If you are searching for a company to promote and drive traffic to a website, please take heed of the contents of this page. I've posted this page in order to warn anyone contemplating contracting this conman - Robert D. Holland of Covenant Global, LLC. - to perform search engine optimization services on your website. Please read the following and learn from my mistake so you don't get ripped off too.

Robert D. Holland's website can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.covenantglobal.com/

What follows is the copied and pasted text of an agreement drawn up by Robert Holland of Covenant Global, LLC and sent to me as an attachment to an email message on August 29, 2007 after several phone conversations between me and Robert Holland:

'This is an agreement that Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland as owner and founder of Covenant Global, LLC.)
is willing to make on behalf of the previously discussed terms:

Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland) is willing to offer 100% Guarantee that your website will rank
in the top 3 search results in Google, for up to 15 keyword phrases. If we are not able to achieve that,
Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland) is willing to continue forward with the SEO work, at no additional
expense to the customer, until the top 3 search results are achieved for the stated keywords.

The agreed upon price for the search engine optimization services will be $549.00 (USD) for the 3 month program. If the top 3
ranking position is not achieved, Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland) will continue search engine optimization work for
the customer until such positions are achieved in Google.

This agreement is hereby underwritten personally by Robert D. Holland, owner and founder of Covenant Global, LLC.

Typed and verified on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 2:20 p.m.

Robert D. Holland
Covenant Global, LLC.
Licensed State of Delaware'


Instead of loading him down with all 15 search keyword phrases from the beginning, I thought the best thing to do would be to give him just 5 to start with and then give him the other 10 at a later date.

Not only were there no concrete results to be seen at the end of 3 months but now as this is typed - in August of 2008 - a full year after paying him, not one of those 5 keyword phrases has yet appeared in the top 3 results of Google and in fact only one of the five has ever appeared even in the first 10 results and that one started out in the first 20 results where it languished for several months before plummeting to number 40 in Google.

None of the others have shown any quantifiable progress at all. In our phone conversations, he has blamed an 'algorithm change' and tells me the only way he can do any more than he is doing to promote my site (which appears to be little to nothing) is if I pay him more money. It is well known that Google, Yahoo and the other search engines change their algorithms constantly. Does this justify his non-performance?


Please note the following back and forth via email between me and Robert D. Holland from several months ago.

On Nov 14, 2007 2:42 PM, Martin Neosel < [email protected]> wrote:

Hi Robert. I was encouraged when last week I found my site in 10th position for 'invisible fence' but then it slipped to 11th and today is in 12th place and my business is at a virtual standstill. I know you have a lot of clients but please don't forget me. The holiday season is quickly approaching and my traffic right now is anemic. I know you've embedded links to the site in various locations across the web. I can't see any onsite changes other than the meta keywords on the home page. I guess I'm just saying please make getting me some traffic a priority. This site is my sole source of income and some days, I don't even get one single solitary sale. Thanks.


From: Robert D. Holland Date: 11/21/2007 2:23:22 PM
To: Martin Neosel

Greetings Martin! And I hope all is well. Just wanted to give you a heads up that our 3 month program is about to end. The end date is November 27, 2007, and we'd love to have you stay on board with us so we can continue our optimization efforts, and take your website to new heights on all major search engines.

We've come a long way in a very short 3 months, and we think that your website is now in a position to dominate the search results for your specific keyword phrases.

Please call me directly to discuss the different options that we can offer you, and to prevent your program from any disruption in service.

Thank you again, it's been our pleasure to serve you, and we hope to hear from you prior to the 27th.


Please note that there was no reply to my message of 11/14/07 until receiving this message from him on 11/21/07 which does not address at all what I said in my message to him and which is clearly a request for more money to which I replied as follows:

On Nov 21, 2007 3:03 PM, Martin Neosel <[email protected]> wrote:

Robert. I'm not sure how to interpret what you've said in this message. Here is the agreement we entered into:

'This is an agreement that Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland as owner and founder of Covenant Global, LLC.)
is willing to make on behalf of the previously discussed terms:


Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland) is willing to offer 100% Guarantee that your website will rank
in the top 3 search results in Google, for up to 15 keyword phrases. If we are not able to achieve that,
Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland) is willing to continue forward with the search engine optimization work, at no additional
expense to the customer, until the top 3 search results are achieved for the stated keywords.

The agreed upon price for the search engine optimization services will be $549.00 (USD) for the 3 month program. If the top 3
ranking position is not achieved, Covenant Global, LLC. (Robert D. Holland) will continue search engine optimization work for
the customer until such positions are achieved in Google.

This agreement is hereby underwritten personally by Robert D. Holland, owner and founder of Covenant Global, LLC.

Typed and verified on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 at 2:20 p.m.

Robert D. Holland
Covenant Global, LLC.
Licensed State of Delaware'

Please message me back.


His reply was as follows:

From: Robert D. Holland Date: 11/21/2007 3:17:01 PM
To: Martin Neosel

Ah.. I apologize. I forgot that we entered into the agreement where I stay onboard indefinitely.

So I'll continue my work then...

I will be creating a spreadsheet for you so that you can follow / track your website rankings for your targeted keywords along with me. You should be receiving this shortly.

Thank you again.


I don't see how he could have simply forgotten about the agreement but I was prepared at that time to give him the benefit of the doubt. As of the creation of this page in August of 2008, it is clear to me that his only concern at the time of sending me this agreement was to get me on board and collect my money but also that he now has no intention of living up to the terms of the agreement.

