Here is a sample of how one of the emails you receive might look

Since they have a disclaimer in their email, I’ll add mine, too. I am in no way saying that the company in this email is a scammer. I’m just saying that the unsolicited email I received from them looks almost identical to how the domain registration scammers operate.

Notice how there is no letterhead?  Nothing at the top to identify who they are? In the fine print at the bottom where they say they are not liable for anyting, they call themselves DS, so I assume that means Domain Service or something, which it does say Domain Service Notice. But real registrars, like GoDaddy for example, send you an email and you know it’s from them because they have GoDaddy all over it.

It’s a shame that these days, companies will tell you that this is just marketing and they have a disclaimer and all. However, it is misleading to people who do not understand the web all that well or even to someone who is just in a hurry and thinks this is a legitimate email from their chosen domain registrar.

Their disclaimer makes them barely legal. It should be illegal as a deceptive advertisement, but the days of Ralph Nader are over. The FTC and FCC will allow companies to say pretty much anything they want now. But that’s politics. I just want people to be aware of what they are getting into if they respond to emails like this one.

My version of their disclaimer;

By reading this post, you agree not to hold me or my company liable for any part. Note that THIS IS NOT A BILL. This is a blog post.  You are under no obligation to read it. The information in this post contains confidential and/or legally privileged information from my email.  This information is intended for all my readers who might be mislead by unscrupulous domain name registrars. There is no pre-existing relationship between the domain mentioned above and  DS, whoever they are.  This blog post is not in any part associated with a recommendation for services provided by domain name registration scammers for domain registration.  Search engine submission is an optional service that you can use as a part of your website optimization and alone may not increase the traffic to your site.  If you do not wish to receive further updates from my blog stop reading it.  If you are one of my readers, you are hereby notified that disclosure of, linking to, adding it to your Facebook Page or sharing it on Twitter, strictly recommended.  * 100% satisfaction guaranteed, you may share this post as often as you like for 30 days and beyond.

Image via CrunchBase

Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide from Google

Google put this document online a long time back, but I’m sure there are a lot of people who have never read it. For a free consultation on how we apply these SEO techniques for your website, call Curved Marketing at 512-322-9566.

As you develop your website, you add a new graphic here, an image there, maybe a video, a new cool snippet of javascript, maybe a little flash and pretty soon, you have created a slow-loading website one little piece at a time.

It’s easy to get into adding a little bit to your site frequently. You find cool new things you want to share with users. Those little facebook, google plus and twitter icons and plugins for your blog, a cool new flash header you’re sure your visitors will just love and of course you have to add that new video you just made.

Adding freash content to your website is a great way to improve your rankings in the search engine. But add that new stuff on new pages you add to the website. Don’t keep over-developing your home page or any other page. If you slow down your website, your rankings will suffer.

Take a fresh look at your website. Look at each item. Ask yourself, “Do I really need this here?” and “Is the time it takes to download this worth it if it is going to affect my SEO efforts?” Trim the fat and you’ll be much better off.

There are some really big companies online that could use this lesson. Those slow-loading flash ads on some news sites, sports sites, gaming sites and others are annoying to users. Those ads that expand when you mouse over them might look cool, but they are annoying to your users and they slow your website down.

Most importantly, they do not convert any better than an adsense text ad that loads really fast. I’m not saying start promoting adsense instead of the ads. But use the fastest loading ad possible, not the one you think looks really cool. Your conversion rate will actually improve.

Related articles

• Web design tips – things to avoid (marketing.yell.com)
• Flash and SEO: why it’s best to keep it simple (marketing.yell.com)

Image via Wikipedia

With Google not allowing 3rd party tools to give you Page Rank information a lot of people are speculating that Google is discontinuing Page Rank altogether. Google already hampers the ability for 3rd party tools and sites to display link popularity and search engine saturation, so it’s no real surprise they are doing this with Page Rank as well.

So all of you people out there selling links on PR whatever sites are still safe to keep convincing people that it really helps their SEO.

Personally, I uninstalled the Google Toolbar more than a year ago because I don’t care about Page Rank at all. Link building that is based on the PR of the site that links to you is worthless. Getting 100% original content placed on high-traffic websites is much more valuable. Getting a link from a page that already has related content and traffic is more valuable.

