PreferredSeat.com Blog

If you’re a small or medium sized  business like Preferred Seating tickets, getting one of the coveted top positions in a Google search is just what you’re looking for but almost impossible to attain. The first problem is the price it costs to get into one of the first three positions on a Google search page. The second problem is trying to get one of the remaining 10 free listings on the rest of the first page of search results.

And many times it’s the smaller businesses that have the best prices but if consumers can’t find them then everybody loses. And websites such as PreferredSeat.com provide real value to consumers who are looking for the cheapest ticket prices and reliable service.

Most people who use Google to find tickets for concerts, sports and theater don’t realize the costs that companies pay to get one of those first three paid positions on Google. And they pay dearly. A small local or medium sized business must pay the same price that any large national company pays for the same spot in the top three positions. The company that’s willing to pay the most for each click gets the top spot followed by the next two highest.

Most small and medium sized businesses cannot compete with the large national companies with huge advertising budgets. Large companies can bid several dollars per click and combined with click fraud it drives up the cost so most companies cannot afford it.  And since most people don’t look any further than the first three advertising spots on Google, most small businesses don’t stand a chance of being found by local customers on Google.

To get a position on the next 10 listings on the first page of a Google search you will notice that you have a much better chance if you are one of the ones paying big bucks in the first three search positions. It may not be that Google rewards them for paying for the first three positions; it may be more likely because Google just likes big companies at the top of their search results, regardless if there are better choices out there.

And as much as Google says it doesn’t give sites stuffed with keywords the top positions, many of the top sites in Google search results have dozens of the same keywords throughout the page Google gives top ranking to.

In the old days companies could run an ad in a local newspaper and expect to get results. Not any more. Most consumers turn to the internet to find what they are looking for today and Google is the top choice. 

For 2011 we hope that Google finds a way to help small and medium businesses that cannot afford to compete with large corporations to be found in the Google search results, for themselves as well as their customers wallets.

When the 2011 BCS National Championship teams were announced the price of BCS Championship tickets were running just over $700 per ticket. In the few weeks since the ticket prices have gone up to just over $1000 per ticket. The biggest sellers of BCS National Championship tickets in the country are ticket brokers such as PreferredSeat.com and  Stubhub.com.

What most fans don’t know is that Stubhub gets a large number of their 2011 BCS Championship tickets from ticket brokers. So you can often save hundreds of dollars on the price of a BCS Championship ticket by going directly through a ticket broker. And Stubhub has an additional hidden fee of 10% to the price they show for BCS tickets, adding a minimum of $100 to each ticket.

In addition you cannot get an exact seat location if you want to buy 2011 BCS Championship tickets through Stubhub.com. They are only selling BCS tickets by zones or areas in the stadium. You find out where your seats are only after they have been sent to you. And if you’re tickets from Stubhub did not come from a ticket broker, good luck. Stubhub also sells tickets for anyone under the sun and that’s why the best guarantee they offer is a refund of your money if you get to the gate and the tickets are no good.

At PreferredSeat.com they have been buying and selling tickets for college bowl games such as the 2011  BCS Championship tickets since 1987 and they don’t have any hidden service charges or fees. So the price you see, is the price you pay. Preferred Seating tickets buys their tickets from 24 years of ticket sources which allows them to provide a guarantee that gives the college football fan double their money back if they are not able to get into the game because of bad tickets.

Many fans are traveling many miles with lots of extra expenses for the BCS Championship game at the University of Phoenix Stadium. They don’t want to have problems with their tickets when they get there. And the best way to make sure of that and save money at the same time is to buy 2011 BCS National Championship tickets from the best source for tickets, PreferredSeat.com.

There are thousands of websites selling tickets and many are cropping up that are confusing consumers into thinking they are the official website of the artist or venue. A recent report by an Atlanta station, thenewsroom.com regarding a complaint by a consumer and an official looking Philips Arena website has the state of Georgia looking into the matter.

Apparently the website owners were not legally licensed to sell tickets and they did not disclose they were a third part, according to the report. It does not appear the website is still high in the search listings as they were when this story came out, but it’s easy to find the same company with websites for every major venue in the country.

All of the websites look pretty much the same because they are owned by the same company, as you can find by checking the Terms and Conditions Page. They have maybe hundreds of websites clogging the web and all are selling the same tickets, with hidden fees.

And what’s the result? Many consumers think they are buying directly from the venue because they feel it is not adequatley disclosed in the small print. And their choices are limited with the same company’s websites filling up the first page of the Google results.

It makes it tough for consumers to find up front ticket companies such as PreferrredSeat.com where they know right away who they are dealing with and they can find tickets without any hidden fees.

What can a consumer do? Never buy tickets without checking out the contact page first to see if it is who you think they are. Many of the sites you want to be careful of don’t list a contact address, just a phone number and email. Do you want to do business with someone who doesn’t want you to know where they are?

Then check the Terms and Conditions Page, if they have one and see if you can understand a word of it or if it looks like it was drawn up to protect the seller, and confuse the customer. And hopefully you can find out the real name of the company and not just the name of the website.

If you’re spending more than just a few bucks then check with the Better Business Bureau also. It doesn’t take but a minute and you can find out a few things about a company. And compare even those that have good records because an “A” record with 700 complaints in the last three years is not the same as an “A +” record with 0 complaints.