There seems not a day passes than some spammer tries to get by my defences. The latest came via my contact form from someone calling themselves Amethyst Royal:
My name is Amethyst Royal and I work with a company that offers online resources for those seeking to start, change, or further their career via an advanced education. I really like your web page, Longrider, and am hoping that you would be interested in hosting a link for our company. I am looking for a text link to be posted on one of your older subpages or posts. I would be able to compensate you for your time and your space. If you are interested, please let me know.
Kind Regards,
Amethyst Royal
PatternSpace
Sigh… Usually these people try to get onto old posts themselves by leaving a spammy comment such as here – and I really do suggest that the blogger concerned deletes the comment.
This one does appear to be written by a real person rather than a bot – although I could be wrong on that one. The syntax appears real and the faux flattery designed to appeal to my ego suggests some attempt to look at the site. Given that I have auto-close in place on old posts, contacting me and asking me to spam myself appears to be the only option available. Like I’m cabbage looking or something. Anyway, these people have form, it seems.
Assuming that this is a real person, they clearly haven’t bothered to read my link exchange policy. Given that I am not prepared to indulge in link exchanges, I am hardly likely to fall for selling links, now, am I? And for any lingering doubt, there are no adverts on this site. It is not a commercial site, I don’t do any selling and if I did, it would be in plain sight, not hidden in a link in an old post; the tactic of the spammer and scammer.
So, Amethyst Royal – or whatever your real name is – No, I am not going to host one of your scammy links.
I got an email like that as well, it did strike me as slightly unusual (i.e. not quite as cack-handed as most spam).
.-= ´s last blog ..Welcome home! =-.
That and the fact that my contact form has a bot trap inclines me to believe that this is human spam.
what’s the big deal?
There are hundreds of agencies out there, all busily trying to beg/borrow/buy quality links for their clients. This is just another link builder trying to do his or her job. And yes they are real people and yes I know a couple of them.
If you want to get to number one in Google for some of the more competitive commercial terms, then you have to buy links. Top sites in insurance or mobile phones or whatever will each be spending many thousands a month on very discreet link buying. Occasionally they overdo it and get banned from Google – gocompare.com have been banned several times, and BMW were banned for a while.
So if you don’t want the free money just ignore the email.
If what you have to sell is any good, you don’t need to plague bloggers to host your links on sub pages, it’ll sell itself. Decent firms advertise out in the open. This, though, is clearly a scam. That’s the big deal.
It’s not free money. There is always a trade-off. In this case, I would gain a reputation as a spammer. Free money, my arse!
If what you have to sell is any good, you don’t need to plague bloggers to host your links on sub pages, it’ll sell itself.
You can’t sell sweet FA unless it’s on page 1 of Google. And it only gets there if you have the right links.
I would gain a reputation as a spammer. Free money, my arse!
Well I like the free money. You don’t. Fair enough, everyone’s entitled to their own point of view.
Er, bollocks, frankly. I trade entirely without any Google presence and I am not alone. That aside, the crucial comment here is right links. Concealed links on an old post do not qualify as the right links. They are quite correctly regarded as spam and any reasonable person would shun them.
There is no such thing as “free money”. There is always a trade off. My reputation and integrity are worth more than a few cents of a spammer’s money. Getting blacklisted as a bad neighbour is a cost I am not prepared to accept.
Did you bother to follow the links I posted? This is scam outfit. Are you seriously telling me that you would want to be associated with a scam for the sake of a few “free” cents?
‘Twould be nice if they got a life and went away. A man can dream.
.-= ´s last blog ..[continuous story] contribute one paragraph =-.
I shall cease trying to educate you about the online economy because you have obviously have a closed mind.
But just for your information, the price for a blog post or link ranges from a few quid a month to hundreds if you have the right sort of blog or website.
You arrogant, self-righteous little prick! How dare you presume the effrontery to “educate” me (particularly given that you have failed to grasp my point despite it being repeated often enough). I am well aware of online commerce – it’s no different in principle to any other commerce (as ITV have recently discovered to their cost), and having been self-employed for a number of years, I am well aware of how it operates, thank you very much.
A couple of years ago a client of mine spent a large sum of money on search engine optimisation – because she was told it was essential for her business. It made not one jot of difference to her business, just as spending a huge sum of money on a Yellow Pages advert made no difference to mine some 15 years previously – I was fed the same line then; I wouldn’t sell sweet FA without it. It was bollocks then; it’s bollocks now. What works for one business does not necessarily work for another. But, then, this post was not about commerce, online or otherwise; it was about scammers trying to wheedle their dodgy links onto legitimate sites; a point you have persistently ignored while seeking to “educate” me.
I am well aware of this. I do this as a hobby, not as a commercial effort. Others choose to sell advertising space. I have no beef with this as it is up-front and in the open, not irrelevant links hidden in old posts – which is (as I have repeatedly pointed out to you) – the tactic used by spammers. Webmasters who host spam links sooner or later get themselves a reputation as a bad neighbour. Oh, but what would I know, I have a closed mind. 😐
You still did not respond to the salient point – this is a spam/scam outfit. Legitimate webmasters have nothing to do with them. And anyone who believes in free money is a fool.
Longrider, there’s only one answer – Ignore and add sender to your ‘spam’ list. They may not get the message immediately, but at least the buggers don’t clog up your inbox.