Page Rank isn’t officially dead. It’s just almost entirely irrelevant.

Related articles

• Google Has Made PageRank Updates (andrewsegawa.com)
• Why PageRank Doesn’t Matter Anymore (And What You Should Focus On Instead) (entrepreneurs-journey.com)
• PageRank is Dead (The Rush to SocialRank) (ross.typepad.com)

Image via Wikipedia

 What got me interested in looking that up was a spam email I got from a company titled SEO can be as easy as ABC and started wondering how companies differ in the way they tell people that SEO is as easy as 1-2-3 or A-B-C.

I got the spam from the SEO company because I signed up for a service at http://www.freewebmonitoring.com so I guess since I used their service, the email isn’t considered to be spam even though it is unsolicited email.

So, Indian SEO Firms might not be the top spammers according to the chart above.

According to the spam email from a comapny. I won’t say their name, but it says;

Isn’t that ABCD? That isn’t the point I guess, but their description of the 4 things they think make a good SEO campaign don’t even begin to cover what should be included in an SEO plan.

Buzzwords like SEO Checklist and Site Improvement Roadmap sound good though. Then they recommend automated tools to build relevant and efficient backlinks. If you are using automated tools to build your backlinks, then you are definitely on the wrong track.

Original content placed on high-traffic websites is a much better way to go. Viral marketing and Link Bait are a much better way to go. So many people want a shortcut or a magic pill, they end up buying into the automated tools process and waste their time and their money.

Then they added D. Of course everyone should use analytics to make sure they are on the right track and to look for opportunities to capitalize on trends.

I’ve never tried their program, so I can’t comment on it’s actual use, but anything that has in it’s description using automated tools for submissions and link building turns me off right away. Also, any SEO company that offers gold, silver, bronze, platinum and copper pre-set, one-size-fits-all plans makes me run away.

Every client is different. Different goals, different budgets, different obstacles to overcome, etc. How can a plan for a plumber in Kalamazoo, Michigan be anywhere near similar to a plan for ABC corporation that sells parts to the Aerospace Industry? Your SEO company should be creating a custom plan that fits your specific needs and budget. Anything else is just hype.

The guy that ranks for SEO is as easy as 1 2 3 at least provides information about the topic here and here

Everyone who does SEO has their own opinions and they each have their own reasons for the most part. In my honest opinion, you should stay away from automated SEO tools and one-size-fits-all SEO packages. I’m sure the guys at this company that sent me the spam email will disagree, so it’s always left up to the business owner to decide what sounds real and what sounds like hype.

Good SEO is hard work. There are no magic formulas, magic pills or shortcuts. Don’t buy the magic beans Jack! The beanstalk won’t get you where you need to be.

 References on SEO Spam from Matt Cutts

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/calling-for-link-spam-reports/

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/affordable-link-building-service/

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291 where Google says, Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you email out of the blue.

It also says;

You should never have to link to an SEO.Avoid SEOs that talk about the power of “free-for-all” links, link popularity schemes, or submitting your site to thousands of search engines. These are typically useless exercises that don’t affect your ranking in the results of the major search engines — at least, not in a way you would likely consider to be positive.

Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email about search engines as you do for “burn fat at night” diet pills or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators.

Related articles

• Google Says SEO Is Not Spam (searchengineland.com)
• SEO Scams Hall of Shame
• Cheap SEO: The Truth Behind Automatic Link Building
• Automated Link Building Software? Friend or Foe?

Another related Post about Automated Link Building says;

Black Hat SEO – There are many ways of obtaining inbound links that are considered ‘black hat’ or ‘dodgy’. These can often give excellent short term results – however, in the long term it is likely that the benefit from these links will be negligible at best.  Some examples of black hat SEO are automated link-building software, article spamming and buying lots of links (from places like link farms).  If you are after black hat SEO, this is the wrong website and company. We maintain ethical SEO practices and our hat becomes ‘muddy brown’ at worst!

source; PureSEO

Another source includes these two items in the same category;

Ways to get links:1) Spam link building

-Automated tools
-Black Hat

source

 Anyway, as I said, some SEOs disagree about methodology, but most avoid automated link building like the plague. You decide.

