If you are an owner of a business and are advertizing it online, chances are you were contacted by a Google AdWords qualified company, that promises you a first page position in the Google Sponsored Links section at a fixed cost. Those companies don't do SEO (Search Engine Optimization), they specialize in SEP (Search Engine Placement), which means that for a fixed monthly payment they will guarantee that your website link will appear in the Google Sponsored Links section in Google Search, when someone searches for certain keywords.

I would like to share my own experience with such a company. I am a vacation rental owner and I advertise on paid sites such as HomeAway.com as well as on free sites such as Craigslist.org. Some time ago I received a call from NetBiz - a Google AdWords qualified company. They offered to place the link to my website first in the Google Sponsored Links for as low as $50/month + one-time setup fee. That sounded too good to be true, so I said: "No, thanks". They called again, and I decided to do some research.

1. I found that the phrase they are selling has to be an exact match. For example, they offered me "Maui Hawaii Condo Rental", and my link would be placed in the first position only for that exact phrase. Changing the order of words, or entering "Rentals" instead of "Rental" would not work for the placement.

2. They tell you that you will get more exposure and more business, but they don't guarantee it. They only guarantee the placement. Now, I thought how often I click on the links in the Sponsored Links section - almost never! But maybe I am not a typical user?

3. I read online reviews and they were mixed ranging from rave to very bad ones.

As a result, I decided to try even though I was very leery of their pricing - starting at just $50/month for a phrase that I personally would likely use searching for that vacation rental. When NetBiz called another time, I subscribed, paying $80 one-time setup fee and another $75 for the search phrase (the one they originally offered at $50 was not available).

True to their guarantee, my link started to appear as the first Sponsored Link in the search for "Maui Hawaii Condo Rental". For a few days I watched my Google Analytics report, but there was no noticeable increase in traffic to my website. I contacted NetBiz and changed the search phrase to "Maui Hawaii Condo Rentals". Another week - not a blip on the traffic report. I watched this for almost a month, talking to NetBiz from time to time. All they told me was "just wait another month", but they did not explain what would change during that month. They did not provide me with their traffic report, but promised to provide it at the end of the month. Then it would be time to pay for another month, did I want it? With just search keywords without optimization, it should either work or not, there is no reason to sit and wait. My website was out there in the first position, why wasn't the traffic increasing?

The only reasonable explanation I can think of is nobody is clicking on the sponsored ads, people know better to go to organic search results, to look for non-paid-for links. At least for vacation rental ads. At almost the same time I started to post ads on Craigslist for my other website, and the traffic doubled instantly; I received not only inquiries, but solid bookings. And that's completely free!

The NetBiz lesson cost me $155. Funny that when I decided to cancel NetBiz deal, nobody even tried to talk me into staying, obviously they were completely OK with what they collected from me and were ready to resell that search phrase to another "newbie".