Online Ripoffs
A valuable service we provide at OnTheWebNow is to protect our clients, as best we can, from what in our opinion are online ripoffs. Yes, everyone knows about the Nigerian email scam, but what do most small business know about the following potential ripoffs that currently plague many website owners?
1)
The Getty Images Ripoff.
In our opinion, threatening lawsuits against thousands of small businesses is simply outrageous behavior. Is that image in the Public Domain or "valued" at thousands? Warning: if you are using a photo on your website, make sure you know exactly where it came from.
2)
The Google Adwords Ripoff.
In our opinion, for many small businesses Google Adwords is ineffective and a waste of money. Why no refund for the many clicks which are fraudulent?
3)
The Godaddy Add Ons Ripoff.
In our opinion, there are some add on services that Godaddy strongly promotes that are not simply not needed. Does a small business really need to pay for years of hosting up front? How about paying $2.99/mo just to register with the Search Engines? Or $4.99/mo for the totally unneeded Site Scanner? Most small businesses can't afford these extra charges.
4)
Domain Name Renewal Ripoff.
A company out of New York sends out phoney renewal letters stating that your Domain Name is currently due, send us the money. The problem is this company is not the original registrar of the Domain Name. A pretty bold and obvious ripoff. Yet this scam has been going on for years. Since we register many of our clients Domain Names for them, we get many letters from this company every month.
5)
1 & 1 Internet.
You've probably seen their ads on TV and in magazines, must be a great company right? Well we've heard many complaints. If you Google "1 & 1 scams" or go to
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=119339 and you can read about how bad it can get.
6)
The Search Engine Optimization Ripoff.
Sorry, but two guys in a room are not going to fool Google. The best way to optimize your site is to add original, useful content. However, we continue to see the claim "we will make you #1 on Google, guaranteed!". The only guarantee is these SEO Firms want a large fee, and they want it up front.
7)
The Designing Your Own Website Is Easy Ripoff. (Intuit, 1 & 1 Internet, GoDaddy Tonight and others)
These large companies spend millions of dollars on TV advertising. In our opinion there are several big problems with the "design your own website - it's easy" theory. The one we'll spotlight here is the "tools" you are given to design the site. The so called "website builders" are necessarily simplified
to the point where a "professionally designed website" is an impossibility. You can put a website online, but don't expect anyone to be impressed by the results. (By comparision, most pros will use 5 or 6 different large and fairly complicated software programs to build a website.)
Some scams out there can cost your small business thousands of dollars in literally the blink of an eye. Seems incredible but it's happening everyday. By working with an independent full time web designer, while it can't be guaranteed that you won't run into an issue, more than likely you will be able to avoid the common traps that catch many by surprise.