Jul 12, 2011

Lead Generation Sites Wreak Havoc for Local Establishments

Posted by Wendy Weber

Interesting piece in the Sunday NY Times…

More than 90% of the locksmiths listed as “local” to Seattle are not actually located in Seattle. They are phone banks, typically set up in far-off places, often in other countries. Call them and they’ll dispatch a locksmith. Some are legitimate, but others may all too often do shoddy work and/or charge two or three times the estimate.

This problem is not unique to Seattle. Lead gen sites dominate Google results for locksmiths in many cities nationwide, and in more than a few towns. And it’s not just locksmiths. Other service industries, like roofing and carpeting, have a similar problem. If Google is the new Yellow Pages, then lead gen sites have perfected the same game that companies in the predigital age played when they started their names with combinations like AAA1 to land atop printed listings.

It makes for a lot of competition for the “little guy”.

Article here.

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