If a sales rep from an outfit called Google Re-sell calls and offers to improve your website’s Google traffic, you’d be forgiven for thinking the caller might actually be from Google.

You’d be wrong. Google Re-sell is a name used by a firm called Sphere Marketing run by habitual conman Graeme Ross.

He first featured in this column in 2001 with an advertising scam that preyed on hard-working firms. Now he’s got a team of coldcallers who spout a line about how they can help more clients find your business website.

Some of their clients had this to say:

“They said that we would be listed at the top of page one on Google initially and then be guaranteed a place on the first page for the next three months,”

“I was contacted by someone who implied she worked for Google,” said Park Hall’s Trish Ford. “She explained this offer was only available to the first three companies that signed up for each specific key phrase being offered by Google.”

“I was contacted by a man who introduced himself as from the Google marketing team.”

“We paid £940 in 2008 for a Google AdWords campaign, and paid by telephone quoting our company credit card. It did sound too good to be true, but we thought they had a special relationship with Google. Imagine the shock to have another 7 transactions totalling £9,450 taken in January 2009 without authorisation, it was quite sickening.”

“We too were taken in, are now in the process of taking legal action against these people, and have reported them to Trading Standars. I have contacted some of the people mentioned in the article, and compared notes. I don’t know how this mob sleep at night – I wish them all a very pleasant stay at Her Majesty’s Pleasure in the very near future.”

Google Re-Sell didnt have much to say on that matter and responded with:

“There is a lot more to the situation than you are being told. It is very easy to blame Sphere Marketing for the problems. We are, however, looking into the situation.”

And Google, the all mighty one said:

“Our lawyers will investigate.”

Exciting stuff as ever from the big man! Google Re-Sell are very local to me and they are conning small business owners out of their hard earned and conducting themselves in a way that is completeley illegal. This really aggrevates me for two reasons. One, it makes it harder for genuine SEOs and Online Marketers to pick up new work and two, it makes it harder to keep hold of existing clients. I’ve had to deal with a few clients recently who have been contacted by bogus seo firms offering to sell them dirt cheap SEO packages that guarantee top page rankings. It’s difficult to field these sort of questions at the best of times but in the current economic climates business owners are watching every penny and these sort of deals look all the more attractive to them.

Educate your clients and you’ll avoid this situation most of the time. But my advice would be to send them the article link, or the link to this post ! That way you get in first!

Here’s a few tips garnered from my thread at WPW:

• Get an unlocked GSM phone from Ebay… much cheaper than through a regular mobile service vendor, plus no contracts to sign and you can change SIM cards very cheaply from country to country.
• Bring your laptop, make sure it has WI-FI capability.
• Try to get an all-encompassing warranty for the laptop in case it breaks down on you somewhere on the road (*I got a special warranty from Future Shop in Canada that allows me to have my Sony VAIO laptop replaced hassle free, and on the spot, at ANY Sony store worldwide).
• Bring at least 2 credit cards for wi-fi time etc. if applicable
• Buy the Pacsafe anti-theft laptop bag
• Buy a retractable travel lock or 3
• Bring an 8GB removable USB memory stick or 3 (*laptops get stolen and broken frequently when travelling internationally… use the memory stick to back up all your data on a regular basis… plus they are small, light, portable and customs agents do not look at them normally) and you can use them in virtually any internet cafe if a crisis arises while you are travelling.
• I’ve had bags stolen when travelling/working abroad before… ALWAYS use the retractable lock to secure your laptop on trains, hotel rooms, cafes… everywhere.
  Remember this… theft of bags abroad etc. is normally much more stealth and advanced than we see in North America… expect the unexpected at all times and never take your eyes off your valuables.
• You’ll also need to get a special program to secure your WI-FI transmissions… Jwire offers a WI-FI security software for $25.00 if I remember correctly.
• Do not go into isolated/remote areas with no internet access or cell phone signal (obviously).
• Always keep in mind the time zone differences when travelling abroad.
• The key issue is whether you can maintain client relationships whilst on the move.

Most of these tips were from rcmedia so thanks for that!

There was also a great link from CBOSLeeds to a post he did with loads more great advice: How to make money on the internet without being a couch potato.

So why not get involved with the movement!?

What we should start to see is more relevant visitors and therefore a better conversion rate. This is just another part of Google’s quest to make their search results as relevant as possible to the user. As long as your building and marketing sites which are an all round good site with a decent target audience then you cant go wrong!