That being said, there are some basics that any website owner or online business owner should know whether they do it themselves or hire an SEO Company to do it for them. So let’s get to the 1-2-3 SEO plan. Remember, I’m not teaching you how to do each step here. I’m just letting you know what the steps are, so a lot of details won’t be included.

1. What Needs To Be Done To Improve My Website?

This is sometimes referred to as onsite optimization and is always the first step. This includes cleaning up the code and making sure the navigation not only works well, but that it is intuitive to your visitors, easy to use. It also includes creating a targeted keyword list.

The structure, (header tags and such) and the text on each page of your site needs to be optimized to target not only one of your key phrases, but also related phrases and words Google would expect to find on a page that is really about what you said it was in your title and header tags. New pages may need to be created to help you target a wider range of key phrases.

These pages should also be written to close sales or generate leads. Many SEO Experts will say that sales is not their job and that their only responsibility is search engine rankings and/or traffic. However, it does you no good to rank number 1 in Google if your site doesn’t close sales. So choose an SEO that knows how to close sales and knows how to use calls to action.

Last, but certainly not least is putting in analytics. Google analytics is free, but there are other worthwhile analytics programs you can use as well. It’s your job as the client to learn how to read your analytics. If the person you hire to do the work is also the person who tells you whether they are doing a good job or not, does that really make sense?

Learn how to read the analytics so you can judge whether or not your current SEO plan is working or not. However, don’t expect overnight miracles. Give your SEO person a chance to do their job even if you don’t see immediate drastic results.

2. Okay, I have my site optimized and it’s ready to close sales, what’s next?

Now you need to add fresh, original content to your website on a regular basis. Whether you choose to add one or more new pages each month, add articles or press releases and news, or choose to install a blog and write content there, you need to understand the value of adding content and updating your site with new information regularly.

The more often you update your website, the more often search engines will update your rankings. And if you are incorporating social media into your online marketing plan, then you will have new content to share. You can’t keep sharing the same content with your network of friends if you want to keep them interested.

3. Now the site is optimized and I’m adding fresh content, what now?

Adding high-quality, original content to high-traffic websites. You’ll read a lot on the web about how you should or should not build links. There is a difference between link building and content promotion.

Just adding hundreds or thousands of links that all use the same anchor text and point to your home page is completely worthless. I don’t care what the PR or page rank is of those sites. So when you see offers to build you 1000′s of links from high pr sites, just know you’re about to waste your money. Submitting articles to 1000′s of article directories is an equal waste of time. It worked years ago, but not anymore.

However, choosing websites like squidoo.com and building a lens with good, original content that is also helpful to readers with links to different pages of your site and using different anchor text that is related to the content on the page you are pointing to is well worth the effort.

There are other high-traffic websites that will allow you to post good, original content out there. These links back to your website are permanent and valuable.

The 3 principles to keep in mind are;

1. Participate on the web, don’t just try and take from it. That means being on twitter and facebook and google plus and not constantly saying “Look at me!” “Look what I have!” “Go to my website!” It means taking an interest in other people and sharing other things besides just what you have to sell. Join forums where your potential customers are or industry forums. Participate.

2. Add value to the web. When you put content on the web, make sure it has value to others. There is a ton of noise on the Internet. Rehashed blog posts and other content that doesn’t produce a new idea or original thought. If you want to stand out and be heard among all the noise, make sure what you have to add has value.

3. Be helpful. When you are in forums or social networks and see a question posted, stop and take the time to answer them. If you don’t know the answer, look it up and get it for them. Add links to where you found it and where they can learn more. Your links are in your signature line or in your profile. They’ll find them. That has a lot more value than going into a forum just to tell people the great deal you want to sell them.

So there is a 3 step system and 3 principles to learn here. I hope this has been helpful. It’s part of me doing number 2 of the first 3 step process and number 2 and 3 of the 3 principles above.

In the beginning of what most people know of the web, say around 1994 and later, large corporations thought the Internet was sort of a fad and not to be taken too seriously. For instance, companies like GM and Chrysler and Ford didn’t see how owning cars.com or autos.com might benefit them.

They figured their traditional advertising and brand recognition were enough. Then they saw domain names selling for millions of dollars that were generic, like cars.com, business.com, etc. Their next step was to try to get laws passed to ban the ownership of generic domain names. Their IP lawyers said that it was unfair that these companies spent millions to advertise and brand their name and that someone can just register a domain name for $10 per year and compete with them.

