"We will submit your site to all 1500 search engines and guarantee you 14,000 hits on your first day for only $29.95!"
Sounds pretty good, huh? Well, don't be fooled. First of all, what 1500 search engines are they talking about? There are maybe 10-20, tops, that are out there, and out of those, you only need to submit your site to maybe eight (and that's even a bit on the overkill side).
Secondly, NO ONE can guarantee you that many hits. Just won't happen. No matter what kind of magical beans you have, you will not get that kind of traffic and especially won't get it on your first day. Sure, there are sites out there that get that many hits, but they are usually well-established, large sites that have been around for a while and have extremely deep content. Anyone who promises you this kind of baloney is trying to pull a fast one.
Sure, there are SEO consultants out there that are honest and ethical. This ad (which, by the way, is a real one. No joke.) is assuredly unethical, devious, and just kind of silly. $29.95 would be a great price for these offers IF they were for real. No, unfortunately, the vast majority of SEO firms out there that come up in search results are much like the Wizard of Oz: lots of noise, but no substance.
Is there ever a time when you should pay someone to submit your site for you? Maybe. That's really a hard question to answer. But you can bet on this: if you are looking for a reputable SEO company and see an ad like the one above, you can rest assured that they are NOT on the level.
Submitting your site is easy, even if you have a large business site. In fact, major search engines and directories such as Google and Yahoo just love to give their major business customers as much help as possible. (see this link for Google; this link for Yahoo)
