I had the misfortune to answer the phone one Monday morning where I worked last January. The company that hosted our site at the time was on the line so I took the call even though our site wasn’t up for renewal for several months. It turned out to be a coincidence in the end as the same company, Mainstreethost, also does SEO marketing and as it turned out, this was a cold call for their SEO services. The caller’s name was Sammy and he was actually unaware that we were current clients of Mainstreethost. I figured Sammy was calling to update us on the sites progress and unintentionally spilled the beans that we were indeed current clients. I have to give Sammy credit for quick thinking and not missing a beat as he went from insulting our pitiful site (a site they designed, or had their 3rd grader do for them) to praising what an effective business tool it was that they had designed for us. So this went from a cold sales call from Mainstreethost for their SEO services, to Sammy two-stepping and realizing this wasn’t a cold call but a current client.

It actually turned out to be our good fortune that Sammy had called when he did, unbeknownst to us, tomorrow was in fact an important deadline that if missed, any progress our several year old site had made would be nullified! Holy shit! Google was hosting their “annual Electronic Ballet” where any site that wasn’t re-indexed would be tossed back to page fifty thousand…. something and basically lose any hard won placement. “Annual Electronic Ballet”? Godamnit! I did not know that.

Not only that, but Mainstreet had to do some pretty tricky electronic dancing and maneuvering of their own. They had to make certain our site wouldn’t lose current position but would benefit from their special work, with an increased chance at Google’s prestigious “Feeling Lucky” spot and a more than likely page 1 placement. Ah crap…….. I wasn’t aware of anything like this but at the time I wasn’t aware of much on the Net at all. Our business had always relied on the yellow pages for advertisement and had just recently forayed into Internet advertising. The good news is that if we could make up our minds today (5pm no less, Sammy might miss happy hour), we were in! Way to go Sammy! And to think, I mighta missed this important call….. we’d a been screwed!

The bad news….. Mainstreethost’s electronic dancers don’t come cheap. Further bad news, we have no time to think about it with his old skool time close ( financing was available if necessary!). Something was definitely fishy, but I could hardly take a chance at losing all we’d already paid for and earned in up-time. Why though, couldn’t they have given us more notice? Well as it sadly turned out, our old rep had contracted a serious illness (the poor fella) and we had been forgotten, lost in the shuffle so to speak. Fortunately for us, Sammy had found our file and was doing us the favor of “saving our asses, so being last minute couldn’t be helped”. He’s “not even profiting off such a small sale” after all. Way to go Sammy. Sammy’s the man.

Sammy was kind enough to speak with his stuporvisor, Kevin and arrange financing to make this a painless transaction. Kevin assured us that not only was Sammy on the up and up but that Mainstreethost was a top SEO company in addition to being our current Host. “Just look us up on pg 1 Google” said Kevin, and sure enough, top of the world, 1st spot. Needing some time to think, I agreed to call back, but the clock was ticking. How far would these guys go? They hosted the site, what could they do to it out of spite……..Reluctantly, and with much distress, the agreement was made. There was too much to risk losing and we could always investigate this in the future. Better to lose some now than much more later. I couldn’t help but feel I had just purchased a used car, and a broken down one at that. If I had only known to:

1. Look at their website (this is the best they can do?.
2. Type their name, Mainstreethost, followed by ’scams’, or ‘rip-offs’, or ‘robbery’ etc, into Google, sure enough, they’re Top of the World there too.

The one thing that really tipped me off in the end, besides the used car-like hard sales close, was Sammy, who said to me after the sale, and I quote, “you’ll be so happy and smiling wide enough to stick a banana in your mouth sideways“. WTF? “Stick a banana in my mouth?” What kind of close is that? Maybe Sammy was just slipping in a hopeful little gay pickup line or maybe just mocking the sucker for getting what he deserved falling for the hard-sale, no pun intended. Whichever, I got the point, and then did some research, thanks “Sammy bananas”, if for nothing else, the bitter lesson (and no thanks btw).

After having some time and speaking with some people more knowledgeable on the ways of the Net, we realized what suckers we were. We immediately canceled the contract with MSH to make certain they had no way of further damaging the company. We were a little paranoid though not being accustomed to dealing with such outright crooks and liars, and Sammy and Kevin weren’t so friendly anymore. Fortunately, we were able to get most of the money back by explaining in detail their deceptive practices to their credit processor, which isn’t easy by the way. Credit processors generally support their clients as long as their paperwork is properly detailed. I won’t get into the extent of their rip-off due to a general laziness, but it turned out they had performed so little work, ‘crafted’ such a poor example of a childish-looking website’ that the processor returned our money without complication. If anyone has little knowledge of the Net and how Internet ads work, I would recommend doing some research before investing time and money into any SEO marketing campaigns.