They lost that battle, thankfully. There must have been someone in the justice system who actually remembered that free enterprise means that anyone can compete with anyone.

Now the corporations are attacking equality from a different angle. They want those corporations that can pay more to be more accessible to consumers than those companies that cannot afford the extra fees. ISPs love the idea that they can charge for premium speed Internet for companies who can afford to pay more and regulate the bandwidth, or speed, of websites owned by companies who cannot afford to pay more.

This would move the bigger companies and corporations ahead of smaller companies and give them an unfair advantage over smaller businesses. They couldn’t block small companies from competing with them because of generic domain names, now they want to stifle smaller competitors by making their websites less accessible than their own.

One example is that with net neutrality in place, an ISP like AT&T cannot make your Gmail load slower than your Yahoo Mail just because Yahoo is a partner and pays them for doing so. Sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Big corporations don’t think so. They believe that if they have more money than a smaller company and can make deals the smaller company can’t make, then they should be able to stifle competition if they want to.

When someone from a large corporation talks about letting the free market decide, they mean only when it is to their advantage. The free market and free enterprise gives you the right to succeed and the right to fail, yet these same corporations don’t mind the government bailing them out when they fail to run their company properly.

Too big to fail is a lie. In a free market, when one business fails to meet the demands of consumers, other companies, some of them new startups, will be there to fill the demand or void left by the failed company no matter how big they are. So when you hear them talking about letting the free market decide, remember, they mean let it decide whenever it is in their favor.

Large corporations want to block small businesses from competing with them. That is a fact. They even believe they have a right to do so. We spent more money to advertise therefore it is unfair for a company that spent less money to compete with us. That sentence has been used by corporate CEOs and IP attorneys to defend the way they try to block smaller companies from competing fairly.

Net neutrality is a battle that everyone who uses the Internet should be watching and getting involved in. Imagine trying to do research and not being able to access certain information simply because the company providing that information can’t afford to pay what other sites are paying.

Imagine not being able to get a better deal on products and services because the smaller companies that provide those services and products cannot be found as easy as the bigger companies who can now charge even more because they are your only choices since your ISP made a deal with them.

That’s what will happen if we do not keep net neutrality in place. Unfortunately, the ruling that was passed did not cover wireless connections. Wireless providers like AT&T will use that to their advantage and consumers will pay the price for it. They plan to challenge the ruling on net neutrality through the courts, saying the FCC has no authority to regulate Internet usage.

So, basically, AT&T and those who want to eliminate net neutrality are saying that our government has no right to stop them from stifling competition or anything else.

By the way, the vote on net neutrality was right along party lines. 3 democrats voted to keep the Internet neutral and competitive and 2 republicans voted that corporations and ISPs should be allowed to do whatever they want, including creating a fast lane and a slow lane on the web, with small businesses being in the slow lane.

Keep that in mind when elections roll around.  They do this under the flag of not letting the government interfere in business. Again, this only applies to when it benefits them. These same people who oppose net neutrality, supported the bailouts of corporations who mismanaged their companies. But I guess bailing them out isn’t interfering.

Why is all of this important to an SEO Company like mine? Load speed of a website is one of the factors that ranks sites well in Google and other search engines. Without net neutrality, those that can pay more will have faster load times than those that can’t. Many of my clients are small business owners and not big corporations.

It was important that SEO clients could get generic domain names and I helped fight that battle as well. Large corporations already influence how you find things on the web. They control the board of ICANN, (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), who choose which TLDs, (Top Level Domains), can be introduced, such as dot biz, dot info, etc.

Companies like Network Solutions influence ICANN as to what they should or should not approve. And to top it off, let’s say you wanted to start a new TLD, like dot CPA or dot Atty, then under free enterprise, you should be able to do so.  And according to ICANN, anyone can do just that . . . as long as they can afford a $180,000 application fee with no guarantee of being approved.

Now do you see how this affects you and how they keep small business owners from competing in a fair market?

So by having Adobe products  on your computer, Adobe considers your computer their own. They sell the rights to other companies like McAfee to use Adobe products as a conduit to install other software and adware that you didn’t ask for.

