For the past year I’ve been receiving calls from an automated message from 29 Prime (I know it’s them specifically and not a affiliate as I talk to the representatives each time they call me) asking me to “Press 1 to update your free Google 411 listing”.  Since I know there is no Google 411 listing anywhere (proof = http://lmgtfy.com/?q=google+411) and  I’m always curious to what they are trying to sell so I press 1 to talk to a representative.  In the past year of getting these calls (around 1-5 per week) I’ve heard so many promises about rankings but many representatives that can’t answer questions.   I’ve even been mysteriously disconnected when I start to ask the hard questions about what would actually be done.  When I try to call back the number it never connects to the company.  It seems very elusive in my opinion.  The website says they have a “Do not call list” but guess what… my number has been on it for 9 months now and I still keep getting calls which I’ve verified as 29 Prime with the representative that answers.

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Read what Google really says about SEO companies:

“Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue”
“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.”
“Be careful if a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do. “

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

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Here’s a list of the phone numbers that I personally have been called from and I’ve tried to call back:

859-740-2334
619-704-2766
503-468-5227
915-996-2895
405-283-8500
949-797-7199

As I suggest with all people that have been called out of the blue, read the reviews from others that have used that companies service.  Many of the reviews seem false (but I can’t be sure) but I do know from just my little blog here that people are posing as customers that really aren’t.  I have the emails and comment ip address’s to prove this.

Here’s a couple places where I found reviews:

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/9159962895
http://www.yelp.com/biz/29-prime-newport-beach-2
http://complaintwire.org/complaint/eqQBAAAAAAA/29prime-com-or-29-prime-scam-fraudulent (includes information about their previous companies and scams)
http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/29-prime.aspx

UPDATE AND EDIT —– 5/13/12

I received a letter today (5/13/12) asking me to cease and desist internet defamation of a certain company.   I’ve edited my post to make sure that all of my statements and opinions are fact that actually happened to me.  I must disclose that I’ve never used their services so I can’t comment on them.  My issue isn’t their service but the way of robotically calling phone numbers that are either purchased or scrapped from web sites.  The representative’s I’ve talked to told me they “got my phone number from my website that isn’t ranking highly”.

I must state that I never encourage or promote any defamatory statements and all comments on my blog.  All comments belong to and are owned fully by the person making thecomment.  Just the same as Google, Yelp, and a million other review based web sites around the internet.  Here is a link to exactly what a defamatory statment is – http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/what-defamatory-statement#perSe. As stated above all of these statements and opinions made by me are fact thus not defamatory at all.  Also another good read on substantial truth – http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/substantial-truth

ANOTHER UPDATE —— 5/13/12 —-

I just got off the phone with a representative there (after three calls from me which two were dropped and the third was just a message to get back to me).  I told them I had received the Cease and Desist letter that they sent and I had revised all of my reviews and postings to make sure that everything I said was FACT.   The original post was opinion based which I’ve willingly now changed to all fact based.

I thought I would share a link to a new site from Google that I came across.  It’s called What Do You Love (WDYL).

http://www.wdyl.com is a site for aggregating all things about a topic together.  I can’t say all the things on the results page of WDYL will relate to the search term.  When I did a few tests and trial runs of it I tried the search term “Azunga”.  It came up with some good information but I don’t think there’s a way to explore a 3d version, translate it to other languages (it’s a made up word), or find patents for Azunga as there is none.  There’s no option to turn off those search results which I think would be an nice added feature.

I thought I would share this great image for all you browser fans.  Where’s Safari?

Source: http://shoze.blogspot.com/

I came across this gem of a web site on a web design and search engine optimization forum.    Give it a shot.

This site (AdamMWood.com) got a “10% stuck in the 90′s” because I use gif’s but I can’t agree with calling GIF’s a 90′s trend.  We can all thank Internet Explorer 6 for this!   Even Big M has a web site set up to promote the declined use of IE6.