There are legitimate marketers out there but these ones aren’t operating boiler rooms and Spam email campaigns for business. Legitimate business people do not rely on catching the most Internet-naive when cold calling and spewing their fantastic lies and unrealistic projectile garbage. The funny part is that if they had fulfilled their small end of the contract, which still wouldn’t have accomplished much, I would not have been able to receive a refund. Caveat Emptor. I don’t doubt that MSH (AKA; Utilities International Inc.) has some satisfied clients and is able to do a decent job, (regardless of their own site) but they did nothing for us. We had given them more than ample time to reasonably make up for their ineptitude. Hopefully they’ll do something for my former employers but I doubt it. I feel for the 2,000+ clients they’re currently hosting and hope they check the actual services being performed, or not being performed. I won’t even mention the extended periods of downtime I had to inform them about!

SEO isn’t really that difficult for small businesses and simply takes time, a bit of research and a good deal of work. Google provides the info and tips small sites need to become competitive in all but the most difficult markets. If you do get caught with your trousers down and don’t want to hang up on a fellow human being, type the company name and follow it with ’scams’ while the cold caller is on the line. Ask him to explain the numerous complaints and blog posts detailing their questionable practices. Chances are, you won’t be the one rudely hanging up on somebody.

“Another satisfied MSH client…..”

Buyer Beware: Mainstreethost.com AKA: Utilities International

4250 Ridge Lea Road Suite 69
Amherst, New York 14226
Local Phone: (716) 831-9716
Toll Free: (888) 874-3791
NetRange: 64.78.208.0 – 64.78.223.255
CIDR: 64.78.208.0/2

UPDATE, 11/20/09: I was impressed with this blogger’s entry on their happy dealings with Mainstreethost that I thought I’d post a link to both our favorite SEO companies; Mainstreethost. This gentleman was kind enough to detail the steps necessary to file complaints with their States Attorney. That could get their attention.

I’ve been lacking on keeping up with Mainstreethost’s new scam blogs lately but funnily I was called by another of their clueless marketers just yesterday, no shit. I informed the poor kid, terrible salesman btw, what my experience with Mainstreethost was like……. his response was; “would you like to give it another try?” OK, I’ll give him perseverance but an IQ of about 85. Not that bad really, a bit above all but the brightest of chimps. No offense to chimpanzees intended.

Seems like they’ve been listening to some of the bloggers highlighting their deficient services or lack of (Lord knows they scan this one enough) and created a new site. Looks to have been created by one of the free programs that many Hosting companies provide, way to go Mainstreethost! Might have spent a little more time on it, but who can spare it with all them cold calls to catch up on? There’s too many business people still naive enough about the Net to get suckered into bullshit, worthless service scams to worry about such frivolities.

Got ripped by Mainstreet? Not a problem. Just cancel your card with the detailed info showing what they promised, and what they actually did (not do). Don’t be down when you can’t find anything… that’s what to show to your card processor. That’s what I did and got a quick and full refund. Problem Mainstreet? I suppose I could post the dispute. Step by step instructions for your victims to get their due refunds in full.

Looking for real SEO by a company that walks you through the process, explains what they can realistically do and what you might expect? They do exist. One such company in my experience, and I’m receiving nothing in return for this is Hubspot.com. Check out what they offer. Their free diagnostics is more than I got from Mainstreethost’s “full services” (which they really shouldn’t put in writing….. ended up screwing themselves). Check out their site for some cool free tools if nothing else. If you’re interested in a company that adheres to the novel idea of working for their clients, Hubspot might be right for you. I wouldn’t expect a cold call from them anytime soon though. They even offer some great free tools, DIYers can gain a competitive edge without spending a cent.

Just what is the purpose of blogging?  I was just reading some pretty creative blogs randomly on MOVABLETYPE.org, I suppose similar to Wordpress.org although they add ‘professional publishing platform’ only to offer ‘download it for free’ alongside.  I guess they’re been around a while, they’re on version 4.21.  The templates themselves aren’t as impressive as Wordpress’ in my humble opinion but pretty nice for their purpose I suppose, which is……..still not exactly sure myself.  I just started blogging to add a blog to my professional site, although after 6 months I’ve yet to add it in fear that it’s actually not very professional in some respects.