As was the case when I sent that message on 11/14/07, my business is at a virtual standstill and has been for some time now. I can point to only 2 onsite changes one of which is the meta keywords in the title tag of the home page and the other being a link to an automated Link Exchange Program. He claims to have created lots of off site links to my site which should be boosting my site's relevance in Google but obviously that is not happening and I strongly suspect that that may be in large part due to the fact that a lot of those links are not 'themed' which is to say that they are with sites which have nothing to do with my business - something which search engine optimization specialists specifically warn against. He never made any changes to any text on my site to adjust its keyword density nor did he ever adjust any of the metatags on any other page of the site other than the title tag of the home page.

There is virtually no traffic to my website these days and I have made several phone calls to him over the past few months in an attempt to try to work with him but each time, he suggests in a not so direct manner that he is looking for more money. I tried to be as reasonable with him as possible calling him several times to try to either get the results he promised or to get him to refund at least part of my money but he was intransigent. I suggested to him that we could just sever out ties if he would at least give me back half of my payment (although I frankly wonder if what he did was worth even $275 let alone double that amount) and we could simply end our entanglement but he has simply ignored this request and my rankings now are worse than when he took my money a year ago.

As it became increasingly clear he was doing nothing to promote my site without extracting more money from me and has clearly not performed according to the agreement which he himself created, I have been forced effectively to contract with another company to perform search engine optimization services on my website.


What follows is my most recent email message to him:


In our last phone conversation on 6/27/08, I told you I was extremely disappointed with the lack of results from your efforts or lack of efforts to promote my website as per our agreement, that there was virtually no traffic to my website and I expressed my frustration with you that my attempts over the prior few months to work with you had been fruitless. I had called you several times before that final conversation imploring you to get me some results but each time I called, your response was to suggest in a not so direct manner that you were looking for more money. Our agreement was for $549 and not for any monies over and above that amount.


In that last conversation on 6/27/08, you said in essence that 'we do have programs we can implement that can get you immediate traffic but those cost more money and obviously you're not in a position to do that right now so I'll have to just continue with what I'm doing'. The problem is that for the better part of a year, what you were doing was nothing to get my website ranked in the top 3 Google results for the chosen keyword phrases. The traffic/monthly ranking reports you were sending each month speak for themselves and evidence quite clearly that you were expending no effort whatsoever on my behalf. As of today, 11/3/08, I see that you have even stopped sending me the traffic/monthly ranking reports as the last one I received from you was on 9/2/08.


My website traffic was at a virtual standstill for some time prior to our last conversation on the phone on 6/27/08 and your intransigence left me no other choice but to in early August - almost one full year since paying you - change the website control panel user name and password and recruit someone else to get to work on my website's promotion. In just a few weeks time, he had already gotten one of the 5 keyword phrases I had given you into the top 3 search results in Google whereas my website's rankings had not only NOT been improving but had been sinking in Google's results having made the mistake of leaving my website's promotion in your hands.


As I mentioned in my email message to you of 7/7/08, I was then and am now convinced that your only concern at the time of sending me that agreement was to sucker me in and collect my money and that you never had any intention of living up to the terms of our agreement which you yourself created and sent to me. Again I paid you $549 and I feel as though the little to nothing you ever did on my behalf wasn't worth even half of that but, as I said to you over the phone on 6/27/08, I was willing at that time to walk away from our agreement if you could have seen your way to refunding just half of that amount so we could sever our ties and go our separate ways as it became increasingly clear that I would need to get someone else working on my website's promotion to get some traffic. I was trying to be as reasonable as possible with you and asked you in that phone conversation of 6/27/08 to please consider that request and then get back to me but you ignored me and you never contacted me again.


Again in my email message to you of 7/7/08, I said to you 'if you refuse to perform according to the terms of our original agreement without trying to extort more money from me, then please consider it null and void and send me a check for the $549 so I can recruit someone else to get to work on my website's promotion' which again I have since done as you left me no other choice. In just a few weeks in the hands of a real SEO expert, my website rankings improved considerably proving that a capable and honest professional could get me the results I was looking for and he even charged me less money.


Since requesting that you refund my $549, I have never yet received a credit to my credit card or a check from you. You showed no inclination to honor the terms of the agreement which you evidently agree is no longer in effect as you now have even ceased sending those self-incriminating traffic/monthly ranking reports and you have never again contacted me. I therefore hereby officially cancel our agreement and terminate all dealings with you once and for all and once again demand that you immediately issue a credit back to my credit card or mail me a check today for the $549 you charged me for doing nothing.


I confess to feeling very naive now for being so trusting as it is so clear in hindsight that Robert Holland worded his agreement in such a way that it is very open-ended. Theoretically twenty years could go by with none of my keyword phrases moving into the top 3 or even top 10 rankings but Robert Holland could always still maintain that he is still working on it as I watch one or two sales a week trickle in.

Please be forewarned if you are looking for a company to get your own website ranked well in the search engines as this industry is rife with fraud. Robert Holland has a nicely designed professional looking website himself and has a cherubic trustworthy looking face and talks a good game on the phone but please take note of my negative experience with this fraudster and learn from my mistake. He is every bit a conman and I wish I had used better judgment before turning over my $549 to him as I might as well have given it to a charitable organization.

Thank you for reading this.
Martin Neosel