay £10.00 for every time someone bought off of my site, but the browsing of my site was free then that seems like a much better deal to me and a far fairer way of charging for the pleasure of it.

Thanks for the explanation btw

 

[artsapart]

From their FAQ page:



Doesn't say for how long every day.

Maybe it's 2am - 3am?

Steve

apparently according to the sales spiel you would appear on the front page at the top of the listings for 70% and to the right of the page for 30% of the time for a full month, then you could opt out if you didn't like the service.

When I asked about what time of day you appeared or not as the case maybe I was told that it would be totally random!

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Beware of advice from people who can't find your website

Looks like someone's being doing some dodgy link building - what's pammy anderson got to do with your site?

 

[artsapart]

"Guaranteed 1st Page Listing" is typical rip off phrase Steer clear.

so it is becoming clear Rob..........looks like I have fallen for it hook line and sinker too! Ho hum! you live and learn. :redface:

 

[artsapart]

Beware of advice from people who can't find your website

Looks like someone's being doing some dodgy link building - what's pammy anderson got to do with your site?

ehhh! I have no idea what Pammy Anderson has to do with our site, other than the fact that my bloke has a bit of a soft spot for Pammy! (although he swears there is no competition between the two of us lol!)

As far as I am aware we dont have any links going to our site at all! I tried building links to the site before but it all went a bit Pete Tong and I lost the whole content of our site for some strange reason, and I still dont know why that was........since then I haven't dared go near links again, so if you could shed some light on how you found or where I might find that link I would be most grateful.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Oh dear, may have got hubby into trouble...

Go to yahoo site explorer and it will reveal all...

 

[artsapart]

Oh dear, may have got hubby into trouble...

Go to yahoo site explorer and it will reveal all...

Right that's it, if he has been spending time with Pammy he can pack his baggs and go!!!!!!

lol! no worries Hubby is safe! I think I can afford him a little of his eye candy time

Now that is one interesting little site that I had no idea about and still have not got much of an idea now. How do we have her on our links and how do those links even get there in the first place. I can see that we have made a comment on that set of photos and there are lots of my forum posts showing up as well but I am wondering why only some of them are linking and some are not, as over the years I have posted and commented on many more things than are showing there? do you have any idea why this might be please.

Many thanks in advance

 

[FLAUK]

Right that's it, if he has been spending time with Pammy he can pack his baggs and go!!!!!!

lol! no worries Hubby is safe! I think I can afford him a little of his eye candy time

Now that is one interesting little site that I had no idea about and still have not got much of an idea now. How do we have her on our links and how do those links even get there in the first place. I can see that we have made a comment on that set of photos and there are lots of my forum posts showing up as well but I am wondering why only some of them are linking and some are not, as over the years I have posted and commented on many more things than are showing there? do you have any idea why this might be please.

Many thanks in advance

It could be that the pages with links to your site have not been indexed, or Yahoo site explorer is not displaying them. Those kind of links are of very little value anyway, unless your site is about Pamela Anderson.

With regard to the scheme you signed up for - I would run away fast and ask Steve on here to manage your adwords instead.

 

[artsapart]

It could be that the pages with links to your site have not been indexed, or Yahoo site explorer is not displaying them. Those kind of links are of very little value anyway, unless your site is about Pamela Anderson.

With regard to the scheme you signed up for - I would run away fast and ask Steve on here to manage your adwords instead.

Thanks for that bit of advice Flauk, I think I will cancel first thing in the morning. I have already consulted with Steve and sought the benefit of his wisdom, but sadly he is unable to help in this instance, as art is not his thing, but he has been most helpful with his advice and it has been much appreciated.

 

[Big Pete]

Ill try and post my link up but i am not sure if it will work, so just in case it dosent show if you did a .co.uk search for a company called ArtsApart then you should see the site. Thanks for asking to have a look and also for the offer of feedback.

Artsapart.co.uk

Ok will have a check over it.

It could be that the pages with links to your site have not been indexed, or Yahoo site explorer is not displaying them. Those kind of links are of very little value anyway, unless your site is about Pamela Anderson.

With regard to the scheme you signed up for - I would run away fast and ask Steve on here to manage your adwords instead.

She doesnt need adwords or any pay as you go rubbish.

be honest I for one NEVER click a sponsored link i know full well its some crap site thats gonna cost me ..
And i know a load of others who say the same its all a money making google scam !!

She has enough of a niche market ,a good decent bit of work on the site would get her top of natural listings..

And i always select 2 and 3 of google first page everytime So it will be even better !!!

So fear not young lady DO NOT spend a penny or sign a single thing i will look and report back to you in PM

 

Once you have learned the basics of SEO and PPC you will look back at yourself in a few months time with a knowking smile and a confident outlook lol.

And still be as confused as you are today.

Except you will know why you are confused.:|

Earl

 

[Big Pete]

Jeeez no wonder your not top . nothing for google to see very poor webdesign in my opinion looks nice but about as SEO as a squid ,BUT Nothing that cant be sorted very very cheaply ..

Its typical when to fancy a web designer gets let loose ..

they forget you can have the best looking website in the world but if its page 2,341 you should have just not bothered right

Still fear not young lady i will Pm you , with an in depth report..and the remedy all Free of charge coz thats the great guy i am

 

[gemd89]

They rung me aswell the other week, said i could have 5 keywords at £99 a month. I didnt take them up on the offer

Gemma

 

[popunder]

They rung me aswell the other week, said i could have 5 keywords at £99 a month. I didnt take them up on the offer

Gemma

Depends what the keywords were - might have been the bargain of the year :redface:. OK probably not.

