Web Marketing Strategy Update

I came across Blog Submitter Pro 7.0 through an emailed affiliate recommendation. The site headline reads:

“New Blog Submission Software Takes TOTAL DOMINATION To A Whole New Level, And Allows Complete Control Over Any Market and Any Product You Sell. — Renders All Other Marketing Methods Totally Useless by Comparison”

Quite a claim, eh? Totally ridiculous hype of course. But that seems to be the norm these days. My issue is with the software itself.

I might wear a grey hat sometimes, and Google may think I’m a bit thin in places, but even to me it’s clear that this new, “killer marketing app” crosses the line.

The goal is innocuous enough: make comments on blog posts related to the topic (or in this case, simply keywords) that your site covers. In doing so increase the value of your site in the eyes of Google (and other search engines).

The method of attaining it is the problem.

Let me ask you a question. What is the Comments function on a blog for?

For commenting on the post, right? To build on it. Add opinions. Ask questions. Perhaps create discussion.

It’s not a name card or billboard service for people to come along and say (according to the creator this is what he himself sets the software to post):

- – - – - – - – - -
“Hey, you have a great blog here! I’m definitely going to bookmark you!

I have a <.a href="http://www.my-domain.com/my-page.htm">##KEYWORD##<./a.> site/blog. It pretty much covers ##KEYWORD## related stuff.

Come and check it out if you get time ”
- – - – - – - – - -

I must have missed the bit that said the software automatically created bookmarks for you too! But lying that aside, can you imagine what it would be like if everyone made comments consisting of nothing more than this kind of self promotional junk?

Picture an automated process designed to post this stuff on random blogs, wherever the software finds any of the keywords in its user defined list, and you have the general idea of what this wonderful new marketing tool does.

I know some “big name” marketers are promoting this thing, but I like to call a spade a spade.

THIS IS A SPAM TOOL

In case you can’t see it, let me explain why.

First of all, the blog is the property of the blog owner. Just like their email inbox. Just like their physical mail box. It’s their territory and they make the rules of entry.

Blog owners give permission for people to post comments in order to add value to the site content for other visitors, or enable interaction, etc.

That’s the rule.

It might be unwritten. But it’s as plain and well understood as the rule that you don’t vandalise another persons property.

Blog owners solicit comments that add value to the blog and visitor experience. And as an added bonus, they offer a link back to the site of the comment author (for which the ultimate reason is again the idea of adding to user experience).

They don’t solicit self promotional ads that have no intrinsic value to the blog and exist solely for the purpose of obtaining a targeted link.

And as the web site selling this software makes perfectly clear, they are indeed nothing but blatant ads:

“When you post your ads on all of these blogs …”

So, putting it another way:

The comments this software sends out are Unsolicited Ads. In bulk. For commercial gain.

Sound familiar?

That’s because it’s SPAM.

I don’t object to you commenting on a post to get a targeted link, as long as you provide value in return.

“You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” is the way it works. Just like the republication of articles, only a lot less work for the person getting the link. But if you aren’t willing to play fair, you’re not welcome on my blog!

But apparently (based on extensive research, no doubt), I’m in a minority here: most blog owners are happy to be spammed. In fact, they are GLAD!

From the sales page:
“Believe it or not, the people who run the vast majority of blogs that you post on will actually very much welcome your post.”

Wow! Really?

And there’s even an email excerpt to prove it:
“I have about 20 blogs and have never received a single comment. I followed the link out of curiosity – Even though I knew it was a marketer just wanting a link back to their site – I just half smiled and thought ‘cool!’ It doesn’t really bother me in the slightest. I’m sure that Mr. Dad & Mrs. Mum would feel maybe a little bit important that someone actually ‘bothered’ to come to their website and say -’Hey, great website, keep it up -check out my site when you are free.”

Oh yes puulease Mr. Marketer! Come and post your spam comment on my site. I was feeling SO unappreciated and insecure. I feel MUCH better now I’ve been noticed by your automated software!

There’s actually a page on comment spamming on the site, which begins:
“This term, although a fiction, is a well known and widely accepted concept among the internet community.”

A fiction? A false belief that’s held to be true because it’s expedient to do so? Of course it is! Silly me. (See [comment spam->http://www.answers.com/comment%20spam] for more on this “fiction”)

It continues:
“I built this software to post exclusively to blogger.com blogs so that no one can ever legitimately accuse any Blog Submitter Pro user of ‘comment spamming’ their blog.”

Key here is the twisted definition of “legitimately.” You’ll see how in a minute, but suffice to say the implied meaning is analogous to not being able to legitimately accuse someone of sending spam email, if you haven’t switched on the spam filter provided by your ISP.

