A client recently asked for my opinion about LocalAdLink, a search directory that I had never heard of. My Blog post last month Search Marketing Scams to Avoid recommended against "Advertising on search engines you have never heard of."

LocalAdLink describes itself as "The easiest and most affordable way to advertise online." LocalAdLink claims "It comes to $49, $99 or $199 a month to be seen by millions of people a day." Those are strong claims. Are they true?

First I searched my 2,000 emails from the last 16 months from search engine newsletters and groups. Not one mention of LocalAdLink

I searched SEOmoz. There was only one mention, a comment skeptical about the service found on "The Growing Case for Flat Fee Advertising."

Search Engine Land had no mention.

Therefore, it seems to me that search marketing professionals have never heard of LocalAdLink. Or, if they have heard of it, they don't believe it warrants discussion. And with promises as lofty as "millions of visitors a day" you'd think Search Marketing professionals would have a lot to say.

Where does LocalAdLink attract million of people a day? LocalAdLink claims, "We are pro-actively pushing your listing out through our partner websites. Your listing can be seen on some at the most popular websites, search engines, and social networks in America. Some of these include Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask.com, Earthlink, YouTube, GMAIL, About.com, Napster, PGA.com, Redbook, Hollywood.com, Monster.com, MySpace, Linkedln, Friendster, Bebo, Hi5, Orkut, MiGente and B00Mj."

My! That is impressive! I had to see what they were doing.

I tried to find LocalAdLink on Google, Yahoo, YouTube or LinkedIn. I could not find the ads.

I checked with SpyFu for clues. SpyFu claims LocalAdLink advertises with Google AdWords. The LocalAdLink ads on Google go to LocalAdLink, not the LocalAdLink advertiser's Web site.

Is LocalAdLink counting its Google ads and where Google Content Network ads display as "our partner websites?" That seems like a stretch to me. However there are search engine marketing firms who make that questionable stretch as well.

Is LocalAdLink capable of delivering "millions of people a day" to its advertisers? The evidence does not support its claim.

Compete estimates LocalAdLink had 332,256 visits in March 2009. Though Compete's numbers are ballpark estimates, 10,000 visitors a day is less traffic by a factor of 100 times. This is traffic across the nation. That means, with LocalAdLink claiming 14 million businesses, each business averages .0237 visitors a month.

Quantcast estimates monthly traffic of 123,000. Alexa ranks LocalAdLink at 19,601, a nice number but indicates traffic is nowhere near "millions of people a day"

In other words, my analysis of LocalAdRank makes me conclude that $49, $99 or $199 a month is a lot of money to spend for little to no traffic to your Web site.

As I wrote last month, "If a salesman wants you to advertise on a search engine that you have never heard of before, don't do it."

See more recent Blog posts:

LocalAdLink is for the Greedy to Take from the Gullible

LocalAdLink reps optimize for "LocalAdLink scam"

LocalAdLink Scam is Collapsing

LocalAdLink traffic dropped 1/3rd in June

Labels: Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, SEM Back to Basics

The Internet Advertising Bureau released a press release stating "Full-year 2008 revenues totaled a record $23.4 billion, exceeding 2007's performance, itself the former record of $21.2 billion, by $2.2 billion or 10.6%. By comparison, a variety of sources indicate weakness in overall advertising spending. The Nielsen Company, for example, reported that U.S. advertising for the full year 2008 was down 2.6% compared to the full year 2007." So not only is Internet Advertising growing at a faster rate than any other advertising medium ever has, it is also remaining strong in our current economy while other advertising channels are struggling.

So why has Internet Advertising taken the world by storm? Probably because it has the ability to target, measure and motivate action in the same channel. Where else in advertising can you find the assortment of offers and instant opportunities to buy?

Most other forms of advertising are fairly passive. You happen to hear a radio ad on your way to work. It's hard to avoid a television commercial. Even when those advertising mediums spark interest, how often do they actually spark action? I can't begin to count all the times I've seen a TV commercial for a product I was interested in, that I never got around to actually purchasing. I'm sure I'm not alone in that boat. The Internet however, is another story. It is almost too easy to see an ad, click on a link, and end up filling a shopping cart before I know it! On the Internet, customers are more engaged, and more likely to buy.

Internet Advertising lets you have more control over your budget than other advertising mediums. You are able to test your ads' effectiveness, practically in real time; so that you can make the most out of what you're spending online.

The Internet has powerful tools that help you justify what you spend online. Web analytics can showcase marketplace feedback, budget activity and ROI numbers almost immediately; can you say the same about your other advertising mediums?

With number and charts like these, it's easy to see why and how Internet Advertising has gotten to be as popular as it is.

Labels: SEM Back to Basics

Whether for defensive branding purposes or some other reason you have multiple domains for your Web site. No problem right? Not necessarily. Unless your domains are properly set, they can hinder search visibility.

Back in 2006, Google released their patent and deep inside; it stated how Google reviews a Web site's DNS details to help eliminate spam; therefore, why you need to be concerned. The good news is that you can easily get all of your domains aligned and properly setup, eliminating your need to worry.

Implement the following steps to keep your multiple domains from becoming an arrow in your search engine marketing efforts side:

• 301 redirect all other domains to the main domain


• Align the following DNS details for all domains. (All domains must have the exact same information for the below attributes)


• Administrative Contact


• Technical Contact


• Name Servers


• Focus all of your linking efforts on the one main domain


• Focus ALL efforts online and offline around the one main domain

Labels: Organic SEO, SEM Back to Basics