Someone called me today and It registered as tpc but they said they were from touch and then went on to spill the beans not knowing I was once a customer...anyone heard about this?
But I did come across this script [webmasterworld.com]
They seem to be targetting sites that are already doing some site marketing, which under normal circumstances you would think is a solid strategy.
They appear to be targetting sites already at the top of some of the search engines, which means that search engine promoters are likely to receive calls (could be numerous calls if you have a number of sites at the top end of the same SERP). This appears to coincide with the evidence we have.
However they probably don't realise that they are actually in competition with the search engine promoters who are promoting the sites. Not direct competition but certainly close enough in some cases.
Many SEOs already have good records of the ROI of various services and know where to spend the clients money. We also share our information in forums such as this one, so if one or two members try a service and find it doesn't give the ROI of other services, most will take their word for it. Probably the Touch plc telemarketers don't realise just how highly skilled top level search engine promoters are and how much background research we do.
Most search engine promotion companies are small businesses and one of the real annoyances for small businesses is telemarketers (you've probably all had the people selling KIND Wallplanners and Advertising in Fire safety leaflets for Schools too) they just take up precious time when we could actually be getting on with our work.
So I think that the real problem is that Touch plc have slightly misread their target market and trying to sell to people who already have successful webmarketing programs is probably not quite the right marketplace. Perhaps they ought to look at sites that are further down the SERPs or target web design companies that specialise in flash sites that have little chance of being highly placed and are unlikely to generate significant traffic. One of the most surprising things that I find is that most web designers and web design companies do almost no website promotion and have little comprehension when you talk about ROI.