Not sure why people get narky about AdWords though - consider what it's like when looking for a local business, a plumber or cake decorator or whatever. The majority of top organic links in this field are dominated by listings like Accessplace, TouchLocal, CityVisitor, Yell, Thomson, UpMyStreet, UFindus and God-knows-what-else, and so Fred's Plumbers can find it impossible to break into this list despite being (I would suggest) a more relevant link; after all people searching for a local plumber generally want information on one or two decent plumbers, not 10 different listings of the phone numbers of every plumber within 50 miles.

So Fred resorts to AdWords to get seen - thank goodness for that I say. He'll get my business (as long as he's got references as well of course). I don't think he's some kind of scammer because he's using AdWords.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Right that's it, if he has been spending time with Pammy he can pack his baggs and go!!!!!!

lol! no worries Hubby is safe! I think I can afford him a little of his eye candy time

Ha! I've never understood the attration of pammy, prefer my women without artificial additives...

Now that is one interesting little site that I had no idea about and still have not got much of an idea now. How do we have her on our links and how do those links even get there in the first place. I can see that we have made a comment on that set of photos and there are lots of my forum posts showing up as well but I am wondering why only some of them are linking and some are not, as over the years I have posted and commented on many more things than are showing there? do you have any idea why this might be please.

Some links may have been deleted/disabled or simply not been indexed. The web crawlers are not perfect

As for your website I agree with others - you are in a niche and with some tweeks you could be no 1 in organic search. If you don't want to spend much money, spend it on a book or two and make a tweak a day to your site... You're already no 6 for 'Metal Wall Art' in the uk search - no idea if that's a 'money' term though .

Don't know if it's just me, but your site seems slow to load - you might want to invest a little more in hosting. Ecommerce sites need to be snappy or people tend to leave...

 

[los_design]

Artsapart, what is your main key phrase AT THE MINUTE (PM me if you like)?

Also, as a subnote, I see Joomla and VM. They are running very slow and your CHARSET is not rendering the £.

As for PPC agencies...95% crooks, 5% excellent. As you have found out, go with personal recs rather than website spiel.

regards
Daren

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Not sure why people get narky about AdWords though - consider what it's like when looking for a local business, a plumber or cake decorator or whatever. The majority of top organic links in this field are dominated by listings like Accessplace, TouchLocal, CityVisitor, Yell, Thomson, UpMyStreet, UFindus and God-knows-what-else, and so Fred's Plumbers can find it impossible to break into this list despite being (I would suggest) a more relevant link; after all people searching for a local plumber generally want information on one or two decent plumbers, not 10 different listings of the phone numbers of every plumber within 50 miles.

That's only because Fred doesn't know what he's doing - it's not difficult to compete with directories.

So Fred resorts to AdWords to get seen - thank goodness for that I say. He'll get my business (as long as he's got references as well of course). I don't think he's some kind of scammer because he's using AdWords.

It's not the fact that they are using adwords, it's the agency charging the ignorant advertiser for something of dubious value. Generally these type packages are poor value and often not profitable. Little keyword research, no split testing, no specific landing pages, no measurement of results.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

They are running very slow and your CHARSET is not rendering the £.

So it's not just me

 

[los_design]

So it's not just me

Nah mate, common mistake with a Joomla/VM install...but that's for another post...

 

[artsapart]

Ok will have a check over it.





She doesnt need adwords or any pay as you go rubbish.

be honest I for one NEVER click a sponsored link i know full well its some crap site thats gonna cost me ..
And i know a load of others who say the same its all a money making google scam !!

She has enough of a niche market ,a good decent bit of work on the site would get her top of natural listings..

And i always select 2 and 3 of google first page everytime So it will be even better !!!

So fear not young lady DO NOT spend a penny or sign a single thing i will look and report back to you in PM

Big Pete you are a shinning star in my book for encouraging me not to spend my hard earned cash and your offer of help, I look forward to talking with you more on the matter.

 

[artsapart]

And still be as confused as you are today.

Except you will know why you are confused.:|

Earl

Lol Earl, if that is the case at least I will have learned summit, like you point out! I know exactly where your coming from though....its all the jingo and lingo that throws me off the scent!

 

[artsapart]

Jeeez no wonder your not top . nothing for google to see very poor webdesign in my opinion looks nice but about as SEO as a squid ,BUT Nothing that cant be sorted very very cheaply ..

Its typical when to fancy a web designer gets let loose ..

they forget you can have the best looking website in the world but if its page 2,341 you should have just not bothered right

Still fear not young lady i will Pm you , with an in depth report..and the remedy all Free of charge coz thats the great guy i am

Lol Big Pete, I love your likening of my site to a squid!!!! Yes Sadly you are right.....however I am quite impressed though that you think some fancy web designer has built the thing as I did a lot of the work on there myself (although I did have some assistance from a fellow artist too) so I can get some bits right, but I do appreciate what your saying about it being pages back in the listings .....that is worth diddley squat for sure.

I have to say I feel quite excited about learning some stuff from you and the prospect of finally getting somewhere with the areas of my site that are severely lacking........but I really don't expect you to do it free of charge so we will have to sort something out there! I have fired an email off to you this morning and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[artsapart]

They rung me aswell the other week, said i could have 5 keywords at £99 a month. I didnt take them up on the offer

Gemma

well Gemma, it appears that you are considerable more sensible than I or maybe I should of said maybe not as desperate as I was, to solve my marketing headache! I have to say I am feeling a little disappointed with myself for going for it even though I thought I had asked all the right questions etc to ensure I wasn't being scammed out of my money, I am normally pretty savvy when it comes to salesmen and dont have much truck for them at all.......... hopefully a lesson has been learned and I wont be so keen to part with my cash next time:redface: