Web.com is on television rather frequently. Often with promises of “Helping your business succeed online.” Not to mention that all too alluring “Get a custom built website from the experts at Web.com for FREE!” Who can argue with free stuff, right?
Recently, I was emailed by one of their customers who showed me their invoices. I can’t say I had been interested in their operation. No, I never entertained the idea of trying them. From the websites I have seen displayed on television, everything looked cookie-cutter. But I have never really gotten a look at their work. Despite testimonials, they don’t show websites. It’s not like Web.com does not have time or the customers under their belts for posting websites that are well worth showcasing. Web.com states,” Web.com has 30 years of experience helping over 3 million small businesses succeed online.”. This begs the question, when was the Internet first available to the public? The first website was created in 1991. However, in 1998, web.com appeared to be doing something other than web hosting.
http://web.archive.org/web/19980204093516/http://www.web.com/
Where are the websites to showcase Web.com’s success?
This is where I come into all of this. These are not TV actors but a select few of Web.com’s 3,000,000+ customers, and they don’t showcase customers’ sites, just their name and company. Searching for the site with both details has been problematic like for this person’s site:
What that asterisk means: “*These results are not typical. Search Engine Optimization is only one of the factors that affects search engine ranking.”
http://www.web.com/radio/default.aspx
Searching for “Steve Greensup F.S.E. Inc.,” I don’t find a conclusive site. The site I found does not match the one that Web.com has in this graphic. But fsesd.com seems to fit the bill as “Powered by web.com / Register.com” is at the bottom. I think the site looked better before Web.com got to it.
http://web.archive.org/web/20090916003557/http://www.fsesd.com/
Web.com’s Stuck in the 70’s television advertisement
But there is one video I am highly certain I found on all of the websites:
- Mark Castelluci – a safer pool edge – asaferpooledge.net
- Martha Smith – a loave affair llc – loaveaffair.com
- Lory Rosa – Cleveland living – cle-living.com
- John LeProvost – Malibu Real Estate Today – maliburealestatetoday.com
These 4 people also appear in the video located here on web.com:
http://www.web.com/websitedesign/smallbusiness.aspx
It took a bit, but I found the domains for these 4 customers that gave glowing testimonials for web.com. The first three sites are no longer active. Search engine results by name and company did not take me directly to the first two, asaferpooledge.net and loaveaffair.com. However, Archive.org confirms that the Web.com logo was on the bottom of both sites.
http://web.archive.org/web/20120126045455/http://www.asaferpooledge.net/
http://web.archive.org/web/20120425174216/http://loaveaffair.com/
The third, cle-lkiving.com, was a bit trickier as all I could find was a profile page with lationcleveland.com and a Facebook page.
http://www.latinocleveland.com/latinolink/95-lory-rosa/profile.html
https://www.facebook.com/ClevelandLivingMagazine
The last site is active, Maliburealestatetoday.com.
Web.com’s effect on Maliburealestatetoday.com
Maliburealestatetoday.com gives me a chance to see what web.com does, and personally, I would have picked a different customer to showcase. There is too much-wasted space at the top of the site. Plus, take it from someone who has spent the last three years looking for a house. The Property Search is not user-friendly. While I can enter criteria, I can’t sort the results and can only get 5 listings per page.
Search engine ranking for Maliburealestatetoday.com is abysmal
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/maliburealestatetoday.com#
The page rank is 1.
Search engine results are even worse.
I have to wonder what a web.com television ad might do for a customer whose site address is actually shown.
Web.com and Jim Furyk
When it comes to golf (or any sport, really), I am by far no expert. Personally, I find golf boring. Yet there is a whole channel on Directv dedicated to just golf. No matter how unentertaining I find golf, it is a huge market. Something caught my eye when I watched Web.com’s recent commercial with Jim Furyk. I have dealt with many Facebook pages, and what I saw on an 80-inch screen stuck out like a sore thumb.
The top part of the picture is the actual Facebook page, which was not as easy to find as I thought it would be. The Bottom part is a doctored-up Facebook page that was showcased in the commercial. From what I can see, nothing about the site being enhanced or anything. But the advertisement clearly lists 43,145 likes versus the reality of 309 yesterday and 311 today. There are no videos or foundation tabs on Jim Furyk’s Facebook page. What interested me about the Facebook page that web.com showed was it had no thumbs up by the number of likes. Below on the left is a snapshot of the real Facebook page for Jimfuryk.com; on the bottom right is the fake. They can be clicked on for a better view.
This is the reality that web.com is not showing:
https://www.facebook.com/jimfurykgolf
When I search for Jim Furyk, I get the following results.
Jim Furyk has a page made by a fan that could easily be tapped into to bring in more likes. I am more than certain if asked; the page operator would be all too happy to send fans to the official fan page. Frankly, whoever generated the fan page looks like they would be better at managing the Facebook page than Web.com.
When I first looked at Jim Furyk’s site, I missed the Facebook page link at first glance as it blended in with the header graphic and not the traditional blue and white that Facebook comes in. Perhaps if Web.com had done more than just Facebook for social media for Jim Furyk, then I would have noticed it sooner. According to this link http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7ZE7/web-com-golf, the golf ad has run 116 times. Maybe if web.com actually showed the direct link and corrected the Facebook link, they could improve the likes of Jimfuryk.com.
Keep in mind that web.com charges $189.95 for their Facebook package.