Indeed. However, a bit of name and shame does no harm 😉
I got the exact same e-mail. However, I charge £100 for a link, and I get a surprising number, and I’ve earned over a grand in the last year. Just for pasting a few links, clearly labelled as bought links. Take it as a sign that your Google page rank is sufficient to be worth money!
What’s not to like? Or do you think taking advertiser’s money would sully your creative soul? 😉
.-= ´s last blog ..Britblog Roundup # 234 =-.
Nothing at all if that’s what you want to do. I made a decision that this site would be non-commercial. Those links I do provide for products are because I have found them useful and choose to pass that on; i.e. it is a genuine recommendation because the product is a good one, not because the producer bought my space. And, frankly, I don’t need to go commercial with this site, I earn enough for my needs with my day job. There was a time when I did need the extra money, but then an extra grand a year was a drop in the ocean to what I needed, so would have made too little difference to bother with. It simply isn’t enough to be worth it.
Mmmm, yes, I had noticed that on searches, my own blog comes up fairly high if I’ve discussed it – often in the first one or two, as well. It still ain’t for sale, though 😉
One other point to make here. Let’s assume for a moment that this is a legitimate company looking for honest links (which is not the case). If I do as you have and host ten links at £100 per link, that’s £1,000 for me… Except that it isn’t. It’s £600 for me and £400 for HMG. I made a decision last year to stop earning when I reached the marginal tax rate. I am not prepared to give the government 40% of my earnings. I can live perfectly well by remaining just below the marginal rate.
You keep saying it’s not an honest company but why?
The first link you give is a request to trade. Nothing dishonest about that. And the second is a guy who obviously has a bee in his bonnet about commercial link building.
And unless longrider is a term people search on a lot I don’t think too many people will be offering you money for it.
Follow the trail. Patternspace.net is clearly a front site with nothing to do with what is being asked for in these emails – and the first link is clearly spam; it has nothing to do with the subject matter of the post and is asking the writer to host links to a poker site. That’s a classic spam comment. This behaviour in itself implies dishonesty, why would a company that supposedly designs computer systems (but cannot design a decent webpage) be asking people to peddle poker sites?
Also, an honest company would be asking for up-front advertising, not hidden links on old posts. As I have said repeatedly, this is a tactic used by spammers to hide what they are doing from Google and other search engines. Google et al frown upon such practices. They consider it unethical and I agree with them. As the chap on the second link pointed out, in his case, it would violate WordPress’ TOS.
Then there’s the matter of why they feel the need to register their domain with a proxy. A genuine business would be open about who they are.
Sorry, the whole thing stinks. If is looks like rotten fish, smells like rotten fish, then in all probability it is rotten fish.
You’d be surprised… Mind you, they might be looking for oil. Not that that was what I was claiming when I talked about search results. I have noticed that if I am searching a subject that I have discussed, then I am frequently in that first page, which tends to confirm Jackart’s point about my rankings. My comment therefore was, yes, but I still don’t want to go commercial – I trust that clarifies that bit.
Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t. It doesn’t alter the validity of what he is saying, though.
paid links are frowned upon by Google, so all the people doing it hide their identity on the web. And all SEO agencies do it from the most reputable to the worst. It doesn’t make this one any different to the others.
And it’s not about advertising. It’s about using paid links to increase rankings in SERPS. That’s why they’re not asking for advertising.
Sorry mate, but I don’t think you understand this subject at all.
regards
Dave
I understand perfectly well what is going on here. This letter is clearly spam, they are selling spammy products, they are using spammy tactics. I do find it odd that two people have come here to defend a spammer…
I am also well aware of what they were asking for and can tell the difference between paid for links and advertising. This blog is written from a motorcycling perspective. If, for example, a company asked me to write a sponsored piece about motorcycling with relevant links to the sponsoring company, then at least I could understand it and would give them a fair hearing. I would still decline for the reasons given above, but relevant links clearly identified is honest and up front and the page ranking is honestly earned. Simply spamming randomly hoping that I will host links for dubious products is clearly spam. The one I received is supposedly for “education”. As it happens, this is my industry sector, and as such I am well aware that reputable training companies have no need to indulge in spamming blogs. A pound to a penny says this is a euphemism for a fake degree.
well, it seems you’re a man who loves the sound of his own voice and is never wrong.
No point discussing anything further.
Have a nice day.
Ah, yes, when faced with the paucity of one’s argument, resort to insult.
I happen to disagree with you and you have failed to make a satisfactory case. Like Charcoal above, you have failed to address the substantive points made. Pretty pathetic, really, as is your defence of spamming.
observation, not insult.
No, it’s an insult. Responding to your points is “liking the sound of my own voice”, just as responding to Charcoal was “having a closed mind”. Both comments are clearly designed as insults. Both are suggestive of someone who cannot accept that others might not accept at face value their assertions and generalisations. If you come here and make assertions, they will be challenged. Get used to it or go. The choice is yours.
Interesting, isn’t it that both people who came here thinking that spamming is an acceptable practice resorted to insulting me? It says far more about you than it says about me.
you mate are the Gordon Brown of blogging.
Consider me gone.
Oh, my, so clever aren’t you? If anyone calls you a wit, you can at least let them know they are half right. I am not your mate and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Given your inability to hold a discussion without insulting your host, you won’t be missed.