Localadlink Scam?

First of all, I need to remind you that LocalAdLink is NOT a scam, but a lot of people search on that term, and the the best way I can reach those people is to put it in my title.

Let's answer the question: "Should you sign up for Local Ad Link?"

Short answer:
If you enjoy multi-level marketing or network marketing, you could probably make some money in the short run selling Local Ad Link advertising. Assuming you swallow the kool-aid.

Here is my detailed analysis:


Let's start off on a positive note:
What can Localadlink do for you?
If you enjoy multi-level marketing or network marketing, you could probably make some money in the short run selling Local Ad Link advertising. Assuming you swallow the kool-aid.

That and all that it implies is the only reason I can see to utilize Local Ad Link, or localadlink.com.

In the words of Bret and Germaine from Flight of The Conchords, "let's talk about the Issues":

1-Localadlink.com is considered by me to be a search directory similar to yellowpages.com, googlelocal.com and lawyers.com. If I own a local business, and I want people to find my business online, advertising on a directory CAN be a good way to get customers. However, if no one is going to the directory then I will not get much of a return on investment of time and money.

How do people find directories?
Many ways, but right now I can think of 3 primary ways people come upon and consider utilizing a directory:

1) They use the directory because it has great brand name recognition:
Lawyers.com, yellowpages.com, superpages.com, hotels.com, travelocity.com and many other directories like this are recognized so we go straight to these sites.

Localadlink is making some strides in this area, however, it is most likely from people who are selling or are being sold the program. If you seel it, you might use it or tell people to use it to find a business. If someone is trying to sell you the advertising you are going to check it out. Since their network of salespeople is growing every day the traffic to their site is probably growing everyday. Not much of their traffic is from people like you and me looking for a product or service.

Most of us use a search engine like Google, Yahoo! or MSN to find a local business. Google gets at least 60% of all of the search engine traffic-possibly 70%

How do you find local businesses?

2) They found the directory on another search engine or website:

One of the ways Localadlink gets traffic to its site is that it pays for placement on other sites. According to Spyfu.com Local Ad Link has spent as much as $1,400 a day on Google Adwords advertising, but they have decreased the amount they spend recently to very little.

Other directories like Lawyers.com are on CNN and in Google Local (for free)

Superpages, Business.com and Dexknows.com have also been known to get free links from Google Local.

Localadlink does not get free links from Google Local. They might someday, but they are late in this game.

3) The site appears as a search result at the top of a major search engine like Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

It has been my experience that when we search for a local business on a search engine we usually are looking for an answer, but sometimes the best answer is a directory. Therefore, if a directory is in the first 2 pages of Google search results then we might use it to find what we need.

So how well is Localadlink.com "optimized"? That is, for how many search terms does it appear on the 1st pages of Google?

According to SEMRush.com, it is only on the first 2 pages of Google for these 17 terms which have any measurable search volume:

Keyword Position
adlink 11
client site 4
local business search 13
express 4 u 10
save auto sales 20
f&s landscaping 15
local business link 15
nutra metrics 1
how does web advertising work 16
georges tool rental doylestown 17
planet beach el paseo 15
508 944 9
sales how do they work 17
team collision center 10
zampieri s harbor grille 5
harbor grill destin florida 13
local advertiser 17

Contrast those results with these search directories:

yellowpages.com: on the 1st two pages of Google for over 400,000 Search Terms

Lawyers.com: on the 1st two pages of Google for over 150,000 Search Terms

The point is that for commonly searched terms Localadlink is not likely to have placement on Google or any other search engine.

Conclusion:

Local Ad Link might make you some money if you grow your downline or sell a lot of advertising, but if someone tried to sell me LocalAdLink to grow any other type of business I would have to say "no thank you".

How Could Local Ad Link become legitimate?

They could pay me to fix it :).