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Video Summary
The fact that you have received an official looking invoice might make you think it’s important. After all, you do have a website and you want it to show up when people search, right?
Is this a domain listings scam? Are you taking a risk if you don’t pay?
Here is what it really means.
Video Transcript
What is this? It looks like an important invoice. But I don’t recognize it. Do I have to pay it? If you’re looking at a page like this one, and have similar questions, let me help you out…
Actually, let me rant a little bit because these guys are making big bucks for doing almost nothing. But I’ll get to that in a minute. The fact that you have received an official looking invoice might make you think it’s important. After all, you do have a website and you want it to show up when people search, right?
And it says right here, right there, “annual website domain listing on internet directory” and it gives you “24/7 x 365 Worldwide Exposure Customer Access”. Wow, who doesn’t want that?
So maybe you need this website listing service. Maybe you’ve always had it. Are you taking a risk if you don’t pay? I want your business to be seen online by your prospects, but there are better ways to do it than this. And I’ll help you with that. You don’t have to fall for this scheming.
What is this Domain Listings Scam?
For now, let me clarify the situation with this Website Listing Service. The only risk here is if you do pay. In that case you’re throwing away $288.
There are certainly worse scams out there, some that cost you time, money, even the loss of your domain. This is not one of those. This one only attempts to pull dollars out of your pocket. This particular tactic relies on the hope that they scare you just enough to think $288 for an annual listing is not so bad. Why risk not paying?
And it works great for them because I checked my local area and found there are 78 businesses within 10 miles of my location that have paid the fee to be listed. That’s $22,464! These guys must be hauling in millions and millions of dollars every year across the U.S. and they’re not limited to the U.S.
So let me dig in a little bit deeper so you know what’s really going on here.
First, the important wording so that the “seller” of this nonsense does not get accused of running a scam. It’s quite clear, right here on the back side, where they say, “This is not a bill. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated above unless you accept this offer.” And their offer is to simply list your website in their directory.
So there you go, they have a “CYA” statement. If you don’t know what CYA means, do a search for it!
And when you do that search, what search engine did you use? Or, more importantly, when you’re doing any search at all, for any information, or specifically to find a business that can provide whatever it is you need, what search engine do you use?
As of September 2022, you are most likely to say Google. In fact, Google has 92.42% (ninety-two point four two percent) market share. Then Bing with 3.45%, Yahoo with 1.32%, Yandex with 0.79%, Baidu with 0.65%, and Duck Duck Go with 0.63% market share.
Those are the top 6 search engines in the world. Do you pay any of these search engines for a listing? No!? Then why would anyone pay to have their business show up in an obscure directory that no one ever searches?
I mean, how often have you gone to www.domainlistings.directory to do a search? Has anyone else in your area, looking for what you do, ever gone to domainlistings.directory to do a search?
Probably not because 99.26% of all search traffic goes through Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, and Duck Duck Go. That leaves only 0.74% of search traffic for hundreds, maybe thousands of other smaller search engines and directories.
These guys charge $288 for a listing every year. Yahoo, which, before Google, was once the biggest and best directory on the internet used to charge $299. But at that time, everyone did their searches at Yahoo. For some businesses, that payment was worthwhile.
But who goes to domainlistings.directory? No one! So is it worth paying $288 every year? For me this comes down to return on investment. As business owners, we want to put our money into things that make sense. We want to turn dollars into more dollars, right?
Sometimes there is uncertainty, and you have to weigh the odds and make a choice, take a chance. Or you decide that the risk is low and the upside potential is huge, and so you try it. I believe every legitimate business deserves to be seen online. And your business deserves to be seen online. And I want to help you get there in a smart way, an effective way.
With this Website Listing Service, the dollars are low, but it creates no visibility for you. There is no return on investment. There is no upside potential. Most of the time, people don’t go to internet directories to find information anymore. Most of the time, they go to Google.
A few weeks ago, I recorded a video about the 3 Ages of Internet Visibility. We’re in the Third age now. Directories were effective in the First age. If you’re curious about these ages, take a look at that video.
More importantly, I invite you to join me on an upcoming training webinar. I’m going to teach you 3 secrets to get Google to feature your business in a way that practically forces your prospects to call you. I’m showing you how to get your business showing up where people are actually looking.
The training is free, and you can register at upatdawn.biz/webinar.
Your business deserves to be seen online, and I will help you get there. Thanks for watching and have a great day!