“Blogger.com is very well aware of Blog Submitter Pro! They know exactly who we are, exactly what we do, and exactly why we do it…. And They Do Not Mind One Little Bit!!!!”

That’s a bold claim. How do they know that? Did Blogger write and say so?

The fact that visible action has not (yet) been initiated does not mean Blogger think it’s fine. They could well be considering what steps to take in relation to the scale of the problem, and assessing whether the problem can be controlled without direct intervention, which would be the least favourable option to Google (owners of Blogger.com). And this of course doesn’t take into account the other side of the coin, which is of much more concern to Google — the effect on SERPS.

I guess that means Blogger also don’t mind users setting up lot’s of bogus accounts in order to trick its parent company, as suggested on another page:
“And if you don’t want google to realize that some specific user/pass combo has been posting non-stop 24 hours per day for the last “X” days, it’s a good idea to setup a few blogger accounts and let the program ramdomly select a user/pass combo to post with.”

Back on the comment spam page:
“Instead of making themselves out to be yet another internet cop, they (blogger) opted to leave the blog owner with the option of whether or not they would welcome and or accept posts to their blog from automated software.”

They have done no such thing. They have given blog owners the option of using a [CAPTCHA->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha] to block posts from automated software.

As Blogger says about using the CAPTCHA option:
“What this does is to prevent automated systems from adding comments to your blog …”

That is not at all the same as welcoming automated spam posts. Not preventing something does not mean I welcome or want to accept it. By this logic, not locking my car means that I want it to be stolen.

“This means that every single blog that our software posts to, has by default, been given permission from the individual blog owner to do so.”

Again, that’s totally untrue.

At the risk of repeating myself, not actively preventing something does not mean I am granting permission to do it. If I leave a cash box open on my desk when I leave the room, I am not granting co-workers permission to pocket the money, even though I have not prevented them from doing so.

The truth is there are many reasons for not using a CAPTCHA. People don’t like filling them in. Some blog owners are concerned using them will reduce comments. They can slow down page load on a slow site and lengthen the comment process. The blog owner may not realise the significance or need. None of these reasons mean, “Yes, I want automated software to post spam comments on my blog.”

Here’s another gem from the software site:
“Known Annoyances::: 1. Low life’s
There are still low life’s on the internet who try to jam popups down your throat, and they hit you with ‘alert hell’ … (upsetting the software)”

So apparently I’m a low-life for having pop-ups on MY site, that belongs to ME and which no one is forced to visit, but people trying to spam MY site with useless comments to gain some benefit for THEM at my expense are ok? Yeah, right on!

Thankfully though, for the moment at least the software only targets Blogger.com blogs. Which is good in a way ‘cos that means it’s going to doubly annoy Google. And footprint or no footprint, when Google sees artificially skewed SERPS all over the place they will do something. As will Yahoo and MSN. Because it’s their bread and butter. And they have masses of data to spot and compare anomalies with.

Another positive aspect is that people will go at this like crazy, creating hundreds of links in a short space of time, oblivious to the alarm bells they are setting off that will most likely leave their sites ranking nowhere after a fleeting spell of glory.

There is also the “no follow” tag, although interestingly, regarding it the product creator claims that, “in having a large number of backlinks, not only is it no longer crucial, it truly borders on insignificants [sic].”

However, [Google say->http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/01/preventing-comment-spam.html], “when Google sees the attribute (rel=”nofollow”) on hyperlinks, those links won’t get any credit when we rank websites in our search results. This isn’t a negative vote for the site where the comment was posted; it’s just a way to make sure that spammers get no benefit from abusing public areas like blog comments, trackbacks, and referrer lists.”

Whilst [Yahoo's take->http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000069.html] is, “By adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to hyperlinks, webmasters and weblog owners can tell search engines that the links are effectively untrusted.”

And [MSN say->http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2005/01/18/nofollow_tags.aspx], “Any link with this tag will indicate to a crawler it is not necessarily approved by this page and shouldn’t be followed nor contribute weight for ranking.”

But even IF the product creator’s claims are true, it simply means there will be a move to a higher level of protection in future, with links automatically routed through blind redirects or something, or perhaps the ability to add links or comments removed entirely. The incentive to spam will have gone, but it will be at the expense of genuine users.

Someone who spends time and energy to post valuable content on my site deserves a little something back, and this inter-linking is the core of the whole community aspect of blogs. Another case of a selfish few spoiling a good thing for everyone else in the interest of their short-term gain, just like email.

Don’t be taken in by the spiel. Blog Submitter Pro is a spam tool. And if you use it, I’m sorry but that makes you a spammer.

