For some reason, many new webmasters (and probably a few seasoned ones) seem to think that they can rip-off an idea of a successful website, or make a virtual copy & paste of a site, throw it on a server, and be successful. As an example, think about how many Myspace clones, YouTube clones, etc are out there - I could give a few more examples of copycat/ripoff sites, but you get the idea. Now ask yourself, how many of them are successful (either by measure of earnings or traffic/popularity)? Sure, one out of a million might get lucky and enjoy moderate success, but generally it is an original idea that is well-executed that will come out on top in the long run..

I got to thinking about this because in a sea of copy cats I came across a site that is an original idea and executed fairly well so far. To be honest (disclaimer), I didn’t just “stumble” across it, I know the webmaster - but I know a lot of webmasters and it’s not often that I make a blog-post about their sites.

Makeupanarchist.Com is a good example of a well executed, original idea and website niche. Sure, there is probably nothing original about makeup websites, but the ‘niche’ of this site is Women (and men?) that do makeup their way, not the way the big makeup companies or websites tell them they should do it. The site is built on Drupal, is well laid-out, has a nice looking theme with a very original logo/header, and is clearly run by someone that knows what she is talking about and has a passion for the subject (which is apparently crazy makeup or something). Even though the subject-niche is fairly narrow, the site will probably also appeal to much of the larger ‘makeup’ niche, for which I am sure there is plenty of potential traffic.

I know that the demographics of my blog readers are overwhelmingly male and probably don’t wear makeup - but I’m sure that most of you have wives, girlfriends, or daughters, so send them over to MakeupAnarchist.com to have a look. Mention to them that it’s not “just another big makeup site” and take note of how they respond. My guess is they would show much more interest than if you told them it was yet another ‘large corporate-run website just like all the others’.. and that, is the whole point..

There are a few things you can do to deal with the spamslaught.

• Bend over, grin, and take it
• use a few simple tools & techniques to fight/block it

Both at the site and here in the blog we use BadBehavior which blocks the vast majority of auto-spam bots.  I also have Akismet on the blog which catches much of the ‘manual’ spam.  Finally, we have a list of over 1,000,000 spammer’s servers/IP’s that are blocked at the firewall.  If you’re on a shared host and/or don’t have your own firewall, you can accomplish almost the same thing by using something like the Troll module (for Drupal).  We were also using Mollom at the site for a while, but between BadBehavior and our IP block-list, we decided Mollom was just getting in the way.  We removed it a few weeks ago and saw no detectable increase in spam posts.

How to tell if that comment was real or spam:

I thought that everyone realized this, but after talking to a blogger-friend that had no idea that all those new comments on his blog were actually just spam-posts for a free link, I figure I should share it.

Have you gotten those comments in your blog that go like this: “nice blog, keep up the good work“, or “I never thought of it this way, you explained it very well” ?   Well, I hate to break it to you, but those aren’t admirers - dem’s spammers.   Here is a quick test I use to determine if the post is real, or just a spammer trying to take advantage of my DoFollow:

The spammers post these same comments on a million different blogs, so ask yourself “would this comment make as much sense on any other post?” - if the answer is YES, then it’s probably a generic spam post; If the URL provided by the person making the post also happens to go to some “payday loans” or “viagra” site, then it’s definitely spam.  So basically, if the comment does not add any value to that specific post, or if it is so generic it could be applied to any post, it’s probably spam.

Of course, some bloggers/webmasters don’t care about the spam and allow it to go unchecked.  But, I do all i can to protect my site members and blog readers from spam, and I’m proud to say that we’re 99.9% spam free.

What tools methods do you use to fight comment-spam, or do you just not care?

After a few minutes of tearing through the packaging like a kid on Christmas morning I finally got to the goods:  A stainless steel sport-water bottle from my friends at Microsoft Advertising.

.. I expect a T-Shirt any day now