Three Days After Launch, My Client Paid $39 to a Company He Had Never Heard Of

Last week we launched a website for a local trades business. New domain, new site, Google started counting it in search the next day. A good week.

Three days later the owner paid $39 to a company called Website Launches. He did it because he thought the email came from us.

It did not. We had never heard of them. Nothing in their emails says Delcaro Media. But look at it from his side. He just paid a web designer for a new website. Days later an email arrives about "your website," "your listing," and "finish setup." Of course he thought it was part of the job.

I am sharing the emails he forwarded me, with his name and his web address blacked out. I want every business owner who launches a site to see what this looks like before it lands in their inbox.

Email one: "We created a listing for your site"

Thursday, 11:21 in the morning. Nobody asked them to make anything.

Read the footer: "You received this email because your website was detected publicly going live."

That is how they found him. Every website with a padlock in the address bar has a security certificate. Every new certificate goes into public logs that anyone can read. Companies watch those logs for new web addresses, then look up who owns them and start emailing. Your site goes live, and within hours you are on somebody's list.

Email two: "Your listing is claimed and owner verified"

Same day, 6:39 in the evening. He clicked the green button and claimed the listing.

"Owner verified." "Launch Center." "Personalized launch checklist." All of it sounds official. None of it has anything to do with his actual website, which was already live, already on Google, and already working.

Email three: the $39

One minute later, 6:40 PM.

Look at the small grey text near the bottom: "Traffic and sales are not guaranteed." That is the most honest line in all three emails.

What the $39 actually buys

A page about your website, on their website.

That is it. It is a directory of new websites. Your customers will never see it. Nobody looking for an electrician, a plumber or a bookkeeper in the Kootenays goes to a website-launch directory to find one. They go to Google, Google Maps, and maybe Facebook.

People sell these listings as "backlinks," meaning a link from their site to yours that is supposed to make Google like you more. A link from a directory that lists every new website on the internet does not move the needle for a local business. If anything, Google has spent years learning to ignore exactly this kind of link.

To be fair to them, the price is spelled out, the fine print says no traffic is promised, and there is a refund window. That is more than a lot of these outfits offer. The problem is the timing and the tone. It shows up days after launch, talks like it is part of your website setup, and asks you to "finish" something you never started.

This one is not alone

A new website or domain puts your business on a lot of lists at once. In the first few weeks expect some of these:

• "Finish your listing" emails like the ones above, for directories you never joined.
• Domain renewal letters that look like an invoice, from a company that is not your registrar, offering to "renew" your domain at three times the price. Pay it and you may have just moved your domain to them.
• "Google listing" phone calls claiming your business profile will be removed unless you pay. Google does not call you about this, and your business profile is free.
• SEO audits you did not ask for, with a scary score and a monthly plan attached.

None of them come from your web designer. None of them are required.

What to do when one shows up

Forward it before you pay it. If an email mentions your website and you are not sure who sent it, send it to us. It costs you nothing and takes us thirty seconds to answer.

Check the name on the bill. Every invoice from us says Delcaro Media on it. If the name on the email is one you do not recognize, it is not ours.

Do not click "claim" or "verify" on something you did not sign up for. Claiming is how they get your email confirmed and your guard down before the payment step.

Send it to me

If you just launched a site, with us or anyone else, and something like this is sitting in your inbox right now, send it to me. I will tell you what it is.