Every independent professional should have a web site, an ezine, and an email marketing strategy, right? If you’re not taking maximum advantage of web technology to market your professional services, you are behind the times, and missing out on huge opportunities. At least that’s what most marketing experts would have you believe. But how valid is this advice? And is it for everyone?

Before email was widely available, marketing newsletters were printed on paper and sent by mail. There’s no question that e-mail is a more economical solution for sending a newsletter. Instead of being able to afford only a few hundred newsletters at a cost of $1 or more each, you can send tens of thousands for only pennies. With an ezine, technology can save you money and allow you to extend your marketing reach. This is one of the many ways that web technology can be your friend. Here are some others:

- A web site can attract new customers to your business from across the street or far outside your local area. If your site has high rankings in the search engines under appropriate categories, or many links from keywords prospective clients might search for, you may get dozens of inquiries from people who otherwise would never hear of you.

- Using email autoresponders can help you automate your follow-up with likely prospects. Just subscribe a prospect to an autoresponder list once, then send periodic broadcasts to the whole list, encouraging prospects to hire you or attend your learning programs.

- Participating in online discussion lists and message boards can allow you to network with a large group of people in your target market without leaving your home or office. Appearing on live chats or webinars permits you to be a public speaker without the time and expense of travel, and speak to national or global audiences.

For these reasons and more, it appears that using web technology is an affordable way to reach prospective clients easily. You can potentially attract larger numbers of prospects for fewer dollars than with many more traditional methods of outreach. But there are pitfalls.

Broadcast email can be an efficient solution for following up with prospects who already know about you. But it’s a terrible way to introduce yourself to a prospect for the first time. Far too many coaches, consultants, trainers, and other professionals add subscribers to their ezine or autoresponder lists without their permission. Not only is this ineffective as a marketing strategy since most readers simply delete e-mail from people they don’t recognize, but it can seriously backfire when someone is offended by your unsolicited mail.

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Here are some other ways that using technology in marketing can become your foe:

- Technology makes it easy to hide. When you have a web presence, an ezine, and use e-mail autoresponders to contact your customers, you may think there's no reason to contact them in person. You may feel justified in not picking up the phone, attending a business event, or suggesting a lunch date if you think your technology is doing the job for you. But a web site or e-mail isn't an equal substitute for a prospect hearing your voice or seeing your face. It's pretty rare for someone to hire a professional without talking to him or her first, so if you put off the talking, you may also be putting off the hiring.

- Launching and maintaining an attractive and useful website, and achieving high search engine rankings for it, can be an expensive and time-consuming project. Unless you pay close attention to your budget, you can easily find yourself spending much more to land each client than you would ever pay using offline marketing methods. A high-traffic web site is a valuable resource for a business that can take advantage of a global presence or a large volume of new clients. But if your business is primarily local or you only need a few new clients each year, you may end up paying for a level of visibility you don't really need.

- Too many inquiries from the web can waste your time. Anonymous visitors to your site will often email to ask about prices and other details. These inquiries are completely unqualified -- you don't know anything about the people who are writing. If you take the time for a thorough reply to each one, they can consume a significant amount of energy. On the web as well as off, prospects who are referred to you by people who know your work are much more likely to hire you than those who find you by accident. If that's so, perhaps it makes sense to put more effort into building referrals than into building a broader web presence.

Web technology is really no different than any other method of marketing your services in that you must judge the appropriateness of each strategy for your unique circumstances. If you find writing to be a chore, perhaps a regular ezine is not the best choice for you. If you only need a few large, local clients each year, you may want a web site for prospects to explore after you contact them, but not spend your money on web directory listings or search engine optimization. Autoresponder reminders may be effective to increase enrollment in public workshops, but not such a good idea to sell in-house training to corporations.

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Just because a strategy is the latest and greatest doesn't mean it's the best. Publishing a blog may be terrific if your target market spends a lot of time online, but not so good to reach those who rarely open their browser. Webinars can be an effective tool for attracting high-tech or corporate clients, but not for home business owners or consumers who operate older, slower computers with dial-up Internet access.

Relying completely on technology to bring in clients can also give you a false sense of productivity. When you are writing copy for your web site or setting up autoresponders, you feel like you are taking action about marketing. And these activities can be important behind the scenes steps, but you shouldn't confuse them with direct outreach to prospective clients. Web copy won't make any sales until people see it, and autoresponders will have no effect until people are subscribed to them.

Web technology provides just another set of marketing tools, not a complete solution. Using every marketing tool the web has to offer is not a requirement of doing business. The purpose of your marketing should be to bring you enough clients to earn the level of profit you desire. When marketing technology adds to your bottom line, it's worth employing. When it doesn't, there's no reason to use it.

About the Author
C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at http://www.getclientsnow.com