The number of online scams continues to grow on a yearly basis. In 2018, internet-enabled fraud led to an estimated $2.7 billion in financial losses. In 2019, the number of phishing attempts grew by 65 percent. In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission received over 2 million reports of fraud.

Sometimes it’s easy to spot a scam, other times not so much. Here are a few of the most common ones you will want to be aware of. 

1.) Your Domain Notice Will Expire

We often get calls from clients who receive notification that their website domain is about to expire. The third-party offers to fix the problem if the client agrees to sign up for a service or agrees to transfer their website domain over to be hosted on another server. 

• Don’t do it! We automatically renew the domain names for clients whose websites we host on our servers.
  

2.) Your  Keywords are Wrong

Some digital marketing companies will call businesses and highlight keywords that you aren’t ranking high for, and try to sell you their services to “fix” it. We have found that the keywords they cite typically don’t apply to the clients or are not important to rank for. 

• Talk to us. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of all relevant keywords that will rank your site on Google, and randomly changing keywords could do more harm than good. Also, while SEO is important, it is only one small part of your overall marketing strategy. 

3.) We Can Get you Ranking in a Few Weeks 

As the saying goes – If something seems too good to be true, it probably is — like if an agency tells you they can get you instant results with SEO. In the past, there were workarounds you could use to jump the line to get faster results, but Google has long outsmarted these and they no longer work.

• We provide a solid foundation for success. When it comes to SEO, we take a three-pronged approach: Organic rankings, Google Ads, and Google Map Pack.
  

4.) Your Website has Critical Performance Issues

It’s the classic case of making a mountain out of a mole-hill, and one that some digital marketers will use to try and convince you that your site needs their immediate, expert attention. 

• Don’t buy the quick fix. Optimizing a website can sometimes take unconventional methods, which can be misrepresented or misunderstood by those offering solutions that won’t have an impact on your website’s performance. 

5.) We Can Double (or Triple, or Quadruple) Your Followers

The only way you can go from having a few dozen followers on social media to several hundred in a matter of days is if you purchase them. So why do we recommend not doing it? Fake followers  are not only worthless from a marketing standpoint but they also threaten to devalue a business’ social media profile, because social networks can spot these tactics and flag your account.

• Grow your audience the right way. We know how to help you grow your followers in ways that ensure you gain valuable followers: real people who have real interest in your product or service. 

These are just a few of the scams we see most often. What other types of scams have you seen lately?