I only recently, as in the last year, discovered what blogging was.  Of course I had heard of it but had no real idea of what a blog entailed nor the attraction.  In casual conversation I almost shocked someone not only with my extremely limited knowledge of blogs, but the fact that I didn’t even have a blog, and at my age!   I made a conscious effort to take mental notes and begin to decipher the differences between a blog and the common website.  Less than one year later, I now have two blogs, this being the second, and still consider myself a rank ameteur in the world of blogging.

Anyhow these blogs, about four I randomly perused, were the creative type, politically skewed some, basically rantings which doesn’t necessarily appeal to me despite this confused rant.  What is the purpose of a blog, to continue….I started, again, because I hear Google takes business site’s w/blogs and grants them some added credibility in positioning.  I suppose that might be true and intend on linking it to my moneymaking site someday.  I’m hesitant to do that because I was recently and randomly linked to an offshore gambling site and my blog’s positioning was thrown back even further than when I initially published it.  I’m only assuming it’s due to that link though as Google never let me know for sure why the demotion.   This much I know of blogs, is that this one in particular will have nothing to do with my business site.

I like blogging because I like writing, gives me something to do and allows me a fairly ….whats the word for;  ‘disguised  platform to say whatever I want’ and think.  One blog was evidently written by an ex-hooker, so I suppose it’s anonymous (that’s the word!) despite the fact that if someone was to pay a stud fee for my dog’s special services,  the anonymity would be gone.   Not that I have anything to say, don’t get me wrong and am not very politically inclined either and find the voting processes’ significance a joke personally.   Back to the reasons for me blogging.  So I was gonna attempt to make a blog-site that could, for instance; gain retribution for wrongs in a legal manner.  Say if I was to be screwed by an SEO company, I could do my best to warn people about, say…….. Mainstreethost for example,  and in that way do a profound  civic duty.  That companies such as this exist and their players not incarcerated for thievery and general mischieviousness is a conundrum that I think deserves blogging.

Asides from that, and again not being swept in by the theatrics of politics, I guess blogging will help me learn more about computers and software and free or nearly so, Internet advertising.  I did read one blog that’s intent was public display of odd poetry that I presume the author felt a need to share, curious how many people finished a single poem, or maybe many do similar to the exacerbation of a canker sore with your tongue.   Another reason I see many people blog is to become self appointed reviewers of consumables and let out their inner  test driver-user/critic/connoisseur.  That looks to be a common one.   I can see the attraction there and the dream of sponsorship(s) and free merchandise!   Another I’ve seen that’s pretty common is to take one single subject and blog the hell out of it.  I can see the attraction in that too and actually is what my other blog basically does so I want to try something a lot broader.

At this point  there is no single thread and will blog anything that comes to mind that interests me, including but not limited to drugs; both legal and illegal, health and fitness, SEO marketing, sports, guns and weapons in general, tobacco in all forms particularly harm reduction, NA, home chemistry, beer and wine making, AA, business;  both legal and illegal, art, entertainment,  and last but not least; man’s best friend the dog.  Anything and everything and it’s illegal counterpart or basically anything that interests me.

Any good ideas and opinions of the top 10 reasons to blog, even if they rhyme, will be appreciated.

I don’t know for sure what I’m gonna do with this thing yet and I bet it’s gonna vary quite a bit.  I do think I may start with a little shout out to express my gratitude for some hard earned marketing lessons learned thanks to my wonderful friends over at MAINSTREETHOST!  These guys and gals know exactly what to do with someone whose ignorant to the web but wants to do a little Net advertising and get some expert SEO advice.  I will attempt to convey exactly how grateful I am towards them and share my experiences with these fine people  in a truthful and, of course legal way.   If anyone else has had any   dealings with MAINSTREETHOST and would like to share or vent, please do.   The more evide….err,  documentation, the better.

Anyone……….please feel free to post on anything, even if it’s not related to SEO Marketing, scams or otherwise, it may even get printed.  Have a wonderful day! 

It does sound wonderful!  All this and the favor of financing?   Wow, my lucky day!   You don’t know anything about the Internet and have been meaning to look into some more Net advertising, but you’re just too busy to learn everything  necessary,  plus it’s also extremely confusing.   This fella is a bit pushy but it’s just because he’s passionate about his work and crunched for time too.  You’ll soon find out, your satisfaction is his primary goal and he believes in doing business the old fashioned way.  That’s why he got to you as soon as he could, “the day before the Big Dance!”

Thousands of hits a month and first page placement sounds like a dream come true!   The added convenience of the same SEO company hosting your site too, it all sounds too good to be true.   Sure it’s a little expensive, but If you get even half the results they’re promising,  it’ll pay for itself in no time.  Besides, “you need to start figuring out what you’re going to do with all the extra income your site’s about to start generating!”

to be continued....