A trojan does the same thing. It installs unwanted software on your computer. Adobe products install unwanted software on your computer like McAfee Security Scan Plus using Firefox to facilitate the install by calling it first a Firefox update.  McAfee participates in the process of installing unwanted software on your computer.

So what makes Adobe, Firefox and McAfee any different from an illegal trojan? Nothing except they are big companies and no one will pass legislation to make them stop installing unwanted software and adware on your computer.

These software companies are arrogant as hell. They make deals with each other to bundle their software and adware inside of other downloads. Many times they are basically hidden and insall automatically with the software you actually wanted. Some give the option to “opt out” of the extra download but it’s easy to miss. After all, you downloaded program A and should not have to read the fine print to make sure you are not also installing program B, C and D.

From Techie-Buzz.com

Techie Buzz Verdict:

Their suggestions are sound – if you have the money to pay for their solutions. Each recommendation is designed to offer McAfee a good chance to sell you something. This isn’t good free software – it’s a good marketing tool. I was very disappointed, and I only posted this review so that I can save others the trouble of downloading unwanted advertising. I would classify it as “Adware”.

Techie Buzz Rating: 1/5 (Poor)

Below is info from the McAfee website if you want to spend your time uninstalling McAfee Security Scan Plus adware after they installed it on your computer without your permission. After all, your time is their’s to waste because they have a big company and can do whatever they want with your computer and your time.

Back to all Corporate KnowledgeBase http://us.mcafee.com/en-us/local/docs/adobe_mssp_faq.pdf.

Corporate KnowledgeBase ID:

KB68706
Version: 3.0
Status:
Published
Last Modified:
June 03, 2011

Summary

McAfee Security Scan Plus is a free diagnostic tool that detects the security status of computers for antivirus software, firewall protection, and web security. It can co-exist with any existing security software.

For more information, see

Cause

Security Scan Plus was probably installed when another McAfee program or third-party application such as Adobe Reader was installed.

To avoid installing Security Scan Plus, the next time you install or update Adobe Reader or similar software, ensure that you deselect the Free McAfee Security Scan Plus option under Also install.

NOTE: This option is selected by default.

Solution

To remove McAfee Security Scan Plus:

1. Click Start, Programs, McAfee Security Scan Plus.
2. Select Uninstall.

Companies looking for the cheapest service may turn to an outsourced company that mass produces ten-cent articles with randomly injected keywords. They seem to forget that their target consumers, unlike search engines, are not simply looking for those words. They want readable, relevant content. See examples from an SEO consulting blog.

Any article writing worth paying for should come from a genuine source. If the writing produced is not something you would want to read, chances are potential buyers won’t want to read it either. The true art of SEO copywriting comes from taking those strategic, technical points and turning them into something completely organic.

Bringing viewers to a website is great, but that’s only half the battle. If you are thinking of utilizing an SEO firm to increase search results, do your research beforehand.

Visit curvedmarketing.com for a no-nonsense view of SEO. Ranking can only get you so far, and good, thorough copywriters have the ability to make the viewer stay a while once those carefully chosen keywords get them in the door.

Call for your free SEO consultation 512-322-9566.

All this related business about “spiders crawling” a page and “indexing” it can seem somewhat confusing, and if you hate bugs, even unsettling. However, once you get past all the vocabulary the concept of SEO itself is relatively simple. Search engines use an algorithm to rate content based on how closely it relates to a search being run by a user. If someone were to type in “Search Engine Marketing “ for example, the search engine would provide them with a list of sites that most closely relate to both that term, and other words or links associated with it. Websites that rank the highest would most likely have more related words and consequentially more traffic. Call us at 512.322.9566 for your free SEO consultation.

This is where search engine optimization firms come in. These companies, specializing in online marketing strategies, run keyword searches and find phrases that most closely relate to the content a business wants to provide. Fill out contact form to discover how search engine optimization can help your online business.

Combining knowledge of both the systematic process used by search engines to rank websites with the desire of the user for relevant, interesting content, they can weave in words that have a higher probability of being searched while preserving the integrity of the information. Please feel free to call us at 512.322.9566.

Through a careful, considerate balance, SEO companies such as Curved Marketing are able to increase search engine rankings and page views and businesses can enjoy growing success without that expensive magic fairy dust.

Call us at 512.322.9566 or fill out our contact form to get started on crafting your own custom SEO package today.